Obama’s vacation: Wrong place, wrong time?
President Obama drew criticism for taking a vacation at Martha’s Vineyard.
“Whose idea was Martha’s Vineyard?” said Victor Davis Hanson in NationalReview.com. It’s bad enough that President Obama whisked his family away for a summer vacation with the economy teetering on the brink of another recession. But it’s stupendously tone-deaf for a president who routinely derides “fat cats” to take his family to Martha’s Vineyard, an island paradise off the coast of Massachusetts long beloved by moneyed liberals and East Coast intellectuals. Every president needs a break, said Colbert King in The Washington Post, but Martha’s Vineyard “is the last place on earth” Obama should have chosen. How could he spend “10 days luxuriating in an affluent New England summer town when millions of Americans can’t find work”?
Barack Obama “deserves his vacation,” said The Boston Globe in an editorial, and if he wants to spend it on Martha’s Vineyard, so much the better. Obama’s critics caricature the Vineyard as an exclusive enclave of the super-rich, but in reality it’s a quaint, racially diverse, and charmingly low-key island. Obama has friends there, and spends his time golfing, biking, and buying ice cream for his daughters. What better way to recharge the presidential batteries? If Obama took his family to Disneyland or some blue-collar campsite, said Margaret Carlson in Bloomberg.com, his critics would accuse him of pandering. If he skipped his vacation entirely and burned the midnight oil in the Oval Office, they’d say he was “living in a Washington cocoon.”
Criticizing the presidents’ vacations is a great American tradition, said George Condon in TheAtlantic.com. It goes all the way back to John Adams, who drew howls of outrage by spending seven months of 1798 at his farm in Massachusetts. Every president’s holiday, in his enemies’ eyes, is “too long. Or too lavish. Or too insensitive.” When Harry Truman was president, critics said he was “playing too much poker” at his home in Key West, Fla., said USA Today. George W. Bush was portrayed as a slacker for spending so much time at his Texas ranch—180 days at this stage of his first term, compared with 60 vacation days for Obama. Bush’s father took heat for speedboating and golfing in Kennebunkport, Maine. In the modern era, of course, the president brings much of his staff, is briefed daily, and has to deal with international crises. “Presidents don’t really get vacations”—they just get a change of scenery.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'The House under GOP rule has become a hostile workplace'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal is about more than bad bets
In The Spotlight The firestorm surrounding one of baseball's biggest stars threatens to upend a generational legacy and professional sports at large
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Feds raid Diddy homes in alleged sex trafficking case
Speed Read Homeland Security raided the properties of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Xi-Biden meeting: what's in it for both leaders?
Today's Big Question Two superpowers seek to stabilise relations amid global turmoil but core issues of security, trade and Taiwan remain
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Will North Korea take advantage of Israel-Hamas conflict?
Today's Big Question Pyongyang's ties with Russia are 'growing and dangerous' amid reports it sent weapons to Gaza
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published