Next Up: Martha's Vineyard

That's the photo at the top of Drudge right now.

The story links to this report over at Weekly Standard...

In the first three months of the year, members of the first family have been on three vacations, averaging a vacation a month. And now it's being reported that the first daughters are on a spring break vacation in the Bahamas. 

...and to this one at Breitbart which begins by noting that the White House is closed for tours:

One premier destination is off-limits this year, however. A few weeks ago, the Obama Administration announced it was suspending public, self-guided tours of the White House as a result of the automatic sequester cuts that the administration proposed in 2011. While America's students stand outside the White House fence, the First Daughters, Sasha and Malia, are enjoying spring break with friends at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. 

I actually don't care where the Obama girls are, but the optics on all this are not good, I don't think.    I can't help but recall the wailing from the left that George Bush was taking so many vacations (mostly to his ranch in Texas).

But it does seem to me that while the country is feeling the pain of the sequester, Obama's notion that "everybody's gonna have to have some skin in the game" doesn't apply to him.



So while the daughters are enjoying the Bahamas, the White House is closed to tours, the FAA has closed 149 small airport control towers (including the one at the downtown Shreveport airport). The sequester has also cut military spending which has caused, among other things, the cancellation of air shows across the country; it has cut the budget of the National Parks Service which forces layoffs of workers at the height of the summer season (and dirty bathrooms!), and in Louisiana alone, cut 7,000 civilian Department of Defense jobs.  Among other things.

Those screeching about Malia and Sasha's privacy have a point, but so do those of us pointing out that it's time Obama put some skin of his own in the game.

Next up:  Martha's Vineyard.

(More at Memeorandum)

Obama is "Hard at Work" in Hawaii

Politico is under the impression that Obama is "hard at work" in Hawaii:

Many signs indicate that while President Obama is enjoying the sun and the tennis courts, he’s still hard at work in Hawaii. After Obama spoke about the terror attempt on Christmas and violence in Iran, the White House sent a news release saying that he had signed three bills into law, including H.R. 4314, which raises the debt ceiling from $12.104 trillion to $12.394 trillion.

I would go out on a limb here and say that's not really the impression that the American public has of Obama's vacation. "Hard at work"? I don't think so. He's hard at work on his golf game and little else.

Yes, he interrupted his vacation schedule to speak on a terror attack on our country and he briefly addressed the Iranian protests. He couldn't be bothered to put on a tie or look presidential for the occasion, but that's all part of his uber-cool, low-key style, right? I know it's Hawaii, and I know he's on vacation, but is it too much to ask that he at least look the part when he stands before the American people, and the world, to make such an anticipated and important statement? Make an effort?

To be fair, there were press conferences from Crawford where Bush didn't wear a tie. The argument isn't whether or not Obama wears a tie to a press conference, really, but appearing presidential at a time of such national importance. And I'd have said the same thing about Bush if he'd done it. Bush was accused of being "a cowboy" whenever he went to Crawford. But the press doesn't have the same criticism for Obama in Hawaii because he's cool. Hip.

As far as signing three bills into law, how hard can that be? He's probably pretty adept at signing his name.

Jim Hoft nailed it for me this morning when he recalled Obama's January statement that "everybody's gonna have to have some skin in the game." Everyone will have to sacrifice for the greater good. Everyone but Obama, that is.

I don't begrudge the man a vacation. Really, I don't. I always thought it was silly when people criticized George Bush for going to Crawford, Texas. But as nice as Bush's Crawford ranch might have been, it's not the luxurious rented pad that the Obamas are occupying in Hawaii. It's not even the cost of the vacation that bothers me. I don't care if Michelle wears $635 shoes to dinner or $540 tennis shoes to a food bank. She and her tacky plastic belts interest me less than none at all.

What is disconcerting is the images of Iranians protesting for freedom against an illegitimate government, dying in the streets for their freedom, while Obama searches for his golf ball amongst the palm trees. A Nigerian man with terrorist ties to al-Qaeda tries to blow up a plane in Detroit, kill Americans and announces there are more like him coming, and Obama goes out to dinner with friends.

It took him two days to make a statement on either.

Some skin in the game? Sacrifice? I don't think Obama has a clue what that even means. Working hard on vacation? Nah. I don't think so.