Wearing a babariga -- a Nigerian garment reserved for royalty, presented to him by the local chief -- President Clinton receives an enthusiastic welcome in the Nigerian village of Ushafa on Sunday
Posted on 08/18/2005 10:51:58 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
If it's August and the press is languishing in Crawford, Texas, it's time for the annual Bush vacation media bash. This means that unless there's a kidnapping or runaway bride story to hold the nation's interest, the media will instead launch into their favorite summer pastime; turning the president's visit home into a four-week sentence of derision and contempt.
The media seem not only offended that the president has the audacity to take a month off but that he persists in doing so in the middle of media nowhere. Unlike Bill Clinton who, until he left office, had no private residence to call home, President Bush dares prefer the dry dust of Texas to the haughty climes of chic, liberal playgrounds.
Beginning with his first year in office, his month-long trek to Crawford has occasioned wrath and scorn from the left and their media wing. Barely six months into his first term, USA Today was already chiding with the headline, "Poll Finds Most Are Put Off By Bush Vacation." The paper immediately tagged him as another lazy cowboy:
Bush's advisers are sensitive to the perception that he doesn't work as hard as some of his predecessors. If Bush returns as scheduled on Labor Day, he'll tie a modern record for presidential absence from the White House -- held by Richard Nixon at 30 days. Ronald Reagan took trips as long as 28 days.
Gratuitous though it was of USA Today to include Nixon and Reagan, there was no mention of President Clinton's frequent soirees which, when covered by the press, often included posed photo-ops of romantic hand-holding or dreamy beach-dancing with his devoted bride and hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities. No such treatment is accorded Bush in Crawford, as the only thing he brushes up against is brush.
A year later, USA Today returned to its now-favorite subject, this time with "Bush Vacation Plans Draw Heat from Democrat," reporting that "A leading Democrat criticized President Bush on Tuesday for planning to spend a month at his Texas ranch while the stock market plunges and foreign affairs remain volatile."
In 2003, CBS's website registered with a little ditty called "Bush Vacation Is Over," where we learned that "Vacation is over for President Bush, who is back at the White House with a long list of pressing issues awaiting his attention," which of course went on to discuss neglected budget deficits and volatile foreign affairs.
In the August run-up to the '04 election, CBS, in an otherwise even-handed piece, nonetheless couldn't resist citing a DNC press release titled, "George W. Bush: Taking Vacation, Not Responsibility." They dutifully went on to note his total ranch days to date as 254, adding, "The Democratic National Committee loves to needle Mr. Bush about the time spent at his ranch."
And a rollicking 2004 piece by Fred Kaplan in Slate called, "The Out-of-Towner," posited that Bush's 2001 vacation may have been responsible for 9/11. Kaplan explained "how our government let disaster happen" and concluded, "The 9/11 commission has unveiled many critical problems in the FBI and the CIA. But the most critical problem may have been that the president was off duty."
This year's serving of sour ranch dressing takes on historic proportions as the Washington Post headline screams, "Vacationing Bush Poised to Set a Record." And, to clarify his position in the slacker hall of fame alongside you-know-who, the subtitle reads, "With Long Sojourn at Ranch, President on His Way to Surpassing Reagan's Total."
In a rare departure, the Post actually makes reference to Mr. Bush's predecessor: "Bill Clinton, lacking a home of his own, borrowed a house on Martha's Vineyard, except for two years when political adviser Dick Morris nudged him into going to Jackson, Wyoming, before his reelection because it polled better."
What the Post fails to mention, however, is President Clinton's own record-setting performance as the all time globe-trotting president, especially during the time of his impeachment. Clinton's total of foreign trips -- business and pleasure -- nearly eclipsed those of his three predecessors combined, at a cost of untold millions to the American people.
Typical of the media's treatment of Clinton was in 1998 when he jetted off to Africa with 1,302 of his closest friends. He was generally let off the hook for his role in the hideous genocide in Rwanda because, after all, he apologized for slavery, didn't he?
No; media mockery and derision are reserved for him who merely wishes to eschew Beltway bloodsuckers for boots and barbecue. With the Congress and most of D.C. scattered to the winds until fall, those unfortunate enough to be stuck covering the president will continue to bemoan their lot and bewail his sloth.
In truth, what they really despise is having to endure the 100 degree heat, suffer Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld's ill-advised attempts at cowboy-wear, and, worst of all, breathe the insufferable air of red-state America.
Lisa Fabrizio is a columnist who hails from Connecticut. You may write her at mailbox@lisafab.com.
Right. I bet Bush gets more work done for this country while "on vacation" in Crawford than Clinton got done in his 8 years!
I get 6, and I'm taking half of it in a couple of days....
That won't stop bashers.
Your logic doesn't fit here. If we were dealing with rational people, it might, but ANYTHING President Bush does would be cause for the Dem loons to bash. He could find a cure for cancer and they'd still complain.
The other thing the press never covered in addition to Clinton's foreign trips was the 140+ political fundraising trips Clinton made in 1998 alone, a record by any sitting president DURING AN ENTIRE ADMINISTRATION, much less in a year.
How much of the nation's business was Clinton getting done during those 140 fundraising trips? I bet Bush gets a lot more presidential business done staying in place at Crawford than Clinton did memorizing the names and faces of donors in pre-fundraising preparation and he obsessively jetted around the country fundraising.
By the way, have these media pukes ever heard of cellphones, computers, modems, and fax machines?? Because if they had, they would realize in the era of electronic communication you can get business done from just about anywhere. You don't have to be sitting in the White House to accomplish work.
Bush should alter his life to suit the dementia of people who will bash him no matter what he does?
The Clintons used the White House as a fundraising machine. When they were gone, they rented the place out for campaign contributions. Low rent people.
I can't believe nobody has yet mentioned the fact that Bubba's vacations were no more that $50,000,000 photo-ops.
My father has a picture of Clinton in Africa in his "Jesus" mode" on the fridge, just to laugh at everyday.
It's the opposite. I work too much.
and maybe you will get vacation! I have been with my company for 10 years. I get 4 weeks of vacation.!
I haven't gotten four weeks of vacation a year since I left the Army.
Let me change that. I haven't been granted that much leave since I was in the Army, but even then I never had the time to use it all, and used it almost exclusively during PCS. I sold almost two months back when I got out.
1. It is his ranch.
2. The constitution does not say the President must stay around the clock in Washington, DC. In fact, near as I can tell, it doesn't say he has to stay in Washington DC at all.
Q: From where does the leader of the Free World run things?
A: Anywhere he darn well want to.
Sheesh.
"Action man" John Frickin' Kerry gave them many more photo ops.
Look! He's riding a police motorcycle, he's throwing a football, he's riding a bicycle, he's throwing a basketball, he's throwing a baseball (and missing the plate), he's windsurfing, he's skiing, he's crawling through a space station simulator, he's tending "his" cows, he's playing a guitar...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=kerryphotoops
THAT's the one!
Presidents don't have vacations, just a change of venue. The WH travels with him. This is all patent nonsense and the reporters know it. The article is correct that the WH press corps doesn't like spending their summers in Crawford. The Cindy Sheehan story is payback.
"He could find a cure for cancer and they'd still complain."
He's hurt the pharmacutical companies, the poor still don't have healthcare, the weak in society will now live longer but lack "quality lives", there will be a population explosion as people live longer...
Oh the humanity. Women and children will suffer the most.
Besides he only cured cancer because it would be "against" his religion to cure AIDS.
< /sarcasm >
Welcome to FR. Curious first post.
You're going to be popular....
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