I think your politics informs your opinion of this.

In a similar way to how the UK prime minister had to curtail his vacation in, I think, Tuscany, to “deal” with the London riots, one’s interpretation of the decision is based on whether or not you like the politician.

Axes will be ground no matter what happens.

I think the optics of this may not sit right with many, but the reality is, the president doesn’t legislate. He can demonstrate leadership from any location, and for me, there is no damage on HIS part to control. The damage control on the global economy is entirely another matter.

I seriously doubt he has a jobs bill to begin with. If he did, he would have given a speech about it. He’s not exactly shy about giving speeches.

I believe he has been on more vacations, than any other “sitting” president.

Am I correct here?

Maybe, he goes only on vacation locations, where he is welcomed?

I think it is ridiculous that the President’s enemies have succeeded in making him cut short his vacation.

This, after Congress takes the entire month of August off????

Are a single one of the right-wing voices raised against Obama canceling their vacations?

@john65pennington Goof grief, no. Bush used to spend the entire month of August at his ranch!

“Teddy Roosevelt—facing no crisis other than his need to discharge ammunition—disappeared from Washington for five weeks in the spring of 1905 to go bear hunting in Montana, leaving behind Secretary of War William Howard Taft to run the country, communicating now and then with Taft by telegram.”

“FDR loved Hyde Park. He took the train up from Washington almost every other weekend.”

“Richard Nixon had homes-away-from-home in Florida and California. When each served as a temporary White House, permanent improvements were made at public expense ran into millions. Touches like a floating helipad add up.”

ABC News

I don’t understand why a president would take a vacation. You only have the job for 4 years, maybe 8. To me, the job seems so important that it would justify not having a vacation for 4 or 8 years.

I work with a guy how works 14 to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, and has done so for the past 6 nearly 7 years now. If he can do it so can the president.

As for this particular situation, Obama is in a tough spot, whatever he does someone is going to have a problem with it.

@Cruiser Are you not more concerned that Congress is not cutting short their vacations to work on solving the problems of the country? Why does this all fall on the President who is being responsive to symbolism?

@marinelife I think it is more that a lot of conservatives AND libersals have foregone vacations because they can’t afford them and are still out of a job.

@janbb I think when our President chest thumps “that the buck stops here” I think he now fully accountable not only for his own inaction’s but Congresses as well. IMO too little way too late.

@Cruiser I hold both him and them responsible.

A manufactured controversy. People consider that masturbatory debt ceiling negotiation horseshit “work”, but call a trip to the obscenely-boring Martha’s Vineyard a “vacation”.

I have a good distraction for the perpetually-dull population….

I heard that Obama prefers strawberry icecream over vanilla. Let that sink in. In these troubling and uncertain times, can we really afford to have our president wasting his time with strawberry icecream?

I think we’d be much better served if the President and Congress would take much more frequent and longer vacations.

And shut the hell up when they do that.

@marinelife Bush also did lots of government work at his ranch.

I really don’t care. I am simply not that into him.

The President is as entitled to a holiday as anyone else. He is human after all. I’m sure he is on call in case of emergencies and who is to say he isn’t working while he is away. The President is the President wherever he goes. I think this criticism is pretty cheap.

It’s all symbolic. It’s not as if the President does much vacationing when he’s on the island. His wife and daughters do most of the public stuff. Like watching fudge being made.

I just read an article saying they bring in two portable cell phone towers when he goes to the island. Does that sound like he’s vacationing much? He’s not going to get any more done on the jobs bill in Washington than he will in Martha’s Vineyard, but he will cauterize some of the damage he did with the jobless by hanging out at a multi-million dollar estate.

God! Bush is seen to be uncaring when he doesn’t immediately fly over Katrina damaged land. Many other politicians have fallen afoul of the symbolic appearances they don’t make in time. Now Obama seems to be rubbing his wealth in the faces of the unemployed when he takes a fancy vacation. What else is new?

Has he actually cut his vacation short? Do you have a source? Because Google News comes up with nothing of that sort. All the sources Google News aggregates still seem to think he’s on vacation.

@Aethelflaed I’ll be damned! I watched CNN report this when I posted the Q, read it at both Huffington and ABC news…and now it is gone!

I hope he enjoys himself.

I don’t think the reason he cut his vacay short just materialized out of thin air, am I wrong? Maybe this was planned all along (if he did cut it short, I didn’t hear it in the news today).

Maybe the only reason he went was so he could get a few days off and then “cut it short,” to give off the appearance of sacrifice…

Obama is a celebrity president. Take these types of actions with a grain of salt.