No Rest for the Wicked

I have consistently been a critic of people (mostly leftists) who have criticized Bush for taking too many vacation days, because a good President should have lots of time off. There’s no reason to work 80 hours a week for eight years unless you are an ego-maniac who thinks the country can’t live without you, a fascist who wants to constantly control the lives of every American, or both (i.e. Bill Clinton). The Libertarian Party’s latest press release, however, struck a cord with me. I don’t mind Bush taking the weekends off. I don’t even mind him taking a short vacation. But, five straight weeks while our soldiers are dying in Iraq is appalling. Not only is this the longest Presidential vacation in 36 years, it is one more week vacation than our soldiers get.

Quick Facts:

--American troops reported dead in Iraq: 1822
--Length of the invasion/occupation of Iraq: 869 days
--Crawford vacation days of the Bush presidency: 319 days (20%)
--Average days of annual paid vacation of the working American: 13
--Days of annual leave for military personnel: 30

UPDATE: I'm reminded of these lines from P.J. O'Rourke's 1993 speech at Cato:

We have a group of incredibly silly people in the White House right now, people who think government works. Or that government would work, if you got some real bright young kids from Yale to run it.

We're being governed by dorm room bull session. The Clinton administration is over there right now pulling an all-nighter in the West Wing. They think that, if they can just stay up late enough, they can create a healthy economy and bring peace to former Yugoslavia.