In Most Jobs, People Get Fired For Excess Absenteeism
by Jason at 6:15 am on April 13th, 2004 in Bush Man Date
Snapshots in time:
1) In August 2001, President George W. Bush received a memo entitled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike In US.” He then went fishing and brush clearing on a 32-day vacation on his ranch in Crawford, Texas—the longest vacation period ever recorded by a U.S. President. The next month, terrorists flew jetliners into the WTC and the Pentagon, killing thousands.
2) On April 8, 2004, Condoleezza Rice testified in front of the 9/11 Commission. Her testimony, which included much questioning about the August 2001 memo, competed for media time with a troubling escalation of violence and unrest in Iraq. During these events, President Bush was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Don’t you just love the symmetry of it? Granted, taking potshots at the President for his vacation time can seem like a cheap shot. Even the POTUS needs some time to unwind, right? But one look at Bush’s vacation numbers shows a disturbing disconnect with the priorities of a country at war. If the president unwound any more, he would be a sweater in a Weezer song.
from the Washington Post (italics added):
This is Bush’s 33rd visit to his ranch since becoming president. He has spent all or part of 233 days on his Texas ranch since taking office, according to a tally by CBS News. Adding his 78 visits to Camp David and his five visits to Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush has spent all or part of 500 days in office at one of his three retreats, or more than 40 percent of his presidency.
Let that sink in. With the average American earning a whopping 13 days of annual vacation time, that would add up to a tidy 52 days in a four year period. President Bush has used nearly ten times the average vacation time, and his term isn’t even over yet. It’s astounding.
The President’s people always try to put a happy face on the Washington absenteeism by claiming that he is on a “working vacation”. Which has to be technically true; obviously the President has to be ready and available at all times in case of a national emergency. But no amount of whitewashing can hide the fact that “working vacation” still involves the word “vacation”, and running the country isn’t the sort of job that you do between nature walks with the NRA or filming a fishing show:
On Saturday, Bush and his father were to go fishing at the ranch’s bass pond with a crew from the Outdoor Life Network’s “Fishing with Roland Martin.”
The White House approached the network about coming to film Bush, who is eager to cultivate an image as a sportsman with the millions of voters who hunt and fish.
Remember, this is the same guy who refers to himself as a “War President”, and has used the seriousness of 9-11 and the Iraq conflict for political expediency. And while soldiers are off dying in the war that he created, he’s hanging out at the ranch, television cameras in tow. It could be argued that the President’s location didn’t really matter when bullets started to fly in Fallujah. But this is one instance where impressions count. And by spending so much of his time back in Texas, Bush gives the impression that he’s not taking the job as seriously as he should be. Not that anything in his history suggests that kind of behavior, of course.
The response from the Bush people? White House Communication Director Dan Bartlett tried to take a shot at John Kerry by claiming that at least Bush was “not skiing”. I guess that skiing is an elitist activity nowadays, like drinking a latté or driving a Volvo. But there’s a big difference here: John Kerry is not the President of the United States. George Bush is.
Enough is enough. In a normal employment relationship, the worker gets canned for not showing up to his job. Isn’t it about time we set the same standards for the highest office in the land?
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Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 4:59 am ¶
sac wrote:
Great fucking post.
Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 9:48 am ¶
sam wrote:
Revisit sac’s comment.
Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 10:52 am ¶
information leafblower wrote:
Holy effing shit. You guys are absolutely killing it lately. Obvs.
Nice Weezer reference BTW.
Keep it up!
Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 11:37 am ¶
Uncle Grambo wrote:
somebody call the fire department, this blog is on FIRE!
so best. great, great GREAT post. can’t someone turn this into a TV commercial?
Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 12:25 pm ¶
jessica wrote:
dude, while i am as shocked and horrified as you are, i think your solution is backwards. first of all, i’d just as soon let bush fish while the grown-ups run things. secondly, if we are going to try to even things out, i say, rather than making the president work the same hours that all us little folk work, howsabout getting us some of those lengthy “working vacations”?
now, what i need to know is, does drinking pitchers of apple martinis poolside count as work?
Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 1:28 pm ¶
jen wrote:
nice job. read this yesterday (in salon) and posted it in my journal as well. ;p
Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 1:32 pm ¶
Jason (1115) wrote:
Well, if the “little folk” got lengthy vacations, then we would probably all turn French or something. Can’t have that, you know.
Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 1:43 pm ¶
madden wrote:
Please add mine to the giant pile of praise. I’m going to pick my jaw up now.
Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 1:50 pm ¶
jessica wrote:
if we called our “working vacations” “freedom vacations”, would that be un-french enough?
it’s not like i’m suggesting universal healthcare or anything…
Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 1:55 pm ¶
matt wrote:
jessica:
what grownups would you rather see runnin t’ings?
i think he’s been out of town so much because cheney, rummy, wolfy and crisco spice can do their thing without having to ask permission.
Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 2:34 pm ¶
Michael wrote:
I guess vacations are bigger in Texas, too.
Posted 13 Apr 2004 at 2:48 pm ¶
photosuperstar wrote:
crisco spice, fuckin’ brilliant
Posted 14 Apr 2004 at 5:59 am ¶
rob wrote:
wow. NICE POST!!!!!!!!!!
Posted 14 Apr 2004 at 8:02 am ¶
Ernie wrote:
Nicely written. No real new material (At least for me) but well put together and well said. I agree that this should be a commercial. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said “Like father, like son. One term only.” Bravo!
One thing for the Prez, though…. This economy has enabled me to sell my house (at a 31% loss) and take a 3 year “Working Vacation”.
Note for President Bush: Tax cuts don’t help the unemployed. But thanks for thinking of me. Oh, wait, I meant “yourself”, not “me”.
Posted 14 Apr 2004 at 10:19 am ¶
Ernie wrote:
You know, this just occured to me; President Bush is actually gearing up for a big election-type claim. He’s staying in Richardson, or Camp David, or overseas so he can say “Al Gore may have invented the internet, but I invented telecommuting!”
Something else to think about. I would bet that the Richardson Ranch is/was maintained by a bunch of guys named “Julio” or “Manuel” who have questionable documentation but a better work ethic than our President.
I’m saying “was” because it’s probably all Treasury Department employees now, each with their own Secret Service badge, and paychecks from us.
Kind of like my old job which is now being handled by a bunch of guys named “Raj” and “Sujit”. They aren’t here, either.
Posted 14 Apr 2004 at 10:33 am ¶
matt wrote:
Some good points there.
And while your job may have been outsourced (and that would suck), we tend to stay away from India bashing here. For better or worse, with our without the trade agreements we have, competition for labor is here to stay. I haven’t heard one argument that makes any sense or is workable against outsourcing.
It all boils down to “we are america and we call the shots”. But the market will move on with or without us.
Posted 14 Apr 2004 at 10:58 am ¶
Nick wrote:
Let’s all keep in mind that Bush’s opponent John Kerry has missed 78% of his votes this congressional term while he’s out campaigning. As a Massachusetts taxpayer, I deserve some of my taxes back for paying his salary while he doesn’t do HIS job as a senator.
Posted 14 Apr 2004 at 12:16 pm ¶
matt wrote:
While Kerry should not be proud of his voting record this term, any detriment to the citizens of Mass pales in comparison to the harm that taxpayer funded campaigning by the President is causing. Kerry’s campaign is paying his way while all of us pay Bush’s way.
And as far as senators who don’t do their job, many of the ones with the best voting records aren’t doing anything other than punching the clock. Dems and Reps.
Posted 14 Apr 2004 at 1:35 pm ¶