Clarence Page: Stop 'vacation-shaming' Obama

[babylonsister]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/page/ct-vacation-shaming-obama-marthas-vineyard-oped-08-20140814-column.html


Stop 'vacation-shaming' Obama
Overwork, exhaustion and general unhappiness aren't good for any of us, especially presidents



Sitting on a deck chair on the family-friendly boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach, Del., typing into my digital tablet, I am wondering why people are giving President Barack Obama such a hard time for taking a vacation.

I can understand why citizens would be upset if, say, a big-city mayor didn't rush home from a tropical paradise to oversee reaction to a midwinter blizzard.

I fully understand why a governor is expected to hurry home after a major flood has swept away half of a town.

But the president?

I mean, it's not like he's got a real job or anything.

snip//

In this age of wireless technology, where even little kids (like the little girl I just heard on the hotel elevator) complain immediately if the Wi-Fi isn't fast enough, it sounds so last century to forget that every presidential vacation is a working vacation.

I think the complaint is based on an American notion I wish we would discard, the notion that vacations are somehow a waste of time. Every year, more medical studies provide evidence that people who take at least a week and preferably two weeks of vacation a year live longer and better than those who don't.

Take a break, folks.

The presidency is stressful enough. Overwork, exhaustion and general unhappiness aren't good for any of us, especially presidents.

[BeyondGeography]

1. Vacation shaming has been a new low here

It's pretty bad when Clarence Page is out in front of you, folks.

[babylonsister]

2. I hear you; as mentioned in another

thread, this is what freepers do. I thought we were better than that, but apparently not.