NBC Spins for Obama Vacation: 'When Is There Ever a Good Time for a World Leader' to Take A Trip?'
NBC on Friday offered a light-hearted defense of Barack Obama's vacation, justifying it by pointing out how hard it is for world leaders to take trips.
On Today, NBC's Savannah Guthrie implored, "Well, is there ever a good time for a world leader to take a vacation? President Obama is receiving some criticism for his summer getaway to Martha's Vineyard and he's not the only one."
Reporter Michelle Kosinski continued, "And [leaders] can't look too set up and they can't dare let their hair down too much." She joked that she enjoyed when Presidents have books on vacation, " Like, 'why, yes, I am reading [French author Albert] Camus.'"
The NBC journalist cited, among other examples, British Prime Minister David Cameron having to cut his vacation early due to the London riots. She empathized, "When is a relaxing summer getaway not relaxing at all? When you're a world leader."
In contrast, Good Morning America's Jake Tapper highlighted Republican criticism from Sarah Palin. He played a clip of her slamming the "tone deaf" President and wondering why Obama didn't say "Let's buckle down and let's be serious about getting the country back on the right track."
Uniquely among the morning shows, Tapper showcased a new attack from the Republican National Committee:
JAKE TAPPER: The Republican National Committee getting in on the action, setting up a website for Obama getaway E-cards featuring the President in a variety of vacationing photographs with an economic theme, such as "it's hot outside. Heading out to take a double dip," a reference to a double dip recession.
Friday's Early Show featured no criticism of Obamas' vacation and little coverage in general, instead focusing on the issue of black unemployment.
Wyatt Andrews relayed, "To address the unemployment crisis, the President will work part-time on his vacation on the job creation package he will reveal in September."
However, on Thursday, the program included a clip of RNC Chairman Reince Priebus attacking, "[Obama] said that he wouldn't rest until people went back to work in this country, and he's been on vacations and golfing and campaigning non-stop."
Additionally, reporter Anthony Mason pressed the President: "Should Congress be back in Washington? Should you be going on vacation?
A transcript of the Today segment, which aired at 7:50am EDT on August 19, follows:
Story Continues Below Ad ↓SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Well, is there ever a good time for a world leader to take a vacation? President Obama is receiving some criticism for his summer getaway to Martha's Vineyard and he's not the only one. NBC's Michelle Kosinski is in London this morning with the details. Michelle, good morning.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI: Hey, Savannah. Here the Prime Minister had to cut his Tuscan getaway, short because of massive rioting at home. Other leaders have been not been blasted for taking any time off in this economy. But, it's a touchy position to be in because they know that everybody is going to be watching where they go, the timing, what they spend, what they wear, what they read, to be scrutinized and criticized. When is a relaxing summer getaway not relaxing at all? When you're a world leader. And folks are either yell you shouldn't be away at all or watching your every move. They tend to not even really look like holidays, more photo-op then fun-fest. Who can forget much as you may want to the Clinton's swim wear dance? Or Russian prime minister of adventure, Vladimir Putin?
Yes, the Kremlin has treated us to all of his shirtless-horsing, river battling, butterflying, ancient urn-diving, polar bear-rolling, judo-pummeling, blacksmithing, gun-shooting, flame-flying good fun. This week, with the Russian president racing speed boats, braving murky depths, conquering fish, and matching super power leader action man outfits. How's a British prime minister to compete? Poor David Cameron barely got a chance, forced to leave Tuscany thanks to gangs of teenagers tearing up the capital. How rude. And with the European economy crumbling, Germany's chancellor skewered for strolling, Spain's presidential vacation lasted a few hours. France's Nicolas Sarkozy made it to the riviera but quickly turned around. Even the guy who puts the bunga in bunga parties, Silvio Berlusconi, takes the occasional thrill ride with Putin, cuts his summer fun short.
NEIL SEAN (NBC News Contributor): If you're a leader, you have to remember that you get plenty of time for a holiday, a rest, when you get booted out of office. You're only in favor for a very short period. So, you must take up 15 minutes to do as much as you can to help the country because, boy, when you're gone, you're gone.
KOSINSKI: Now, to some, the best looking presidential vacation pictures are the ones that don't exist. I kind of like it when the summer reading is really visible, like, why, yes, I am reading Camus. But they have got to strike a balance. And they can't look too set up and they can't dare let their hair down too much.
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Comments
Obama's to take vacation
Submitted by dennyf51 on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 12:52pm.
I think a great time would be right after November, 2012. Then he can go wherever he wants on his own dime. It's called retirement.
Well, January 20, 2013 anyway
Submitted by Galvanic on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 1:46pm.
If he's not re-elected, he's got to physically vacate the White House prior to the Inauguration ceremony, after which President Petraeus will assume occupancy.
Really,
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 10:45pm.
Petraeus?
Obama's Vacation Could Be a Positive... No, Really!!
Submitted by Motormouth KOS on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 1:10pm.
Maybe he will get eaten by a shark?
Maybe he will get hit in the head by an errant golf ball?
Maybe he will get some bad clams on Martha's Vineyard and be sick for 2 weeks?
Maybe he will go to the nude section at Gay Head and get laughed the beach for being so tiny?
Maybe he won't be able to pay the $50,000 for his rental and they will make him stay for the next 15 months to wash dishes?
Hope springs eternal.
The Obamination... A crisis leading to a catastrophe..(please donate to MRC)
As far as I'm concerned
Submitted by IgnatzJFahrquar on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 1:18pm.
He and the First Manatee can stay beached there for the rest of his term. He's getting just as much done while there as he has when in DC.
and you forget
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 10:49pm.
while he's away, he inflicts less damage.
President Downgrade, You Are an Urkel Wannabe
Submitted by Motormouth KOS on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 1:26pm.
Who thinks you are "buff"?
Moose-chelle? Shrillery Clinton?
I think you look like Urkel, only more dopey.
You're so "hip" and "athletic"? Really?
Replay when you threw out the first pitch at 2010 opener for nationals.
Laughable. You throw like a tranny.
Your "great" golf swing?
Ridiculous! You missed the ball, and your stupid Dorkberrey went farther.
Only a jackass like you would have his idiot Dorkberry on his belt when hitting golf balls.
Hoops? I think you quit after catching an elbow in the grille, you weenie-boy.
So please, I beg you...
Spare me the pictures of your scrawny body that have been photoshopped to make you look buff.
The Obamination... A crisis leading to a catastrophe..(please donate to MRC)
Even worse
Submitted by Blorg on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 1:44pm.
Bowling was even worse when O tried it during his campaign. He bowled a 37.
"World leader"? He's not
Submitted by rbosque on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 1:58pm.
"World leader"?
He's not leading he's destroying.
He's purposefully destroying because not even imbeciles like the Keystone cops can screw up what should be an easy to manage fiscal policy where the free markets should have taken care of it.
A good time
Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 3:00pm.
Actually, I prefer Obama to be on a permanent vacation.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
NBC spins so much for this
Submitted by Barack Must Go on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 7:55am.
NBC spins so much for this president they cause most " real " Americans to vomit.
The lazy SOB can stay on
Submitted by jessieH on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 9:06am.
The lazy SOB can stay on vacation, as far as I'm concerned.
25 day vacation in the middle of a Recession?
Submitted by red-sox-rudy on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 10:22pm.
Oh....wait, that was his holiness Ronald Reagan. When the country was at 9.5% unemployment in 1983 Ronnie went on a 25 vacation to his ranch. So stop it, just stop it. Do you people ever take a step back and listen to yourselves and the fact if Obama so much as sneezes you turn in it into some ridiculous faux controversy.
"in the middle of a Recession?"
Submitted by NL207 on Sun, 08/21/2011 - 8:58am.
Quite an admission from an Obama apologist like you, is this not?
Obama claims we are in a recovery. He even has the NBER backing him up on this. Unfortunately, for Obama and the rest of these leftist morons, everybody who is working in the real world knows we are still in a slump.
And what will the One propose to do about this? I predict he will propose to spend more money. Of course, the Congress will reject this proposal, and this economic illiterate will campaign against the 'do nothing Congress', just as Harry Truman did in '48. Two things I am certain he will not do is cut spending and taxes to revive the economy, which (a) will actually work and (b) is exactly what Ronald Reagan proposed.
Not really ...
Submitted by red-sox-rudy on Fri, 08/26/2011 - 3:05pm.
Not really much of an admission. We are not technically in a recession, but a jobless recovery (not much difference for me.) Just so you know, we now have the lowest combined federal, state and local tax rate (9.2% of all personal income) since 1950. I am pretty sure that even covers the Reagan years. That is because the stimulus that you probably bitch about was 36% tax cuts. As far as spending goes, I know it creates cognitive dissonance for you but the policies that Obama has enacted only account for about $1.4 trillion of the national debt. To be fair the single largest chunk of the debt ($3.6 trillion) is a result of of lower tax income due to the recession that started in 2007. The two largest ticket items after that are the Bush tax cuts ($3 trillion) and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ($1.4 trillion.) So you could make a rational argument that continuing those two Bush policies is bad fiscal policy. Other than that, characterizing Obama as a careless spender is just not born out by a careful and sober analysis of our spending.
...and furthermore Obama has
Submitted by red-sox-rudy on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 10:18pm.
...and furthermore Obama has taken vacations at 1/3 of the rate that Dubya had taken at the same point in his term. So please find a real story to whine about.
red sox
Submitted by Radical1979 on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 10:28pm.
I'll happily give BO the rest of his term off. Working on making sure it's made permanent in 2012.
Yankees rule by the way.
Hey rude rudy---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 10:31pm.
Your Obama arse kissing will neither sell nor fly too well here.
Shows you to be a fool worshipping idiot.
MD
actually....
Submitted by red-sox-rudy on Fri, 08/26/2011 - 3:15pm.
I probably criticize Obama at least as much as you. Admittedly for probably very different reasons. However, when I do, I criticize him in rational manner for legitimate policy differences. I do not need to resort to ginned up faux controversies. There are enough legitimate arguments from both the left and right on substantive issues without whining about vacations or golf. Though I am sure your next well thought out and reasoned retort will address this........or you could just call me some more names.
rude rudy---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 12:33am.
No one criticizes Obama as much as I do.
I, however, am not a two-faced twerp who criticizes Obama one day and plants drool covered osculations his lying ass the next.
Back to you, rude rudy.
MD
Thank You
Submitted by red-sox-rudy on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 11:21am.
Thank you for proving my previous point about resorting to ad hominem attacks. So you think it is two-faced to criticize someone for substantive policy disagreements, but to defend them from ridiculous trivial attacks?
Not at all, rude rudy---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sat, 08/27/2011 - 5:50pm.
but then, that wasn't my premise.
Admittedly, though, I have no idea what your second sentence purports to say.
People who defend Obama, with regularity, see anything negative said about him as ridiculous, trivial, and an attack on him personally.
Unless, of course, they choose to emphasize a statement as innocuous as a different opinion on a particular policy of Obama's as being somehow racist in nature.
That used to work pretty well; but no longer.
Liberal fools still try it, though.
A group, to which, you apparently belong.
MD
Congrats!!
Submitted by red-sox-rudy on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 10:57am.
This was your first reply that didn't just call me an idiot or an ass kisser, so I guess we are making progress. Now where you are wrong. I don't see anything negative said about him as ridiculous or trivial. The original post is attacking him for taking a vacation. I really don't see "a different opinion on a particular policy" as you rightly put it. So yes, this whole right wing meme is "ridiculous, trivial, and an attack on him personally."
Wrong, rude rudy---
Submitted by matthewdean on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 1:45am.
"We" are making no progress.
There will never be any progress made between myself and an Obama ass kisser/apologist.
Never.
Obama is a poseur; an arrogant, lying pos; who in addition is also a weasel, and an incompetent dork as well.
You are just another lib on a conservative site, who, on the rare occasion you can pull your head from either your own or your Messiah's nether region long enough to squeeze out a post, commits to liberal BS talking points in trying to deflect any earned criticism whatsoever from your Lord and Master.
Small wonder, indeed, that you cannot bring yourself to criticize your hero.
If you get a spare ten seconds or so, let me know of something, anything, that Obama has done to warrant ANOTHER vacation so as to rest up from his mighty mental efforts and physical travails.
Just one little ol' thing.
MD
Thank you!
Submitted by red-sox-rudy on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 10:41am.
Way to prove every stereotype us "libs" have about conservatives. Not a single coherent, rational argument in that whole post. Just reactionary name calling. I mean really, you make it too easy.
P.S. As far as one thing goes, how about the nice tax cuts you and I both got from Obama. I know you probably don't like to admit it, but the the percentage of income that is taxed by government is at it's lowest level since the Eisenhower administration.
we're spending less
Submitted by kata on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 11:06am.
and we're making less - so we're getting taxed less. That was the premise for that article.
• Stimulus law. One-third of last year's $862 billion economic stimulus went for tax cuts. Biggest reduction: The Making Work Pay tax credit reduced income taxes $800 for married couples earning up to $150,000.
• Progressive tax rates. Presidents Clinton and Bush pushed through a series of tax changes — credits, lower rates, higher exemptions — that slashed income taxes for poor and middle-class families. A drop in income now can trigger big tax breaks and sharply lower rates, sometimes falling to zero.
• Sales tax. Consumers cut spending sharply in this downturn, thereby paying less in sales taxes.
We got $800. That money went straight into savings. So much for boosting the economy. But yay for us, right? Eight hundred bucks? Oh boy money for us we should be happy because we got money oh boy money money money! Only if I was ten and had no concept of where that money came from and what it's really costing this country.
What would make me happy? Seeing Congress live up to its responsibilities and become better stewards of our pocketbooks.
You are most welcome, red rudy, ---
Submitted by matthewdean on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 9:45pm.
though the phrase tax "cuts" is rather inane; and the addition of "nice" is asinine.
I am not here to disavow you, or any other lib, of your cherished "stereotypes" regarding conservatives, because that is ALL you have to hang on to.
Oddly enough, I have yet to meet a liberal on these threads who has ever presented anything coherent or rational that could be used to demonstrate to me that their ideological bent is anything other than incoherent AND irrational when all they subscribe to is:
Show me wrong, red rudy, with one of YOUR coherent, rational arguments that is neither an example of, nor a template for, boiler plate Lib-Dim talking points.
Over to you.
MD
Paging The Vet.
Submitted by drsamherman on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 9:56pm.
I think R-R-S is another troll candidate.
That was an instant classic, Matthew...
Submitted by Jer on Thu, 09/01/2011 - 1:18am.
Oddly enough, I have yet to meet a liberal on these threads who has ever presented anything coherent or rational that could be used to demonstrate to me that their ideological bent is anything other than incoherent AND irrational when all they subscribe to is:
* "Conservatives / Republicans must try harder at bi-partisanship, and -
* "Let's raise taxes and share the bucks with those too lazy to work, and continue to spend ourselves into oblivion
Odd? Not at all. It's entirely predictable and preordained. You haven't yet nor will you ever meet such a liberal because matthewdean is the quintessential ideologue who admittedly--and reflexively--despises all liberals and any and all iterations of liberalism. The inflexibility of your views long ago passed the point of mere intellectual rigidity. It has resulted in deeply embedded preconceptions so thoroughly fossilized within your permanently closed mind that a pulverizing pneumatic jackhammer would be no more successful at dislodging them than would the hapless application of plastic picnic cutlery.
Jer
Yeah, Jer---
Submitted by matthewdean on Thu, 09/01/2011 - 2:18am.
Same kind of problem that pulverizing pneumatic jackhammer would have removing your panties that have been so adroitly wedged up the crack of your ass by ol' matthewdean.
I love it when a plan comes together.
You gots ta lighten up, there, Jer.
If you keep spendin' all yer time trying, I say trying, to get one up on me in the insult game, you gonna forget to disencumber yo sef from that there wedgie, and it shall become one with you; and you will forever have to do yer complaining in falsetto.
MD
And has played 3 times as
Submitted by NC Cop on Sat, 08/20/2011 - 10:39pm.
And has played 3 times as many rounds of golf!!! Apparently, you didn't mind when the media "whined" about G.W. playing golf.
So please go be hypocritical somewhere else.
Radical is right: YANKEES RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
if -
Submitted by kata on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 11:16am.
if Obama set up a permanent residence in the Vineyard I'd have less of a hard spot. Less. He's still obviously disconnected from reality. It seems he has no idea how the average American family views his lavish vacations.
Bush vacationed at his own home in the middle of bf texas that was easily monitored and managed by the secret service. By that alone it cost us, as the taxpayer, significantly less than chasing Obama all over MV. As a person who has worked from home - I am not of the belief that a President who vacations AT HOME does not work. Especially if they have set up their own home AS a place of work.