NunoftheAbove

During the eight years of Bush-42, much was made about his frequent trips to his ranch in Crawford, TX, however most of the MSM press never actually understood the appeal of the place.  Yes, the most expensive hotel room goes for $139 a night and the cost of a meal at the Coffee Station, the only restaurant in Crawford, will run less than $10 with tip, but the 90 degree plus summer days seemed to turn off many of the press corps which travel with the president.  They even ponied up $26,000 to air condition the local school gym which became the press briefing area.  After the bean counters in the corporate news offices figured out how much they were saving on hotel and food for their reporters, the a/c tab probably seemed like a bargain.

For Bush vacations were about renewal of the spirit and he found his balance while cutting down mesquite trees and putting up fences.  Manual labor, hard, hot work for a man who was carrying the weight of a country under attack on his shoulders.

President Obama vacation this year has taken him back to a place that he is familiar with as well. He spent much of his youth in Hawaii and only last year returned their following the death of his grandmother.  This year, the time off doesn’t carry the same cloak of grief, but a time of family fun and recreational relaxing all at a price that would make some Americans a little uncomfortable. Although there are accomodations available for less than the rate of $750,000 daily rate for beachfront house that will house the Obama clan, there is still the issue of feeding the rest of the entourage.  The most parsimonious diner will find it hard to find anything on the menus of Honolulu for less than $22.  But the weather is beautiful allowing time for golf which will add $100 to the expense account.

It is certainly easy to see why the press would prefer Obama over Bush.  Of course it is always easy to choose Paradise over Inferno, especially if someone else is picking up the tab.  And with this president, all spending is considered an answer to the recession.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 2nd, 2010 at 8:40 pm and is filed under Commentary, US News, US Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tags:Barack, George W. Bush