Oh, For Goodness Sake

Gifted in so many ways, Obama has yet to prove that he has any affinity for sloth, for torpor, for nodding off in the middle of the day. One senses that he is a man for whom being lazy requires extreme discipline.

As a product of the meritocracy he has limited experience with the aristocratic concept of “summering.” He’s a grinder, a wonk, a careerist — the kind of person who, on the rare occasions when he takes a vacation, will write “Have A Beer” on his To Do list.

Obama in recent weeks has outed himself as a workaholic. The House of Representatives skeedaddled for vacation at the beginning of August, and the Senate a week later, but the president has continued to maintain an official schedule, holding town halls, hosting White House ceremonies, meeting with the Egyptian president, and apparently failing to notice that everyone else has left town.

Recent presidents have not been so vacation-averse. Some had ranches where they spent large chunks of their presidencies, clearing brush. But Obama has no ranch, and, if he did, it is hard to imagine that he would spend his time worrying about the brush at all. He is a pragmatist. He would delegate that work. “Hit it with the flame-thrower,” he would say.

Obama has made it most of the way through August without taking his vacation, but there’s no way he can postpone it any longer. After a Camp David interlude he is heading to Martha’s Vineyard. He must relax not simply for a few hours, but for an entire week-and-a-half of vacation….

The No-Fun Presidency may be largely imposed by outside forces. We live in a time of rampant sanctimony. Everyone wants to pass judgment on everyone else, and the president, always in the spotlight, can’t put his feet up on the desk without it becoming an international incident. Now just watch the reaction when he takes a few days off. How unconscionable! We’re in two wars! Health care hangs in the balance! Please, for the love of God, turn your Blackberry on!

On cue:

And yet:

On Thursday, Bush left for a weekend in Kennebunkport, Maine, and his family’s summer compound, Walker’s Point. On Monday, he heads to his Crawford retreat, where he has spent all or part of 418 days of his presidency, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS News White House correspondent and meticulous record-keeper.

…The presidential vacation-time record holder is the late Ronald Reagan, who tallied 436 days in his two terms. At 418 days, and with 17 months to go in his presidency, Bush is going to beat that easily.

Is Obama up to the challenge?