| By Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker, Washington Post - August 3, 2005 WACO, Texas -- President Bush is getting the kind of break most Americans can only dream of -- 33 days away from the office, loaded with vacation time. The president departed yesterday for his longest stretch away from the White House, arriving at his Crawford ranch in the evening for five weeks of clearing brush, visiting with family and friends, and tending to some outside-the-Beltway politics. By historical standards, it is the longest presidential retreat in at least 36 years. The August getaway is Bush's 49th trip to his cherished ranch since taking office and the 319th day that Bush has spent, entirely or partially, in Crawford -- nearly 20 percent of his presidency to date, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS Radio reporter known for keeping better records of the president's travel than the White House itself. Weekends at Camp David or at his parents' compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, bump up the proportion of Bush's time away from Washington even further. ....Until now, probably no modern president was a more famous vacationer than Ronald Reagan. According to an Associated Press count, Reagan spent all or part of 335 days at his Santa Barbara ranch over his eight-year presidency -- a total that Bush will surpass this month in Crawford with 3 1/2 years left in his second term. |
I don't know whether to be thankful that he's not in D.C. fucking things up even more for us all, or angered that he'll end up spending more than 1 year of his Presidency on vacation.
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