http://www.hawaiireporter.com/with-m...-holiday-rises

This piece in the Hawaii Register has the costs of the trip itemized. I don't think the article is biased or hyperbole, the accounting is fair, but these stories are written for Drudgetarding purposes, with blaring headlines and much more mundane details ("PRESIDENT TAKES 4 MILLION DOLLAR HAWAIIAN VACATION!!!!!!....3.85 million of 4 million spent on using Air Force One to take round trip flight"), looking to get links to sites that gin up populist angst ("President took a vacation, cost millions, he should be WORKING for AMERICANS to get them JERBS or else they will STARVE").

A vast majority of the quoted costs for these trips is due to the costs of moving the security entourage around and using Air Force One to get the President from Point A to Point B.

But:

1. Protecting the President for a staycation playing Wii in the White House isn't free either.
2. Anytime the President goes anywhere, be it state business or vacation, it necessarily costs millions to lug around his security detail and use Air Force One. You could argue the President should be more judicious when he decides to fly, but I think there's a collective determination on the part of the Secret Service or whatever that he has to fly in that plane, so he's not next to smelly fat people looking at his laptop like he would be on a commercial flight on Southwest, and also he can launch nukes from it at the Russians or the Iranians or the whales or whoever needs nuking.

The length of and whether the President deserves X amount of vacation is uninteresting to me, but the quoted costs thing is annoying because the picture people paint dropping those quotes is Obama is in Hawaii making it rain hundos at a luau while Michelle Obama lights designer dresses on fire and Sasha and Malia skip Faberge eggs into the ocean or whatever the ****, instead of the actual pedestrian explanation, that it costs a lot of money to move the President around and keep a moving radius around him secure.

There's probably some merit Air Force One and the President's security apparatus is needlessly extravagant. But that really has nothing to do with Obama or this vacation. Air Force One is an insane toy, it costs a lot of monies to operate, it did for the Presidents before and will for the Presidents after. The army of security people also come with the territory. The people who are like WHAT ABOUT THE SYMBOLISM like General Tsao would be just as cynical if Obama stayed in his bathrobe all weekend in DC and touted the savings by not going to Hawaii, that it was just a symbolic ploy and wouldn't save any significant amounts of money.

Although I will note that article, again while doing a pretty good job (compared to what I expect) relaying the relevant facts, touts that the costs of the vacation SKYROCKETED, while basically footnoting that the SKYROCKETTING nature of the costs is due to the fact that they used to estimate the costs of operating Air Force One based on 2000 GAO estimates.

They went and got updated estimates from the government this year, and so INCREDIBLY, Obama's 2011 vacation estimated in 2011 dollars is significantly more expensive than Obama's 2010 vacation where the biggest outlay was estimated in 2000 dollars. The Hawaii Reporter has proven that they have accounted for inflation in the past decade, incredible.

fwiw i think those odds are quite a bit off due to all the polls that only talk to registered republicans. But we will see on caucus day.

Those numbers that Nate puts out are based upon the underlying polls and are very volatile. I will be interested in seeing the Des Moines numbers, they were able to capture the new voters (like Paul will attract) in 2008 and correctly predicted Obama when most others had Clinton.

Long long thread, but the predictions of the first few pages of this thread are coming true, and it is not much of a surprise.

Romney will win this nomination, and we can only hope for the sake of the country that he will win in November too.

But lets enjoy the Santorum surge for the next week or so. Fun times.

Matt Romney (Mitt Romney's son) made a joke saying his dad will release his tax returns when Obama releases his birth certificate. Oops!

I am sick and tired of people bitching about Obama being on vacation. Like it matters if he wasn't on vacation. That guy could be in the office 365 days of the year and still this country would be a mess.

Obama's campaign already sent an e-mail about it.

FWIW: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php...awaii_Reporter

Hasn't he been on vacation since the election?

badabing

OMG, this is an actual argument.

You have a job, is that correct? And isn't it your first post grad job? It's not like you have any real responsibility that carries on past your quitting time or anything. And if you can't/won't/refuse to perform some activity after your posted working hours, it won't mean a thing to anyone. Another body just does what is needed.

Now if you had a position of real ownership or executive authority, where your direct input is required on an on call basis, then you might have a comparison. But cmon tsao, you are really reaching the depths of ridiculous here.

wat. i frequently work past quitting time because if i don't do my job then it could affect an entire factory or mine or other industrial sphere, shutting down production or what have you. when i leave for a vacation i put my cell number on my out of office so i can be contacted

Totally analogous to the POTUS' vacation imo.

They need to pay you more dude. I am sure they will soon.

It's not a proud achievement to need more time to complete your job. And generally not a point you want to bring up when requesting a promotion or raise. From time to time, sure the extra is needed to get ahead, and most people do exactly that if they are going on vaca next week. But to always be behind, watch your back.