Keller @ Large: Obama Needs His Vineyard Vacation
BOSTON (CBS) - President Obama arrives on the Vineyard later today to begin his summer vacation, and some people think he shouldn't be taking it.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
Podcast
Here is the argument in a nutshell, in the form of a quote from inexplicably-affluent nutshell Donald Trump in an interview with Fox News:
"It sends a bad message. Here we have a country that really is going to hell in a handbasket... All over the world, they're talking about it. And we have a president that's constantly -- whether it's Martha's Vineyard or someplace else, constantly on vacation. I mean, all the time he's on vacation! So I think it sends a very, very bad message. We have to work in this country to bring it back."
In England, the word "trump" is a popular euphemism for passing gas, and here, Donald Trump is living up to that definition.
For starters, the president is not "constantly on vacation."
But more to the point, if ever there was someone who needed some time to be with his family, decompress, sit quietly and read and think, it's President Obama at this particular moment.
Everyone needs downtime, especially those who are busiest and most stressed.
Do you really believe that a worn-out, frazzled Obama would make better decisions and get more done spending the next ten days in the Beltway cesspool than he will after vacation?
I know that if I don't get proper rest and my fair share of recreation, I'm nowhere near as effective a crank.
As far as the visuals of a presidential vacation, anyone who will bristle at the sight of the president out on the links or eating ice cream with the kids would also bristle at the sight of him breathing.
Our current political problems are not the result of well-balanced, thinking people failing to get things done.
They're the work of overextended, overwrought residents of a bubble world where calm reflection and good nature fail to thrive.
President Obama needs his time outside the bubble, as best he can pull that off.
We'll all be better off for it.
Just as we're always better off when we ignore extraneous trumping.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
