A Vineyard Too Far

[Geee]

National Review:


People who rail against “fat cats” shouldn’t vacation with them.

By Sunday afternoon, the Gallup tracking poll showed a 17-point spread in the president’s approval rating — 38 percent approval to 55 percent disapproval. Such polls are fickle and can go up and down quickly, often depending on unwarranted and unfair perceptions and media hype, hinging on everything from hurricanes to killing bin Laden. That said, these recent abysmal numbers might suggest that for the first time, a considerable number of Americans is starting to be turned off not just by Barack Obama’s economic policies, but by Barack Obama himself. But why now?
The president’s latest Martha’s Vineyard vacation was a public-relations disaster, wholly unnecessary, and in part responsible for Obama’s most recent slide in the polls. Part of the problem was purely coincidental and no one’s fault: Who could have expected that while the president of the United States was resting on an exclusive private beach on a tony island on a calm August day, millions of Eastern Seaboarders around him would be engaged in a media-driven frenzy of emergency preparation and evacuation?

Yet most of the negative perception was the president’s own doing. For nearly three years, there has been something strange about the First Family’s ritzy getaway tastes. The annual Martha’s Vineyard rentals were bookended by First Family junkets to Vail, Costa del Sol, and Hawaii. The choice of venues spawned at least three problems for the president that have nothing to do with the First Family’s right, and indeed duty, to enjoy a little well-earned vacation time — or with the fact that other presidents have vacationed in nice places.

First, Obama’s fiery rhetoric (“fat-cat bankers,” “corporate jets,” “millionaires and billionaires,” “redistributive change,” “at a certain point you’ve made enough money,” etc.) has demonized the better off. Many successful liberal presidents do that, but they finesse the necessary fundraising and schmoozing with Wall Street zillionaires with tact and discretion. Bill Clinton was a past master at gluing a populist veneer atop his deep fascination with old money and hip celebrity. The Obamas are far clumsier in both their class-warfare boilerplate and their overt elite tastes, whose contradictions they apparently either miss or don’t much care about.

[NCTexan]

That damned George Bush took too many days of lavish vacations pampering himself in exotic places all over the world....

 

How dare anyone criticize The One for wanting to spend a few private moments with his beautiful young daughters and wife with the well toned arms?

 

King Bush on the 18th hole at Crawford.

 

 

With the president of some little Asian country in Crawford.

 

With the prime minister of some little colonialist island... in Crawford.

 

With a dude from some backwater from the other side of the world... in Crawford.

 

Getting a massage at a luxury spa at tax payer's expense... in Crawford

 

I can't believe how many days Emperor Bush took away from his job and responsibilities. Just count the days yourself. (I didn't have to... MSNBC did it for me.)

 

What a "poof"!

[clearvision]

Good article.

[righteousmomma]

Some mighty fine points, NCT.

VDH always makes zinger points and it is a good article.

[NCTexan]

Few recognized at the time... that the "fist bump" just made their reparations official.

 

 

And now after the Martha's Vineyard PR disaster, I expect to see his handlers do a makeover of Barry for his big speech on the economy... to convince us that he can relate to "us common folk".

 

 

I expect to hear something like this...

 

And that's the only thing I need is *this*.

 

I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray... And this paddle game.

 

- The ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need... And this remote control.

 

- The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need... And these matches. - The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control, and the paddle ball... And this lamp.

 

- The ashtray, this paddle game, and the remote control, and the lamp, and that's all *I* need. And that's *all* I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one... I need this.

 

- The paddle game and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches for sure. Well what are you looking at? What do you think I'm some kind of a jerk or something!

 

- And this. That's all I need.