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First, it should be noted that this question is political in nature, which means that partisans will say Mr. Obama was right, while detractors will say he was wrong. Further, this is a debate that has gone on for decades: does the president take too many days off, is the First Lady too extravagant, are taxpayer dollars being wasted, etc. One should also keep in mind that presidents are never truly "on vacation." Even when they take their family somewhere, they must be in constant communication with their staff and step up to lead if an emergency takes places.

That said, as of the end of December 2012, most reliable sources said Mr. Obama had taken between 84 and 90 vacation days. This is not an unusual number. Other presidents have taken more, some have taken fewer. According to CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, considered the unofficial presidential statistician, In his first three years in office, Mr. Obama took nine vacations. By the end of August, 2010, Knoller said, Obama spent about 48 days on vacation since he became president.

Knoller also said, in comparing presidential vacations, that the most days in recent memory were taken by President George W. Bush: he spent 879 vacation days during his eight years in office. But here again, the partisans want to weigh in, saying Mr. Bush was on vacation too much-- when in fact, despite being away from the White House and spending his time at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, he was still conducting official business on some occasions; on others, however that claim is harder to defend. But the point is that many of his critics asked the same questions now being asked about President Obama.

Rather than debating who was better or who took more "time off," a more important conversation is about whether even the Leader of the Free World deserves some time with his family. And if so, how much time should be given before partisans start complaining? There is nothing excessive in the number of vacation days President Obama took during his first term. And turning it into a comparison of Bush vs Obama probably won't yield anything other than further partisan claims that one guy wasted our money and the other did not.

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11y ago
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11y ago

This is a difficult question to answer, because all presidents do a lot of traveling during their term(s) in office. It is a myth that presidents only travel on vacation; rather, most of their travel is related to their job. They travel to give speeches; they attend diplomatic summits with world leaders; they represent the United States in negotiations with members of other countries; and they campaign for candidates in their party (or campaign for their own re-election). During 2012, Mr. Obama's travel was in large part related to the campaign, but he also did attend a number of meetings with world leaders; members of his cabinet; and meetings with business experts and advisers from all over the country, as newspaper reports documented.

Also, be suspicious of partisan blogs from either party that claim one president has spent most of his time doing nothing while another president spent his time getting things accomplished: such blogs usually are not entirely accurate, or mis-state the facts to make a partisan point (it is not true that President Bush "did nothing" just as it is not true that President Obama "did nothing"). President Obama's daily schedule and his weekly schedule are public record. You can keep tabs on his whereabouts by following the link below.

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13y ago

Although he prepared to take his sixth vacation of 2010 during the dog days of August, the president tends to take very short holidays. As of August 19, 2010, his five previous holidays totaled 20 days.

The Obama family was scheduled to spend 11 days at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

According to CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, considered the unofficial presidential statistician, Obama's summer trip will be his ninth vacation since taking office. By the time his trip to the Vineyard is complete, Knoller said, Obama willl have spent 48 days on vacation since he became president on January 20, 2009.

According to Knoller, President George W. Bush spent 879 days on holiday during his eight years in office.

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11y ago

In his first term as president, Barack Obama has visited 35 different countries on diplomatic and economic trips; he also made a trip to Oslo, Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. The president has visited the troops in Afghanistan on three occasions, and visited the troops who are stationed in several other countries as well. Additionally, he has traveled throughout the United States making speeches about policy issues, having meetings with governors and business leaders, and in 2012, many of his trips involved the presidential campaign. While we do not have an exact count of all of his travel, I enclose a very thorough link which shows a large majority of the trips he has taken, and the reasons for them.

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11y ago

Most reliable sources say he took 84 (some say 90) vacation days during his first term. This is not an unusual amount: some presidents have taken many more days, and others fewer. It should also be noted that no president is ever really "on vacation"-- he must stay in touch with his staff in case there is a crisis and he needs to step in and take charge.

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12y ago

Including August 2011, 66. BTW, George W Bush had taken 180 vacation days as of this point in his presidency.

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12y ago

60 outings

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