A tale of three presidents

All I can say is it's good work if you can get it.

Is it just me or is he on a girl's bike? 

It must be nice being President... Obama to jet off to Hawaii for SEVENTEEN DAY Christmas vacation

While most Americans are lucky to get a few weeks of holiday every year, it seems the country’s leader gets a little more freedom in the matter.

President Barack Obama has announced his Christmas vacation to Hawaii – for a staggering 17-day trip.

Obama, who visited the island just two weeks ago for an economic summit, will head to Honolulu on Saturday December 17 until Monday January 2.

The president, who was raised in Hawaii until he was six, will be joined by his wife Michelle and their daughters, Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10.

The White House travel office announced the president has no public events scheduled for the trip.

The President's family covers the cost of a private beach front residence in Kailua, Oahu, for their vacation - a ‘Winter White House’ that costs up to $3,500 a day, or $75,000 a month.
But the local and federal taxpayers help pay the bill for travel and security.

Last year the trip cost more than $1 million,according to the Hawaii Reporter.
Obama announced the trip during a campaign fundraiser on Oahu's Leeward Coast during his stay on the island last month.

He covered the cost of his family's accommodation, but the rest was covered by the taxpayers.
The bill to house Secret Service agents and Navy Seals in beach front accommodation stretched to $16,800.

A further hotel bill of $134,400 covered 24 White House staff staying in the Moana Hotel at a rate of $400 a day.

The estimate, by the Hawaii Reporter, also included $250,000 for local police overtime, $1 million for the president's own round trip flight to Hawaii on Air Force One, and $10,000 for a local
ambulance to accompany the presidential motorcade.

‘It is great to be home, great to feel that Aloha spirit,’ he said.

...It follows an 11-day stay in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, earlier this year, which is also believed to have cost the U.S. taxpayer millions....

I'm a bit split on this. The fact he is squandering millions of tax dollars on his rest and relaxation really pisses me off. Especially since the people in the media who make no objection to this howled like wolves when George W Bush or Reagan would go to their ranches and chop wood. And unlike the current occupant no one questioned those men were still working every day. I really think with Bush the 4th Estate was annoyed while Clinton and this guy brought them to Martha's Vineyard and Hawaii, Bush was in Crawford were there is nothing and the people there were not so happy to see them.

But if it keeps him from screwing up more and hopefully helps to his downfall....it's money well spent.