Leading from Afar, or Out of Touch?

Monday, 12 April 2004

This is Bush’s 33rd visit to his ranch since becoming president. He has spent all or part of 233 days on his Texas ranch since taking office, according to a tally by CBS News. Adding his 78 visits to Camp David and his five visits to Kennebunkport, Maine, Bush has spent all or part of 500 days in office at one of his three retreats, or more than 40 percent of his presidency.

I guess I can understand that; after all, I work from home a fair amount. Then again, I’m not responsible for people’s lives or well-being. Would a CEO spend that much time away? Would anyone else you’d call a world leader?

[via Aaron]

4 Comments

Gordon Weakliem said:

Yes on the CEO question. Top execs at my employer are hardly ever in the office. As grumpy pointed out, it’s not unusual, I remember hearing the Clinton vacation statistics while he was still in office. If you factor in travel days for whatever reason (fundraising, visiting constituients, visiting other leaders), the president is probably away from the White House more than he’s there. Carter spent a lot of time at Camp David, hence the “Camp David Accord”. I think I remember hearing that Carter much preferred Camp David to the White House.

Friday, April 16 2004 at 3:06 AM

grumpy said:

So much partisanship, so little discussion! Go back and look at Clinton’s record. He racked up more “vacation” days than any president before him. The fact of the matter is that present-day POTUSs work while on vacation. After all, its hardly a relaxing game of golf if at every hole you have to stop and answer questions from reporters.

Friday, April 16 2004 at 8:01 AM

Mark Nottingham said:

Does your CEO spend most of their time at home? Mine isn’t around the office much either, but he’s on the road, going to customers and talking to his peers. Arguably, for a president this would mean being in Washington to interact with rest of the Executive branch, with Congress, and being on the road to talk to the American people, or at least with them through the press.

Still, let’s compare apples with apples. Do you have references for other presidents’ time at home and vacation retreats like Camp David?

Saturday, April 17 2004 at 8:53 AM

Mike Cee said:

It sounds like a sensible security precaution. The White House is a big, easily identifiable structure whereas ~dubya and camp david are not, They’re also subtantially less subject to public scrutiny in terms of “goings on”. Everyone knows who goes in and out of the white house, or what the P does in Washington. The same isn’t necessarily true of his ranch and the retreat. It makes a lot of sense. No, I’m not defending anyone :-),

Thursday, April 22 2004 at 1:55 AM

mark nottingham