Five years ago, Molly Ivins warned us. After watching George W. Bush serve as Texas’ governor for about six years, Ivins came to a fairly simple conclusion: “I can’t imagine why anyone would consider him for president. He’s not smart, he doesn’t know much, and he doesn’t work hard.” Particularly on that last point, Bush has gone out of his way to prove how right Ivins was.
For contextual purposes, let’s recall that Ronald Reagan, the oldest man ever elected president and someone who was clearly in deteriorating health in his second term, set the standard for vacationing chief executives. During his two terms, Reagan spent all or part of 335 days at his ranch in Santa Barbara, Calif., which was a record.
Bush, meanwhile, will easily pass Reagan’s record this month –and Bush still has three and a half years to go.
President Bush is getting the kind of break most Americans can only dream of — nearly five weeks away from the office, loaded with vacation time.
The president departed Tuesday for his longest stretch yet away from the White House, arriving at his Crawford ranch in the evening for a stretch of clearing brush, visiting with family and friends, and tending to some outside-the-Beltway politics. By historical standards, it is the longest presidential retreat in at least 36 years.
The August getaway is Bush’s 49th trip to his cherished ranch since taking office and the 319th day that Bush has spent, entirely or partially, in Crawford — nearly 20 percent of his presidency to date, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS Radio reporter known for keeping better records of the president’s travel than the White House itself. Weekends and holidays at Camp David or at his parents’ compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, bump up the proportion of Bush’s time away from Washington even further.
I can appreciate that everyone needs a break once in a while, and I don’t begrudge the president taking some time off. But no president has ever avoided work at the White House to the extent that Bush does. At one point last year, we learned that Bush has spent over 40% of his presidency at one of his many “retreats,” not including the hours of exercise he builds into his daily schedule, and the fact that he likes to turn in for the night pretty early.
I wonder how many working Americans would like to spend 40% of their time vacationing at a retreat.
The White House response, of course, is two-fold. One, they say, Bush keeps in touch by leaving Washington.
“Spending time outside of Washington always gives the president a fresh perspective of what’s on the minds of the American people,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters Friday.
That might be mildly persuasive, if it were true. Under the Bubble Boy policies, Bush continues to only see pre-screened sycophants, so he only learns about what’s on the minds of those who already adore him. “Perspective”? I don’t think so.
Two, they say, nothing substantively changes when Bush is away from the Oval Office.
At the ranch, White House officials say, Bush continues to receive daily national security briefings, sign documents, hold teleconferences with aides and military commanders, and even meet with foreign leaders.
I understand the argument that the president remains engaged and can be an effective leader during his annual month-long escape to Crawford, but there’s ample evidence to suggest otherwise.
The revelation came this morning, when CIA Director George Tenet was on the stand. Timothy Roemer, a former Democratic congressman, asked him when he first found out about the report from the FBI’s Minnesota field office that Zacarias Moussaoui, an Islamic jihadist, had been taking lessons on how to fly a 747. Tenet replied that he was briefed about the case on Aug. 23 or 24, 2001.
Roemer then asked Tenet if he mentioned Moussaoui to President Bush at one of their frequent morning briefings. Tenet replied, “I was not in briefings at this time.” Bush, he noted, “was on vacation.” He added that he didn’t see the president at all in August 2001. During the entire month, Bush was at his ranch in Texas. “You never talked with him?” Roemer asked. “No,” Tenet replied. By the way, for much of August, Tenet too was, as he put it, “on leave.”
And there you have it. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has made a big point of the fact that Tenet briefed the president nearly every day. Yet at the peak moment of threat, the two didn’t talk at all. At a time when action was needed, and orders for action had to come from the top, the man at the top was resting undisturbed….
[A]t this peak moment, Tenet hears about Moussaoui. Someone might have added 2 + 2 + 2 and possibly busted up the conspiracy. But the president was down on the ranch, taking it easy. Tenet wasn’t with him. Tenet never talked with him. Rice — as she has testified — wasn’t with Bush, either. He was on his own and, willfully, out of touch.