Today's Daily Stat (8/17/2011)

Obama's vacation roughly one-third of Bush's at this time in his presidency

President Barack Obama is getting a lot of heat from some Republicans regarding his plans to meet up with his family in Martha's Vineyard for ten whole days. Following the economy in peril (due mostly to Republican stubbornness), the president took a three-day tour across the Midwest, after which he will go to his much-needed vacation.

But some in the GOP are not too thrilled about this time off:

“Don't go,” veteran Republican media strategist Mike Murphy emailed Thursday when I asked about Obama’s plan to vacation on the elite Massachusetts resort island from August 18 through August 27. “It’s not a good time to start acting like the rich guys he wants to raise taxes on.”

...

“I’m a strong believer in the president getting away from the White House and doing whatever he can for his mental state to run the country,” [Joe Scarborough] the host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe told me. “That’s not only good for the president, it’s good for America. But In this case, I just believe that politically, the image of the president vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard, while world markets are teetering on the brink of collapse, would send a horrific message—-not only to the market but to Middle America.”

But the president deserves the vacation. The headache that Congress is giving him is reason enough to warrant a few days away. And the president won't really be away from his business -- as with any vacation, the president brings his work with him (well, maybe with the exception of President Bush during Hurricane Katrina).

Yet there exists another reason why Obama is deserving of a vacation: he's taken far less time off than previous presidents have at this point in their tenure. In his first 31 months in office, Barack Obama has taken only 61 days of vacation time, compared to 112 taken off by Ronald Reagan 31 months in, and a whopping 180 days of vacation taken by George W. Bush at this time. And that's today's Daily Stat.

At this time in their tenures, President Obama has taken three times less vacation time than President George W. Bush had.