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MSN.com
No optical
illusion: Obama balances world crises with golf, time off
OAK BLUFFS Mass. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama gave Americans an
update on U.S. military strikes in Iraq on Saturday from a podium on
the White House lawn with Marine One, the presidential helicopter,
parked in the background.
Four hours later, he offered an altogether different tableau: a golf
game with friends at a lush course on Martha's Vineyard, the upscale
Massachusetts island where the president and his family began a
two-week vacation.
The contrasting scenes, which quickly sparked some hostile commentary
from critics, illustrate the dilemma of taking time off when you are
the most powerful leader in the world and, by definition, handling
major issues all the time.
Part of the problem is dealing with appearances, or 'optics' as
Washington pundits like to call it.
With crises boiling in Gaza, Iraq and Ukraine, Obama - like his
presidential predecessors in similar circumstances - proceeded with
plans for a summer break, but only after making his Iraq statement
against the very presidential backdrop.
Administration officials made clear he would continue to do his job
even while getting some time off, and a phalanx of aides, including
national security adviser Susan Rice, came along to ensure that a
virtual Oval Office was never far away.
"The president will be traveling to Massachusetts with an array of
communications equipment and national security advisers and others to
ensure that he has the capacity to make the kinds of decisions that are
required for the Commander-in-Chief," White House spokesman Josh
Earnest told reporters on Friday.
"And if there’s a need for the president to return to the White House,
it’s not a long flight from Martha’s Vineyard back to Washington, D.C."
White House officials go to great pains to show Obama is on top of
world events even when he is on fundraising trips or family vacations...
Read the rest of the story at MSN.com
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