Presidential vacations are nothing new: Harry Truman played poker and fished in Key West, Florida; Dwight Eisenhower spent his holidays blasting golf balls at a tree that is named in his honor at Augusta National; John Kennedy played touch football and sailed at the family compound in Hyannis Port, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, while George Bush senior threw horseshoes in the grounds of his home in Maine.
But even for a man famed for taking long, luxuriant holidays, this year's presidential vacation is breaking records. When US President George W. Bush boarded Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base just outside Washington on Tuesday to make the journey to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, it signaled the start of nearly five weeks away from the White House, believed to be the longest retreat in at least 36 years.
The extended August break has drawn fire with Democrats accusing Bush of running away from a growing political scandal surrounding his chief political adviser, Karl Rove. In response the White House has spent much of the last week emphasizing just how busy the president will be over the summer.
PHOTO: AFP
But less than five years into his eight years in office, Bush is closing in fast on the record set by Ronald Reagan who spent 345 days -- nearly one eighth of his presidency -- at his Santa Barbara ranch.
"It just seems a lot easier to sort out a problem when I'm on a horse," is how the Gipper defended his vacations in his autobiography.
This year's getaway is Bush's 49th visit to Prairie Chapel ranch near Waco, and the 319th day that he has spent entirely or partially in Crawford since he was sworn in, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS radio reporter famous for keeping better records of the president's travel than the White House itself.
The president spent 27 days at his ranch in August 2001, another 27 days in August 2002, and 29 days in August 2003. According to the Washington Post, Bush's pattern in those years was to disappear for the first week of vacation, reappear to attend an economic forum (2002) or to look at damage from forest fires (2002 and 2003), disappear again, then re-emerge for a few more political trips and possibly a fundraiser or two.
The pattern was broken last year when his holiday was slashed to two weeks because of fears that the electorate might turn it into a permanent vacation at the polls in November. The image of the president, already saddled with a reputation for being reluctant to work late nights (he is regularly in bed before 10pm) or weekends, lazing away August was not one Rove relished.
This year the White House, in an effort to nip criticism in the bud, has decided the president will make several public appearances early to emphasize that he is still on the job. There was a speech in Grapevine, Texas, on Wednesday while President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia was a guest at the ranch yesterday.
The secretary of state, Condoleeza Rice, and the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, are also due to pop by at some point for consultations -- both will no doubt be hoping they do not suffer the fate of previous sweaty cabinet members who have made the trek to the searing heat of Crawford and have been forced by the president to eat fried jalapeno peppers at the town's only restaurant.
Bush told reporters on Monday: "I have a busy couple of weeks down there." White House press secretary Scott McClellan rammed home the message.
"Spending time outside Washington always gives the president a fresh perspective of what's on the mind of the American people," he said. "It's a time, really for him to shed the coat and tie and meet with folks out in the heartland and hear what's on their minds."
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