Column By Mike Bibb
The 81-year-old commander-in-chief has racked up 532 vacation days in less than four years — about 40% of the 1,326 days he’s been in office. It would take the average American — who gets 11 (work) days a year of vacation — approximately 48 years to accumulate that number of days off, according to shocking data compiled by the Republican National Committee.
Who doesn’t like vacations?
Show me a person who doesn’t enjoy vacation time, and I’ll show you a person who has never worked. Or is a workaholic.
The Federal Government has created 11 national holidays. Only the months of March, April, and August are void of the events.
Interestingly, there are 12 federal days off during the year of a presidential inauguration. As a result, 2025 will have an extra day of rest.
Except, maybe, for the person winning the election. Then, it’ll be a Monday of parades and celebrations.
Yet, according to the New York Post, Joe Biden has spent 532 days on vacation in about three and a half years – 494 more days than the 38 days of federal holidays during the same period.
Of course, additional state and personal holidays are adding to the total, but for illustration purposes, I’ll stick with the national ones since Joe is a federal employee.
Adding to the score, Biden – now a Lame Duck President – has seemed to run up the amount even more quickly. Hardly a week passes when there isn’t a report, two, or three of Joe and Jill, stretched out in a recliner enjoying the salubrious climate of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, as Secret Service agents circle their perimeter.
Joe and Jill have about 4.5 months left in his term. His salary will drop from $400,000 ($33,333 per month) a year to around $250,000, plus $50,000 in nontaxable travel expenses. There are additional earnings to cover other costs.
With an accumulated 532 days of vacation (17.7 months), Joe has been paid more than an entire year of wages – 18 months x $33,300 per month = $599,400. He still has until Jan. 20, 2025, to take more vacation time.
This is amazing. Joe has been on the government payroll nearly his entire adult life and will remain so while retired. What a gig he’s had.
“But Mike, Joe doesn’t receive vacation pay. He’s paid a yearly (monthly) wage which includes his vacation compensation” some will say.
True. Except, when he’s on vacation he isn’t in the office. As noted, he’s been out of the office 494 more days than the 38 days of federal holidays in the last three and a half years.
In effect, we’re paying him for not showing up for work.
“But Mike, Joe’s the President and he has a staff he’s in constant touch with” while grabbing an ice cream cone somewhere on the Jersey Shore.
Again, true. Except, the voters didn’t elect Joe’s bloated cadre of cabinet members, staffers, and bureaucrats just so he could skip the office and romp in the surf.
I realize Joe is suffering mental decline, and sometimes gets confused. That’s obvious, since his own Democratic Party removed him, fearing he would lose to Trump in November.
Silly me, I thought that’s why we had elections – for the people to decide who they wanted to represent them; not determined by an unseen bunch of political strategists and tacticians.
Party officials had other ideas. After all, they must be smarter than the rest of us.
This seems perplexing, considering they replaced Joe with his less talented Vice President. I don’t believe anyone seriously considers Kamala to be a deep thinker, or even aware of what’s going on around her.
She has at least one notable attribute – she does what she’s told by those in charge of deciding policy and procedures: Evident since her sudden rise to stardom six weeks ago.
However, listening to her explain presidential ambitions and goals is a little challenging to fathom. Unlike Joe, she doesn’t stutter and stumble through a teleprompter-assisted speech. Instead, her rambling use of repeated words and vague terms is confusing to such an extent it becomes difficult to comprehend what she is trying to say.
Anytime an individual can catapult to the level of being one of the two main individuals vying for the Presidency without receiving a single Primary Election vote, doesn’t have a clue about the economy, open border issues, world affairs, wars, and law, and order, then a person has to wonder how is that possible without assistance from behind-the-scenes handlers?
In much the same way Joe managed to hang on until he was no longer useful and jeopardized the loss of Democrat’s grip on Washington politics.
As we’re finding out, a routinely vacationing $400,000 a-year chief executive isn’t of much use if he threatens to upset the apple cart because of cognitive deterioration, failing skills, and absent-mindedness.
Consequently, desperation promotes determination in quickly reacting to salvage what is left of a floundering political machine.
Replacing Joe with an equally incompetent closing pitcher may be an inside baseball maneuver, but Dems should at least find a substitute who can throw a few strikes.
Guess, in today’s political marketplace, good help is hard to get. Four hundred thousand dollars doesn’t buy much anymore. Maybe Kamala can work part-time at McDonalds to help make ends meet.
Wait – she says she’s done that, too!
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.
Editor’s Note: Biden’s vacation time greatly surpasses that of his predecessors. Former President Donald Trump spent about 26% of his presidency on personal trips, while Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama took vacations during approximately 11% of their two-term presidencies. Jimmy Carter, in his single term, took only 79 days off.
