Deja vu?

Despite the looming fiscal cliff, the Obama's enjoyed their vacation in Hawaii; yes, the president had to cut his time short, which increased the expense to taxpayers, but he still got his golfing in. Oh well, that one only cost $4 million. Chump change.

I know that vacation was just 6 months ago but I'd say he looks like he needs another one. He might want to choose a different traveling companion than Putin; they don't seem happy to be together. As it turns it turns out, Barack, Michelle and the kids already have a trip planned to South Africa. This time though, the estimated cost is $60 - $100 million.

Did the president land on his head when the country went over the fiscal cliff? Does he really believe that his desires are exempt from the "cash crisis" (budget sequestration) in America? Or is this just another example of his entitlement behavior: "it's good to be king"? And where is the voice of reason from his wife? Surely someone in their family has a conscience, or, is aware of how this looks when contrasted against the sacrifices the rest of our country is making?

No, I don't think they gave it a second thought. In fact, this has become a pattern for the president. When the going gets tough, he gets going. Literally.

Remarkably Absent President

It seems that each time we have a major conflict or crisis, the president disappears from public. Obama's pattern is to send the minions out with talking points and avoid the press until things cool down. His statements following the revelations of any one of the multitude of recent scandals have been few and far between, with those few statements proving to have little or no value.

Take for example his May 15th statement regarding the IRS profiling: "I’ll do everything in my power to make sure nothing like this happens again by holding the responsible parties accountable...". At the presidents direction, Attorney General Eric Holder pledged that the FBI would immediately launch a probe into this high-profile scandal. And yet, during FBI Director Robert Mueller's testimony on June 14th, he stated that he does not know who’s leading the investigation, doesn’t know how many investigators are assigned to it, and whether they’ve bothered to start off by, "y’know", talking to the victims of the profiling. 30 days after making it a top priority and not only do we not have any answers but it appears the process has yet to begin. Was the president just blowing smoke or was he serious, but in what appears to be another pattern, disengaged from the process?

On the other hand, should even the appearance of racism be present, Obama can't keep his mouth shut. Remember his comment, when a white man arrested a black man, that the police had "acted stupidly"? His urgency to declare racism before knowing the facts led to the White House's first beer summit. Which, of course, was nothing more than a photo op; he never apologized or admitted that he had jumped to the wrong conclusion. Note to President Obama: People respect humility and are turned off by equivocation.

So while his availability to the 'desperately seeking answers' public is scaled back, his fundraising efforts and family vacations seem to stay right on schedule. Regardless of the impact to America's financial stability. It's good to be king!

Is this what we expected from a candidate running on Hope and Change?