A $4 million vaca? Really?

 It looks like it: ["With More Vacation Days and Separate Travel, Price of Obama’s Annual Hawaiian Holiday Rises"].
In fairness, the president, or any president actually, can vacation wherever they like. But this is getting a bit ridiculous. Jetting off here; traveling over there; playing golf there, etc. The next thing you'll read is the Democrats blaming Republicans for the high cost of the vacation because they stalled a bill which kept Obama from leaving with Michele or something trivial like that.
For all the comparisons of this presidency to Jimmy Carter's, I don't really think that's fair, to Carter. During that economic collapse, Carter installed solar panels on the roof of the White House, turned down the thermostat to conserve energy, and put on a sweater and went on television showing everyone in America that he was at least trying. I don't know, but has this guy done anything to try set an example? I thought I read somewhere that he was mailing donation checks to people who had written to him about their economic difficulties, which is an exceedingly nice thing to do.
But how about a national example? "We're not going on vacation for the holidays because millions of other Americans aren't vacationing and we need to set an example of sacrifice during these difficult times ..." Isn't that kinda what we need right now? Our leaders setting examples of sacrifice? Just a thought.

Oh, and by the way, Happy New Year everyone! 2011 was a pretty good year for me, personally. Here's hoping 2012 is just as good!