Vacation

Here is a short letter to the editor I planned on sending to the NY Times. I wrote the letter before Katrina, so please keep that in mind. The day after I wrote the letter MAUREEN DOWD posted similar editoral. She is an interesting writer mainly because she rarely calls our President "President Bush" - just "W". More power to her.

Here is my take:

Dear Editor,

I have enjoyed reading a number of articles and columns describing the nature of our Presidents vacation. It has been very interesting hearing the perspectives alluding to bicycle rides and peace activists camps.

My one question, why does the person with, arguably, the most important job in our county get 5 weeks of paid vacation for the summer? How many other Americans receive 5 weeks of paid vacation for the whole year? I, unfortunately, am not in this lucky group. I can only think of one other section of society, teachers, who are one of the most important fabrics in our society.

This summer will shape Bush’s presidency: 2 wars, Carl Rove, a Supreme Court nomination, an extremely low approval rating and a desperate mother encroaching on his Texan turf. I have a job with minimal influence on our GDP, trade deficit, sluggish economy, and global war on terror but I still need to work 40+ hours a week to increase my productivity in the global business world. As a member of the American public we need to ask ourselves how the Presidents 5 weeks of bicycling, golfing, and other recreational activities are helping our nation increase its global productivity.