Targeting Obama for his choice in vacation spots

by Steve Benen

One could, I suppose, criticize Barack Obama for wanting to take a break from the campaign trail. There are just 86 days until the election, and just 15 days until the Democratic National Convention, and one might feel tempted to tell Obama, "You can rest after November 4."

But it seems Obama isn't being criticized for taking a break, so much as he's being criticized for where he's taking a break. TNR's Michael Crowley noted:

I know he grew up [in Hawaii] and all. But if Obama's being smeared as a highfalutin celebrity who is somehow "other" and distant from the American heartland, is Hawaii really the ideal vacation destination? It sounds trivial but such things can resonate…. John Kerry's staff asked him not to windsurf in the summer of 2004 and he didn't listen. The results are famous.

I might have counseled a nice cottage beside some Illinois lake with a wholesome name….

Similarly, the Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown had a 1,200-word piece yesterday on the perils of Obama spending eight days in the state of his birth.

After Kerry retreated to Nantucket during the Republican convention, footage of him windsurfing there later surfaced in an attack ad deeming him the candidate who votes "whichever way the wind blows."

"For somebody who has been called 'elitist,' going to Hawaii is not exactly going against type," [Douglas Schoen, a pollster for Clinton's reelection campaign] said. "I would rather have him going to national parks."

I suppose it's hard to know what kind of superficial concerns voters might take seriously, but all of this seems a little excessive.

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