When he was president, Barack Obama came under considerable criticism for his frequent vacations, not to mention golfing outings. Now that he is no longer distracted by public office, the former president has embarked on a series of vacations that are so opulent that he is getting ire directed at him from the left, according to Fox News.
What has Obama been doing to occupy his time?
When he has not been taking shots at his successor, Obama has been jet-setting around the world, recreating himself. In the six months since leaving office, the former president has visited Marlon Brando’s old, private South Pacific Island, a $2,000 a night room at the Four Seasons in Bali, an estate located in Palm Springs, Sir Richard Branson’s private Necker Island in the Caribbean, the Mid Pacific Country Club on Oahu, the eight-hundred-year-old Borgo Finocchieto located in Tuscany, and a private yacht owned by David Geffen.
He is, as of this writing, visiting his old childhood haunts in Indonesia.
What is wrong with the former president taking some time off?
Liberals are starting to think that the spectacle of the former president enjoying the lifestyle of the rich and famous is a little bit unseemly. They realize that they are out of power because tens of millions of struggling people believe that the Washington establishment is out of touch and protected in a bubble of wealth, a lot of it unearned. Nothing gives the message that one does not care for the ordinary people more than partying with the likes of Tom Hanks and Oprah Winfrey. In the meantime, people are struggling to pay the mortgage.
But what about rich Republicans like Donald Trump and George W. Bush?
It seems like a double standard but wealthy Republicans, who have always been the butt of ire from Democrats, are being viewed differently. Trump has lived a flashy lifestyle for decades and was born to wealth. But he also talks as if his father was a construction worker and has a certain authenticity, albeit often off-putting, that people appreciate.
George W. Bush lives on a ranch and looks the part of a cowboy. He also has empathy to spare, especially for wounded warriors. People tend to appreciate someone who can feel their pain, in Bush’s case, more authentically than Bill Clinton?
The bottom line
Barack Obama has always demonstrated a Spock-like demeanor, except during his occasional fits of pon farr-style rage. He has shown no warmth or care for other people, save as instruments of his ambition. That persona attached to a jet-setting playboy is unsettling to many of Obama’s former supporters.
