Obama (scolder-in-chief) Packs his Bags for a Camp David Vacation

“You need to be here. I’ve been here. I’ve been doing

Afghanistan and bin Laden and the Greek crisis.”

Capitol Hill Blue
By: Doug Thompson
July 1, 2011

After scolding Congressional Republicans for failing to work hard at resolving the debt crisis — and urging Congress to stay in town over the July 4th holiday and act — President Barack Obama packed his bags and headed to Camp David for a vacation.

In an astounding show of political hypocrisy the scolder-in-chief practiced the old Washington art of “don’t do as I do, do as I say.”

Obama flees Washington after issuing a long list of one-liners aimed at the GOP.

He claimed his daughters accomplish more with their homework than Congress does in dealing with the debt crisis, bringing back — to some — visions of former one-term Democratic President Jimmy Carter‘s incredible admission that he once turned to his daughter Amy for advice on nuclear policy.

“There is more activity in a nursing home than there is in the House under the GOP majority,” Obama said.

While no one can claim with a straight face that Congress accomplishes much, hearing one politician claim he is more adult than another is — in itself — childish.

Obama, like everyone else in the messy debt-limit debacle, is posturing and jockeying for position. He knows full well that nothing will happen until the last minute and that the blame for the delay lies as much with his own party as with recalcitrant Republicans.

Governing is not a high priority on either end of the National Mall. Both the White House and Congress play politics while Americans suffer in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and that will not stop after August 2 when the debt ceiling is extended — as it most certainly will.

With public approval of both parties in the crapper, voters head into the 2012 election year with more pessimism about the future. Polls show 39 percent of Americans believe the economy will never recover and that it doesn’t matter which party is in control of Congress or living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Obama to Congress: Do your Job by Michael Crowley Time Swampland (not to be confused with Swamp People).