How many days vacation did Barack Obama take in 2009?

Answer 1

In his first three years in office, President Obama took 61 days of vacation. (And in his first term, he took a total of 84 days... some sources say 90.) Just to compare, during President George W. Bush's first three years, he spent 180 days at his ranch or at Camp David. Bill Clinton took only 28 days of vacation. Ronald Reagan took 112 vacation days. And in fairness, no president is ever totally on vacation-- even when they leave the White House to travel somewhere with their family for some relaxation, they are still at work, still taking phone calls from their aides or cabinet members; still scheduling meetings if important issues come up; and making sure they are informed about any potential areas of concern. It should also be noted that no matter who is in office, his political opponents will always accuse him of being on vacation too much.

It should be noted that there are internet claims that Mr. Obama has taken the most vacation days of any president ever. Such claims are false, and politically motivated. Similarly, the discourse that President Bush was always on vacation is equally inaccurate-- while he did spend lots of time on his ranch, he also held press conferences, received official visits from diplomats, and conferred with his aides. How many days a president spends away from the White House is not always an accurate measure of how hard they work at their job.

Answer 2

Presidential historians note that in his first year he took 26 vacation days total. Two things are worth noting: for one, this is far fewer days than several of his predecessors took in their first year, and presidents are never really "on vacation," since they must be available at a moment's notice in the event of a sudden crisis.