Sure bet for Obama presidency - he won't take as many early vacations as Bush did

Amid much speculation about how Barack Obama will govern and what his priorities will be as president, The Punditty Project is going on record with a bold, rock-solid, bank-on-it declaration: Obama will spend more far time working in Washington than George W. Bush did in his first seven-plus months in office.

A Slate article from April 14, 2004, notes that before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Bush had spent more than 50 days at his ranch in Crawford, Texas - including a monthlong vacation in August, just before the attacks.

In August of 2005, Bush was on another vacation - the one that preceded Hurricane Katrina. It was on this August 2005 vacation that Bush broke the record for most vacation days by a president, passing Ronald Reagan's 335 days spent in Santa Barbara, Calif., over the course of his 1981-1989 presidency. As of this writing, Bush has more than 450 presidential vacation days under his belt, with a little less than two months to go. (Note: These numbers do not include Bush's or Reagan's time at Camp David).

Obama will be too busy cleaning up after Bush to get much vacation time, at least for his first year in office. So when Obama's critics inevitably try to make an issue of the president taking a little time off here and there, just remind them that Bush has already cornered the presidential market on skipping out when there's work to be done.

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