PART-TIME PRESIDENT NEEDS LONG REST

[indigobusiness]

By Bill Gallagher
"Cultivated leisure is the aim of man." -- Oscar Wilde, Irish genius.

DETROIT -- George W. Bush is right on target with the leisure part, but that cultivated stuff doesn't interest him. America's worst president ever also has the distinction of being the most rested. He typically takes more time off in the month of August than the vast majority of American workers do for the entire year.

When Bush speaks to the Republican Convention he'll be tanned and relaxed, fresh from another nine-day stay at his Rancho Wacko in Crawford, Texas. This is his 34th paid vacation in his three-and-a-half years in office.

Bush, who disdains most things European, goes on holidays at a rate that would make a French nobleman blush. The summer numbers have not yet been tallied -- he will, of course, need more rest after his grueling convention duties -- but the vacation stats he's already chalked up are staggering.

CBS News calculated that, through April 2004, Bush had spent all or part of 535 days of his presidency at vacation spots. That's 42.4 percent of his time in office. While most Americans crave a week or even a day off, our leader in leisure goofs off for weeks at a time.

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