Carney 2001: Bush Is on Vacation; Carney 2011: There's No Such Thing as Presidential Vacation

The White House has been taking political heat for President Obama’s upcoming 10-day vacation in the posh resort town of Martha’s Vineyard.

The first family will go forward with their vacation plans in spite of the nation’s debt crisis – even though a number of European leaders cancelled or postponed their vacation plans to deal with similar issues.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney defended the high-priced vacation by saying Americans wouldn’t begrudge the president for taking time off to spend with his family – even though many Americans can’t afford to take their families on vacation.

"There's no such thing as a presidential vacation," Carney said. "He will be in constant communication and get regular briefings from his national security team, as well as his economic team." He added that since Martha's Vineyard is so close, the president would be able to travel back to Washington if required.

But that’s not what Carney thought about presidential vacations during President Bush’s tenure in the White House.

In a 2001 TIME magazine story, Carney penned an article titled, “A Vacationing Bush Works Hard for His Photo-Ops.”

He wrote about how Bush’s handlers were trying to “persuade the public that he wasn’t actually on vacation in the generally accepted sense of what vacation means.”

Carney derided Bush for “venturing all the way to Waco – about 25 minutes from Crawford – to ‘help build’ a house with Habitat for Humanity.” He noted that the president only spent “about 15 minutes doing anything.”

He ended his tome on President Bush by pondering this question: “The question now is whether a few photo-ops will fix the problem – or just make it worse.”

The irony being – many political observers in 2011 are wondering the same thing about Carney’s current boss.

Starts at 14:25.

JAKE TAPPER: You said the president will not rest until the joblessness and the economy are worked out. But the president is obviously going on a vacation. And I’m wondering is there any concern about -- I understand it takes two to tango and you need the Congress to be in Washington. We went over that the other day about whether or not you guys should call Congress to come back. Is there any concern about the impression that the president going to Martha’s Vineyard for nine or 10 days might leave with the American people? And also, if this is such an important issue for Speaker Boehner, for Harry Reid, for President Obama, why the R&R?

JAY CARNEY: Well, let me -- because there’s a couple of questions embedded in that, let me go to acknowledge that, yes, the president does plan to travel with his family at the end of August to Martha’s Vineyard, as he has in the past. And I don't think Americans out there would begrudge that notion that the president would spend some time with his family. It is also, I think -- as anyone who has covered it in the past, either in this administration or others, there’s no such thing as a presidential vacation. The presidency travels with you. He will be in constant communication and get regular briefings from his national security team, as well as his economic team, and he will, of course, be fully capable, if necessary, of traveling back if that were required. It’s not very far.