Obama's vacation: Time with the family ... and the nuclear codes
President Obama heads to Maine this weekend for a short summer vacation with his wife and daughters. It is a hallowed Washington tradition: Every year, presidents go on vacation, and every year, their political opponents lambaste them for demonstrating insufficient focus on America’s problems....
“The president is always on call, 24/7, if there is a crisis,” says presidential historian Robert Dallek. “They’re lucky if they go on vacation and there’s no crisis, and then they get some downtime. But they’re always on call.”...
Mr. Dallek recalls that when President Dwight Eisenhower showed John Kennedy around the White House after the 1960 election, Eisenhower showed the president-elect a special button that would call a helicopter to the South Lawn within seconds. That kind of rapid response follows the president everywhere, and it has only gotten better over time.
“That was 50 years ago,” Dallek says. “Now, it’s pretty instantaneous.”...
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“The president is always on call, 24/7, if there is a crisis,” says presidential historian Robert Dallek. “They’re lucky if they go on vacation and there’s no crisis, and then they get some downtime. But they’re always on call.”...
Mr. Dallek recalls that when President Dwight Eisenhower showed John Kennedy around the White House after the 1960 election, Eisenhower showed the president-elect a special button that would call a helicopter to the South Lawn within seconds. That kind of rapid response follows the president everywhere, and it has only gotten better over time.
“That was 50 years ago,” Dallek says. “Now, it’s pretty instantaneous.”...