Russia’s Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, spent his vacation in the Southern Siberian wilderness riding a horse with his shirt off. This is a case where you really believe this vacation is in total character. No one joins the KGB and works their way up its ranks for show. I think this is truly the kind of person who rises to the level of “big man on campus” in Russia, and we’re seeing him interact with nature and bring it to its knees, much like every Russian woman after viewing his vacation photos. If your country is going to be a socialist or communist one, you’d better give the people the impression that Big Red Daddy has it together. Obama’s granny jeans don’t exactly scream, “Trust me with your money and safety!” Obama was once caught on vacation splashing around in the waves like a “Baywatch” babe. There was no splashing for Putin! Not only was he snapped swimming, but he was sporting rippling arms while performing swimming’s most difficult stroke: the butterfly.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy caught flack for flaking out on a rich pal’s yacht after his 2007 presidential victory. He has since become known as President Bling-Bling, and is currently spending three weeks at the Cap Negre home of his ex-supermodel musician wife, Carla Bruni. They have been snapped looking ridiculously fit while toweling off from a dip. But what a difference a near death experience makes. The vacation comes on the heels of a fainting episode that resulted in a short hospital stay. The guy is obviously killing himself trying to fix France, so at the moment he’s rightfully getting a free pass from his other 64 million countrymen on their multi-week paid vacation. “Mars or Marseille?”, I ask my French friends every summer, knowing the length of vacation would be about the same.
Finally, UK PM Gordon Brown is doing “volunteer work” in his community for his summer break. That’s a safe bet for someone whose gravy train is on the verge of derailing. He could have just stayed put in office and done his “charity work”, because he doesn’t really have any money left to pay his own salary either. People with a poor job outlook in a bad economy usually do best saving up and staying close to home.
Rachel Marsden
Rachel Marsden is a columnist with Human Events Magazine, and Editor-In-Chief of GrandCentralPolitical News Syndicate.
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