Last updated on April 11th, 2018 at 12:21 pm
Irony challenged Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) told President Obama to stop golfing and do his job while he was enjoying his roughly 108th day of vacation this year at the Iowa State Fair.
Jeff Zeleny of ABC News tweeted that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was talking tough by telling President Obama to get off of the golf course and do his job:
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In Iowa, @SenTedCruz: "The president should actually stand up and do his job as commander in chief…spend less time on the golf course."
— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) August 9, 2014
Meanwhile, here is a picture of Ted Cruz doing his job as one of the U.S. senators from Texas. Cruz is eating a pork chop in Iowa:
Nice to get out of DC & enjoy a famous pork chop on-a-stick @ Iowa State Fair―where the pork doesn’t bankrupt America pic.twitter.com/MZt2DvdHAd
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 9, 2014
Here is Cruz doing casting his kernel for GOP senate candidate Jodi “impeach Obama” Earnst:
Nice to get out of DC & enjoy a famous pork chop on-a-stick @ Iowa State Fair―where the pork doesn’t bankrupt America pic.twitter.com/MZt2DvdHAd
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 9, 2014
Sen. Cruz was telling Obama to do his job, when he was last seen holding secret meetings with House Republicans in order to kill the first version of the border spending bill. The Obama is always on vacation myth is a popular one with Republicans. One suspects that this is a convenient way to subtly portray the nation’s first African-American president as lazy. The fact that Republicans feel compelled to tell Obama constantly to do his job while they do nothing speaks volumes.
The numbers don’t back up Ted Cruz’s claim that Obama needs to stop golfing and do his job. As of August 2013, President Obama had taken 15 vacations, totalling 96 days since he became president. At the point in his presidency, George W. Bush had taken 51 trips to his ranch in Crawford, TX that totaled all or part of 335 days.
A better apples to apples comparison reveals that Ted Cruz has spent more than 100 days in 2014 not in session. This means that Sen. Cruz has had more vacation days this year than President Obama had in the first five years of his presidency. Cruz’s trip to Iowa can’t be considered part of his duties as a senator. Once again, a senator from Texas has no official duties in Iowa. Cruz was at the State Fair in theory to campaign for Earnst, but in reality he is drumming up support for his 2016 presidential bid.
If anyone needs to get work it is Sen. Cruz, not President Obama.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
