I don't begrudge the president for taking a one-month vacation. I would take one if I could. Yet why would Rove give the president's critics an opening in the runup to the Fall elections? Politically, it's not the wisest decision.

White House spinmeisters are frantically trying to rationalize the vacation: Bush is bringing the White House with him, he'll still be making policy decisions, he'll be making campaign swings through nearly a dozen states, he'll only have 2 weeks of actual vacation, etc. But that's not what the press will be beaming back to Americans nationwide. They'll film him playing golf, playing with horses, and chilling at the ranch while the nation wrestles with a weak economy.

Given that a majority of Americans now think the country is headed in the wrong direction, Bush's hands-off approach will not play very well with voters. It'll reinforce the notion that the president couldn't be bothered by Washington or running a country, and is unable or unwilling to provide the hands-on attention needed to pull the country from its economic malaise.