The latest flap is over Obama having the audacity to take a vacation with his family while there are jobless American workers. Full disclosure: I criticized Bush for taking too much vacation time. It is a sport that attracts both parties. Only the direction of the attack depends on which party has a leader in the White House.

It just struck me how counter-productive that attack actually is. It has been proven that as workplace stress goes up, productivity goes down and mistakes go up. I can’t even begin to imagine how stressful the job of President of the United States actually is. If we look, we can see the evidence of stress in our presidents. Every one of them age before our eyes, usually more than we would expect them to age. Remember Obama’s black hair when he took office? Images I saw on TV yesterday showed a man with mostly grey hair. And he’s only been in office for a little over two years.

I saw the same thing with Bush. He visibly aged.

If we can see the physical evidence of stress in our presidents, can you imagine the internal turmoil?

Do you really want a stressed out man with his hands on the football with nuclear launch codes? I’ve decided I’m never going to criticize a president again for taking a little time for himself (or herself).  In fact, in solidarity, I’m going on vacation myself next week.

Homework

Impacts of Stress in the Work Place

George W Bush Before

George W Bush After

Barack Obama Before And After