The Republican National Committee called out President Obama for continuing his vacation after the beheading of a U.S. photojournalist and as unrest stirs in Ferguson, Mo.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said the priorities of Obama and Democrats have become confused, calling on the public to flip control of the Senate in the November elections.
{mosads}”This month, President Obama’s been on vacation,” he said in the GOP weekly address released Saturday. “He attended his 401st fundraiser. He’s now played over 190 rounds of golf as president. Now, we all deserve some time off. But you have to wonder: where are his priorities?”
Priebus also blasted the president for failing to get government spending under control, saying the next generation deserves better.
“And that’s why so many people I talk to are frustrated about what we’ve seen happening under President Obama’s leadership,” he said.
Republicans must net six seats this November to win back control of the Senate — a result that observers see as a real possibility as Democrats defend a number of seats in red-leaning states.
“And I can promise you: when Republicans lead both houses of Congress our priorities will be clear,” he said, citing spending reductions, affordable energy, education and lower healthcare costs.
Obama is scheduled to return to Washington on Sunday after a two-week vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. Congress will return from its own five-week August recess early next month.
The president’s trip came amid protests in Missouri over the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The week also saw the release of a video showing the beheading of journalist James Foley at the hands of the militant group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“We all watch the news,” Priebus said, adding, “And yet, President Obama is on vacation.”
Obama broke up his vacation earlier in the week with a prescheduled, and largely unexplained, 48-hour return to Washington before heading back Tuesday.
“He spent about a million in taxpayer dollars to fly back from Martha’s Vineyard on Air Force One to take a few pictures,” Priebus said. “Then it was back to vacationing and the golf course.”
Obama made numerous statements from Massachusetts, addressing Ferguson, Iraq and the murder of Foley.
Some observers, however, took particular issue with president Obama’s decision to go golfing only minutes after delivering a forceful statement Wednesday condemning the execution video, in which he called on the international community to “extract this cancer” of ISIS.
Criticism of presidents during vacation has become commonplace. Even former Obama adviser David Axelrod on Friday admitted Democrats were wrong when they used a similar tactic against George H.W. Bush.