I think I can hear the faint sounds of rhetorical sniper fire coming from the right yet again over President Obama’s 17-day Christmas vacation.

Some of it could be heard around Amarillo, from a couple of my social media friends who just cannot understand how the president can spend 17 whole days vacationing in Hawaii while the rest of the nation is hard at work. These are tough times, you know, and Barack Obama needs to keep his shoulder to the wheel, according to my friends.

I am quite certain some of the well-known right-wing radio and TV talk blowhards will weigh in soon enough on this.

I’ll remind them yet again of an obvious fact of political life.

It is that the president of the United States is never not the president. He’s never off the clock. He’s never out of touch. He’s never not in command. He gets his daily national security briefings on vacation as regularly as he gets them in the Situation Room at the White House, or on Air Force One, or whether he’s in some foreign capital visiting with a fellow head of state.

One of my pals here did have the good sense to remind the critics that even though he is no fan of the current president, “All presidents do this. Geez!”

Presidents George W. and George H.W. Bush took vacations. W was fond of going to his ranch in Crawford; Daddy Bush sped around off the Maine coast in his speedboat. President Reagan took extended vacations at his beloved Rancho Del Cielo in southern Californai. President Clinton would jet off to Cape Cod, Mass., to hob-knob with the beautiful people. President Carter retreated to his peanut plantation in Georgia, President Ford teed it up at Palm Springs, Calif., President Nixon high-tailed it to San Clemente, Calif., or Key Biscayne, Fla. President Johnson had his ranch in the Hill Country. President Kennedy had his family compound in Massachusetts. President Eisenhower played golf at Gettysburg, Pa.

And on and on it goes.

Enjoy your time with your family, Mr. President.

See you when you get back.