"Whatever he does should be seen as working at the Presidency and if he goes to Colorado for Christmas, it should be for a minimum amount of time, the family tradition and family get-together aspect emphasized, and it be seen as a working vacation"
About this Quote
Politics turns even Christmas into a stage cue, and Robert Teeter’s line is the kind of brutally practical stage direction that rarely gets said out loud. The obsession here isn’t with what a president does, but with what it can be made to look like. “Should be seen” is the engine of the sentence: the presidency is treated less as an office than as a continuous broadcast in which downtime is a liability unless it’s rebranded as duty.
Teeter’s intent is managerial and prophylactic. He’s trying to preempt the easy attack ad: the leader who escapes to the mountains while problems pile up. So the trip to Colorado isn’t forbidden; it’s tightly framed. “Minimum amount of time” signals discipline and sacrifice. The “family tradition” note supplies warmth, a human-interest buffer that softens the optics of privilege embedded in a holiday getaway. Then comes the masterstroke of political PR: the “working vacation,” an American phrase that flatters both sides of the voter psyche. You get the relatable person who values family, plus the tireless executive who never clocks out.
The subtext is that legitimacy is maintained through performance. Rest must be justified, leisure must be audited, and even intimacy has to be strategically emphasized. Teeter isn’t talking about morality; he’s talking about narrative control in the permanent campaign era, when the camera is always on and the presidency is expected to function as both government and brand.
Teeter’s intent is managerial and prophylactic. He’s trying to preempt the easy attack ad: the leader who escapes to the mountains while problems pile up. So the trip to Colorado isn’t forbidden; it’s tightly framed. “Minimum amount of time” signals discipline and sacrifice. The “family tradition” note supplies warmth, a human-interest buffer that softens the optics of privilege embedded in a holiday getaway. Then comes the masterstroke of political PR: the “working vacation,” an American phrase that flatters both sides of the voter psyche. You get the relatable person who values family, plus the tireless executive who never clocks out.
The subtext is that legitimacy is maintained through performance. Rest must be justified, leisure must be audited, and even intimacy has to be strategically emphasized. Teeter isn’t talking about morality; he’s talking about narrative control in the permanent campaign era, when the camera is always on and the presidency is expected to function as both government and brand.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work-Life Balance |
|---|
More Quotes by Robert
Add to List
