The right wing carping about President Obama's Saturday sojourn to New York is so altogether predictable that the only surprise would have been if they'd remained uncharacteristically silent and not made an issue out of it.

But it raises a more interesting question: Why didn't we hear one whimper of carping on all of those occasions when George W Bush flew off on Air Force One to his Texas ranch, Camp David, Kennebunkport, or wherever else he chose to go during the weekends of his presidency? If memory serves correctly, Bush spent less actual time in Washington during his two terms in office than any other president in recent history.

So why didn't we hear any complaints from the Republican side of the aisle, or the ring-wing lunatics, when Bush was spending all of those valuable taxpayer dollars on his own weekend escapades? Could it be because he was a Republican?

All other possible explanations for this apparent oversight are welcome.