Mitt Romney rips Barack Obama's vacation plans

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney called a Chicago radio station Wednesday to criticize Pres. Barack Obama's plans for a 10-day vacation on Martha's Vineyard slated to begin Thursday.

"If I were president today, I wouldn't be looking to go spend 10 days on Martha's Vineyard," ABC News reports Romney saying on the Don Wade & Roma Show. "Now, Martha's Vineyard is in my home state of Massachusetts so I don't want to say anything negative about people vacationing there. But if you're the president of the United States, and the nation is in crisis, and we're in a jobs crisis right now, then you shouldn't be out vacationing."

The Los Angeles Times reports that Romney further said, "The first thing I'd do is go back to my office immediately. … You should be focusing on getting the economy going again."

Even before Romney's pronouncement, The Washington Post noted on Tuesday the growing unease surrounding Obama's imminent vacation.

"With 14 million Americans out of work, a volatile stock market and a historic downgrade of the country's credit rating, President Obama is set to begin a 10-day retreat Thursday at a 28-acre Martha's Vineyard compound called Blue Heron Farm, which costs an estimated $50,000 per week to rent. That divide — and the presumed hypocrisy of a president who has pledged not to rest 'until every American looking for a job can find one,' going golfing and biking on an island playground for wealthy celebrities — has been too much for political pundits to resist."

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