Time Finds Even on Vacation, Slick Willie Loved His Cigar

August 12th, 2013 11:05 PM

Time magazine’s Swampland blog decided to assess the vacationing styles of our recent presidents, who are "just like the rest of us." The captions were generally kind without much partisan tilt, but Bill and Hillary Clinton were shown in rear view in a cozy-looking outdoors setting on his-and-hers stumps.

“Clinton was never much good at vacationing,” Time reported. “His staff had to practically force him to go on vacation his first year in office; his idea of relaxing was reading four good books simultaneously while enjoying a cigar (chewed, not smoked).” There was no irony about Clinton’s sexual use of cigars (see The Starr Report, search for "cigar").

Then the caption suggested he cheated at golf: “He could also lose himself in a game of golf, where his somewhat elastic interpretation of the rules could at times drive his partners crazy.”

By contrast, Jimmy Carter was a saint to Time. You almost expected him to walk on top of the surf in his photo:

Carter, a solitary man by nature, still relaxes the way other men work: he writes books, composes poetry, studies Scripture and paints. But his first love is fishing: Carter took more than 50 fishing trips as president, mostly at Camp David but also at Camp Hoover on the Rapidan River in Virginia. He also fished at St. Simons Island, off the coast of Georgia, his home state.