No fun for you, Mr. President. Not yours.

For no particular reason, The Obamas recently went on a date in NYC, grabbing a meal, seeing a show, that sort of thing. Predictably, a chorus of howls followed. How can this guy have a date with his wife amid all the crisis of our current days?

Give me a break.

Responding to the "No fun, Mr. President" tuts, Maureen Dowd offers a reply that I thought I'd repost:

"What a relief to have an urbane, cultivated, curious president who’s out and about, engaged in the world. Not dangerously detached, as W. was, or darkly stewing like Cheney. Not hanging with the Rat Pack like J.F.K. or getting bored and up to mischief like Bill Clinton."

Well said.

Yes, we expect our president to devote extraordinary hours to fixing the mess he inherited. And yes, it'd be unseemly if the only image we had of Obama was him flitting about from date night to date night when so many Americans are suffering the ravages of our broken economy.

But I agree with Dowd: It's nice to have a president who seems to be interested in the world outside of the White House. Let him take a break now and again; our problems will be there for him when he returns.

Read the entire essay: Can The One Have Fun?