Today President Barack Obama, along with First Lady Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha will be flying up to Martha's Vineyard, the popular vacation island for the elite off the coast of Massachusetts, for a much needed summer vacation. While Congress embarked on its five-week break last week, this is the only time off the president gets in the summertime, and I'm sure it will be spent with plenty of golf sessions, days on the beach, and family ice cream runs.

Of course, though, it seems poor Barack can't take a step without haters coming out of the woodwork.

A plethora of Republican lawmakers have already take a break from their August recess to criticize Obama for a taking an expensive on-week vacation while million of Americans are struggling financially. The president pays for food and souvenirs himself, while it's the taxpayers that eat the cost of Air Force One and the travel expenses of the Secret Service. The $7.6 million estate of Chicago private equity executive and Democratic donor David Schulte that the Obamas are renting this year is coming out of their own pockets.

Still, the cost is just a part of the problem people are having with the president's vacation. Some, for example, have a serious problem with the so-called luxury of Martha's Vineyard.

As a Massachusetts girl myself, I can say that while the place is beautiful and popular with a particular set of Americans (helloooo, Kennedys!), its quaint clapboard houses are far less ostentatious than dozens of other resorts in popular vacation spots elsewhere in the country. Politico has gone so far as to publish a list of "five places Obama might have gone" instead, where the president could “relax among the masses instead of choosing the posh island for the third time in three years.” I wonder where the Politico editors vacation?

For critics complaining that Obama takes too much vacation, it stands to note that last Christmas, the president returned early from his vacation in Hawaii to deal with the fiscal cliff crisis consuming Congress at the time. Since he's been in office, President Obama has taken 92 vacation days, which comes out to about 18 a year.

This is nothing compared to the 367 vacation days George W. Bush had taken at this point in his presidency. Even the leader of the free world needs a little R and R.

A Look at Presidential Vacations Past and Present