Critics – from both the left and the right – have hammered the president for moving ahead with his family vacation, and I'll be the first to admit he could have spoken up sooner about Ferguson, but then I'm partial to my home state. And call me a hawk, but Foley's public execution would have had me dropping bombs and pulling financial aid – only Afghanistan and Israel get more – instead of walking the back nine.

But then I thought about my own long-overdue vacation earlier this year. And I thought about how exponentially more stressful the commander-in-chief's job is than a lowly editor-in-chief.

Not that the president's time off is anything like mine. I had a support staff of one when I took the family down to Florida this year. One report I saw this morning said something like 200 staffers travel with the president when he goes "on vacation."

That being said, I thought I would put the president's time off in perspective. How does it compare with his more recent (two-term) predecessors? Luckily, someone had already done the math for me.

For starters, Obama's spent 138 days on vacation during his presidency.

According to CBS News reporter Mark Knoller, George W. Bush spent all or part of 490 days at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. (Although the New York Times came up with a much higher figure, claiming Bush spent closer to 879 days away from the Oval Office.)

Bill Clinton used all or part of 174 days for vacation (and most of those without Hillary – kidding). He preferred Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, or Jackson Hole, Wyoming, according to Knoller. And the Gipper himself, Ronald Reagan, spent all or part of 349 days at his ranch in Santa Barbara, California, Knoller found.

Now does any of this mean anything? I don't think so. Keep in mind that Lincoln spent half of 1862 away from the Capital, and that was during the Civil freakin' War. And we consider him one of our greatest presidents. While Jimmy Carter, a failure by nearly every account, took less than 80 days during his one term.

And (in case you were wondering), according to the Washington Post, John Adams is still the presidential champ of vacation time: He took eight months off back in 1799.

So it's a lot of sound and fury, the pundit damnation of time off. At least those of us in the benefits business, with our awareness of wellness and mental health, should appreciate everyone taking some time away to recharge. Besides, crisis is omnipresent. We could spend our whole lives waiting for the "right time" to get away from it all. Believe me when I tell you, it never comes.

Oh, and before I forget: Obama's recent two-week vacation pales in comparison to Congress's five-week "end of summer" recess. Oh, and Congress took 239 days off – last year alone. Guess that kills the whole vacation being good for productivity theory….