Presidents, vacations and controversy. They seem to go together.

Such was the case for President Obama, who recently wrapped up his 16-day vacation, the last of his annual summer visits to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. during his presidency.

It seems as long as there have been presidents there have been criticisms of their decisions to take vacations. Interestingly, the criticism always seems to come from the other political party and those on the opposite side of the ideological spectrum from the White House inhabitant.

This time Obama faced criticism that he did not interrupt his vacation, which included 10 rounds of golf, to travel to Louisiana to assess the flooding aftermath there. Instead he plans to do that today.

Such trips are largely symbolic, a demonstration that the president cares. In reality, a president no more needs to visit a disaster area to determine the next steps in the recovery than he needs to set foot on a battle field to help decide troop movements.

Given all the pressure a presidential visit places on local police and other resources, had Obama showed up too soon after the flooding, when first responders were still in rescue and recovery mode, he would have been hurting rather than helping the situation.

Gov. John Bel Edwards told reporters he has received quick responses to all requests he's made of the Obama administration. Edwards, like Obama, is a Democrat.

Presidents are never fully on vacation. They get regular briefings. The potential for a crisis that would require a snap decision is ever present. As First Lady Nancy Reagan observed, “Presidents don’t get vacations — they just get a change of scenery.”

Obama is on pace to take about 240 vacation days during his term. His predecessor, George W. Bush, took the most of any modern day president, 879 days. President Jimmy Carter enjoyed the fewest during his single term, 79 days.

You can criticize presidents for many things, but taking reasonable vacation breaks shouldn’t be among them.