As historian Cindy Aron recounts in her book Working at Play: A History of Vacations in the United States, the rise of vacations in America is “embedded in a familiar history of the United States,” as we shifted from an agrarian to an industrial nation, developed of a mass-transportation system, and saw the rise of the middle class.  But what’s more interesting about the American story of vacationing is what Aron describes as the “love/hate battle” Americans have with vacations.

Today, as we head off to the beach, everyone grabs blackberries and iPhones, so as never to be out of touch. But what many Americans don’t realize is that the history of our uneasiness toward vacations dates back to even the earliest retreats. In the 19th century, the notion that vacationers were separated from “the discipline of daily work” did more than generate some anxiety. For Americans work “served as the glue that held the republic together and that kept middle-class people on the straight and narrow.”  And so there was the impression among many that vacations were downright dangerous.

In an effort to balance the scales of labor and leisure, Aron explains that Americans have always found ways to combine relaxation with self-improvement. In the 19th century, many wealthy Americans headed to resorts like the Greenbrier in West Virginia, whose mineral springs were viewed as a place for recuperation. Others headed to religious camp meeting grounds in Chautauqua or Martha’s Vineyard, where they could combine spirituality with play.  No matter where they went, Americans have a history of making vacations constructive rather than wasteful.

This past week while my family enjoyed time away at the beach, my husband and I sent emails, worked on proposals, and even found ourselves in a hotel meeting room for a conference call. Certainly today technology makes it easier to stay connected when we’re on vacation. But, as it turns out, there’s something fundamentally American about choosing to labor during times of leisure.

Now, mid-June, Gallup finds that the President’s job approval rating is 46 percent. Just two days after the President’s Oval Office address, Rasmussen Reports found 61 percent of voters “view the president’s handling of the oil leak crisis as poor.”

Near double-digit unemployment, robust opposition to the health care overhaul, an unrelenting war in Afghanistan, and now the BP oil spill has generated consistent bad press for the president. More and more, his critics claim he is ineffectual.

The president is in trouble, and many wonder whether he can escape from what seems to be political quicksand. No matter the speech he gives, pundits and political elites just keep repeating that he is sinking — and quickly.

In the bible of public-opinion research, The Nature and Origin of Mass Opinion, John Zaller demonstrates that periodically the “flow of political communication really is…heavily one-sided.” By examining shifts in public opinion after the flow of political communication becomes two-sided, he demonstrates that public opinion is the product of information flowing from elites to the masses.

Over the course of the past few months, elite discourse has almost unanimously declared that President Obama is faltering. And critics on both sides have hit the president. Free-marketers have lambasted Obama for the stimulus package, the new health care law, and his decision to stop off-shore drilling in the wake of the oil spill.  But criticism is not limited to the right. The MSNBC chastisement following the president’s address on Tuesday night certainly did not go unnoticed.  In effect, there has been a one-sided, decidedly negative, flow of information to the American public.

One problem Obama is learning is that campaign rhetoric can’t carry a presidency.   As Greg Sargent explains in the Washington Post yesterday, the public doesn’t care that Obama hasn’t shown more emotion or anger over the Gulf oil spill. Rather, they’re “concerned about the substance of the response.”

If the president wants to interrupt the conversation, in which an elite consensus has emerged around the “belief” that Obama is faltering because of his inability to act effectively, he needs to demonstrate his leadership – strongly and consistently. This is the only way he’ll generate a two-sided flow of information and change the conversation.  If he does that, the White House can expect a clear, decisive upswing in the public’s approval of the president.

A new movement to reinvent the modern American cemetery is making its way across the country.  According to news reports, burial grounds are tired of their teary-eyed reputation, so they’re shedding this forbidding face for something a little, well, livelier.

When it comes down to it, it’s all a matter of perspective.  As one Colorado cemetery manager told a local reporter, “People come to cemeteries, and they are always looking down.”  But if they looked up, they might notice the century old history, plant life and culture that infuse the graveyard.

The trend is not simply to offer tours, like the ones you can arrange at cemeteries like Père Lachaise in Paris or Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, DC. Instead it’s to turn the focus away from death and toward – for lack of a better word – life.

Fireworks, jazz concerts, and art exhibits are some of the kinds of social events cemeteries are planning to help draw in visitors.  Friends will be encouraged to take pleasure in the historic trees and rose gardens that flank many burial grounds. And many cemeteries are hoping to be a place where communities can gather in times of joy, rather than sorrow.

In Washington, we might call it spin. But cemeteries are refashioning themselves in a new light – hoping they can be a place of solemnity, as well as inspiration.

So what’s the protocol when it comes to giving a speech in the rain? Well, that depends on just how much rain is in the forecast.

Torrential downpours and crashing thunder at Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois yesterday (literally) drowned out President Obama’s Memorial Day remarks.

Politico reports Obama was “huddled under a white tent off to the side of the stage as the rain drove down.” Holding an umbrella, he told service members and their families in attendance, “‘We are a little bit concerned about lightening. This may not be safe.’”

When it was clear the rain wasn’t a passing summer storm, the president canceled the speech and instead visited with audience members inside parked busses.

Of course the president was already under attack for another more serious breach of protocol: shirking his national responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief in favor of a little weekend-getaway back home.

Today, the social secretary just may be looking into some sturdier umbrellas.

But there wasn’t much to misinterpret about Steve Posner’s comments to Chinese officials last week.

During two days of talks about human rights, the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy Human Rights and Labor thought he could break the ice by citing the recent Arizona immigration law as an example of “racial discrimination” here in the United States:

“We brought it up early and often.  It was mentioned in the first session and as a troubling trend in our society, and an indication that we have to deal with issues of discrimination or potential discrimination.  And these are issues very much being debated in our own society.”

Perhaps the comments put China at ease, but it certainly upset Americans here at home, considering China ranks among the worst human rights violators in the world.

An important lesson to remember when using a speechwriter is you only want to hire them for a speech – not a retraction.

There to talk about freedom at large – and the threats posed to our freedom today – was columnist George Will.  And he was a hit. Left at home was his dry television persona, and on prominent display was his dexterity with words.  He drew his audience in and kept them there for no less than 20 minutes.  He had an endless supply of phrases that perfectly captured his ideas.

Here are a few of my favorite lines he used to describe the current state of government in America:

“Learned feudalism”

“Glutinous feast on the flesh of the future.”

No matter one’s opinion on the state of politics today, there’s no denying Will’s way with words makes his argument worth listening to.

While it’s become customary for the president and vice president to attend the WHCAD, it looks like Tonight Show host Jay Leno got a run for his money, following what critics claim was a slam dunk performance by President Obama.

Making people laugh seems like an easy way to break the ice, but using humor in a speech is not for everyone – and it can certainly be a challenge to write. Perhaps that’s why speech-writing guide Joan Detz devotes an entire chapter to humor in her famous book How to Write and Give a Speech.

A cautionary tale: Just this week National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones began a speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy with a somewhat off-color joke. His “funny anecdote” that he used to start the speech is now all over the Internet, raising concerns that he relied on anti-Semitic stereotypes for a laugh.

When using humor in a speech make sure you know your audience, the mood of the event, and whether or not you can confidently deliver a one-liner. Otherwise, the joke just might be on you.

Scholars acknowledge that while The Declaration of Independence was “the great political document of the American Enlightenment,” it was not the most original.  Ideas of liberty and individual rights were commonly talked about in republican circles.  What was unique about The Declaration was the way it fused Enlightenment ideas of rational truths with republican principles of liberty:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

As Jefferson described the document, it was “an expression of the American mind.”

It reminds me of a story I once heard:

During the time of the Romans, a crowd came looking for an old hermit.  They brought him to the Colosseum in Rome where he was met in the middle of the arena by a pack of lions.  Surrounded by ferocious – and very hungry – lions, the old man slowly approached the leader of the pack and whispered something in his ear . . .after which, the lions ran frantically out of the arena and back to their cages.

The audience, which had been waiting in anticipation for the man to be eaten by the lions, mumbled and moved anxiously in their seats – they couldn’t believe what they had just seen. Finally, the head of the legion asked the old man, “What did you say to the lion?”

The man just smiled and said, “I told him that after dinner come the speeches!”