ArcaMax

A zombie argument is one that seems to be long dead until somebody brings it back to life. Barack Obama's post-presidency has raised a zombie argument: How should ex-presidents dress and behave?

"Barack! Get back here -- we need you!," somebody posted on Richard Branson's Facebook page after video went viral of Obama kitesurfing with the Virgin Group founder in the Virgin Islands.

Another writer posted with more sarcasm: "Much easier to be on that boat than helping the poor black American in Chicago ... same old story, Democrat with elites and they say they are on the side of the little people, hypocrites."

Right. If I believed that writer really cared about poor black people in Chicago, I might take that message seriously. Maybe.

Instead, I expect public opinion about the lifestyles of ex-presidents to be like opinions of every other public issue these days: polarized along party lines.

But regardless of party, I'm not going to begrudge any ex-president's right to take a vacation after eight years as leader of the free world.

Yes, that includes the peculiar, yet not badly executed picture that former President George W. Bush painted of his toes sticking out of the water as he rested in a bathtub. Priceless.

I'm not even upset, as even some of Obama's supporters are, over the huge speaker fees and book contracts hauled in by Barack and Michelle Obama, since neither of them holds a public office or other apparent conflicts of interest.

Obama is slated to receive $400,000 for a speech to Wall Street bankers and earned an undisclosed amount estimated to be worth as much as $3.2 million (based on the price of the 3,500 tickets) for a speech at the Seeds & Chips Global Food Innovation Summit in Milan this past Tuesday.

And that's not including the estimated $60 million deal that the Obamas reportedly signed for their yet-to-be-written books.

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