I don’t like the word “moderate,” but there’s such a thing as fair, and today’s post by Jazz Shaw at The Moderate Voice is about as fair as they come on the subject of the Obamas’ night out on Broadway:

To be fair here, our first observation should go out to our Republican and conservative friends who were supporters of President Bush for the last eight years. If you didn’t complain – and do so loudly and often – about President Bush shattering all previous records for presidential vacation time in the midst of two wars that he began and various other crises, you should know how you look if you complain now. All those trips to Crawford and other destinations were on the public dime, involving Air Force One, staffers, supporting crew, etc. And they cost a fortune. If you take to the streets in manufactured outrage over this evening out, you are hypocrites, and there’s really no other way to put it.

Now, for the rest of our friends, if you were critical of President Bush for his vacationing ways, will you really just shrug your shoulders and say this is “no big deal” since it’s Obama going out on the town? The trip still involved three Gulfstream Jets, a large staff and press corps following, blocking off traffic for hours across several blocks in Manhattan on a Saturday afternoon and evening and a total taxpayer bill which the White House couldn’t even estimate for us. And it took place not only in the midst of two hot wars, but on the eve of GM likely going bankrupt and a rising unemployment rate where millions of Americans are wondering if they’ll be able to afford all their groceries next month. Could the optics of this Broadway fiasco possibly be any worse?

Shaw puts those reminders in a post in which he terms the night out a “dumb move.” I’m not so sure about that. It would be a dumb move if Obama were to take flack for it anywhere but on righty blogs and from Republican politicians. It’ not a dumb move if it gets no negative mainstream press coverage . . . which I doubt it will. In fact, it’s pretty damn smart if the righty blogs can be painted as “hyperventilating” — which I think they are — and the vocal Republicans are painted as hypocritical for the reasons Shaw notes.

UPDATE: And more common sense, from DrewM at Ace’s:

I’m of two mind about this. A President shouldn’t be a prisoner in the White House and the simple fact is it’s expensive for him to do anything. It’s just the reality of the modern world.

What does bother me is that had George W. Bush or any Republican had done this, especially during this economy, the Democrats and their press mouthpieces would be going nuts.