On Golf

I don't recall ever commenting negatively on any of the vacations or golf outings that Barack Obama has taken while President. I suspect the job is probably the most stressful job in the country, and I can easily understand needing to get out and blow off some steam. Besides, it's not like any President is ever truly off-duty, anyway. It seems unavoidable to me that the President would often mix official business with a little downtime on the greens. So, I'm pretty much of the mind that the President can and should get away whenever he can, no matter which President we're talking about.

With that being said, it astounds me -- I don't know why, it's not like this is any big surprise -- to see the disparity of reporting between Obama and George W. Bush on their respective golfing habits:

President Barack Obama has gone to the golf course at least 11 times since he took the oath of office a little more than six months ago--three rounds were played during the late January, 12-day holiday Obama took with his family in Hawaii; one at Andrews Air Force Base; and seven at Ft. Belvoir Golf Course, including a round on Sunday, Father's Day, with Vice President Joe Biden.

Despite ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ongoing violence in Iran, and an economy that Obama has described as the worst since the Great Depression, the president has golfed multiple times in the past several weeks--on April 26, May 16, May 25, May 31, June 7, June 9, June 14 and June 21.

Obama's golf outings have generated favorable reports from the media, in contrast to his predecessor, George W. Bush.

On Aug. 5, 2002, The Washington Post wrote about President Bush golfing near his parents' home in Kennebunkport, Maine. Under the headline "Before Golf, Bush Decries Latest Deaths in Mideast," staff writer Mike Allen described Bush as he "sprang from his golf cart at 6:15 a.m. and said he was distressed to hear about the latest suicide bombers in Israel."

"Bush, wearing khakis and a knit shirt, was holding a driver in his gloved left hand," Allen wrote.

"However incongruous the setting, the president plunged ahead," Allen wrote.

"There are a few killers who want to stop the peace process that we have started, and we must not let them," he [Bush] said. "I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers."

"His business out of the way," Allen wrote, "Bush barely paused for breath before saying, 'Thank you. Now watch this drive.'"

I remember this shot of Bush, in particular, because it appears in one of Michael Moore's ridiculous propaganda pieces (I think it was the one about 9/11, but I'm not certain...I blocked out the memory of watching it almost immediately after the vomit-inducing experience ended). Moore, of course, used it to portray Bush as a cowboy idiot who cared more about golfing than about serious matters of national security. I think that we can all agree that if there was one thing Bush was serious about, it was fighting terrorism and national security - he cashed in all hope of a positive legacy in the media to win against terrorism.

And yet, here's how the media handles Obama's golfing:

A search of news reports on Nexis revealed that photographers, but not reporters have access to Obama when he is on the links. But his outings have been covered, including by The Washington Post on June 9, 2009, in an article with the headline "Just the Sport for A Leader Most Driven."

"What's the deal? Why golf?" Post staff writer Richard Leiby wrote. "The attraction seems to be simple. It's a great escape; the game demands such attention that nothing else matters. It's time spent with friends, an unhurried afternoon in loose clothing (shorts seem to be Obama's preference)."

Leiby continued, "To some, Obama's frequent outings reflect a cool self-confidence."

Leiby even quoted a sports psychologist who said Obama seemed able to play golf despite the grim reports by the media about the wars and the economy.

Ooooh, he's such a hero because -- despite wars, economic mayhem, the housing crisis, Iranian revolts, and NorKor nukes -- he can relax and play golf! It's shameful, really. All Presidents are human, and they all need a break, too. Just leave them to it, I say. If we must endure reports about Presidential golfing, it should be done from an equal perspective. Not this.

I do think there's one instance, however, that Obama clearly made a mistake in hitting the course:

"With his wife and daughters still in France, the president ducked out of the White House 90 minutes after getting home and headed out to the Andrews Air Force Base course with his clubs to enjoy a round, with skies only partly cloudy and temperatures about 80 degrees," United Press International reported on June 7.

Ditching one of the rising EU world leaders for a round of golf doesn't exactly make for great foreign relations. Not that that matters to him.

There's my two cents.