Obama needs to start leading....NOT Playing Golf!

Obama Should Focus on Gulf, Not Golf
Thursday, 24 Jun 2010 03:33 PM Article Font Size
By: Andrea Tantaros

When it comes to me and golf, the two don't mix. I don't understand the fascination. I don't care to learn the "sport." And when it comes to United States presidents and golf, the two especially don't mix.

That's why it's perplexing to me that in a time of crisis, our commanders in chief continue to work on bettering their backswings, knowing criticism is bound to ensue.

When British Petroleum CEO Tony Hayward was seen lounging on a yacht this past weekend, the White House wasted no time reprimanding him for taking some time off in the middle of a catastrophe happening under his watch. But the president also took some time off — to hit the links.

In an effort to defend his boss, a White House spokesman argued that Obama's recent golf outing "probably does us all good as American citizens" because it gives him an opportunity to "clear his mind."

How, in the middle of a national disaster, is this president — or any president — not working a good thing?

If my apartment were on fire and I took time out to get a pedicure, it would seem absurd. Why would the president believe the visual of a triple bogey while the Gulf of Mexico is being destroyed is any better?

Obama isn't the first to come under fire for choosing putting over politics.

When it came to the links, George W. Bush could do no right. He was lambasted incessantly when he was seen golfing, when, as one media outlet described it, "soldiers were dying." He was the subject of national ridicule for the famous clip in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" in which Bush looked into the camera and confidently boasted, "Watch this drive."

Bush and his team came to understand that being seen on the green wasn't the best visual for a wartime president. So he stopped.

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal," Bush said at the time.

Amazingly, he was sharply criticized for that move, too. Brandon Friedman, vice chairman of the U.S. veterans organization VoteVets, cited the move as evidence of how "disconnected" Bush was.

"Thousands of Americans have given up a lot more than golf for this war," Friedman said. "For President Bush to imply that he somehow stands in solidarity with families of American soldiers by giving up golf is disgraceful. It's an insult to all Americans and a slap in the face to our troops' families."

Former President Bill Clinton also felt heat when he was accused of delaying a critical attack on Iraq because he was watching golf.

According to a controversial and much-disputed book by Lt. Col. Robert Patterson, Clinton kept a squadron of F-117 Stealth fighter-bombers and B-52s waiting to launch a critical 1996 air strike on Iraq while he finished watching a golf tournament — dithering so long that U.S. pilots lost the cover of darkness and the mission allegedly had to be scrubbed.

Obama isn't just repeating the mistakes of his predecessors, he's outdoing them. Only nine months into his first term, Politico reported that Obama had already golfed as much as Bush did during two years and 10 months. And since the gulf spill began, Obama has been to the green an astounding 20 times.

Golf may be good for Americans, but it's radioactive for national leaders. It's a symbol of extravagance and leisure. It seems bourgeois. And frivolous. All adjectives you don't want to associate yourself with as a commander in a time of grave concern to the country.

There is no question presidents need downtime. They deserve a break like the rest of us. But if Obama truly needs a rest, he should go to Camp David. Take a walk. Get a hot stone massage. In private, and not during a national emergency.

I might not know about golf. But I do know a little about It's time Obama took a lesson from his predecessors, got off the course and got bapolitics. ck on course to focus on the only holes that matter — the ones in the Gulf, the border and the budget — before his lack of leadership and the perception of where his priorities lie become his handicap.
If that happens, he'll have plenty of time for golf in 2013.