One of my conservative friends posted a story on FB about how Obama has apparently spent more time golfing than Bush. He’s outraged (and I suspect this will be a common sentiment) that Bush got flack for golfing and Obama is being given a pass.
My gut reaction is that he’s making up history.
I remember the whole “Now watch this drive” thing, and I know he gave up golfing “in honor of the troops,” which is pretty dubious. And I remember various points where things were going on and “Oh, Bush is on vacation, AGAIN!”
But I don’t remember specifically him getting any grief from anyone about golfing, specifically. Is my memory faulty?
Well, Keith Olbermann took note when video of Dubya golfing surfaced (in 2006 or 2007, IIRC) after the former President publicly said he was giving it up for the duration. But he didn’t make too big a deal of it – KO had more than enough arrows in his quiver.
That was included in Fahrenheit 9/11 and it looked bad, but overall, I don’t remember Bush getting any flack for golfing.
Keith Olbermann was very critical of Bush for the giving up golf gesture, but Olbermann’s gripe wasn’t about golf. His point was that nobody cares if Bush gives up golf for the troops because it’s a meaningless gesture, and Bush was arrogant to presume anyone would care he gave up golfing as it if was a great sacrifice.
Ironically, JFK was a pretty good golfer, but asked his aides not to talk about it, to avoid comparison to Ike, who’d golfed (some said) far too much. One comic of the day joked, “Ben Hogan for President: If we’re going to have a golfer, at least let’s have a good one!”
The original “watch this drive” comment was infamous long before Moore’s movie. It was said in a very arrogant way at the wrong time and in the wrong circumstance. Bush was not given crap for golfing, but rather being an ass about it. Then the whole “giving it up for the troops” stuff was kinda insulting. But it was the insulting way Bush treated everyone around golf that he got flack for, not the activity itself.
For those who don’t remember the “now watch this drive” comment, a brief summary.
On August 4, 2002, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a bus in Israel, killing nine passengers. The president was on a golf course while on vacation in Maine and was asked to comment. He said, “I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers.”
I certainly didn’t take from Bush’s quote that he in any way was taking on the same amount of sacrifice as the families of soldiers, or that somehow giving up golf was the moral equivalent of serving in Iraq. Rather, I take it as an obvious acknowledgment that at a time soldiers are out dying under his administration, perhaps he should avoid the appearance of spending all his time at leisure activities. Of course, given the other accusations of him doing leisure activities, perhaps my interpretation isn’t valid. But I see that remark more along the lines of “maybe I shouldn’t be golfing while people are dying” rather than “by not golfing I’m sacrificing for the troops”. YMMV.
There is no way in hell Bush would have said “I don’t want some mum whose son may have recently died to see the commander-in-chief playing golf.” I don’t know why the British media does this and, frankly, every time I see it, it makes me wonder how much of the rest of the quote is fabricated.
Bush got criticized for having mass and taking up space. He was of the opposite party as the press corp so that was his lot in life. Mostly he was self-effacing and handled it with good grace. The current thin-skinned occupant in the White House can’t even stand being criticized by the one television news outlet that does not tilt left. And I say that as a libertarian with disdain for both major political parties.
I remember several articles and news reports maligning Bush for playing golf, or clearing brush from is property, or for taking a vacation (they counted the days), or for any number of other things that were of no relevance. He got criticized for golfing while troops were dying and then got criticized for giving up golf because troops were dying.
Randi Rhodes accused Bush of playing golf during Katrina when he had actually given a speech on medicare at a country club. She had to retract. Olberman was Olberman as has been mentioned by another poster. And the less said about Michael Moore in any context the better.
In some of the leftist fever swamps of the they even called for Bush’s impeachment for playing golf while we were at war. So yeah, I imagine conservatives are still a little chapped over all of that sort of thing.
On the other hand, Obama truly has a deaf ear for symbolism. He unilaterally announced the termination of the missile defense system with Poland on the anniversary of their invasion by the Russians and observed his moment of silence on Memorial Day at 3:00 pm … while on a golf course. He gave the Queen of England a collection of his speeches as a gift and made them take back a bust of Churchill that was given to the US as a gift to stiffen our resolve after 9/11.
Frankly, the problem isn’t that any of these guys play too much golf… it is that they play too little.
Also remember times are much tougher now, than even a year ago. People resent someone playing golf while there out of work. So even if he plays less it seems worse
I think Bush received more flack for taking a ton of vacations while in office (including a month-long vacation right before 9/11) than for the golf specifically. I’ve gotten the impression in the last day or two that some people are conflating Bush’s vacation criticisms with his more minor golf criticisms and then saying “Obama played more golf than Bush” when golf wasn’t the primary thing Bush was being criticized about.
The Brits are nice people and our allies and all, but they wouldn’t just give away one of their very expensive and historically meaningful art treasures to help out with the decor in the White House, no matter how much they thought our resolve needed stiffening.