Tag Archives: golf

national news

Stay focused on the crisis, Mr. President

If only you hadn’t popped off so brazenly when Barack Obama was serving as president of the United States, Mr. President.

But you did, accusing the president of playing too much golf while the world was spinning out of control.

So, what are you doing playing all that golf while the eastern coast of the country you were elected to govern is getting set to be hammered by a monster hurricane named Dorian.

I get that you canceled your trip to Poland to “monitor” the storm as it approached the United States. Yes, I wondered whether you were more concerned about Mar-a-Lago than the citizens of the country, but I’ll give you credit at least for staying in this country while the storm strengthened.

But for criminy sakes, Mr. President, you castigated your immediate predecessor for playing gold. You said you would be too busy making America great again to play any golf while you served as president. But your golf-playing schedule has gone far and away more than anything President Obama did.

Hey, I don’t actually begrudge your golfing holidays. I know that you’re always just a phone call away from the center of the storm — pun intended, for sure.

However, you keep talking about how things look, how they affect your standing. I do not believe the notion of your enjoying a round or three of golf while millions of your fellow Americans are hunkering down make you look good.

Not at all, Mr. President.

What the hell. I want you out of office after the next presidential election as it is. If only you would understand the damage you do when you say one thing and do something else.

You don’t understand anything. That’s the problem, Mr. President, with your holding that office in the first place.

national news

Hypocrisy is flourishing in the White House!

Let’s just call him the Hypocrite in Chief.

Donald J. Trump has been caught in yet another example of bald-faced, categorical and unqualified hypocrisy.

His daughter Ivanka has been caught using her personal e-mail account to transmit messages pertaining to government business. Was any of it classified? Was she able to send messages that compromised our national security? Oh, probably not.

But the point is this: Daddy Trump spent two whole years telling the world that in his view Hillary Clinton committed “several felonies” while using her personal e-mail while she was secretary of state. He led chants of “Lock her up!” at campaign rallies.

Now his older daughter is caught doing essentially the same thing. His response? Pfftt! Not parallel, he says.

Moreover, he called Clinton “stupid” for not knowing the rules. Was all of that lost on Ivanka, who now says she didn’t know the rules about e-mail use when she took her post as a senior adviser to her father?

Remember, too, how he criticized President Obama for playing too much golf? How he — Trump — wouldn’t have time to play golf, that he’ll be too busy “making America great again”?

He’s turned Obama into a weekend duffer. This president, the guy who ridiculed his predecessor unjustly, has lapped the field — and then some! — with his golf outings.

I do not begrudge the golf per se. I’ve said all along that presidents are never off the clock; they remain in constant contact with their key aides, advisers and national security team.

I do begrudge the golf only because of Trump’s hypocrisy on that matter — and on so many others.

Simply astonishing.

national news

No criticism of Trump golf outings

I hereby make a solemn vow: I will not criticize Donald J. Trump for playing golf while he serves as president of the United States of America.

Obama’s immediate predecessor, Barack Obama, took some unfair hits from critics who bitched about his golf outings. Why, they couldn’t understand why the president was playing golf while the world was spinning out of control all around him.

I defended Obama. He is never not the president, I said.

I’ll say the same thing about the guy who succeeded him. Trump took Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to his Florida estate for a round of golf, a few laughs — and maybe even some high-level diplomacy.

Trump might get criticized by some. Not from me.

Hey, fair is fair.

Presidents deserve time off away from the hustle and bustle of the Oval Office. Even this one.

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POTUS always on duty

What is it about presidential critics — and I lump them all together regardless of party — that makes them forget that presidents of the United States never are off the clock?

Byron York, writing for the Washington Examiner, is at it again, chafing at the notion that President Obama played some golf while the Iraq crisis heats up.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/barack-obama-golfs-while-the-middle-east-burns/article/2549799

We’ve heard this so many times before I’ve lost count.

President George W. Bush was lampooned because he vacationed at his Central Texas ranch while crises erupted around the world; Bush also was known to tee it up as trouble arose.

President Ronald Reagan spent a great deal of time at his beloved Rancho Del Cielo in southern California.

President George H.W. Bush was photographed speeding around the Maine coastline aboard his “cigarette boat” while Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in the summer of 1990.

President Bill Clinton also liked to play golf and, oh yes, the critics lampooned him too.

Presidents are on duty 24/7. They never go anywhere on the planet without the “football,” that case carrying the nuclear launch codes. They are briefed continually by their national security teams. They know what’s happening at all times.

York, though, takes umbrage at Barack Obama’s love of golf. Allow me this, Byron: Dwight Eisenhower liked to play the game as well, as did John Kennedy, Gerald Ford, G.H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

So bleeping what if the president enjoys some relaxation? Let him relax and seek to stay sharp when the chips are down and he has to respond to whatever crisis is erupting.