Interesting-if-true fact from Patrick Gavin: President Obama has already played as many rounds of golf after nine months in office as President George W. Bush did in eight years.
President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he’s already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years.
CBS’ Mark Knoller — an unofficial documentarian and statistician of all things White House-related — wrote on his Twitter feed that, “Today – Obama ties Pres. Bush in the number of rounds of golf played in office: 24. Took Bush 2 yrs & 10 months.”
Interesting but irrelevant. It’s mildly amusing, I suppose, as a retort to the “Watch this drive!” nonsense and general kvetching about how much time Bush spent on leisure activities that he should have instead been devoting to Iraq/Afghanistan/Katrina. But two sillies don’t make a smart.
The bottom line is that people need down time in order to be effective. That’s doubly true of leaders. While it’s possible to overdo it, I’m perfectly happy to have my presidents golfing, horseback riding, brush clearing, or whatever else it is that allows them to blow off steam and get their minds off the job for a couple hours.
I do, however, wish someone would take Obama shopping for some new pants. First, the mom jeans and now pleated, baggy chinos? C’mon!
