In 2008, Barack Obama promised to change the way Washington works and to bring people together. In 2012, CNN’s Jessica Yellin asked Obama why he couldn’t accomplish that in his first term, and Obama said that … it’s his family’s fault (~2 minutes, via Breitbart):
Even Yellin couldn’t quite believe this answer. “If this is such a priority,” she told Candy Crowley and Dan Balz, “why didn’t he do it? I mean, you can carve out one night a week to go out and socialize and reach across the aisle.” That excuse also ignores the 100-plus rounds of golf Obama has already played, eating up most of the Sunday time that could have otherwise been spent with his family — or even using golf to reach across the aisle, which Obama has done so rarely that it merited a large amount of media attention when he invited John Boehner along on a round.
New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor wrote about Obama’s use of free time in an article earlier this week:
For someone dealing with the world’s weightiest matters, Mr. Obama spends surprising energy perfecting even less consequential pursuits. He has played golf 104 times since becoming president, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News, who monitors his outings, and he asks superior players for tips that have helped lower his scores. He decompresses with card games on Air Force One, but players who do not concentrate risk a reprimand (“You’re not playing, you’re just gambling,” he once told Arun Chaudhary, his former videographer).
His idea of birthday relaxation is competing in an Olympic-style athletic tournament with friends, keeping close score. The 2009 version ended with a bowling event. Guess who won, despite his history of embarrassingly low scores? The president, it turned out, had been practicing in the White House alley.
But his failure on Hope and Change were because he was spending so much time … with his family. Given his track record of blaming everyone but himself for his own failures, using his daughters as political shields is sadly just par for the course.
It’s time once again to show our support for Day By Day and its artist-publisher, Chris Muir. Chris holds an annual fundraiser to keep the adventures of Sam, Zed, Jan, and Damon coming. Chris, whose artwork has enhanced the OOTD feature since its inception for Hot Air readers, uses the funds raised for only the continuance of DBD. As always, the fundraiser has many fabulous gifts available at whatever level one chooses to donate. If you’re thinking about donating at the Jan/Damon level or above, you’ll get a Last Supper Red vs Blue magnet, which has depictions of personalities from New Media — myself included. Donating at the Anatoly Level will get you a 9×15 print of the artwork. Dig deep and be part of supporting the one of the best New Media cartoonists in the biz!
And if you want something really cool …
Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at [email protected] with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.
