Presidents are never off the clock and never more than an arm’s length from the most sophisticated communications equipment on the planet. If presidential golf were so all-consuming that he couldn’t be interrupted by the duties of being leader of the free world, we’d have a lot more men running for office.
A president’s job is to have a vision, convey that vision to others, and make the hard calls when they come to him. It’s about making smart decisions, not how many hours a president spends making a decision. Libya is a perfect example. Obama has been engaged in the Libya decision-making process, courting allies, making sure any U.S. action had United Nations support. Lots of his critics, on the left and right, wish he’d decided not to intervene. If he’d gone that way he would have had plenty of time to golf and kept the United States out of a confused and seemingly open-ended mission. An early decision to intervene, of course, would also have freed up some alone time.
His position on Libya isn’t going to get more attractive (or clear), no matter how little golf he plays.
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