Question for you… When is going yachting during a crisis bad but going golfing during the same crisis ok? Answer… that’s an easy one… when you are Barack Obama. The White House was quick to criticize BP’s chief executive for going yachting in the midst of the Gulf oil spill, but they sing a different tune when the country’s chief executive goes to concerts and golf outings during the same crisis. Is Obama on the job, or what?
As noted in the Washington Post, White House spokesman Bill Burton mocked BP CEO Tony Hayward for taking his yacht out on the water, saying, “You know, look, if Tony Hayward wants to put a skimmer on that yacht and bring it down to the Gulf, we’d be happy to have his help.”
“Tony Hayward, I guess, took himself at his word that he was going to get his life back here. It’s clear that he has,” Burton said. “But what’s important to us is that the people in the Gulf get their lives back. It’s not so easy for them to just take a weekend away and forget about everything that’s happening down there.”
But what was Obama doing this weekend? He went golfing, and according to Burton, that’s ok: “I don’t think that there’s a person in this country that doesn’t think that their president ought to have a little time to clear his mind.”
A little time to clear his mind? Is he kidding me? It’s “clear” from Obama’s performance in office that there is nothing upstairs at all! He has no leadership skills, no management skills, and he certainly doesn’t know how to connect with the American people. While others are losing their jobs and scrambling to figure out how to pay the bills, Obama is golfing because his job is just so stressful. Give me a break!
The Hill reports Saturday’s golf outing was the 39th of his presidency. On Friday, Obama took off for a Major League Baseball game. A few weeks ago, he was hosting a concert by Paul McCartney. The fact is that Obama just doesn’t get it. President Bush gave up golf while in office, saying “he didn’t think it was appropriate that he keep playing while troops were fighting in Iraq.”
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said Sunday that Obama “can no longer take his eye off the oil.” Was his eye ever on it? Has he EVER stepped in and exerted leadership for the sake of leading and not just using a crisis to advance a socialist agenda?
Steele: “While it is fitting and appropriate to look at the yachting activities of the BP CEO, with incredulity, it is equally incredible that President Obama finds himself on yet another golf course as oil continues to spew into the Gulf. Until this problem is fixed, no more golf outings, no more baseball games, no more Beatle concerts, Mr. President. The stakes are too high for President Obama’s lackadaisical approach to both his responsibilities and the challenges we face.”
Of course, the media find a distinct difference between yachting and golfing. As noted by NewsBusters.org, the Sunday political talk shows on the various television networks all pilled on the yachting story, yet there was no outrage directed at Obama for his golfing.
Of course, no one is defending Hayward’s poor public relations move here.
Instead, if media are going to spend so much time on his yacht outing making the case that it shows how detached he is from his company’s crisis, the same MUST be said of a President that is golfing as millions of gallons of oil slam into HIS nation’s coast.
Without similar scorn, our press are just once again demonstrating their infamous double standard — not that we’re at all surprised.
Massive debt, out of control spending, continued high unemployment, a Gulf coast disaster, and on and on, while Obama lives it up. If Obama is “on the job,” then I want that job!
Recent Comments