UPDATE, May 30, 2011: Obama does it again!
Memorial Day on the golf course.
A president during wartime on the golf course?
This really bugs me.
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This was Obama's first Memorial Day as president of the United States.
This isn't peacetime, so it's an even more solemn observance. Our fellow citizens are in harm's way, currently fighting in two wars, suffering severe injuries and dying.
But Obama managed to get all his presidential Memorial Day duties, laying wreaths and reading off of teleprompters, out of the way in the morning.
That worked out well for him. His afternoon was free so he could spend four hours playing golf.
From ABC News:
ABC News' Jake Tapper and Karen Travers report: In his remarks at Arlington National Cemetery this morning, President Obama called on all Americans to observe Memorial Day, a day of “silent remembrance and solemn prayer,” by pausing for a moment of national unity at 3 pm this afternoon.
For President Obama that moment came in the middle of a round of golf at Ft. Belvoir in Virginia.
The president spent around four hours on the links this afternoon -- arriving around 1:30 and leaving just before 5:30 -- staying in Washington after the ceremony at Arlington instead of flying back to Camp David as he was originally scheduled.
White House aides told reporters that the president paused at 3 p.m. to observe a moment of silent prayer.
“I ask you to ring a bell or offer a prayer, say a silent thank you, and commit to give something back to this nation, something lasting in their memory, to affirm in our own lives and advance around the world those enduring ideals of justice, equality and opportunity for which they and so many generations of Americans have given that last full measure of devotion,” Obama said this morning at Arlington National Cemetery.
From the New York Times:
President Obama observed Memorial Day on Monday just as his predecessors had, by placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns here.
But Mr. Obama added a twist: he sent a second wreath to a memorial honoring blacks who fought in the Civil War.
...“My grandfather served in Patton’s Army in World War II; I cannot know what it is like to walk into battle,” Mr. Obama said. “I’m the father of two young girls, but I can’t imagine what it is like to lose a child. These are things I cannot know. But I do know this: I am humbled to be the commander in chief of the finest fighting force in the history of the world.”
Before the ceremony, Mr. Obama had a private breakfast at the White House with families of soldiers who had died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
After the ceremony the president went to play golf at Fort Belvoir, Va. He was on the course at 3 p.m., during the moment of national unity he had called for. The White House said he paused for a moment of silent prayer.
These hacks in the lib media are really annoying.
Rather than getting on Obama's case for spending half of his first Memorial Day as commander in chief golfing, they regurgitate the crap fed to them by White House aides.
Yes, Obama was on the golf course all afternoon, but he stopped for a moment of silent prayer at 3:00 PM. What a guy!
I'm sure it was a very solemn, prayerful scene.
Where are the pictures?
No photos of Obama golfing and none of him pausing to reflect.
Why not?
Because they would look horrible. Showing Obama hopping around on the golf course would not be good juxtaposed with photos of the loved ones of the fallen visiting cemeteries and grieving.
As president, you'd think that Obama could have devoted the DAY to remembering our war dead. The morning wasn't enough. Stopping for a moment on the golf course wasn't enough for the president of the United States to do during wartime.
He could have visited with more families of the fallen. He could have invited more of them over to the White House, to meet and support them. He could have given them more of his time.
Obama could have gone to visit the war injured at Walter Reed. He could have spent the afternoon with them, thanking them for their service and their sacrifice, and trying to lift their spirits.
Instead, Obama chose to play golf.
There's nothing wrong with Obama taking time to relax. But on this Memorial Day, his first as commander in chief, he should have done more than give the morning to remembrance.
He should have sacrificed his afternoon and his golf game.
Is that too much of a sacrifice?
5 comments:
Answering your last question in the post - apparently, yes, yes it is. Obama is about Obama. How he's going to handle WWIII is
(I couldn't think of anything else to write)
Up until the Tee-off I was thinking Obama actually held up the traditions of the US president.
His presentation at the memorial honoring blacks who fought in the Civil War was very appropriate.
Turns out his basic disdane of the military shines through.
I am sick of the media giving Obama a pass.
Do you think if McCain had been elected he could have managed to spend half the day playing golf without being roundly criticized?
No way.
How much grief would Obama have received if he had gone on vacation for the entire weekend, as Reagan and Bush the First did on several Memorial Days? Bush even had the temerity to play golf on Memorial Day. Why does he hate America?
Obama spent Memorial Day weekend 2010 on vacation in Chicago.
He didn't golf because it rained. Poor guy.
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