Mean-spirited swipe at President Obama

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Romney’s cheap shot at Obama
By Stephen Stromberg

ABC News reports on Mitt Romney’s latest swipe at President Obama:

The president’s time has been spent playing golf and campaigning; he should be spending his time and energy on getting Americans back to work and fixing this economy.

Yes, that’s all the president has done.

Leaving aside Romney’s dig about campaigning — since the president and Republicans have been squabbling over whether senators should have a week in their home states after the Fourth — I’ve always found the “why are they golfing when [fill in the crisis] is happening?” line to be not merely cynical but also mean-spirited. It was so when Michael Moore pretended to make a point by using footage of George W. Bush hitting a golf ball after discussing terrorism with reporters. It’s at least as unfair to criticize this president for taking a couple hours on the weekend to hit the links — especially because one of Obama’s most recent golf partners was GOP House Speaker John Boehner.

Critics such as Romney make it seem as though the president’s choices were, “find that button hidden in the West Wing that, when pressed, fixes all bad things,” and “go golfing,” and Obama chose the latter.

I want the president to take a few hours off in the seclusion of the back nine every now and then. Being president is really hard, in part because there isn’t an easy button. For that reason, presidents have been playing golf practically since the Articles of Confederation. Even some of the good ones. I imagine that they will continue to play the game for years yet. And that critics seeking a cheap point will attack them for it.
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