Obama's 'Whole Life is a Fantasy Camp!'

This is a good read on Obama’s habit of squeezing presidentin’ in between parties, fundraisers and rounds of golf, by Matthew Continetti at the Beacon.

Attacking the president for vacation is usually the job of the out party. But these days it is the job of all parties. Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, ISIL, Ebola, child migrants on the border, racial strife in Ferguson, an American murdered by the caliphate—critics say the president who danced to every song at Ann Jordan’s birthday party seems remote and aloof from, and even mildly annoyed by, such concerns.

I disagree. Not with the judgment that Obama is detached, dialing it in, contemptuous of events that interfere with his plans. I disagree with the idea that this August has been different, in any meaningful way, from the rest of Obama’s second term. For this president, the distinction between “time off” and “time on” is meaningless. For this president, every day is a vacation. And has been for some time. He is like Cosmo Kramer of Seinfeld. “His whole life is a fantasy camp,” George Costanza says of his friend. “People should plunk down $2,000 to live like him for a week.” Imagine what they would pay to live like Obama.

Uncomfortable with all of the golf on Martha’s Vineyard? It is but a fraction of Obama’s habit. Since 2009, the president has played more than 185 rounds, typically with Wall Street cronies such as Robert Wolf and sports celebrities such as Alonzo Mourning, Tony Kornheiser, and Michael Wilbon. So devoted to golf is Obama that he wears Game Golf, which tracks how well a golfer shoots. Game Golf is not something you wear as a lark. You use it to study and hone your game. The hours on the course are just the start; there are also the hours spent analyzing results at home. Obama is not golfing like an amateur. He’s golfing like a man who wants to join the PGA tour.

That’s a lot of golf. More golf in six years than even some avid golfers will play in a couple of decades. And chances are, they’re nowhere near as busy as the President of the United States.

Obama came into the presidency promising that he would give all of himself to the job, and his outside interests would go away.

Now, his outside interests rule and being president seems to have gone away. He’s quick with a quip about whatever is happening in the sports world, and he can appreciate fine, expensive foods with the richest. But don’t ask him about foreign policy or any of his administration’s scandals. He only learns about those from the news — when they bother to report on them.