The presidential motorcade rolled away from the White House at 11:23 this morning, headed for an undisclosed location, according to the White House pool report.
Not surprisingly, it was headed for the greens at Andrews Air Force Base. But President Obama wasn’t hooking up with his usual golf buddies today, such as White House trip director Marvin Nicholson.
Obama teed off with former President Bill Clinton, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, who is challenging Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell next year.
It was the third golf outing for Obama since winning re-election. He also hit the links on Nov. 10 and Nov. 23.
While the press corps was socked away at the range’s food court, the foursome spent nearly four hours playing golf.
No doubt Clinton had some advice for Obama on the fiscal cliff. Clinton’s former chief of staff, Erskine Bowles, is one of the leaders of the president’s deficit-reduction commission that came up with the Simpson-Bowles plan disregarded by the president; he has been trying to act as a conduit between congressional Republicans and the White House with meetings on the Hill last week. Obama could be leaning on Clinton for a hand to get out of the mess as he did during the campaign. Or, if Clinton wants payback for his campaign help and doesn’t want Obama to poison the well for Hillary in 2016, he could be wielding one of those clubs and warning POTUS not to foul this up.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who is most likely leaving the administration, was tasked with making the rounds on the news shows to push the president’s plan offered to congressional GOPs: higher taxes, more stimulus spending, and no more debt ceiling. Leaders reportedly laughed at Geithner when he presented the plan last week.
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