President Barack Obama has played a remarkable 41 rounds of golf since becoming president, easily outpacing his predecessor and possibly damaging his ability to portray himself in 2012 as a populist advocate of average folks.
With the excursions lasting on average at least five hours, the president has devoted a total of more than 200 hours to golf, not counting time spent on the White House putting green. That’s the equivalent of twenty five eight-hour work days, or five work weeks spent smacking golf balls.
Bush, whose golf outings were used to help deride him as a callow, lazy, rich boy, played his 24th and last round on Oct. 13, 2003, saying he was ending the practice out of respect for the families of Americans killed in Iraq.
Since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 rig workers and started the Gulf oil spill, Obama has teed up seven times
So this equals 5 weeks of vacation in 1 1/2 years. This is not counting the 'actual' 7 vacations he has already taken. Averaging about 3 days each is another 21 days or 4 more weeks. So almost 2 1/2 months of vacation in just 18 months when we are in the middle of one of the worst economic crisis's in recent history? Not to mention the huge economic and environmental disastor we have in the gulf. He golfed 7 times before he accepted help with the advinced skimmers to stop the oil from reaching our shores. Not to mention the two wars we are in. And the Isreal / Palestine crisis. Also, Iran coming closer to nuclear weapons. But those can take a back seat for 2 1/2 months right?
He claimed he was one of us and could relate to the middle and low class people. I don't know many who are in this economic situation that can afford to take 2 1/2 months off in the last 18 months. He is so out of touch with reality that it is scary. He is treating the White house as his own personal country club. He even hired his own personal chef as a health Czar now. A 20 something year old chef is now a Czar?
487 days at Camp David
490 days at Crawford Ranch
43 days at Kennebunkport Compound
Total: 1,020 days, more than 1/3rd of his presidency. Bush set the record for most vacation time taken by president. During most of Bush's presidency we were at war on two fronts.
Carter took 79 days in 4 years.
Clinton took 152 days in 8 years.
Reagan took 335 days in 8 years.
Bush Sr. took 543 days in 4 years!
The Viking wrote: With the excursions lasting on average at least five hours, the president has devoted a total of more than 200 hours to golf, not counting time spent on the White House putting green. That’s the equivalent of twenty five eight-hour work days, or five work weeks spent smacking golf balls.
Except a workday isn't 5 hours long, it's 8 hours for most people. And who put in the White House putting green you mentioned? Dwight D.Eisenhower.
Eisenhower played the game so often that many Democrats joked that Ike had invented the 36-hole work week. The quip was literally true: Eisenhower played two 18-hole rounds, one on Wednesday afternoon and the other on Saturday morning -- almost every week of his presidency.