Golfing During War Time

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The question for the day is "what exactly is an appropriate activity for a President to do on his "off-hours" (more about this term later) when the nation is at war?"  The question is rather timely as our current President-in-Chief has a great fondness for the game and has devoted a great deal of time to his favorite pastime....basketball golf. 


To start answering this question, I first look into my personal life experience, which is not nor will probably never be, in the public sector.  My husband's business has gone through four difficult years due to economic factors including going through and successfully getting out of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  This has been our 'wartime' experiment.  If things were not handled correctly and with serious attention, people (or rather their jobs) would be killed. My husband has worked 6-7 days a week doing everything possible to stay afloat, to keep the company viable and to get the company back on its feet.  We took little vacation time (partially to save money, but more to stay focused, rested and available to handle all the mess) and spent very little time on activities such as golf or basketball for that matter.  It was important to do so for his employees and for his investors and the time has paid off.


Looking to history, I see that President Bush only took vacations to Camp David and to the ranch in Crawford, Texas during the war years.  To my knowledge, he did not golf during this time frame either.  


Frankly, I have nothing against the actual game of golf, but it does take a significant amount of time, unlike, say, basketball.  For the time factor alone, I say, it's probably not your best choice of activities for a President to do, except on rare occasions. 

But I have to say, if I had a son or daughter over in Iraq or Afghanistan today, I'd be pissed off right now.  "Who the hell does he think he is and why isn't he spending every waking hour working to keep my child alive and out of harm's way!" is what I'd be saying. In fact, I AM saying that even though my own flesh and blood aren't fighting for this country.  Shame on you, President Obama!

As an aside, does anyone else find it humorous that during his election all we heard about is his interest in playing a little b-ball and never heard a peep about Obama being a bratty golf enthusiast?! Of course, for all we know, he may be hooking up for some street ball with his buddies after the golf game is over! 

I cannot give you a definitive answer or number to my question above except to state that the amount of golf our President is playing during war time is OUTRAGEOUSLY HIGH!  The media and the public should be furious.  Someone said this week that he has played more golf already that any other President in history...war or no war!  If this is true, then why isn't this top news?  I know, we all know the answer to that question.


One thing I learned while staying in the Washington, DC area this summer......on those rare occasions when Obama isn't on a vacation or trip to Europe, we plays golf at the military base, located near the capital.  When he decides to play all the veterans who were scheduled to play are required to stop play and go to the clubhouse or go home until Barack has finished his round.  That makes me mad.  It's probably one of those nice perks we give to men and women who risk their lives for us and he just barrels in and does what he pleases without any thought to their day!  How obnoxious is that?!

During war time, "off hours" should be a term not often used by the President of the USA.  He should be careful not  to abuse his position and enjoy so much free time.  So many people in our country have zero "off-hours" these days.....or have they TOO many "off hours" due to the fact they have been laid-off and cannot find a job (don't get me started....)



I wish our President would take his job seriously, like my husband did. 
I wish he cared. 
I wish his term was up and we never had to see his photo op in a golf cart again!!

Writing Your Own History

History has a way of putting things in perspective that is very hard to achieve in the short term.  An event in your life that seems catastrophic this week pales in comparison to the events over a decade of time.  And no matter how hard you try to manage and control the story, some events will alter your history whether you like it or not.

Take for example my divorce back in the early 90's.  I was devastated.  My whole wonderfully-planned life as I had planned came crashing to a halt when it collided with my husband's newly-planned life.  I described it as the end of a chapter, and yes, still today...almost 20 years later, I still think the "D-word" event represents a chapter in my life story.  Maybe the chapter isn't as lengthy or as meaty as I may have once thought because there are other juicier stories in my personal history story now.

And maybe President Obama will get off his fat, pompous ass and take on the responsibility of a comprehensive immigration program and the American public will understand exactly why Governor Brewer was left with little choice than to try to make things better in Arizona by signing the 1070 bill into law, thus forcing the Federal government to do its job. If he was successful in an election year, history would be kind to him for placing the public good over partisan politics.

History is funny, too, because no matter hard you try to affect what your history, you cannot.  I have tried to paint as nice a picture on the whole divorce topic for a myriad of reasons, but when I am dead and gone, there is little I can do.  The story lies in the facts and the outcomes surrounding the event.  Obama should understand that even as eloquent as he speaks, the actions are really the only things that matter when it comes to history.

So what can you do to affect your history?  I'd say that the best thing to do is to try to always look in the long-term and what the big picture shows and to do what's best in these terms.  Be faithful to yourself and what you believe in, no matter what the consequences.  But, always be willing to listen and learn from others and thus, be able to change your beliefs and who you are inside. 

One can only hope that our poiliticians can be big boys and girls and do the hard things such as comprehensive immigration reform and once and for all have a system that works.  The history books are waiting.............................................