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Our Lonely First Duffer What Barack Obama’s golf game tells us about his presidency
Politico ^ | August 07, 2014 | MICHAEL HIRSH

Posted on 08/08/2014 6:26:20 AM PDT by COUNTrecount

CLIP

Naturally, because golf is so hard on the psyche as well as the wallet, it is unusually revealing about the true nature of people—and, of course, presidents. “If the people wish to determine who is the best candidate, put all the contenders on the golf course,” the golfing great Gene “The Squire” Sarazen once remarked. “The one who can take five or six bad holes in a row without blowing his stack can handle the affairs of the nation.”

CLIP Don Van Natta Jr., who observed that we could learn a lot from the fact that the last 11 presidents going back to Eisenhower (with the exception of Jimmy Carter) have been fairly obsessed with the game. While detailing their worst habits on the course, Van Natta implied it was no accident that some of the biggest presidential cheaters at golf—Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton—were also some of the biggest liars in the Oval Office. Clinton, for example, was notorious for taking what Van Natta called “Billigans”—a play on “mulligan,” golfing parlance for a do-over (which is not allowed under the rules).“If you want to learn about Bill Clinton’s character problem, you don’t have to subpoena Whitewater documents,” conservative commentator Byron York once wrote. “Just watch him on the golf course.”

And what of the current First Duffer? After authorizing airstrikes in Iraq, and despite sharp warnings about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine (to say nothing of the mess in Gaza), this weekend Barack Obama is headed off for another hack-a-thon on Martha’s Vineyard—his regular August getaway—so it seems like an appropriate moment to ask what this revelatory sport can tell us about No. 44, who by all accounts has become increasingly obsessed with hitting little white balls into tiny holes.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


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To: Robert A. Cook, PE
I remember, years and years ago, reading an article about Jimmy Carter and HIS inability to connect with members of Congress in order to get help on his agenda. One of his advisors told him to ask members of the congress to come over to the WH and play tennis with them. Chat them up, so to speak.

Well, according to the article, he made up a list of congress critters, invited each one over ONCE to play tennis, and that was the end of his outreach. Obama truly is the extension of the Carter administration.

21 posted on 08/08/2014 9:22:07 AM PDT by LibertarianLiz
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To: COUNTrecount

Okay, he stopped playing basketball because of fear of injury??? Really? Basketball? Except for, perhaps, ones knees from overuse, what injury??? I’ve seen him a couple of times throw a basketball at a hoop, and miss repeatedly. Maybe he finally figured out that he sucks at it.


22 posted on 08/08/2014 9:26:42 AM PDT by LibertarianLiz
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To: oh8eleven

At least your meter didn’t peg off the chart ... the statement broke my BS meter completely. A chronic liar is not going to be ‘an honest scorekeeper’. And a malignant narcissist cannot allow the truth of his fecklessness to be revealed. Then there is the problem of his drug-addled brain, his sexual deviancy, etc. ... and look at what he is married to! Naw, that total deviant is not gonna be an honest scorekeeper.


23 posted on 08/08/2014 10:04:57 AM PDT by MHGinTN
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To: LibertarianLiz

Oh Liz....don’t you remember he got ELBOWED one time and that’s when he quit playing......yes, that and he SUCKS at it.


24 posted on 08/08/2014 10:08:32 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion......the Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Ann Archy

Elbowed? Really??? Doesn’t everyone get elbowed when playing basketball? I have to wonder if he has every actually played the game, not just shoot hoops, but, play the game. Maybe he has only played the game with the sycophants that he normally has circling him and none of them would ever “elbow” him.


25 posted on 08/08/2014 10:27:07 AM PDT by LibertarianLiz
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To: LibertarianLiz; Ann Archy
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2010/11/28/NPR--Fat-Lip-Gives-Obama-Street-Cred


26 posted on 08/09/2014 5:00:17 AM PDT by hattend (Firearms and ammunition...the only growing industries under the Obama regime.)
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To: hattend

What a WUSS!!!


27 posted on 08/09/2014 5:41:14 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion......the Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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