Free Republic

From 1994. says President can't talk about recovery while middle class is still struggling. Takes shot at Bush for playing too much golf. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85CJCMFlZQ8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

President Barack Obama’s love of golf hit a milestone today as he marked his 100th time on the links. His Father’s Day achievement was reached at the Beverly Country Club in his hometown, the windy city. Mark Knoller, CBS radio correspondent and chronicler of all things presidential, pointed out the quiet occasion to the traveling press. Like 15 of the 18 presidents since Theodore Roosevelt, Obama has used golf as a way to unwind outdoors, but away from the prying eyes of press and onlookers. And despite the fact that he had never golfed before taking office, his love of...

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and fights government corruption, announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit on May 31, 2012 against the United States Air Force and the United States Secret Service to obtain records detailing Michelle Obama's February 2012 President's Day weekend ski vacation to Aspen, Colorado with her two daughters... Judicial Watch seeks access to any and all records concerning the mission taskings, transportation costs and passenger manifests for Mrs. Obama's February 2012 trip to Aspen, Colorado. ... the Aspen trip was the 16th vacation in three years taken by...

Camp David has been an historic presidential retreat since World War II, but according to New York Times White House correspondent Helene Cooper, Barack Obama "hates it" because there isn't any golf. Such was revealed on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show this weekend (video follows with transcript and commentary): NYT White House Correspondent: Obama 'Hates' Camp David Because There's No GolfHELENE COOPER, NEW YORK TIMES WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Alright, for something totally superficial, I have figured out why President Obama does not like Camp David. CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: He doesn’t like it? COOPER: He hates it. We were up there...

Blue collar Democratic voters, stuck taking depressing “staycations” because they can’t afford gas and hotels, are resentful of the first family’s 17 lavish vacations around the world and don’t want their tax dollars paying for the Obamas’ holidays, according to a new analysis of swing voters. “They view everything through their own personal situation and if they can’t afford to do it, they can’t enjoy it, they don’t like Obama using their tax dollars to benefit himself,” said pollster John McLaughlin. “In this case, they see him as out of touch. While they are struggling he’s not sharing in that...

I guess the weather is finally warm enough on the east coast for King Putt Obama to resume hitting the links. After all, there’s nothing really happening in this country or elsewhere that could affect this country. It’s not like we have skyrocketing gas prices, a lousy economy, Iran getting a nuclear weapon or anything like that. While Michelle Obama took the kids to Las Vegas to party it up on the American tax payer’s dollar (just a week after the oldest daughter went on a secret vacation to Mexico with 25 secret service agents on 12 friends) Hussein Obama...

14 million Americans remain unemployed in the U.S., a number that is unchanged from July. As a Bureau of Labor Statistics report stated today, the economy created exactly zero jobs for the entire month of August signalling the failure of the current administration’s economic policies. In reponse to the zero job growth, White House economic advisor Gene Sperling said, “This president doesn’t think this is anywhere near enough”. A survey of economists agreed – they had expected more than 70,000 new jobs. The report also held that the numbers that had been reported in June and July had been incorrect....

The Obamas' summer break in Martha's Vineyard has already been branded a PR disaster after the couple arrived four hours apart on separate government jets. But according to new reports, this is the least of their extravagances. White House sources today claimed that the First Lady has spent $10million of U.S. taxpayers' money on vacations alone in the past year. Branding her 'disgusting' and 'a vacation junkie', they say the 47-year-old mother-of-two has been indulging in five-star hotels, where she splashes out on expensive massages and alcohol. The 'top source' told the National Enquirer: 'It's disgusting. Michelle is taking advantage...

FLASHBACK--George W. Bush Gives Up Golf: ‘Playing Golf During a War Sends Wrong Message’ Monday, August 22, 2011 By Penny Starr (CNSNews.com) – The White House has released some information about President Barack Obama’s vacation on Massachusetts’ upscale Martha’s Vineyard including his golf games, but no open press coverage of his time on the links has been allowed. President George W. Bush, who routinely allowed journalists to accompany him on golf outings early in his presidency, told Politico in May 2008 that he decided to give up the game in August 2003 after a bomb attack on the United Nations...

VINEYARD HAVEN, Massachusetts (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has taken heat for taking a vacation when the U.S. economy is struggling, but aides are striving to make clear he is not neglecting the country's finances during his break. On Monday, Obama met with a top economic adviser and spoke to investor Warren Buffett and Ford Motor Co. chief executive Alan Mulally about the economy, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Earnest also announced that Obama will travel to Detroit in two weeks to discuss the economy on the U.S. Labor Day holiday on September 5, setting up a major address...

President and Mrs. Obama are sharing in the sacrifice tonight at the Beach Plum Restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard, which features an array of overpriced selections for the first couple to choose from that could easily bring the bill within the range of $200. They might, for example, choose to start the meal with a $15 chunk of pizza cheese – I’m sorry, “Fresh Mozzarella” with “Fresh Basil, vine ripened tomatoes, aged balsamic reduction, and chive dill.” This is a good mix because some things are fresh, and some things are aged. But the sacrifice really gets serious with the entree,...

President Barack Obama ditched the Beltway grind yesterday to seek the pleasures of summer on the beaches of Martha's Vineyard - by way of two helicopter flights and a trip aboard Air Force One. And a further government jet was used by Michelle Obama as she arrived separately to her husband, with daughters Sasha and Malia, just a few hours before he landed. The President left the White House aboard Marine One on his way to Andrews Air Force base to hitch a lift aboard Air Force One. The President arrived on this wealthy Massachusetts island retreat as the stock...

There’ve been a lot of loud critics of President Obama’s vacation plans to Martha’s Vineyard -- even from some of his avid supporters. But when he touches down on this posh island in about six hours, he won’t find many here, if you believe Jenna Ware, a long time resident and driver for Stage Coach taxi service. Ware, sporting a dark tan you’ll see on most residents here, says that when the recession hit, the Vineyard remained unscathed. The island is pretty much recession proof, she says. When a passenger noted in a 2009 visit – the first time Mr....

Fresh off three days of barnstorming in the Midwest, President Obama will spend the morning at the White House in two closed-door meetings, first with his senior economic advisors in the Oval Office then with his national security team in the Situation Room. In the afternoon, Obama heads to the island oasis of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts, where he’s expected to spend the next 10 days vacationing with his family.

Forget the bus tour. In 24 hours, it’s White House vacation time, punctuated by the outcry of those who say a presidential respite at this juncture is ill-timed and clueless. Meanwhile, angst is brewing in Martha’s Vineyard, now gearing up for President Obama’s arrival on Thursday, marking his third visit to the rose-strewn island, not to mention Blue Heron Farm, the 28-acre luxury retreat that will host the president for 10 days.

President Obama’s three-day bus tour of the Midwestern heartland already has earned a nickname. It’s “Greyhound One” according to observant wags at Lucianne.com and elsewhere in the conservative blogosphere. Most are irked that Mr. Obama and his strategists have borrowed a page from the tea party playbook. What’s better than a campaign-style bus tour to impart a message of frugality and kitchen-table economics? But wait. Though the excursion is packaged with humble appeal, it looks like nobody’s sleeping on the bus. The White House has reserved the entire historic Hotel Winneshiek in Decorah, Iowa, and 60 rooms at nearby Luther...

Jay Carney, meet Jay Carney.In 2001, the then-Time magazine reporter wrote a snarky piece criticizing President George W. Bush's month-long vacation that was billed as a "Home to the Heartland" tour. But almost exactly 10 years later Carney, now the Obama White House's press secretary, is defending President Barack Obama's Midwest job-creation tour and vacation at Martha's Vineyard."I don't think Americans out there would begrudge that notion that the President would spend some time with his family," claimed Carney at a recent press briefing.But that's exactly what he, as a private citizen working for Time,

When it comes to curbing unemployment, President Obama "will not rest" until everyone looking for a job can find one, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday. A couple of hours later, the White House put out an announcement that the president will soon begin a nine-day vacation in Martha's Vineyard. No one can credibly make the argument that Obama is loafing. He puts in the hours. But the trip is coming at a queasy moment for the economy and the markets. Stocks recorded another huge drop Wednesday, the third straight day of convulsive swings following Standard & Poor's announcement...

I know what you’re thinking. “It seems like just yesterday that he was talking about a ‘new sense of urgency’ on deficits and job growth.” You’re wrong, though. It was two days ago. Maybe the mood passed? Over to you, Zero Hedge guy: We bring you this special announcement courtesy of the White House which has informed that American plebs that following a fantastic job well done, in which the market is now back to pre-QE2 levels, unemployment is near record highs, delays for presidential press meetings compare with Newark airplane take offs, pessimism is at record highs, America’s credit...

President Obama lunched at a Capitol Hill eatery today with six lucky volunteer organizers from across the country who won an essay contest run by his re-election campaign. The volunteers, among 1,600 participants in the campaign’s Summer Organizer program, wrote on why they organize in their communities and what they learned this summer. Kathleen McKevitt, 67, a former international marketing manager for GE turned freelance photojournalist and consultant, also attended the lunch as a summer organizer from Idaho, where she has been an active Obama supporter since the 2008 presidential campaign. The president spent an hour mingling with the volunteers...