‘Golfer-in-chief’ Obama nears 100th round of his presidency
By Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Theodore Roosevelt warned future presidents of the grave risks: “Fatal,” he said. Harry Truman shunned it – “a political noose,” in the words of one writer. John Kennedy strived to keep it as secret, or almost as secret, as some of his other diversions.
The obsession? Golf.
For a century it’s been the game of presidents, a sunny escape from the office for 15 of the 18 chief executives since the first Roosevelt. It’s also a game that appears elite to many people, enough so that golfing presidents play at their political peril.
Now comes Barack Obama. He tries to keep his golfing out of view, banning news cameras when he can. But his love of the game has taken him to the course nearly 100 times already in his presidency, and election rival Mitt Romney says that’s simply too much in a time of economic anxiety.
“As millions of Americans continue to struggle to find work, President Obama has now played a total of 1,710 holes since taking office,” Romney’s campaign said in a recent release. “A lot of Americans have had to make sacrifices these last four years. We would expect our president to do the same.”
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