Political Hotsheet
By

Mark Knoller /

CBS News/ June 17, 2012, 8:28 PM

President Obama plays 100th round of golf, draws fire from critics

President Barack Obama, right, and former President Bill Clinton talk during a game of golf at Andrews Air Force Base on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011, in Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

/ AP Photo/Evan Vucci

(CBS News) CHICAGO -- There's something about golf that makes it a compelling pastime for American presidents.

President Obama spent about 4 hours on Father's Day playing a round of golf at the Beverly Country Club with two old friends and an aide. It was his 100th round of golf since taking office.

By the number of times he plays, it's clear Mr. Obama enjoys golf, though only on a few occasions has he spoken publicly about the game.

In naming Jim Yong Kim to be his nominee to head the World Bank last March, Mr. Obama joked with mock envy about Kim's prowess on the links.

"I just found out he's a five handicap in golf. I'm a little resentful about that last item."

Men who aspire to and win the presidency are usually overachievers who conquer every goal they set, but they find golf addictively resistant to their skills.

"It's a game that I keep on thinking I should be good at, and somehow the ball goes this way and that way and never goes straight," said Mr. Obama in a Russian media interview in 2009. But on another occasion, he admitted he's "terrible" at golf, but is drawn to the game just the same.

"It's the only time that for six hours, I'm outside," said the president in a CBS News interview with Harry Smith. He said its one of the few times as president "where you almost feel normal" in the sense that he feels outside the security bubble that envelopes him at all times.

"It feels as if...you're out of the container," he said.

But never is the game of golf more controversial than when it's played by an American president. It infuriates critics who demand to know why he's not working on the nation's problems. It makes his supporters aggressively defensive about his right to have a few hours of recreation.

In reporting his 100th round in on Twitter today, I was inundated by a fury of tweets condemning or defending the president for his activity and denouncing me for reporting the count.

It's just a number reflecting one of his many activities as president. It's like his number of vetoes (2), pardons (22), foreign trips (23), addresses to Congress (6), bills signed (499) or flights on Marine One (663).

Opponents see rounds of golf as an opportunity to charge a president is a slacker, not focused on the responsibilities of his office. Supporters cheer his ability to take a few hours to refresh and revitalize. They accuse me of giving his critics ammunition to use against him.

I encountered a similar reaction during the presidency of George W. Bush when I reported on the number of his trips to his Texas ranch (77 visits/spanning all or part of 490 days). His opponents said he should be at the White House working while supporters abused me for keeping track of such matters.

Bush played 24 rounds of golf during the first 2 ? years of his presidency, but then, six months into the war in Iraq, decided to stop. "I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal," he said in an interview in 2008 with Yahoo and Politico.com.

During President Bill Clinton's 18 days of summer vacation in 1995 that took him to Wyoming, Hawaii and California, he logged over 71 hours playing 273 holes of golf.

When for the first time he broke 80 during a round of golf in San Diego, he couldn't help but trumpet his achievement to reporters.

"I was hot. I was smoking 'em," said Clinton of scoring 79 at the par-72 course on Coronado Island.

We don't ever hear about Mr. Obama's scores on the golf course. And only rarely does the White House permit the press to get a photograph of the president on the links. During the Clinton presidency, such photo ops were routine.

Different times, different presidents, different rules.

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
74 Comments Add a Comment
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Left-Wing-loon says:
With all the scandals going on in Washington and the economy chugging along and unemployment at 7.6% you'd think this slacker president wouldn't have time for golf.
The Oval Office has never been so empty until he became president.
He act's like he doesn't have a care in the world except spying on us and creating scandal after scandal.
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Cjf2mhf says:
Not Fathers' Day dude
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SFC007 says:
More golf, less time in Washington,that's a good thing.
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RansomStoddard says:
If you ever watched Clinton play golf, then you know he also lied about his golf score. Obviously, Pres Obama is a better golfer. His golf score is the ONLY thing is doesn't lie about.
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musketeerdad says:
Just another smoke screen to distract from the real issues. It's sad how easily the general public can be distracted by the most mundane stories. If this president wants to run on his record, then he should list his accomplishments and tell how those accomplishments have benefitted the average american. Or, at the very least, those of you who are such staunch supporters of his presidency should come to his defense with something more than telling how much vacation time his predecessors took. Obama said that Bush was unpatriotic because he increased the national debt by 4 trillion dollars during his presidency. Obama has increased the national debt by 5 trillion dollars in less than half the time. Obama says "let's end the war in Afghanistan and spend that money to rebuild America"...how do you use money you don't have? We are borrowing money to fight the war in Afghanistan. This is not "our" money. I would've loved for Obama to have been the most successful president of all time. The fact is, he will go down as one of the worst and it won't have anything to do with the amount of golf he's played or the number of vacations he's taken.
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peter_out says:
There is popular photo of President Obama in uniform on his HS basketball team in Hawaii, but little info except witnesses say he didn't jump well and was a reserve player. A couple of years ago the President rolled a bowling score of 35. Obviously he's no jock.

Breaking 100 at golf would be good for this President. It would take Obama 2 stokes to reach the Eisenhower tree.
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peter_out replies:
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P.S. There's nothing wrong with the President enjoying a round of golf as long as he performs his duties as President.
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jflynn5110 says:
"Opponents see rounds of golf as an opportunity to charge a president is a slacker, not focused on the responsibilities of his office."
Can't imagine why? While Colorado Springs burned guess what? Obama was playing Golf. Not a word from his highness.
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AnnDeCBS replies:
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If you knew half as much as you think you do, you would know that Pres. Obama was IN Colorado Springs on June 29, standing in rubble.
You would KNOW that the Colo. Springs Mayor said: "I really appreciate the president coming here ... if nothing more than just to reassure us that this has a focus at a national level, that there are people all over this country who are concerned for our citizens and those who have lost their homes," Bach said.
"And I do plan to ask for cash," he added.
Obama declared Colorado a disaster area to allow for the flow of federal dollars to help fight the Waldo Canyon Fire as well the High Park Fire, which has burned more than 87,000 acres in northern Colorado since it began on June 9.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/29/us/western-wildfires/index.html

A NEWSPAPER REPORT: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/06/obama-to-visit-colo-to-review-fire-damage/1
Jun 27, 2012
"Federal support is also being provided to local officials battling fires in Alaska, Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The President made clear that he has directed his team to remain focused on the fires. He asked the Governor and the Mayor to identify any additional resources that could be provided and informed both that his thoughts and prayers are with responders and families impacted by these and other fires burning across the western United States."

Not a word . . . what angry BS from some form of hater!
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Libertyprotected says:
Do America a favor leave DC - leave the presidential office and go and play golf!

America is in a sand trap -- and the American's ARE suffering because the economy is so damaged.

Obama pre-2009: I will cut the deficit by half

MORE: Obama promised us a transparent presidency -- but so far has just given us a TRANSLUCENT presidency.

"Translucent," defined from online dictionary, is "transmitting and diffusing light so that objects beyond CANNOT be seen clearly."

VOTE WISELY in 2012 -- USA-Tradition, the economy and liberty is in jeopardy!!

FAST AND FURIOUS -contempt of Congress- is another story to read about.
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Indypendent says:
I'd like to know why one can find HUNDREDS of references to Mark Knoller tabulating Obama's miles on Air Force One and NOTHING whatsoever on Obama after more than 3.5 years in office.

This is why almost nobody watches this network anymore - the obvious bias of everything associated with it - from Katie Couric's disgustingly biased softball questions to Obama and praise of everything he does to the so-called statistician who apparently quit publishing most all of the stats once Obama took office.
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euge005 says:
Just wait a second. The moron and war criminal Bush claimed he would stop playing golf to show some personal sacrifice during his war of aggression against the people of Iraq, but that did not last long. Like everything else he lied and soon went right on in his games. Chaney must have like getting the fool out of his way while he looted Iraq and our treasury.
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HarshestReality replies:
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Moron - Total fail
Gilleon_B replies:
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Euge005 where did you learn to read? Scroll back up and try it again moron. 24 rounds, then he stopped..no more, Obama is Nero fiddling whilst Rome burns. Wake up and put down the Koolaid. Furthermore,I served in the USMC, I know what we were doing there, because I was there doing it. What where you doing?
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