Hard Times for the Professional Never Trump Losers
The Circus Over NBC News Hiring/Firing of Ronna McDaniel Isn't Over
President Joe ‘Forrest Gump’ Biden
NBC News Journos Now Worry About Lost GOP Contacts
Checking the Black Box
Yes, a Terrorist Attack Is Coming to America
MSNBC: One Man's 'Election Denier' Is Another Man's TV Host
Americans Can Tell the Difference Between Rosy Economic Data and Reality
What's Wrong With America's 'Elites'?
Tyson Foods Fires U.S. Workers, Exploits Illegal Aliens for Profits
We Must Return to a 'Peace Through Strength' Foreign Policy
Church Should Be About Worship, Not Entertainment
Experts Weigh In on Chances Trump Cases Go to Trial Before the Election
Far-Left Websites Found Secret Ways to Distribute Abortion Pills in Red States
NYC Begs Supreme Court to Allow Over 800,000 Illegal Immigrants to Vote
Tipsheet

Is Our President (Figuratively) Fiddling While Rome Burns?

Yesterday's post discussed all the clues in Jodi Kantor's New York Times piece that suggest the President is a bit of a jerk.

It's worth looking at the same piece again, however, to highlight another troubling facet of it: The focus President Obama has placed on mastering trivial, unimportant hobbies while doing little to address the real problems America confronts.
Advertisement

Kantor's piece reveals that "For someone dealing with the world's weightiest problems, Mr. Obama spends surprising energy perfecting even less consequential pursuits."  Indeed.  The piece informs us that he has played golf 104 times.  He concentrates so hard on winning card games that he reproves fellow players he deems insufficiently attentive.  

Oh, and remember back in the 2008 campaign when the President's bowling score was such an embarrassment that he later inexplicably compared it to the Special Olympics?  Not to worry.  At his 2009 birthday celebration, we are told, he won the bowling tournament he proposed; he had, Kantor informed us, "been practicing in the White House alley."

No one should begrudge the President his moments of relaxation.  If he wants to play cards, or bowl, or whatever -- hey, everyone has to kick back sometimes (and frankly, he can do less damage out of the Oval Office than in it).  And at least his moments of recreation don't involve thong-snapping White House interns.

But what smacks of a little weirdness is what's presented as Obama's almost pathological need to be "the best" at everything, including the most meaningless pastimes -- to the point where he must perceive himself to be "winning" at card games or reading children's books aloud.  And he's apparently using a not-insignificant portion of his time in office to perfect his bowling or card playing or reading aloud or golfing skills in order to address what sounds like some pretty massive insecurities.
Advertisement

If the President were the CEO of a failing company -- one who had run up a staggering debt, had to borrow money to pay its bills, with a sobering percentage of its workforce un- or under-employed -- and we learned that he was "spending surprising energy" perfecting his golf or card game, what would we think?  If President Obama himself were called upon to comment on the behavior of this CEO, do you suppose he would be charitable toward and understanding of this behavior?

Most reasonable people would conclude that a CEO excessively focused on his golf or bowling skills -- despite the economic distress around him -- was a terrible leader.  So why would we hold the CEO of a company to a higher standard than the President of the United States?

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement