Media Swoons Over Obama's Golf Outings, Criticized Bush's

Jillian Bandes | August 27, 2009 10:42 AM

Obama has gone golfing at least 11 times in his first year in office. CNS News reports on the differences in the way the media has reported on those trips versus the way it has reported on President Bush's golf outings.

On Aug. 5, 2002, The Washington Post wrote about President Bush golfing near his parents’ home in Kennebunkport, Maine. Under the headline “Before Golf, Bush Decries Latest Deaths in Mideast,” staff writer Mike Allen described Bush as he “sprang from his golf cart at 6:15 a.m. and said he was distressed to hear about the latest suicide bombers in Israel.”

...[Obama's] outings have been covered... by The Washington Post on June 9, 2009, in an article with the headline “Just the Sport for A Leader Most Driven.”

“What’s the deal? Why golf?” Post staff writer Richard Leiby wrote. “The attraction seems to be simple. It’s a great escape; the game demands such attention that nothing else matters. It’s time spent with friends, an unhurried afternoon in loose clothing (shorts seem to be Obama’s preference).”

Leiby continued, “To some, Obama’s frequent outings reflect a cool self-confidence.”

Perhaps The Washington Examiner's Kiki Ryan provides the answer as to why Obama's golfing is so much more... cool, than Bush's. It's because Obama has managed to make a show out of it:

According to the Cape Cod Times, [Obama] never takes a mulligan — that is, hitting a bad shot over, typically on the first tee. He is also meticulous about recording his score, and he absolutely refuses to cheat.