Allah:
Oh, I don’t know. He seems pretty grief-stricken here, no?
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/statuses/502674824347803648
Ask yourself this, though. Is “optics” really just a Beltway parlor game? My hunch about most low-information voters, a.k.a. most voters, is that they’d struggle to name who the vice president is when asked. We’re lucky if they’re cognizant of what happened to James Foley at all, let alone Obama’s reaction to it.
“As a general rule, I think that he’s right that you can’t be held hostage to the news cycle — the man deserves a bit of downtime,” said Jim Manley, a longtime Democratic strategist. “But in this particular instance, I think a lot of Democrats flinched a little bit.”
The video, Mr. Manley added, “was just so shocking that the idea that he was going to immediately run to the golf course was just a little too much for folks; it was tone-deaf.”
Mr. Obama has traditionally resisted what he sees as the empty political gesture of abruptly upending his schedule in reaction to the latest crisis.Aides said the golf game did not reflect the depth of his grief over Mr. Foley, noting that the president had just spoken with his parents that morning. “His concern for the Foleys and Jim was evident to all who saw and heard his statement,” said Jennifer Palmieri, the White House communications director…
For Mr. Obama, the video of Mr. Foley’s death is acutely personal because it showed one of three other American civilians held hostage, Steven J. Sotloff, suggesting he would be killed next if the president did not stop bombing ISIS targets in Iraq. “The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision,” the masked killer says while holding the back of Mr. Sotloff’s orange, prison-style shirt.
Many factors conspired to make O’s golf outing seem distasteful — the brutality of the Foley video, the fact that David Cameron quit his own vacation in response to it, the contradiction in Obama’s vowing to be “relentless” against ISIS before proceeding immediately to the first hole. But the coda to the video showing Sotloff being menaced was the the coup de grace politically, I think. Obama shouldn’t (and won’t) give in to ISIS’s demands to stop the bombing in order to spare Sotloff’s life but “fore” is not the proper response when you’re given an ultimatum that involves a man’s head being sawed off. And of course it reinforced the perception that this guy simply doesn’t much like his job anymore. If watching jihadis decapitate an American citizen isn’t enough to interrupt your recreation, what is?
Is this administration for REAL??????????????/
In 1997, when Obama took up golf, he told Michelle it was so he could shmooze with big wigs and it would help him get ahead.
She wanted him to trade basketball for golf because he was away so much AND coming home with injuries.
He added golf but kept playing basketball, too.
Now we all hear about all Obama’s golf games.
It would be terrific if he used all that time on the course for shmoozing with top leaders both foreign and domestic.
But he doesn’t.
He golfs with aids who he sees every day anyway.
He golfs with old high school choom club members.
And he golfs with his idols from sports.
Does he even really play all that golf?
Or is he mostly getting high and supplied from these buddies?
Oh the depth of his grief!
Yes, if only we could have seen him 4 putt the par 3 hole we could understand the depths of his grief.
The depth of his grief was reflected in his only taking 15 mulligans.
This does?
Obama’s golfing after the news was his way of telling ISIS that he is just as callous as they are, and such acts don’t bother him in the least. A man without remorse or feeling, who doesn’t care about their threats is all they understand. He simply answered in kind. Give him credit for grit.
@Carl Orr:
Grit really?
@ Carl Orr, Methinks that you misspelled the word “grit”, the first two letters should have read “SH”.
I believe his speech reflected his concern and that’s the only thing that really matters. Grow up, people.
@This one:
If George Bush didn’t exist, you mind numbingly stupid liberals would have to invent him in your attempt to make excuses for the failure that is Obama. But Bush lives on in your head.
Obama is a sociopath. I told you that a long time ago.
Unfortunately, many momentous events on the world stage seem to be happening while our “gritty” president is “playing” golf. The Bin Ladin Assassination, the Foley beheading are two examples. Is it merely bad luck or is the president “playing” golf to show the world his true “grit,” like Rooster Cogburn.
So far, his grittiness doesn’t appear to be frightening ISIS. They seem to feel they can get away with burying Christian women and children alive while crucifying and beheading the men, but they know that beheading a liberal photojournalist will incite an interruption of the golfing schedule for a few minutes of serious televised concern, before taking to the links and playing golf with a display of wanton grittiness. No one doubts the Islamo Fascist has a deep respect for displays of “true grit;” especially, in the manner of a heroic golfer and the way he is portrayed by the Democratic Press and his Useful Idiots.
Harpo Marx once said, “Irony only works when those who read it are smart enough to get it.” If anyone really thinks someone disinterested in so much, cares about the many, I pity you. The fact of the matter is, Obama is a better golfer than he is a president. And, as a golfer, I understand he cheats a lot.
What should have been clear to all Americans, as they watched Obama’s speeches and his body language, was that he was never interested in the job (as POTUS), only the position and all the perks that come with it.
He is now bored with even that. So many speeches, so many fund raisers. And yet, he is puzzled why Americans still expect him to do the job he was elected to, so now he just flat out doesn’t care.
Man, that poor SOB looks sad.
http://www.everyjoe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/obama-golf-smiling-300×213.jpg
@This one: Bush living on in your head must require continuing drug support therapy: Oxy.., Via…, Val…, what is your preferred support so that the rest of us can get similar relief every time we have to read your LIBTARD drivel?
Did he say the same thing about Bush?
I understand that obama had a grieving period of about 6 minutes after his speech before he was on the golf course again. That is how long it took him to get back to the game, and I am sure he was grieving all the way back.
@This one: #6
Conservatives have condemned Bush for taking the swing right after his comments. They have also condemned him for MANY things he has done, and things he hasn’t done that he should have. How many times do liberals condemn a liberal for such things, compared to how many time they condemn a conservative for the EXACT SAME THINGS?
Golf courses, much like hospitals, have long been a preferred place to conduct shady and/or criminal “business” conversations.
It’s enough to make one wonder just who he might be communicating with while he’s “golfing”.
His Muslim masters maybe?
Obama and his whole Presidency is very disturbing.
To think, we have another 2 years of this putz.
Has it occurred to any of you geniuses that the illustrative photo of Obama golfing shows a man who looks at least 5 years younger than he did during any of his recent public statements about the threat of ISIS or the murder of Foley?
You don’t seem to have noticed that the responsibilities and stresses of the presidency have aged Obama around 10 years. Of course there are a lot of obvious things you never seem to notice.
@Jeff D:
So if Obama has aged 10 years since taking office, but now looks 5 years younger due to his golf games, can we assume that he has aged 5 years in the 5 years since he took office?
Whoda thunk that someone would age 5 years in 5 years.
Don’t you recall?
Obama TRIED to divide the ”presidency” into two parts, with two people serving.
He wanted to only do the speechifying and fundraising, the photo-ops and neat-o vacations.
He wanted someone else to do all of the work of reading all ”the work stuff,” trying to work with Congress and the opposition, the hard work of hammering out compromises that could obtain bi-partisan support.
Only after flying that stupid trial balloon and seeing it shot down did Obama become completely detached from the work side of the presidency.
As we’ve NEVER seen one word about his scores, I’m wondering if they suffered one iota? I’d bet NOT. Jeff D. make all the excuses in the world for Barry Soetoro but in fact, his only sleepless night was when he’d forgotten to schedule a round of golf the next day. He couldn’t lead a one man parade to the toilet.
@This one: #10
If everything were the same, except that it is George Bush instead of obama, what would you be saying about Bush being back on the golf course just 6 minutes after his speech?
Now we learn that the White House is sending not one, but three representatives to the funeral of Michael Brown. To date, Obama has not said one word about the murder of Chris Kyle.
Kill a rapper wannabe who steals Swisher Sweets and strong arms a store clerk a foot shorter, and you get White House representation.
Kill an American hero, and you get White House crickets.
@UpChuck.Liberals: #25
On a Fox News story, the reporter said the word is that obama cheats at golf, and if anyone talks about it, the IRS will audit them. I don’t know if the person saying it was being honest, or just joking, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he is cheating at golf. I wonder if he can remember the last time he told the truth.
@retire05: #27
Has obama said anything when a black person kills a white person, or when a black mob kills a white person? I can’t remember him saying anything when it has, and is still happening.
‘The reverend’ Jesse Jackson said on Fox News Sunday today that it is ‘rare’ when a black person kills a white person. I don’t believe this but would like to see some statistics. What percentage of whites are killed by blacks and what percentage of blacks are killed by whites? Does anyone know?
@Smorgasbord:
President Bush would not have been on the golf course minutes after a speech about the murder of an American by jihadists, so it is a moot point.
President Bush actually WAS the president of the United States. Obama just carries the title, and grabs all of the perks but none of the responsibilities.
@Carl Orr:
Credit for his grit? What planet do you live on? He has no grit; he is an empty suit, a machine for the progressive cause, without thoughts or feelings of his own. Anyone who doesn’t realize that by now has to be really dense.
@LibSick: #31
When I saw the video of Bush making the comments, then taking a swing, I realized he was at the golf course, and a reporter had to of asked him a question, and he answered. obama left the golf course to make the speech, which I am sure he never read first. Remember when he read someone else’s speech all the way through and didn’t know it until he was told? Then obama WENT BACK to the golf course. He is constantly telling us where his priorities are, if we would just pay attention.
That’s what marionettes do. They can’t do anything without strings being pulled. The marionettes that can act on their own are in scary movies. We are in the scariest movie I have ever seen, and I have seen many.