Mitt Romney thinks that Barack Obama plays too much golf, and he is slamming his devotion to our game in an attack ad that asks if we can stand “Fore” More Years?
Let’s get one thing straight – I am not endorsing either man. But what I am questioning is Romney’s math and his positioning of golf as a negative.
That Obama has played 1,584 holes while President is viewed by Romney as proof that Obama is a slacker who is spending way too much time on the golf course. Let’s look at this a bit closer.
Obama has been President for about 1,050 days, so he has played an average of 1.51 holes per day (1,504/1050) while in the Oval Office. Pictures of Obama show that he plays in a cart, and does not have to wait for groups in front of him. So, at worst, a round takes him four hours to complete. That works out to an average of 13 minutes and 20 seconds per hole. So, 13:20 x 1.51 holes per day = an average of 20 minutes and 8 seconds per day playing golf.
Looking at his play in this far more honest way shows that golf is nothing more than a reasonable amount of exercise. In fact, if golf is Obama’s primary means of exercise, he should probably play even more. It can also be argued that golf is a healthy diversion that enables him to perform the most stressful and important job in the world at a higher level.
And so, Mr. Romney, if you wish to gain the support of the nation’s golfers, 25 million strong, I suggest that you avoid alienating this sizeable block of voters.
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1 response so far ↓
1 BD // Dec 12, 2011 at 7:30 am
I have a few comments:
First, I’m not sure your analysis captures anywhere close to all of the time Obama devotes to golf. I would agree he probably doesn’t spend much time waiting for groups in front of him to clear the green. However, he obviously does have to spend time in transit to and from the course. He presumably also spends time in the clubhouse changing into and out of his golf attire. (I doubt the president would be seen hopping on and off Marine One just in a golf shirt and shorts.) Likewise, he presumably spends time at the range and on the putting green before his rounds. Finally, he may, for all we know, spend time with his pals at the 19th hole.
In other words, if his golf experiences are at all similar to those of regular (non-POTUS) lovers of the game, then it’s clearly much more than a four-hour investment of his time. Six hours is probably more accurate.
Second, you seem to be assuming that golf is Obama’s only form of exercise or recreation, and therefore it he still has plenty of time to attend to his official duties. Personally, I don’t get the impression Obama ISN’T hitting the gym, shooting hoops, spending time with the kids, etc. It’s possible golf is seriously cutting into his leisure time. It’s also possible golf is seriously cutting into time that would be better or more reasonably spent at work. The only thing we know for sure is that there are only so many hours in a president’s day, and to the extent they are spent on the golf course, they are not being spent on the job.
Third, some historical context: Whether or not it seems fair to bash a president for spending time on the links (as compared to engaging in any other leisure activity), this has been going on for generations. Eisenhower played something like 800 rounds as president and got hammered for it politically (despite, I might add, the relative peace and prosperity the country was enjoying during those eight years). JFK didn’t play as often as Ike, but when he did play, he took pains to keep it out of the public eye specifically in order to avoid the criticisms that had been heaped upon his predecessor. GWB also took a bunch of hits for spending time on the course while the country was at war, and eventually stopped playing for that reason (although if there ever was a president who COULD have stepped out of the White House, traveled to the course, played 18 holes, and gotten back in under four hours, it was W).
The point is, hammering presidents for playing golf is fair game, at least in that anyone who is politically savvy enough to become POTUS has to also be savvy enough to realize that he’s going to get criticized for playing a lot of golf.
Finally, although you question Romney’s political savviness in “positioning . . . golf as a negative,” I don’t see any real downside in making the attack. Obama may win reelection, but I feel pretty confident in predicting he will not win the majority of votes cast by golfers. It’s not as if golfers, in their haste to come to the defense of a fellow weekend hacker, are going to suddenly forget they also happen to comprise a subset of the electorate that is fairly conservative, white, suburban, and male. I don’t think the president’s manifest enjoyment of golf (or Romney’s criticism of it) provides much hope that Obama will win the “golf vote.” And it clearly won’t help him secure votes from non-golfers. So Romney’s calling attention to Obama’s time on the links looks like a fairly safe, albeit not very hard-hitting, move.
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