Lest We Forget: George W. Bush Thinks We Should Lay Off Obama's Golfing

I'm resurrecting a feature I used to run called Lest We Forget. In this day and age of very surfacy, very superficial news, memes become leading news stories. Falsehoods become conventional wisdom. So, from time to time, it's my intention to remind everyone of the real facts behind the erroneous things that pass for facts, especially in Right Wing World.



Boehner and the Prez.

One of many is the "President Obama Golfs Too Much" meme. Usually, it's made to sound as though he's playing instead of attending to important business, and that he does so when bad news is happening. This disregards the fact that there are always bad things happening, that the President deserves a diversion, that he's constantly in touch, and surrounded by aides, and that he's never truly "off the clock." Beyond that, he's far from the only presidential golfer, and doesn't do it more than many of them. Dwight Eisenhower had a putting green at the White House and played over 1,000 rounds during his terms. I don't recall this being a scandal.

But let's just let our most recent Duffer-in-Chief (who allegedly quit golfing some time in 2003, but shhhh! didn't really). George W. Bush said last year to lay off, you're being silly. Lest we forget.

[Excerpt]

George W. Bush: Obama doesn't deserve criticism for golf outings

Former President George W. Bush, who quit playing golf shortly after the Iraq war began in 2003, said critics of President Obama's zeal for the sport are off-base. "I see our president criticized for playing golf. I don't. I think he ought to play golf," Bush said in an interview to air Monday night on the Golf Channel. . .

Read more at: CBS News