Too Good to Check: Joe Curl’s Broadside Against Obama’s Excesses
I have not verified every assertion in this column by Joe Curl at the Washington Times, but I have verified that every sentence will make you go: “Damn right!” whether it’s accurate or not. I have already found one factual inaccuracy in the following passage:
But something remarkable has happened with these occupants of the White House: Neither President Obama nor first lady Michelle appear to give a damn about perception. They won the White House and, by God, they’re going to enjoy their time there, no matter the cost. And who cares what you think, anyway?
How else to explain the nonstop vacations the pair keep taking during what Mr. Obama calls the “worst financial crisis since the Great Depression”? In 2013, the First Family has already enjoyed three vacations — that’s one a month. (Sorry, Joe America, you might have to forget your week at the beach again this year, but make sure you get those taxes in on time!)
The Obamas ended 2012 and kicked off 2013 in an $8 million, 6,000-square-foot house in Hawaii (they left well before Dec. 25, by the way). There, the president played five rounds of golf (breaking the 100-rounds-as-president threshold). Scarcely a month into Term 2, Mrs. Obama headed off for Aspen, taking along the couple’s daughters. Vice President Joseph R. Biden also hit the Colorado slopes. While the girls (and Joe) were gone, Mr. Obama nipped down to Florida for a four-day boys weekend of golf, teeing it up with his buddies — and Tiger Woods. He hit the links again this weekend, then dropped in for an NCAA tournament game in Washington.
Did you spot it? Obama didn’t play his 100th round of golf as President over Christmas, silly! He did that a long time ago: way back in June 2012!
I was struck by Curl’s assertion that G.W. Bush spent every Christmas Day at Camp David before jetting off to Crawford, so that Secret Service families could spend Christmas with their dads. He says he is reporting that for the first time, which isn’t quite true: Rush Limbaugh pointed this out in 2011, and HillBuzz appears to have made the same point as well (though their post is hard to access). But, if true, that certainly shows a quiet thoughtfulness that is conspicuously absent from the actions of the Prima Donna in Chief — whose family not only spends Christmas in Hawaii, but also takes vacations all over creation, dragging Secret Service people in tow. Remember how we have to close down the White House because of the Secret Service budget cuts owing to sequestration? I wonder how their budget would be if Sasha and Malia didn’t go to the Bahamas and then Sun Valley and if Barack weren’t attending basketball games and going golfing with Tiger Woods while Michelle and the kids are in Aspen and Joe Biden is living it up in London and Paris and Colorado and South Carolina.
Anyway, the whole column is gold. Read it now. Trust me.
Ding.
Patterico (9c670f) — 4/1/2013 @ 7:38 amGood luck, Patterico. This will be catnip for trolls and apologists.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 4/1/2013 @ 7:42 amhe’s not my President and she’s no lady.
a pox on them both.
redc1c4 (403dff) — 4/1/2013 @ 7:47 amGolf? Vacation? That old chestnut?
Kman (5576bf) — 4/1/2013 @ 7:57 amZOMFG how effin racist can you be. !?!?!?!?
JD (3cbfc7) — 4/1/2013 @ 7:57 amIt is consistent with the idea that conservatives emphasize taking personal responsibility for the welfare of a neighbor, while libs talk about the need to “love humanity”. The evil Bushitler that doesn’t care about people and wants children to go to bed hungry takes personal action to do what he can so children can have their parents around when they go to bed on Christmas Eve.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 4/1/2013 @ 7:58 amWhile the one is claiming his reward for transforming America.
John Boehner once told Golf Digest that he plays upwards of 100 rounds a year.
He once told them that.
I am SHOCKED that Kmart showed up in this thread. It is remarkable.
JD (3cbfc7) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:00 amPaging Dr. Pavlov. There is drool in the comments section here.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:01 amThe above sentiment was wrong under Bush, and it’s wrong under Obama.
carlitos (49ef9f) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:02 am“…that certainly shows a quiet thoughtfulness that is conspicuously absent from the actions of the Prima Donna in Chief …”
This.
There were a lot of things I complained about George W. Bush. And he was certainly a politician and a member of a patrician family. But at his core, I think that I saw in him a basic humanity that Obama can’t even figure out how to fake.
SPQR (768505) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:14 amCertainly Kman shows a basic ignorance of the workload on Secret Service and White House staff created today by a President that spends excessive amounts of time in locales other than the White House, Camp David or his own home – which are all secured by established staff, routine and infrastructure. Staff, infrastructure and advance team work has to go into each golf trip, each vacation outside Camp David, etc.
SPQR (768505) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:16 amCarlitos – spot on.
JD (3cbfc7) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:26 ami’m not a super big president-haver these days honestly
presidents are superfluous to the things I’m trying to accomplish with my day
plus the fascism
happyfeet (8ce051) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:30 amI love how the article that Kman linked to complains that John Adams once left the White House for seven months to care for his wife Abagail at their home outside of Boston. ‘Cause, you know, John Adams had Air Force One and the Presidential Motorcade, so he should have just commuted back-and-forth between Boston and Washington, right?
What is so amazing about Obama is the incredible lengths that his worshipful minions will go to in order to explain away all of his rank hypocrisy.
And by the way, the you know that the author of Kman’s piece is a blithering idiot when you see that he refers to “Bush Sr.” and “Bush Jr.”
JVW (4826a9) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:33 amKudos to Kman for putting some perspective regarding the Presidential vacation issue.
Let’s face it, a President is never really on vacation. But a change of scenery away from the confines of the WH, whether it be Camp David, Crawford, on the golf links, or in Hawaii, should be of little concern to Americans, unless it is excessive. In GW Bush’s case, 4 months a year, that seems rather excessive to me.
And again, Presidents pay for their own vacations. The Secret Service costs are the obligation of the American taxpayer in order to protect the President from the crazies out there.
Perry (9bd80a) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:34 amPerry is a moron.
JD (3cbfc7) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:40 amAnd again, Presidents pay for their own vacations.
OMG! ROFLMAO! Perry, you are priceless.
nk (c5b7ef) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:43 amNk – Perry is dummerer than a sack of Perrys
JD (3cbfc7) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:47 amAs I have mentioned many times:
Camp David is secure and managed. All time at Camp David is a ‘working vacation.’
G.W. Bush was fortunate enough to have a securable secluded home that could be used.
Obama simply does not. His Chicago home, if you go to it on Google maps or free satellite photos, has dozens of taller buildings within 300-400 meters which cannot all be secured.
I don’t complain about any time spent at Camp David. I do complain about seemingly continual non working vacations in non secluded areas that require heavy security movement.
luagha (eb9906) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:47 amCamp David also has free HBO
happyfeet (8ce051) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:49 am== Presidents pay for their own vacations.==
Poor Perry prolly thinks senators from New Jersey pay for their own vacations too.
elissa (e1b9ce) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:51 amThere is hardly “basic humanity” in a man who would send Americans into a preemptive war with a sovereign nation with no bone fide actionable evidence and with poor planning and logistics as well, a man who didn’t even take his own air force obligations seriously.
One would at least expect Bush to admit that a serious mistake had been made, and apologize for it.
Perry (9bd80a) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:54 amZOMFG – Perry is lying AND doing SQUIRRELS. I am shocked.
JD (3cbfc7) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:55 amI have the best job in the world. I work from home/vacation/golf/bars/hotels. Makes no difference. Smartphones have kind of obsoleted the concept of vacation (if you’re an executive).
That said, three vacations in three months would be nice. Mrs. carlito is looking forward to the one big 10-day one we get to take this year.
carlitos (49ef9f) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:55 ambush moved the wh to his ranch complewte with staff and paid most of the costs himself
there is no evidence the obamas paid back any costs
EPWJ (b3df72) — 4/1/2013 @ 9:07 am100 rounds of golf in 3 1/2 years = everyone must sacrifice
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/1/2013 @ 9:19 amBut he shoots those skeets things all the time at Camp David too, so it’s all good.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/1/2013 @ 9:21 amI have the best job in the world. I work from home/vacation/golf/bars/hotels. Makes no difference. Smartphones have kind of obsoleted the concept of vacation (if you’re an executive).
I’ll make a very half-hearted defense of the Obama on this point: I worked in the private sector for a company that sold products nationwide. Our corporate offices were in cities in New England, upstate New York, and Ohio, so I always found it funny how the company big-wigs felt the need to spend January and February visiting key clients in Florida, Arizona, Southern California, and other milder-climate destinations. And whenever I would receive an email message from one of the big-wigs with the “sent by Blackberry” line, I would wonder if it wasn’t being sent from the golf course.
JVW (4826a9) — 4/1/2013 @ 9:32 amit was both popular and perfectly acceptable in most circles when Bush was President. where was your outrage then? where was everyone else’s?
sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
redc1c4 (403dff) — 4/1/2013 @ 9:39 amI feel too much sense of honor to visit FL in Jan/Feb on a work pretext. I spent the last month slushing around in slush, but I am heading to Tampa this week for research.
Also, blackberrys are teh suxxo0rs. I hope that the new one is better, ’cause all of my Canadian peeps have one.
carlitos (49ef9f) — 4/1/2013 @ 9:42 amMy outrage then was in the same place it is now. In my silly noggin. I had some … animated discussions with young heads full of mush who wore “Not my President” t-shirts that featured Mr. Bush Jr.
Perfectly acceptable? No. Never.
carlitos (49ef9f) — 4/1/2013 @ 9:43 amsauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
redc1c4, I understand the sentiment, but I join the others in disagreeing with it. To me, when you say “Obama (or Bush) is not my President” what you are in fact saying is “America is not my country.” I can’t support that.
JVW (4826a9) — 4/1/2013 @ 9:52 amit’s called vaccination: the idiots who are outraged at the disrespect for their Ear Leader need to learn that knives cut both ways.
the left does not play by any rule of civilized behavior and pretending they do is a recipe for failure (see McLame’08 & Mittens ’12 campaigns for example)
while noble, your stance does us no favors, and actually causes harm.
redc1c4 (403dff) — 4/1/2013 @ 10:01 amThe above makes no sense. Maybe you could try again in English? Try using the shift key as well. And eliminating silly nicknames.
carlitos (49ef9f) — 4/1/2013 @ 10:03 amAmerica is my country and that scumbag has no business being in charge of it. F him and all his supporters.
without vote fraud & the corrupt MFM he’d still be just a not too bring legislator from Illinois, trying to make a fast buck selling favors instead of deliberately sabotaging everything in sight.
redc1c4 (403dff) — 4/1/2013 @ 10:04 amif all you can complain about is stylistic nuances, you have no argument.
thanks for playing… we have some lovely parting gifts for you back stage.
redc1c4 (403dff) — 4/1/2013 @ 10:05 amMy understanding is that Bush’s home in Crawford, Texas* was easier to secure and resulted in free accommodations for the Secret Service (i.e. they stayed in the house).
Obama’s vacations are extraordinarily expensive from a security standpoint: you need more Secret Service agents and you have to pay a lot more money per agent.
*Why would anyone “vacation” in Crawford, Texas, except because it is home? Are we really comparing sitting in the living room in Crawford, wherein one can conceivably be holding an international summit, with playing golf, wherein one is doing nothing but playing golf?
bridget (84c06f) — 4/1/2013 @ 10:06 amPerry,
You need to brush up on your civics and your history. Congress approved both wars. Do you demand that those who voted for Iraq also apologise?
Do you think that Bill Clinton was inhumane for dodging the draft?
All we are asking is that the Democrats be held to the same standard as Republicans are. You can’t do that.
bridget (84c06f) — 4/1/2013 @ 10:16 am“One would at least expect Bush to admit that a serious mistake had been made, and apologize for it.”
You are an idiot, Perry. You still believe things long ago proven to be lies.
And the President does not pay for his vacations. That’s really a false claim. The President occasionally pays a fraudulent fake “bill” for a non-equivalent cost of a vacation that does not match what he actually takes.
A perfect example is that the President is never billed for what it would cost you or I to have a private jet on call.
SPQR (768505) — 4/1/2013 @ 10:21 amOh, and Perry, this: “a man who didn’t even take his own air force obligations seriously. “ has long ago been proven to be nothing but slander.
Go back to printing up memos for Dan Rather, you lying fraud.
SPQR (768505) — 4/1/2013 @ 10:22 amWell, it’s a good thing then. That’s not all of my complaint. Your points, as incomprehensible as they may be, are wrong. Your “stylistic nuance” of being too lazy to find the shift key is just a bonus.
Vote fraud? Obama won 332/206. What the hell are you saying here?
carlitos (49ef9f) — 4/1/2013 @ 10:24 amIn a prior job, I used to use the private jet once in a while. Chicago-Seattle was around $15k each way.
carlitos (49ef9f) — 4/1/2013 @ 10:26 amBut Obama won by a couple hundred thousand votes in swing states.
I am not endorsing nor condemning the “vote fraud” hypothesis, but will say that only a fool would not be able to discern between the Electoral College results and the number of votes it would take to swing an election decided by the Electoral College.
bridget (84c06f) — 4/1/2013 @ 11:23 amPerry wrote:
This is an example of something technically true, but practically problematic. The President has to be protected — and he surely picked Joe Biden as his second to reduce the risk that anyone would want to shorten his term! — but in tough times like these, where we are borrowing much of what the government spends, an actual leader would consider that maybe, just maybe, he might reduce his recreational travels.
Then again, President Obama has never cared a rat’s ass about saving money, about cutting spending for the public, so it’s unsurprising that he wouldn’t cut spending for himself.
The Dana with a bit more of a sense of perspective (3e4784) — 4/1/2013 @ 11:34 amThe Perry who supports dictatorships wrote:
Somehow, the notion that freeing 25 million people from the clutches of a brutal dictatorship is not something for which I would think an apology is due.
The Dana who appreciates freedom (3e4784) — 4/1/2013 @ 11:40 amPerry, why do you hate math ? Better yet, why do you hate America ?
Elephant Stone (937e2d) — 4/1/2013 @ 11:43 am41. If we’re not being to nosy, just what line of work(investments) are you in?
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 4/1/2013 @ 11:44 amNot once … but twice …
SPQR (768505) — 4/1/2013 @ 11:44 amSPQR: thrice; they did that in Maine.
bridget (84c06f) — 4/1/2013 @ 11:57 amIn this second term, I have no energy left to spare to outrage about how personally petty and insecure and hypocritical our forty-fourth POTUS is. I had figured that out several years before he ran in 2008, and everything I’ve learned since has simply reconfirmed my beliefs.
What he’s doing to the country through his policies makes his personal profligacy seem trivial.
This kind of stuff riles up the converted, but it won’t convince anyone who isn’t already convinced. If you see him as a hero, you’re inclined to think that he deserves a few rounds of golf.
Beldar (ff2834) — 4/1/2013 @ 12:00 pmYou want to know the absolute best, IMHO untrumpable argument to support almost any investment by the nation in the on-going physical and mental health of its President?
Joe Biden.
Beldar (ff2834) — 4/1/2013 @ 12:05 pmBeldar, what? The US shouldn’t have a f’ing dementia patient for Vice President? How bigoted of you …
SPQR (768505) — 4/1/2013 @ 12:09 pmAnd don’t forget that SecState John F’in Kerry is now fourth in the line of POTUS succession — behind Biden, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), and Senate president pro tem Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Parlous times for the Republic.
Beldar (ff2834) — 4/1/2013 @ 12:12 pmSPQR, did you just channel Roman Hruska? 😉
Beldar (ff2834) — 4/1/2013 @ 12:14 pmHere’s an April Fool’s joke for you …
Oh, my mistake. That was published on last Friday.
SPQR (768505) — 4/1/2013 @ 12:15 pmBeldar, not intentionally. 😉
SPQR (768505) — 4/1/2013 @ 12:15 pmplease: Slow Joe would be a significant improvement over our SCOAMF.
one thing i learned during my time in the Army was that “lazy stupid” people were always less trouble & w*rk to clean up after than “active stupid” ones…
with Biden in the White House, all we would need is to give one of the SS types a laser pointer and Joe would spend his days chasing the dot around the office, leaving the rest of us in peace.
redc1c4 (403dff) — 4/1/2013 @ 12:17 pmAs for President Obama proclaiming that his Administration will help all Americans learn about financial responsibility, shouldn’t someone who is saying that and who has a budget due in February actually have it done and submitted by now? It still isn’t done, but, if he turned it over to Congress today, it would certainly be fitting.
The Dana who remembers that the President's budget is due in February (3e4784) — 4/1/2013 @ 12:49 pmredc1c4 wrote:
We have a winner! 🙂 The Patterico Award for the best line of the month, and it’s only April oneth!
The amused Dana (3e4784) — 4/1/2013 @ 12:51 pmHuge difference in Bush’s vacations and Obama’s
Crawford, Tx is not the vacation paradise we all dream of.
Significantly easier to secure than the public places the Obama’s vacation at
Eisenhower Golfing required significantly less security in the 50’s than today.
nough said
Joe (debac0) — 4/1/2013 @ 2:02 pmThe left considers that a heinous mistake. Also, there’s a KFC in Baghdad, and we know how horrid that is.
Rob Crawford (6c262f) — 4/1/2013 @ 2:36 pmThe president is a second rate jock. The CEO who pays the entry fee to the rec league, then drafts Clem from accounting who has a couple of years of Div III ball do the dirty work while he spots up for threes, yells at the refs, and never picks up the tab after the game.
Birdbath (716828) — 4/1/2013 @ 3:21 pmWell I am condemning it. Because it’s ridiculous. If we want Team R to win, we can start by rejecting paranoid conspiracy theories.
carlitos (49ef9f) — 4/1/2013 @ 4:44 pmWhether he won by fraud and whether Dem vote fraud exists are 2 very different propositions.
JD (b63a52) — 4/1/2013 @ 4:49 pm.
.
I’m not sure why you have the word “investments” in there. If you’re asking about me, I’m in sales/marketing for a food/beverage company.
carlitos (49ef9f) — 4/1/2013 @ 4:50 pmWell why did Robert Kennedy and Bret Kimberlin, insist on propagating that theory about Diebold.
narciso (3fec35) — 4/1/2013 @ 4:52 pmBecause they are morons?
carlitos (49ef9f) — 4/1/2013 @ 4:56 pmThat’s our POTUS!
Shooting 9% from the field on everything.
Icy (975178) — 4/1/2013 @ 4:56 pmWell Carney was one of those who set ‘the narrative,’ back from 2001 on, re what constitutes a proper presidential outing,
narciso (3fec35) — 4/1/2013 @ 5:00 pm#57
Angelo (8bf6b7) — 4/1/2013 @ 6:46 pmPriceless!
65. Sorry, I was only an engineer and never worked for an outfit with a private plane or made more than $100K. Did not have a whiff of the personality for sales.
Have an uncle who was in sales with IBM early, the ’60s, but he was loaded to start with. My aunt, the blood relative, was a looker.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 4/1/2013 @ 7:20 pmIf you cannot see the difference between W.Bush and his work ethic, and patriotism, and the sad excuse for an American Obama’s. You are dumb as a box of hammers.
Gus (694db4) — 4/1/2013 @ 7:36 pmObama is ALL ABOUT OBAMA. The celebrity star fu##king that goes on, in D.C. or where ever Obama travels. The fun, the frivolity, and the unseriousness of Obama is obvious. Unless of course you are a box of hammers.
Birdbath??? Obama isn’t close to second rate. He was a splinter assed bench warmer in high school, and did not play in college. He is a WANNABEE. Everything about Obama is made up. Read Bill Ayers books that Obama claims. Lies from start to finish.
Gus (694db4) — 4/1/2013 @ 7:42 pmHis athletic career is a composite of SOMEBODY ELSE.
I wouldn’t say “only” an engineer. That’s awesome.
carlitos (49ef9f) — 4/1/2013 @ 8:45 pmProper often say the president is never on vacation, but that isn’t true. What is true is the location of the president never prevents him from doing his job, but it doesn’t guarantee he’s doing his job, either.
Obama was in the White House the night of Benghazi, but he was obviously taking a vacation from his responsibilities.
The location of the president and his family does have an impact on expenses. It’s enormously expensive for them to travel. Flying them from place to place, flying their cars around, the multiple hotel rooms, all adds up quickly.
I keep saying it and ill say it again. We need a travel budget for the President and his family. Thats including the day trips for POTUS to Miami to stand in front of a bridge for a speech. They and the Secret Service need to be accountable to the people. It’s only 8 years of self control. They can do that, can’t they?
MayBee (d48d90) — 4/2/2013 @ 12:59 am73. Nailed. If he weren’t an insufferable jerk we might cut Frank Davis’ bastard a little slack. Bowls 19, is sinfully inept with a baseball, the only saving grace is he can sin a bit.
Frank had five legit kids, grams had a job, mom was a floozie, gramps a layabout, so he did Ok for himself as a bottom boi.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 4/2/2013 @ 3:59 am‘sing a bit’
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 4/2/2013 @ 4:01 amI can agree with what you say MayBee up till this: “We need a travel budget for the President and his family.”
Sorry, we need a vacation budget for the President but not his family. His family is welcome to join him wherever he goes but you and I did not elect them to anything and do not owe them vacations. We do not need to pay for a plane to take the pres, then another to take his wife then a chopper for the damn dog. We Americans do not work all year to send his kids on two spring breaks, or any of them to Hawaii or Spain or Paris. If he wants his family to go somewhere he should pay for it. That’s whay we do. We are obligated only to protect his family, not entertain them.
I don’t know when this stuff began, that we somehow owe the family of our employee entertainment and vacation and travel perks, but this stuff needs to stop.
Hoagie (3259ab) — 4/2/2013 @ 6:27 am