Is Obama golfing too much?

Taking a page from conservative bloggers, the Republican National Committee has released an ad criticizing President Obama for playing six rounds of golf in the first 58 days of the massive BP oil spill. The ad — asking, "What took so long?" — suggests Obama put off meeting with BP so he could spend time on the course. Is it fair to accuse Obama of putting leisure first, and the disaster second? (See video below)

This shot should hit home: The RNC's "snappy montage" illustrates "Obama’s 'bloodless quality' and 'emotional detachment' from the spill," says Allahpundit in Hot Air. If the public doesn't find this disturbing, it will only be because the "media-fueled public perception that Democrats care" has immunized Obama.

"New RNC ad: How many rounds did you golf while the oil was leaking, champ?"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Too much golf is the RNC's idea of clever? If this is the best that the GOP's "top Photoshoppers" can come up with, says Juli Weiner in Vanity Fair, Obama can rest easy. Nobody thinks the Gulf of Mexico is still gushing oil because Obama is "irrevocably" addicted to golf. What else should he be doing, "shouting in the direction of the leaking well until it feels bad enough about its behavior to want to turn its life around"?

"Obama literally cannot stop golfing for long enough to just fix the gulf"

Let presidents golf! This is a "cheap shot" at Obama, says Stephen Stromberg in The Washington Post, but it was just as "unfair" when liberal filmmaker Michael Moore was ridiculing George W. Bush for hitting the links in a time of war. A president "deserves — and probably needs — some downtime," even during drawn-out disasters like this, so "an afternoon on the back nine doesn’t bother me."

"Shocking! Obama plays golf during BP oil spill!"