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Last week, while Japan was in the middle of a nuclear crisis and many were wondering whether fall out would reach the United States, the “Leader of the Free World” was on ESPN announcing his picks for March Madness.
The rest of the week he spent golfing, and then in Brazil.
Many have made the argument that this activity was/is frivolous, and that he was not living up to his job.
The Middle East is afire with rebellion, Japan is imploding from an earthquake, and the battle of the budget is on in the United States, but none of this seems to be deterring President Obama from a heavy schedule of childish distractions. [President Obama’s Trivial Pursuits– White House Dossier]
Should we be so judgmental about how he spends his time?
His office, and therefore his job, is to be on top of all these things. I have no doubt that he probably knows what’s going on in the situation better than all of us—and sooner than we know.
I’m also pretty sure that he knows that there’s not much that he can do about it that isn’t already in the process of being done.
What we expect, however, is that during this time of a nation waiting and wondering that our President would be there along with us. Bringing some order to the chaos that is 2011—Libya, Japan, etc.—would be comforting and least making show that he is engaged.
I’m pretty sure that other Presidents have lost out on not being in touch with what the common person is going through—it looks as if it’s easy to get detached.
