Monday, April 25, 2011

Donald Trump wouldn’t play golf as a wartime president

-Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.-

We don't usually get political around these parts, and we're not going to now, except to say that presidential politics and reality TV have never been as close as they are now. Not exactly a groundbreaking revelation, that, but it comes on the heels of the latest broadside by mogul/reality star/professional celebrity Donald Trump, who opines that if he did become president, he'd be the best golfing chief executive in history.

In an interview with Golf World Monday,Trump takes dead aim at the guy who's holding the office Trump is eyeing. While President Barack Obama has "great potential as a golfer," Trump says, he's making a mistake by continuing to play golf in a time of war.

"It's a great game, but there's a time to play, and a time not to play," Trump says. "When the U.S. is invading Libya, [the president] should not be out playing golf."

Certainly, Obama's frequent golf habit is a rich target for his political opponents, just as George W. Bush's was for his. Bush, of course, quit playing golf during wartime, but not before that infamous on-course press conference in which he backed a call to action against terrorism with "now watch this drive."

Still, bashing a president's golf game is an easy, lazy way of taking shots at the man in charge: Look at him there golfing while we're all working so hard! We're of the walk-a-mile-in-his-shoes mindset; live a week in the life of the president before saying he shouldn't go unwinding out on the course now and then.

Strictly speaking golf handicaps, though, Trump probably has Obama covered. Trump claims a handicap in the 3-to-4 range, while Obama's ranges anywhere from 16 to 24. Golf Digest pegged JFK as the best golfer among the presidents, but even he averaged only around an 80.

Regardless, we'd pay good money to see all the presidential candidates out on the golf course for a little skills competition. It'd make for better viewing than most political ads, that's certain.

[Check out our interview with Trump from a few months back -- when he discussed what he'd do if Tiger Woods spat on one of his greens --�right here.]

Would Donald Trump be our best golfer president? [Golf Digest/Golf World Monday]

Alicia Witt Radha Mitchell Melissa Rycroft Chloƫ Sevigny Janet Jackson

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