While domestic crises simmer and international conflicts flare, President Obama can be counted on to pitch and putt.
The duffer in chief has played 81 rounds of golf and had attended 75 political fund-raisers in the 628 days since his 2012 re-election, a Post analysis of his schedule found.
The president is on pace to double the 104 days he spent on the links during his first term.
While many criticize the president for making birdies instead of policy, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg has defended the habit.
“They criticize him for going and playing golf with people who he’s got to deal with,” Bloomberg said. “He should be doing that every weekend. You always can work better with somebody that you have a chance to build a social relationship with.”
That would hardly explain the rounds he’s played with Tiger Woods, however, or the fact that he rarely plays with women. (He once played a round with former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.)
But it’s the timing of fund-raisers and tee times that makes some critics seethe.
On July 17, the day Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by Russia-backed separatists, Obama attended two fund-raisers in Manhattan, with little mention of the incident. He golfed three days later.