Will Rogers on Golf and the Tax Code

Chicago Crony Capitalism on the Links

Farewell Arnold Palmer

On Leaders, Liars and Links

As Anthony Anderson intimated on Late Night with Seth Meyers, it is not unexpected that golf course Landlords get better lies. Yet Trump thinks that it has something to do with his...hands.





You know what they say about guys who cheat at golf?

Donald Trump on Golf and the White House

Alas, the Obama golf counter stopped working since August 15, 2015 after 248 rounds. 

Telling Throwback Tweet from Donald Trump

Obama Tosses a Pick When Greeting Patriots on the White House South Lawn

President Obama, fresh off a Florida photo-op in the Everglades for Earth Day, resumed his role as Celebrity in Chief by greeting the New England Patriots on the White House South Lawn in honor of their Super Bowl victory.  Mr. Obama must have been warming up for the Nerd Prom (a.k.a. the White House correspondence dinner) as he tried a few jokes that fell flat.  

It certainly is friendly banter to wish that Beantown would allow the Windy City to win a championship or two.  Joking that Gronk should keep his shirt on seemed like a hip towel snap. But making a Deflate-gate joke falls flat.  This photo op was supposed to honor the victory of the Patriots, yet Mr. Obama threw a pick and forced his guests to react nervously.

Jon Stewart is leaving the Daily Show in August.  Perhaps Mr. Obama ought to audition for that role.  At least he might get better writers. But doing the Daily Show might be difficult for President Obama  to squeeze in between rounds of golf.

China's War on Golf

Last week, the Chinese Central government began a crackdown on golf by shutting down 66 "illegal" golf courses, which is 10% of the nation's fairways.  While  Beijing has be officially forbidden the construction of new golf courses since 1984, they have proliferated in the PRC. Between 2004 and 2009, 400 new golf courses were created despite the ban (tripling the number of links). But as the Chinese maxim goes, the mountain is high and the emperor is far away.

Aside from being good for generating yuan for their communities by catering to elites, foreign tourism and sparking ancillary business opportunities, golf courses were a great way to gain graft.
The local officials would line their pockets from the construction (as they expropriate peasants' land and profit from the sale to the golf industry) and they are can be surreptitiously sanctioned as being "ecological restorations".  How conveniently corrupt.

The day after the golf course crackdown occurred, a Commerce Ministry official was investigated (effectively being found guilty) for participating in a golf event, which violated one of Chinese President Xi Jinping's eight rules against extravagance by government officials. From a political perspective, it makes sense for a fledgling government to embrace the game.

Despite the burgeoning number of golf courses in China, it is considered "the millionaires game". Mao Zedong banned golf in 1949 as bourgeois "green opium".  Today, a round of golf can cost $150, in a nation where the average daily salary is $5. So it still remains "the rich man's game".

From a political perspective, it makes sense for a fledgling government not to be seen embracing the game of golf.  Gordon Chang has been warning for years that the Chinese economy is on a precipice and a severe world financial downturn which results in a weak demand for cheap Chinese labor could spark a downfall in the current polity in Beijing.  So a public crackdown from the Beijing government  on golf appeals to the have nots to  quell any clamoring for revolution while President Xi Jinping re-establishes central control over wayward provincial politicos engaged in crony capitalism.

Yet it is unlikely that China's War on Golf will actually forbid the game.  Beijing has been spending serious capital on grooming a team to qualify for the Rio de Jainero Olympics in 2016.  It's a tension between domestic tranquility and international glory.

Dan Washburn, the author of  "The Forbidden Game" (2014) considers Chinese Golf to be apt allegory for the corruption, land grabs, environmental issues and escalating economic disparity that have become hallmarks of New China.



Washburn is ambivalent as to what will result from the war on golf.  Washburn's metric is how the seized fairways are used in five years. Considering China's dismal track record on environmental issues, it is dubious if the seized courses will end up as actual "ecological restorations".

Will they be re-appropriated like the Shanghai Golf and Country Club in Hongqoai Park, which was converted into the Shanghai Zoo in 1954?  Or will the seized courses go the way of Wonderland, a Chinese rip off of Disneyland, which is rotting away due to lack of business and uncertain legalities.  China has a series of ghost cities, which are colossal waste of investment that temporarily pump up the GDP and esteem of a local official while saddling the area with a white elephant and a mountain of debt.

h/t: Dan Washburn 

Obama Unsteady After Golf Junket

It was near record cold and windy day  for the end of March in the District of Calamity.  But this did not deter the Celebrity in Chief President Barack Obama from hitting the links. He hopped on Air Force One to Palm City, Florida with Houston Astros owner Jim Crane and partial owner of the Boston Celtics Glenn Hutchins to play the private Florida National Golf Club. Coincidentally, half of the foursome had close connections to the energy industry (including one from the much maligned Halliburton Corp.).

The Press Pool assessed that this was not a working trip as one wag reported: "You can tell this is a non work trip ... someone forward of the press cabin ordered 3 beers at 9:26 a.m.".   Hmm.  There were no reports on how Mr. Obama golfed on his 222nd round since assuming the Oval Office, as the Press Pool was relegated to maintenance shed at the Florida National Golf Club.

However, as President Obama returned to DC at Joint Base Andrews, in Landover, Maryland, President Obama was unsteady as he walked the ramp deplaning from Air Force One.



So what difference does it make how he handled his handicap if he had a good good time?  Well, for taxpayers, the junket was estimated to cost $850,000 just for flight (which will be reimbursed for a fraction of the cost).  But at least there was not a beheading in close proximity to the golf excursion as with ISIS execution of James Foley.

Obama's Big Stick?

Really?

Two years ago, Vice President Joe Biden spoke boldly on the campaign trail repeating the refrain of Teddy Roosevelt.  But considering how President Obama chose to respond to ISIS this summer, this big stick has different optics.

h/t:  Steve Breen 

Obama's Handicap-- Golf

President Barack Obama has developed a reputation about enjoying the perks of being President, which includes frequent travel on the taxpayers dime and fancy socializing.  As the world is in crisis in the Gaza War, the shadow War in Eastern Ukraine, ISIS terrorism in the Levant and Iraq as well as racial unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, President Obama chose to take another extended vacation to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts to enjoy some (more) golf and rub shoulders with the rich and famous. 

While staying at the tony resort town, President Obama staged several brief statements to feed the media beast before keeping his tee time.  What created a media firestorm was the informal way that Mr. Obama addressed the beheading of American photojournalist James Foley (no tie, kept calling the slain journalist "Jim"), the President's short five minute  vacuous statement.  Within six minutes of ending this photo op, Barack Obama was back on the golf course, yukking it up with Alfonso Morning et ali.

The Obama Vineyard Presidential statement occurred simultaneously as James Foley's parents grieved on camera about their murdered hostage son. This  golf gaffe really stuck in the craw of the Media and called further attention to President Obama's seeming obsession with golf. 

Mark Knoeller, a veteran White House reporter who felt frustrated over how the Oval Office controlled news going to pool reporters, developed a practical metric for measuring the Commander-in-Chief performance-- study their official schedules.  Thus it can be noted that President Obama has shot 186 rounds of golf (so far) in his Presidency.  It has been observed that Mr. Obama is slow on the links, taking over five hours to complete an 18 hole course.  That tots up to 38.75 full days on the green, or 116 average work days, or 23 1/4 average work weeks.  No wonder why Greg Gutfeld asserts that Obama is addicted to golf.

But it is not just the "right wing" media who are seizing upon this obsession with golf.  The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd penned a satirical piece titled "The Golf Address" which parodies the Gettysburg Address.  Perhaps Dowd's overdosing on a cannabis candy bar contributed to the satire of Mr. Obama's favorite President (aside from himself).  When you've lost a lefty life Maureen Dowd, this should not be dismissed as silly season stuff or partisan politics. 

Eric Schultz, a PR flak for the White House, suggested that sports are a good way for people to clear their minds and recharge their drives, and the Deputy White House Spokesman is exactly right, except as Leader of the Free World optics are everything.

President George W. Bush really used to enjoy golfing. In 2003, however, Bush gave up golfing as President in a wartime setting.  Mr. Bush reacted to pressing news on the War on Terror and then took a swing with his driver.  That was insensitive optics and the "43rd" President changed his ways. There is little likelihood that his successor will follow his lead. 

The White House has argued that the modern President is never really on vacation as he is accompanied by a gaggle of advisers and communication equipment.  Of course, Mr. Obama bragged about having his phone and his pen.  All of that is well and good, but does that stand up to real world scrutiny?  

For instance, when Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (D-MO) was going to send National Guard troops into Ferguson to quell the disrest there, the White House was unaware of the prospective deployment. So much for "Vay-cay" Obama Administration being on top of things.  But they showed their priorities in the end by sending three White House representatives to the Michael Brown memorial service/and Al Sharpton rally in Ferguson and no Obama Administration officials to JAMES Foley's Requiem Mass. 

If ISIS wanted to really get President Obama's attention, they might want to slightly change their tactics to cater to the POTUS handicap. 

h/t: Michael Ramirez

      William Warren

      Nate Beeler 

Obama's New Golf War? (sic)

While the parents of murdered photojournalist James Foley were meeting the press, President Obama took five minutes away from his current vacation on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts to comment on the brutal beheading. Within ten minutes of Mr. Obama's brief statement, the so called "Preezy of the United Steezy"   was back on the golf course, yukking it up with golf partner former hoops star Alonzo  Mourning. 

President Obama's photo op was not generally well received even in the liberal Lamestream Media. Some journalists criticized Mr. Obama's informality, speaking on such a serious subject without wearing a tie.  Another complaint was President Obama referring to the slain American as "Jim", as if the President had personally known the deceased hostage.  The vacuousness of the comments did not satisfy the hunger in the public to do something.  To that end, there were governmental leaks about a failed hostage rescue by American armed forces.  What seemed to be most damaging was the optic about Mr. Obama shifting from being Mourner in Chief to golfing with Alonzo Mourning so quickly after the event.  

On MSNBC's "The Morning Joe", host Joe Scarborough offered an alternative take on what the New York Daily News dubbed "Bama's Golf War".

Well, isn't that special?  Here's a pro tip for Joe Scarborough -- resist Potomac Fever.  As late as March, 2014, Scarborough, the former four term Republican (?) Congressman from the Florida panhandle (FL-1st), had been publicly toying with a Presidential run.  You have no real path to the Oval Office and you will never be able to make $99,000 a week other than doing something like your faux conservative schtick on "The Morning Joke".

Pro arguendo, if President Obama is intentionally projecting an image of being a cold customer to intimidate ISIS, it is worth considering the results of this "strategerie".

In attempt to be charitable, one hopes that this is not a concerted strategy from Obama's Oval Office (or putting green), but is a manifestation of a Celebrity-in-Chief who is just playing through-- same as it ever was.

h/t: New York Daily News

     Michael Ramirez