CNN also says his complete NCAA bracket will be revealed later today.Now, I know the president is a big sports fan. There was a lot of talk in January about his thoughts on the Pittsburgh-Arizona Super Bowl game — during which he tried to mix some business with pleasure by inviting several members of Congress to a Super Bowl party at the White House.
And it is widely known that Obama has been a participant in numerous pickup basketball games with his buddies.
But, honestly, doesn't he have more important things to be doing right now than going through a 65-team field and trying to predict who will win each game?
In case the president needs to be reminded (and, frankly, I would be surprised if he needed such a reminder), unemployment is the highest it's been in a quarter of a century — and appears likely to get worse in the months ahead. The unemployed don't have the luxury of an abundance of time to spend watching the tournament. They're counting on Obama to implement policies that will make it possible for them to go back to work.
That should be his priority right now — not which teams will advance to the Final Four.
I understand that Obama needs to have some relaxation. Certainly, his predecessor never missed the chance to take some time off and clear some brush at his "ranch."
But does Obama want to be regarded with the same contempt as George W. Bush is now?
4 comments:
David, we ought to see his love of sports as good thing. First, it kinda tells us he's a regular guy.
More than anything else I believe that participating in sports is a civil was of venting and letting go the tension.
No one said a damned word about Dubya going to Crawford, Texas while our troops were engaged in two wars. Cal Coolidge said he would rather be on the gulf course than in the White House (this during the early part of the Great Depression, and nobody said jack to Eisenhower for basically the same thing.
Del,
I don't begrudge Obama the right to love sports. I'm just saying that there are important issues that don't seem to be getting the attention they deserve. Perhaps one needs to be unemployed to fully understand that.
As for Bush, I said more than a single "damned word" about his trips to Crawford before I started writing this blog -- and I've written about it since. Few listened to me. I wasn't around during Coolidge's presidency (although, technically, the stock market did not crash until after he left the White House) and I was an infant when Eisenhower's presidency ended.
Given the conditions the country faces, as well as the fact that Obama has not held his present job for a full two months yet, I still think it's wrong to be poring over the NCAA brackets.
To me, it seems like asking people to accept on faith a strategy that has not yielded any results. If conditions have improved by this time next year, I would have no problem with him filling out his bracket and letting the whole world know his picks. But, this year, there are more important things to be done.
I feel like its the most important thing aside of his job that we see his completed NCAA March Madness Picks in completed bracket form, pdf, printable, and all that jazz. Why would it be so hard to do that! It seems like no one has the ambition to do so. I am in shcool and havent been following this at all but I saw him picking them on the news. What takes so long for somefanatic to fill out his bracket and post it!
If you missed it, you're probably the only one who did.
CNN posted it early Wednesday afternoon.
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