Isn’t It Time for Another Obama Date Night?

Some presidents based decisions upon the question, “Will the course I choose affect this nation in a positive manner?”  But Barack Obama is keen to do everything differently than it’s ever been done before as he upends traditional politics.  That’s why he instead asks, “How will this gig affect my social life?”

In retrospect, he probably should have pondered the question before he started running for the office circa 1993.  We know that Obama was, is, and always will be campaigning.  Similarly, he’s also eternally upset that we’re upset with him.

Regardless, he’d like to remind you that he has much to do, such as fruitlessly campaign for Jon Corzine and Creigh Deeds when he’s not preparing to dash off to Norway to claim a seven-figure check.  On top of that, he has to run the country when time permits.  That’s why, two seasons later, Obama is still personally offended that we wanted to check his time card when he skipped town to romance the First Lady in May:

President Obama doesn’t have a lot of patience for those who he says turn date night with his wife into a “political issue.”

In an interview with the New York Times Magazine for a story on “The First Marriage,” Mr. Obama said it “annoyed” him that he was criticized for flying to New York last spring to see a Broadway play and have dinner with his wife. Critics complained that the president was using public money to pay for the trip.

“If I weren’t president, I would be happy to catch the shuttle with my wife to take her to a Broadway show, as I had promised her during the campaign, and there would be no fuss and no muss and no photographers,” he said. “That would please me greatly.”

That sounds reasonable- except that he is president.  Is this job cutting into his free time?  By working for the weekend, isn’t he just like us?  He should strive to establish a better example either way.  Once again, the Golden Boy shows that he doesn’t merely get upset over every little thing: he stays upset.  Even better, his funk apparently lasts forever.

As with his petty junior high cafeteria-type sniping aimed at Fox News, Obama’s unprovoked nastiness reveals worlds more about the complainer than the target.  Neither Republicans nor Democrats should be pleased that the head of state is a snippy ankle-biter.  He’s not abiding by JFK’s maxim to forgive our enemies while remembering their names.

But it’s fun to keep playing a game he’s unwilling to admit he lost.  We dropped this as an issue ages ago.  But Obama didn’t.  So, let’s keep making fun of him.  Even better, bring to mind the particular crisis he was neglecting that weekend.  To recall, General Motors was stumbling into bankruptcy on its way to becoming (East) German Model.  Obama presumably figured he could put off addressing the demise of a rusted ex-titan whose failure impacted the entire economy until Monday morning.

It’s not like he’s the most powerful man on Earth, or anything.  Besides, he had plenty of other choices to dodge first.  He hasn’t made a decision about something like Afghanistan troop levels over the hundreds of days he’s held this job, so why would he have made it that particular night?

If Obama wanted free weekends to see “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” he should have pursued a different career and just joined a law firm.  On the other hand, he might still have had to cancel his beloved date night if they made him work 100-hour weeks.  Plus, he probably would have had to fly commercial, which is a non-option for both him and Michelle.  That would cancel out the benefit of not having to listen to the American public complain about how he’s out the door at 5:01 p.m.

Luckily for us, he chose to run for president, meaning we get to hear about the Saturday he stepped out for as long as he’s in power.  He will likely devote a chapter of his memoirs to the dreamy weekend.  Bill Ayers can get started on it right away!  Just kidding.  But it will still be less interesting than reading about Andre Agassi taking meth while wearing a wig.

There might be a reason Obama is still fighting for nothing: he’s trying to remind us of his accomplishments.  It seems that he’s holding an utterly pointless grudge for months in the sulkiest manner possible.

But his strategy may be to hearken back to a night when nobody worried if he’d attempt to schmooze with Iran’s vile leaders, propose another full-coverage, profit-generating, higher-service health plan run from Washington, or blame America in general and George W. Bush for all of Earth’s problems, including swine flu.  A distracted Obama is a less meddlesome Obama.

That’s why, just one year after he hoped and changed his way to victory, we’d actually prefer he spend less time working.   In fact, the public might presently be receptive to a law where we get a mandatory paid month off every year, if only to guarantee that our president will be away from his desk for awhile.  It will be yet another way for him to emulate his semi-commie comrades in Europe.  Until then, we can look back with fondness upon the Saturday evening when he gave himself, his wife, and the nation a break.

Anthony Bialy is a freelance writer and “Red Eye” Conservative in Western New York.  He blogs at http://thebuffalobean.com and tweets at http://twitter.com/AnthonyBialy.

Popularity: 1% [?]