J. Scott Applewhite/AP; Rob Carr/AP
President Obama (file) and Speaker Boehner (file)
The foursome is complete for what is being billed as the ultimate "golf summit." Joining President Obama, Vice President Biden, and House Speaker Boehner will be Republican Governor John Kasich of Ohio.
“Joining POTUS and VPOTUS for golf on June 18; the 4th will be Gov. @JohnKasich. #nomulligans,” Boehner announced the complete lineup on Friday via Twitter.
All parties insist the outing is more of a social event than a time to discuss the nation's debt crisis and other lingering issues.
The meeting is the brain-child of former press secretary Robert Gibbs, who suggested Obama and Boehner may benefit from a bipartisan golf outing, spurning an invite from the president.
This isn't the first time Obama has employed unorthodox tactics to smooth over tensions. Many will remember the incident involving Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley which ultimately ended in the first-ever “beer summit” of ’09.
Speaker Boehner is said to be as many as fifteen strokes better than Obama.
The group is scheduled to tee off on Saturday.
— By Peter Carril
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Dana Milbank's last comment about "playing a rich man's game when ...Americans are out of work. Geez Dana, lighten up. Golf is not necessarily a rich man's game and I think that President Obama's tactics to get people together and to get together with him is a good think.
I like Dana Milbank, but this was a stupid remark.
Mr. O'Donnell,
You are a brilliant journalist. Why are you not always HONEST? The break-in referred to was at the office of Daniel Elsburgh's PSYCHIATRIST who was also a Medical Doctor. Why didn;t you say so? Liberal bias at work?????
Whats black and has two a-holes?Answer President Obamas golf summit
Hey Lawrence...just thought I ought to make a sidebar comment about basketball...yes it was invented in Springfield Mass.... but by a Canadian. James Naismith, a teacher no less. Born in Almonte Ontario (near Ottawa) I believe.Anyways..you know J.B. could NEVER sink a shot from downtown. Obama would be all over that. Cheers Lawrence, keep up the good work.
I hope Governor Kasich will be more respectful to the President than he's been in the past and will recognize that among the four of them, he's really the one who doesn't have any particular reason (beyond golf skills?) to be there.
In the spirit of photo-op bipartisian sport, I'd also like to see Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor play a game of basket ball with the President. I know that will never happen, but really, if the President is willing to play with three white guys who are up to 15 strokes better than him, why not?
Now, Obama should have been a professional golfer instead of being a president. It's more befitting for a man with his skills. I would have been his #1 fan.