In the wake of the suspected Russian downing of a passenger plane over the eastern Ukraine, the expiration and renewal of nuclear talks with Iran, and the overnight deaths of more than a dozen Israeli soldiers (including two U.S. citizens) in Gaza, President Barack Obama has launched an aerial bombardment–of the fairways. The Hill reports that Obama played golf Sunday with several staffers who accompanied him to Fort Beauvoir, VA.
The President already has an extended vacation planned for next month–a sixteen-day jaunt to the posh island resort town of Martha’s Vineyard. He also played golf last weekend, The Hill notes, and is nearing the 200th round of his presidency–several times more than his predecessor, George W. Bush. Bush gave up golf in the midst of the Iraq War out of respect for soldiers’ families, and because his habit drew heavy media criticism.
President Obama reportedly spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, expressing concern for the loss of civilian lives on both sides of the conflict–though failing, evidently, to note that Israel attempts to avoid killing civilians while Hamas targets Israeli civilians and places Palestinian civilians in harm’s way. There was no apparent mention by Obama of either of the two American IDF volunteers who fell in battle.
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