Gone Golfing While the World Burns

There's a report out today on Politico.com about President Obama's golfing habits. It seems he has golfed more or as many rounds in his first NINE MONTHS as George W. Bush did in his first TWO YEARS. Now, remember this is being done as America is recovering from supposedly the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression AND as we are still waiting for a Presidential decision about surging in Afghanistan.

Now, I am not trying to make this page some kind of rabid political diatribe against President Obama. But, I can't ignore what is going on when I think that these incidents or facts provide further evidence of what this blog is all about - the disconnect in America between those that serve and contribute to this country and those that sit back and watch and do nothing.

I think our last three Presidents - all of whom either didn't serve in the military, actively avoided the draft or went into the National Guard to avoid Vietnam - are a consequence of this disconnect. And the quality of their leadership has been directly influenced by this lack of service.

For example, President Obama has never been in an executive position in his life prior to being elected. I can tell you, as someone who has been in command of Marines, the experience is life-changing. When you have other peoples' lives in your hands and when they all look to you to make the final decision, you develop an ability to lead people through difficult times. You are also used to being the one that must bear the ultimate responsibility for those decisions. I am unsure that President Obama understands this because he has never had to do anything like this before.

Just look at President Bush - for those of you who disagreed with the choice to go to war in Iraq - I just wonder if he had served in combat would he have been so quick to commit the country to a war of choice? I don't have an answer. But I do think his decision-making process and management abilities would have been different.

Finally, I think this talk of leadership is simply a by-product of the way this country's citizens have abdicated their own responsibility. Once the draft was abolished and we moved to an all-volunteer military, at the same time that the welfare state developed, the American citizen got used to getting something for nothing - they got the benefits of citizenship without the sacrifices.

So, the question is why are our leaders playing golf while there are millions of people out of work and there are soldiers and Marines fighting and dying thousands of miles across the globe?

More importantly, why are we, the American people, allowing this to happen?