POLITICO: House Speaker John Boehner …who sports a fairway tan and an 8 handicap, will tee off with Obama June 18 — marking one of the only times the leader of the free world will have played with a Republican or a fellow elected official and the first time he will have played with a sitting member of Congress.
More gregarious politicians, such as Boehner and former President Bill Clinton, view the game as the convivial marriage of sports, politics and schmooze. Lyndon Johnson, a lousy golfer but a first-class legislator, secured Senate votes for the historic 1964 Civil Rights Act while on the links.
But Obama is more hermetic about a sport that has supplanted basketball as his weekend passion — and he’s been loath, until now, to mix business with pleasure… (more)
EDITOR: President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a veterate golfer, conducted much of his official business on the golf course, at times taking ‘vacations’ during which he would meet on the links during morning and afternoon matches with various business leader.
There was an embarrassing episode, rarely discussed, of a head of a major corporation being killed in a plane crash on the way and a valise with $50,000 in cash being found with the body. It likely was meant for the Republican Party, not the president.
Nevertheless, Eisenhower during and after his presidency was often photographed receiving gifts for his Gettysburg farm. This was before such practices were prohibited. No one gave it a second thought at the time.
