Don’t watch this drive

So George W. Bush gave up golf to show his solidarity with the families of soldiers in Iraq?

Is that really meaningful?  Or was he just trying to avoid foot-in-mouth moments, like the classic scene from Fahrenheit 9/11 where Bush famously says while brandishing a golf club in Kennebunkport, Maine:

There are a few killers who want to stop the peace process that we have started, and we must not let them.  I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you.

Now, watch this drive.

(It should be noted that said drive hooked out-of-bounds left.  His second ball was right down the pipe, though.)

After all, Bush is the guy who said we should keep living our normal lives even though our very existence was at stake in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Where’s the follow-through on that rhetoric, Mr. President?

Get back in your golf cart and stick it to Bin Laden, sir!  I want to see you on the 17th tee at Sawgrass, hitting a flawless 9-iron (supposedly, you were about a 15-handicap, so I’m guessing here) and then turning to the camera and telling Ahmedinejad to stick it where the sun don’t shine.

Or better yet, throw down the gauntlet.  Kim Jong-Il, according to the North Korean Press Service, is quite the golfing prodigy — scoring as many as 11 holes-in-one in a round.  Let’s see him and Bush go mano-a-mano on neutral turf — say the Annika Sorenstam course at Mission Hills in China — with something real at stake.  Bush wins, North Korea has to completely dismantle all of the nuclear facilities.  Kim wins, and North Korea gets a security agreement.  Something like that, anyway.

The point is, though, giving up golf isn’t a meaningful sacrifice.  The families of those in Iraq don’t care about you giving up golf.  What they care about is you putting them in a mission where they can succeed and giving them everything they need to be successful.  And, if you can’t do that, you should bring them home — even if it means a loss of face for you, Mr. President.

That’s real sacrifice.  And it is something you’re unwilling to accept.