I don’t usually bring up politics. Partly because this is a sports column, but mostly because I twice failed “Introduction to American Politics and Government” during my one-year stint at community college. In my defense, I didn’t go to class very often because I was busy surfing, which is a sport, and considering that I’m now a sports reporter, I’d say it all worked out for the best.
All ridiculous stretches of rationalization regarding my academic shortcomings aside, however, I think it’s safe to say that, if there’s one person who should never skip class to go surfing, or do whatever the political equivalent to that is, it’s the president of the United States. However, in an interview with Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio last week, Barack Obama admitted to spending most of his time in the morning watching “Sportscenter.”
“Sportscenter” is a great show and everything — one of the greatest, even — but I’m usually too busy to watch it in the morning, so I can’t help but question how the leader of the free world has time to.
It’s not like he said that he’s a fan of the show or that he watches it sometimes, he said that he watched it every single morning. That’s an hour a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and the equivalent of over nine 40-hour work weeks that the president of the United States is watching television instead of doing his job — which, if the movie “Independence Day” is any indicator, mostly involves helping Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith save the world from an alien invasion.
After letting us know that his morning focus is on the top 10 plays instead of the top 10 issues facing the country, he made matters worse when he went on to say that he gets so much politics that he doesn’t want to be “inundated with a bunch of chatter about politics during the day.” If he has a PR person that wrote that line, I really hope they’ve since been fired.
I think I can safely assume that the majority of Americans would hope that the president inundates himself with some political chatter from time to time so he can, you know... run the country or whatever.
Now, chances are Obama was trying to be cool or funny or boost his approval rate amongst a certain demographic. Honestly, I kind of like the fact that he’s a Bears fan and shoots hoops. It makes him seem like a normal guy. You could probably even say that most of the comments he made in that interview got blown out of proportion. But, then again, I don’t want a normal guy running the country that I live in. I want a president that’s working hard to preserve the greatness of our nation every hour of every day.
There are certainly worse things that he could be doing with his free time — Watergate-ing, waterboarding or Monica Lewinsky, to name a few. But even if what he said wasn’t exactly what he meant, he still said it, and if there’s anyone who’s under media scrutiny, it’s Barack Obama. If I were him, I’d spend less time in the morning watching highlights and more time putting out an ad on Craigslist for a new public relations advisor.