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Obama Emerges From White (Frat) House

Now Dowd wants to play him at Scrabble

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 28, 2009 7:44 AM CDT

(Newser) – Turns out Tom Friedman played golf with President Obama last month—and fellow New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd isn't ashamed to admit she felt "a twinge of envy." Dowd's happy that Obama finally invited a woman to join him on the links this weekend, after catching heat over all-male basketball games and the "frat-house atmosphere" of White House meetings. Caught up in the spectacle of our first black president, "it took quite a while for anyone to accuse Obama of being exclusionary."

Geraldine Ferraro used to complain about Walter Mondale's "smart-ass white boys," and Hillary Clinton lamented the "white boys" in her husband's White House—yet with Obama, the dynamic hasn't changed. "Obama regards himself as the change," Dowd writes, and didn't immediately grasp the importance of changing what was around him. But rather than golf, the columnist would rather take on the president in Scrabble: "I’m curious about what X and Z words the smarty-pants Y chief executive can come up with."

Melody Barnes, chief domestic policy adviser, and White House trip director Marvin Nicholson leave the White House Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009 to play golf with President Obama.
Melody Barnes, chief domestic policy adviser, and White House trip director Marvin Nicholson leave the White House Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009 to play golf with President Obama.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Barack Obama follows through after teeing off on the seventh hole at the Mink Meadows Golf Club  in Vineyard Haven, Mass., Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009.
President Barack Obama follows through after teeing off on the seventh hole at the Mink Meadows Golf Club in Vineyard Haven, Mass., Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 13 comments
cornelison
Oct 29, 2009 4:11 AM CDT
The President likes sports. It's a good way to lower stress & recharge your batteries. It also helps one avoid mental fatigue.
kokuaguy
Oct 28, 2009 7:24 AM CDT
The golf course is a great place to network and interact with others in a non-confrontational atmosphere. Decisions can be debated in such settings, and information solicited and acquired. Synergies occur in situations such at this that might not be possible in a structured setting like a cabinet meeting. I'd like to see the POTUS take Joe Lieberman out on the back "9" and convince him to get on board with the Public Option.
Sammy
Oct 28, 2009 2:27 AM CDT
THIS WHOLE THING IS JUST SILLY.

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