Yes Obama Was Right to Golf After Foley - The Daily Beast
While not supportive of many of Obama's policies, he is in fact my president; I know with a high-degree of certainty that Foley's murder weighs heavily on him personally.
Should President Obama have played golf after his Foley press conference?
Yes.
Critics suggest that the president showed no sympathy for the family or that his decision to play golf proves he is “out of touch.” I do not have enough information to make those assumptions.
If our president is forced to cancel his family vacation because of the actions of an organized band of terrorists, are they not in a way winning?
In terms of the optics, let us not forget that the United States is facing a new and extremely dangerous enemy in ISIS. Is it possible that the president’s national security team made the decision that he play golf that day? Perhaps it was they who suggested that he go out there and show the world, and especially the terrorists, that he — and we — will not be taken out of our lives by their atrocious acts?
If our president is forced to cancel his family vacation because of the actions of an organized band of terrorists, are they not in a way winning?
President Reagan was a hero to me; getting to spend a little time with him early in my career remains a life highlight. To this day we commend Reagan for his sense of the moment and the strength of his verbal, as well as his non-verbal, responses to situations. We still talk about his decision not to wear an overcoat to a meeting with Gorbachev on a cold day at the height of the cold war — it’s legendary.
I am not comparing the two presidents but I am suggesting that Reagan might have ridden horses after the Foley press conference as a way to send a message: terrorists cannot deter America’s resolve.