Obama spends more time playing golf and on holiday (976 hours) than on the economy (474 hours) since his Jan 2009 elections: Government Accountability Institute Report

Obama spends more time playing golf than on the economy: Report

LONDON — In an analysis of the presidential diary and newspaper reports, the Government Accountability Institute found that United States President Barack Obama has spent 976 hours since his January 2009 election on holiday and playing golf.

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LONDON — In an analysis of the presidential diary and newspaper reports, the Government Accountability Institute found that United States President Barack Obama has spent 976 hours since his January 2009 election on holiday and playing golf. In contrast, he has only spent 474.4 hours in economic meetings. “As a government watchdog group, we just tabulate the numbers and let others decide how to interpret them,” said Mr Peter Schweizer, president of GAI, which compiled the report. “People understand that presidents have the most stressful job in the world and need a break from time to time. There will be some who will be encouraged by the numbers and some who will wish the president spent more time in economic meetings.” The American news website Breitbart claimed that the survey may have underestimated Mr Obama’s time devoted to recreation. GAI calculated a round of golf as taking four hours, but Breitbart pointed out that Mr Obama said last year that playing golf is “the only time that for six hours, I’m outside”. “Like most people, presidents still do work while on vacation,” said Mr Schweizer. “So we really went out of our way to fairly and accurately reflect how the president spends his time.” Breitbart also said that the analysts had been generous when calculating how much time Mr Obama spent in economic meetings. Anything on the White House calendar even remotely connected to economics, such as “Obama meets with Cabinet Secretaries” or “Obama has lunch with four CEOs” counted as an economic meeting. The president said in 2011 that the economy was his main priority, reported The Daily Telegraph. “You should know that keeping the economy growing and making sure jobs are available is the first thing I think about when I wake up every morning,” he told an audience of UPS workers. “It’s the last thing I think about when I go to bed each night.” But the GAI report showed that the amount of time spent on the economy has fallen significantly in the years since his 2009 election. In 2009, Mr Obama spent 187.2 hours in economic meetings. A year later that number dropped to 127.8 hours. In 2011 the total fell to 73 hours. By the end of 2012, the president had spent 100 fewer hours on finance than in his first year in office, with a total of 80.4 hours devoted to the economy. AGENCIES