Some serve three or four tours of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. Some deal with the absence or– at worst– injury or death of children, parents or spouses.
And some give up golf.
President Bush said yesterday that he gave up golfing in 2003 “in solidarity” with the families of soldiers who were dying in Iraq, concluding that it was “just not worth it anymore” to play the sport in a time of war.
“I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf,” Bush said in a White House interview with the Politico. “I feel I owe it to the families to be as — to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”
At least we’re being spared further cringe-inducing scenes like this:
Writing in The Washington Post in 2003, E.J. Dionne suggested to Bush a more serious gesture of sacrifice. Needless to say, the President did not take it up.