OUR PRESIDENT, HAPPY AT LAST – AT 8:47 A.M. ET:  The world is coming apart, but look what's happening in sunny California.  From the Desert Sun: 

President Barack Obama is scheduled to fly out of the Coachella Valley with his wife and daughter on Monday morning, ending a sunny weekend of golf in Rancho Mirage.

Although much of his trip was recreational, escalating violence in Iraq demanded the president's attention on Sunday morning.

Those rotten Islamists, delaying our president's golf!  A million curses on their miserable heads.

Obama was briefed by White House officials before he teed off at Porcupine Creek, a private estate owned by billionaire Larry Ellison.

The president spent the afternoon inside Thunderbird Heights, a gated community where the home of interior designer Michael S. Smith and his partner James Costos likely played host to the first family. Obama appointed Costos, a prominent campaign donor, as a U.S. ambassador, and Smith is a close friend of first lady Michelle Obama, who joined the president in the desert along with eldest daughter Malia.

The White House did not release information about how Michelle Obama and Malia spent their time in the valley. Nearly all of the first family's activities were held behind closed doors or on private estates.

This was the third time in a year that President Obama has traveled to the Coachella Valley, and it appears he has taken a liking to the area because each successive visit has been less work-related and more like vacation.

COMMENT:  You know, appearances count in politics.  Does Obama care about his being seen lounging with the very, very, very rich while international crises boil over?  If this had been BUSH (!!) the press would have been in an uproar.  But it's Barack (come to save us), so he gets a media pass.

The president should be in Washington, making policy, meeting with members of Congress on the international situation, and organizing the government to deal with growing threats.

I'm not so sure he cares.  It's always been about Barack, never about America, and it shows.

June 16, 2014