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James Foley Beheading: Obama Denounces ISIS, Immediately Returns To Golf Course

By Robert Jonathan
Published on: 12:58 PST, Aug 20, 2014

Within minutes of addressing the nation this afternoon about the beheading of journalist James Foley, President Obama returned directly to the golf course in Martha’s Vineyard.

In his brief remarks condemning the gruesome murder by the terrorist group ISIS (also referred to as ISIL), Obama honored the memory of James Foley and said in part that “The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to protect our people. We will be vigilant and we will be relentless. When people harm Americans anywhere, we do what’s necessary to see that justice is done and we act against ISIL, standing alongside others…”

Foley was apparently held captive in Syria for two years, and “American officials now believe that the video of Foley’s assassination was taken inside Syria, where the United States has no military presence and cannot conduct operations in the air without incurring the serious risk of encountering resistance from Syria’s sophisticated, Russian-made anti-air batteries. Obama failed to make note of this,” HotAir.com reports. ISIS has threatened to kill another American journalist unless the U.S. ends its air assault on ISIS in Iraq.

James Foley, Journalist and loyal American.

Having completed his remarks this afternoon, however, Obama — who earlier this year dismissed ISIS as the “junior varsity — promptly headed back to the links. “After delivering an ardent statement on the execution of James Foley by ISIS militants, President Obama’s motorcade returned to the golf course on Martha’s Vineyard,” BuzzFeed reported.”

President Obama has apparently played seven rounds of golf so far during this vacation on the Vineyard, which brings the total golf outings during his presidency to about 190. As far as this afternoon’s outing was concerned, “The president planned to play a round with former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning, private equity investor Glenn Hutchins, and longtime friend Cy Walker?, according to the White House,” The Hill reported.

As The Inquisitr previously reported, then-candidate Obama in 2008 vowed never to take vacations if he was elected president.

Obama also has held approximately 400 political campaign fundraisers for the Democrats since becoming president. Citing a senior Democrat, CNBC reported that “except for fundraising, it appears … POTUS has completely checked out.”

A White House spokesman explained today that while on vacation, the president remains engaged in the “ongoing complicated situations in the world, but I think we can also agree that it’s valuable to recharge your batteries.”

Added: Covering the president’s remarks about the barbaric Foley murder, the original headline (since changed) from The New York Times was “Obama, Outraged Over Beheading, Vows to Stay on course.”

About Obama’s latest golf excursion after addressing the nation about the James Foley beheading, Mediaite columnist Joe Concha, a erstwhile defender of presidential downtime, wrote in part that “With the murder of James Foley and the promise of more beheadings of other captured American journalists to come, we’re at war with ISIS regardless of Obama’s desired legacy to be remembered as the president who ended two wars and brought the troops home. We’re rightly bombing ISIS from the sky; we’re arming the Kurds, who know how to carry the fight. It’s not Normandy or even Fallujah, but it’s still war. So please put down the clubs, Mr. President. For no other reason, just to show a little respect for James Foley and his family.” Insisting on the need for decisive action against ISIS, the New York Daily News declared that “While his anger was palpable, Obama’s resolve to rain death on the savages of ISIS was far from clear. Worse, he signaled disdain for the gravity of the moment by going from the presidential podium straight to a vacation round of golf.”

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