Golfing Obama chooses to play through wedding of two Army captains
President Obama is taking a break, and whether or not you believe he deserves one, well, he's taking it. All this veto pen-wielding has left him yearning for a day on the links.
And he doesn't care who gets in his way while he's golfing - not other golfers, not North Korean cyber warriors, and apparently not people who wanted to get married on the golf course the day he chose to play, even if they are a pair of U.S. Army captains.
No word on what Obama shot that day, but whatever his score was, he attained it by disrupting the wedding of Edward Mallue Jr. and Natalie Heimel, two U.S. Army officers who had planned to exchange vows on the 16th tee of Kaneohe Kipper, a golf course on the grounds of a Hawaiian military base. Obama had actually been invited to the services, but told the happy couple he wasn't coming - then informed them a bit later that they wouldn't be coming, either.
The Army couple actually invited Obama to their wedding, knowing he would be on the island. However, the president declined the invitation, wishing them happiness.
"It was kind of ironic they got the letter from them and then, within hours, they were told they had to be moved due to him," Jamie McCarthy, Mallue's sister, told Bloomberg. "It was emotional, especially for her -- she's the bride and in less than 24 hours they had to change everything they had planned."
--Michael C. Bender, Bloomberg Politics
Hopefully Obama's game is a little more presidential than movies have taught us to expect.
Mallue and Heimel were married elsewhere on the grounds. In the end, Obama called the couple a second time - this time personally - and apologized, offering them congratulations.
So let this be a lesson to all engaged couples out there: Please keep the president's travel and leisure plans in mind while planning your nuptials, and you shall receive the thanks of a grateful nation.