It takes a lot of impudence to diss the President of the United States of America, but for Michael Jordan, his remarks, throwing shade at President Obama’s golf game, came as natural as apple pie.
In an interview last week with Back9Networks’ Ahmad Rashad, the veteran sportscaster asked NBA legend Jordan— who is also owner of the Charlotte Hornets, who would comprise his “dream” golf foursome. Without a blink of an eye, Jordan responded quickly, saying, first up would be Arnold Palmer, then choosing Obama, but then taking it back on account of Obama’s “s*****” golf game.
For the video impaired (emphasis added): “I’ve never played with Obama, but I would,” Jordan said. “But — nah, that’s OK. I’ll take him out. He’s a hack. Man, I’d be all day playing with him.”
“Do you really want to say that?,” Rashad replied.
“The president of the United States is a hack?” “Don’t worry about it,” Jordan shot back with a grin. “I never said he’s wasn’t a great politician, I just said he’s a s***** golfer.”
See the full video below.
After learning of the diss, President Obama did come back with a couple solid punches in response to Jordan’s remark, including a resilient statement that Jordan “might want to spend more time thinking about the Bobcats—or the Hornets.” Jordan is an avid golfer, he gets out on the links quite a bit and has played with lots of others of his statue. So, perhaps he got kind of ‘caught-up in the moment, sidelined in thought after starting the foursome lineup with Arnie. Or, perhaps his real demeanor just came to light, again. The President appeared on Wisconsin radio station WJMR on Monday where His Airness’s remarks came up.
“Mike and I, we know each other but I’ve never played golf with him,” Obama said. “Michael wasn’t very well informed about this, I think he might’ve just been trying to give Ahmad an extra ratings boost on his show.” “But there is no doubt that Michael is a better golfer than I am,” Obama added. “Of course if I was playing twice a day for the last 15 years, then that might not be the case.” A high-handicapper golfer, President Obama gets out to play plenty, but still has faced criticism of his golf game for slow, deliberate play. Well, without hesitation Jordan went there, and then just totally folded on the President.
