U.S. President-elect Barack Obama can body-surf with the best of them.

But can he golf?
 
Obama, who freely admits not being very good,  sent great chunks of grass flying as he warmed up on the driving range at a private golf club on the Hawaiian island of Oahu before hitting the course  on Christmas Eve.
 
Several wincing observers also accused him of shanking, which golfers define as striking the ball badly by smacking it with the heel of the club.
 
Later, as he practiced his putting, a little boy watching him from the clubhouse was heard defending him after he missed several attempts to sink the ball.
 
“He’s just practicing,” the boy said. Onlookers debated whether the president-elect was being put off his stride by all the people watching him.

Mid-way through the game, Obama greeted a group of onlookers who asked him how the golf was going. “I’m terrible,” he replied to one person. “Got any tips?” he asked someone else. 

It was Obama’s second golf excursion in four days since jetting into Oahu on Saturday for a two-week vacation with his family.

He was playing with aide Eugene Kang, close Chicago friend Eric Whitaker, who is spending Christmas with the Obamas, and one other friend.

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Reuters photo by Hugh Gentry (Obama warms up on the driving range at Mid Pacific Country Club, Hawaii, Dec. 24)

WASHINGTON - In between packing up to move back to Texas and trying to save the U.S. automotive industry, President George W. Bush squeezed in 40 minutes to talk extensively about one of his greatest loves — sports.

In an interview with a Washington Post sports writer, the former baseball team owner said the financial meltdown would likely cascade down to major league sports, noting that they tend to thrive on regular attendees.

“If you’re unable to get the American family to come to your park more than once a year, you’re going to have a difficult time when it comes to your attendance. Of course this will exacerbate the problem,” Bush said according to the Post.

He made it clear he would like to become a quiet spectator after being in the limelight for nearly eight years and had no intention of returning to the baseball world even as commissioner of Major League Baseball.

“I’m looking forward to getting off the stage,” Bush said. “I have done my duty to my country. I have given it my all. It’s now President-elect Obama’s time. I have had enough of the spotlight.”

He also told the newspaper that he believed more was being done now to rid the sports world of steroids, an issue he raised during his 2004 State of the Union address, but noted that it could get harder to detect them in the future. He admitted surprise when allegations surfaced that pitcher Roger Clemens had been linked to banned performance-enhancing drugs.

“It seems like they are making great strides. [But] are they going to invent detection devices to take care of the next round of exotics?” Bush said in the newspaper interview.

While Bush adheres to a strict coat and tie policy in the Oval Office (including his staff), he certainly did not mind when the college women’s lacrosse champions visited the White House in flip-flops despite the stir it caused.

“I thought it was cool,” he said. 

Bush, who could talk sports all day long, jokingly ended the interview after 40 minutes because Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was waiting to see him, according to the report.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Bush throws out the ceremonial first pitch earlier this year at the Washington Nationals game.)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - We’ve seen him play basketball, he has been teased mercilessly about his dismal bowling skills and he even pretended to take part in a 400-meter hurdles race at a track meet last week. But pool?

Barack Obama loves it. And he decided to spend part of a 6-hour campaign stop in West Virginia — just one day before the primary election there — playing pool.

“The sign of a misspent youth,” Obama joked as he walked around and eyed the table in the smoky Schultzie’s Billiards in South Charleston.

“Obviously I wasn’t doing wholesome things like bowling,” Obama added to laughter, referring to a horrible showing in the bowling alley during a stop in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago.

The days of his youth came back quickly in the game against against Paul Scott, a local army veteran of the Iraq war. From the opening break, Obama sank several good shots — drawing some shouts of ‘whoa’ from the steadily growing crowd.

“Oh, it worked,” he said after he made one particularly tricky shot that sunk a ball into the opposite corner pocket. He also hammed it up for the crowd of photographers: contorting himself as he played with the idea of a behind-the-back shot.

The men played a gentleman’s game of pool, continuing on even though Obama sank the 8-ball early on. ”That’s what you’re supposed to do with a senator,” he said to his opponent as they kept playing.

After Scott sank his final ball with one of Obama’s remaining, the presidential candidate shook his hand and patted him on the back.

“I didn’t embarrass myself,” Obama said, then went on to the business of campaigning during his final minutes in the state.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama plays basketball during a campaign stop in Indiana on May 4) 

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - Sports are a natural metaphor for political campaigns — both have winners and losers, competing teams, and a final score.

In basketball-mad Indiana, Democrat Hillary Clinton held a rally on Indiana University’s basketball court in Bloomington on Friday, while rival Barack Obama played a three-on-three game with supporters later that night.

On Saturday, Clinton headed to South Bend, best known as home to Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish football team. Former president Ronald Reagan, a Republican, laid claim to that franchise long ago, thanks to his portrayal of Irish football player George “the Gipper” Gipp in the 1940 film “Knute Rockne: All American.”

Clinton opted to hold a rally at the city’s minor-league baseball park, where she received a jersey of the home Silver Hawks, a Single A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“We know you’re going to knock it out of the park,” former Gov. Joe Kernan told Clinton in his opening remarks.

When Clinton came to bat, here’s what she said:

“We’re going to hit some of those balls out this stadium and out of our country stadium because we’re going to go to bat and fix America together.”

“We are going to go fight for America, we’re going to round the bases, we’re going to score a lot of runs and we’re going to feel really good about the home team, the American team, the team we’re all a part of,” she continued.

A rocky first inning. But Clinton handled the next eight innings of her stump speech smoothly, promising to spur economic development, end the Iraq war and implement a universal health care system, and challenging Obama to an unmoderated debate.

So how should the New York senator’s box score read? 4 for 5 with one strikeout? Or should that be marked an error?

Unfortunately, the final score in this game won’t be known until May 6, when Hoosiers head to the polls.

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Photo: Frank Polich - Hillary Clinton campaigns in South Bend, Indiana.

Journalists and staffers “bowl” tennis balls down the aisle of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign plane as it takes off from Gary, Indiana, on Friday night.