RNC Chair Reince Priebus Is Upset About Obama's NCAA Bracket

I think that the odds are pretty good that Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus is going to outperform his woeful predecessor Michael Steele (he's already off to a good start), but he's not going to win the future by indulging in this sort of silliness:

Priebus just posted this on Twitter, linking to a right-wing blog post that attacked Obama for videotaping a brief segment on ESPN:

"How can @BarackObama say he is leading when puts his NCAA bracket over the budget & other pressing issues? http://bit.ly/ieSuCI"

There are lots of substantive ways to offer the "President Obama isn't paying attention to [insert issue I care about here]" critique from the left and the right, but this isn't one of them. I'd understand this reaction if Obama had vowed that he wouldn't participate in NCAA brackets while the unemployment rate was over 7 percent or something, but the reality is that lots of Americans with very important work to do still take some time out of their day to do NCAA brackets, and I'd expect someone who is not badly out of touch with the lives of ordinary Americans to understand this. (I'm similarly bored and mystified by the interparty squabbling over who gets to play golf and when.)

But Priebus has done something baffling here. See, there are going to be NCAA tournaments for many years to come. And it's inevitable that one day, there will be a Republican in the Oval Office. I'm sure if Reince Priebus had his druthers, that would happen while he was at the head of the RNC. So why is Priebus boxing in a future GOP commander-in-chief in this fashion, by making it out of bounds for that person to fill out a tournament bracket? That seems awfully unfair. It's not the sort of thing I'd begrudge a president.

Hopefully, that future Republican president will remember that he or she is not permitted to participate in this American tradition. It won't be easy, seeing as that man or woman will already have to strain his or her recall having to memorize every public statement and speech he or she will have to make, because the GOP decided that teleprompters are similarly unpresidential.

RELATED:
RNC Chair: Obama Puts NCAA Bracket Ahead Of Important Issues [TPMDC]

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Comments

[Iceguy75]

01:33 PM on 03/23/2011

Perfect lol!!! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42227088#42223367

[ThinkCreeps]

06:47 PM on 03/18/2011

Rinkydink Pubis is certainly having less impact that Steele. This is the first I've heard of him since he was annointed as king of the GOPs.

[pita143]

07:52 PM on 03/17/2011

Can you spell.....H Y P O C R I T E S? The GOP slams everything this President does. They say he is Wasting time on this or on that or something else. BUT instead of focusing on the Jobs issue or the Economy they are wasting time on cutting the Funds for Planned Parenthood, on all the pet projects that the Religious Right want them to pay attention to.
BUT WHERE IS THE WORK ON JOBS?
Oh lets cut off funds to NPR
BUT WHERE IS THE WORK ON JOBS?

These people seem to forget that Bush took more vacation time than any president in History, even when the US was in Two Wars, Katrina, Rita, and massive Forest Fires in the West. And yet Bush flew over 100 people at Tax Payers expense to his ranch in Texas for a BBQ.

Regan ran away to his California Hideaway, Bush I ran off to Maine, Bush II ran away to Texas, and Our President NOW takes a night to take his wife to dinner in NY City. And they have the gall to complain about that.

[senatortruth]

07:09 PM on 03/17/2011

Rob Roday

the guy is a putz, did he drop out of college too?
***********************************

Are you kidding?

His daddy BOUGHT him the college!!

"In Back To School", Rodney donates for a wing of a college building and gets admitted.

A faculty member gets angry at the cronyism.

Ned Beatty, College President: "Well, GEE Phil! In his defense, it WAS a really big check!!"

[senatortruth]

07:02 PM on 03/17/2011

Isn't he the guy from Disney's "Song of the South"?

Zip-a-dee-silver-spoon.

Zip-a dee-ay!!

[liberalOrgonian]

07:01 PM on 03/17/2011

Who is this guy anyway.
Is he American?
Has anyone seen his Birth Certificate?
He seems "different" than "us".
Where did he come from?
His name sounds foreign.....maybe he is foreign?
Has he proved himself American enough?
Is he a Muslim? Maybe he is !
Dems, can play that game "not American enough" too.

[K Anton Winder]

05:45 PM on 03/17/2011

So Priebus expresses disdain for busy and important people engaging in perceived trivialities BY POSTING IT ON TWITTER. Derp.

[patman77]

04:42 PM on 03/17/2011

and that he walked his dog around the white house grounds with his daughters, and that he drank a glass of water and had the gall to step into the restroom to take a pee.

[silverball]

04:27 PM on 03/17/2011

...when are they going to start complaining that he ties his shoes wrong....??? ....probably any day now....

[Blink2X]

04:05 PM on 03/17/2011

I was sure Paul Reubens ALWAYS wore his bowtie when he was in character.....I guess not, though. Shouldn't Priebus be out looking for his lost bicycle anyway? Priebus....poooor litlle Priebus!

[LinkTren]

03:52 PM on 03/17/2011

Reince, how about doing something useful and pressing the Weepy Tangerine on the jobs bill? I know he's trying to singlehandedly revive the economy by keeping alcohol industry and the tissue industry flush, but at some point he'll have to create those jobs he promised for the rest of America.

[Rags2Rags]

03:24 PM on 03/17/2011

"but the reality is that lots of Americans with very important work to do still take some time out of their day to do NCAA brackets"

Yeah, it all sounds so nice and tidy...exc­ept the fact that he took the time to create a nationally televised event to display his brackets while innocent Libyans are being mowed down...Our ally Japan is suffering after one of the largest earthquake­s ever recorded..­.followed by a tsunami...­followed by a nuclear disaster that was still going on while President Obama was providing his bracket picks...Oh and our nation is getting torn apart over cuts in budgets in every state due to the economic collapse..­.

And we don't have a nationally televised event for those issues. He's remained relatively silent. We really need a leader

[silverball]

04:33 PM on 03/17/2011

is he supposed to take over the problem with the reactor in japan...or start ANOTHER war in the middle east???...lots of whining out there from republi-CONS, but they don't have much in the way of answers...other than more tax cuts and corporate welfare...oh, forgot to ask....WHERE ARE THOSE JOBS THEY PROMISED ???....and lets not forget....way less vacation time than dickie and shrub.....

[tangelan]

05:28 PM on 03/17/2011

You really need therapy. Please tell me how the President, or the US for that matter, is supposed to stop a quake that caused a tsunami that caused a nuclear disaster? While GOP governors are tearing their states apart trying to pay for the budget gaps created by their tax breaks, the President is supposed to drop everything to help them solve their problems? For people who want small, limited government, you really want big, intrusive government. What you should be worried about is why these tax breaks are still aren't leading to job creation in these states.