I suppose we shouldn't begrudge our presidents a little free time, but C'mon, Barry! At the very least, you have to wonder why the White House is publicizing the president's eagerness to watch the NCAA men's basketball tournament when the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Keith Koffler:

The Middle East is afire with rebellion, Japan is imploding from an earthquake, and the battle of the budget is on in the United States, but none of this seems to be deterring President Obama from a heavy schedule of childish distractions.

The newly installed tandem of White House Chief of Staff William Daley and Senior Adviser David Plouffe were supposed to impart a new sense of discipline and purpose to the White House. Instead, they are permitting him to showcase himself as a poorly focused leader who has his priorities backward.

This morning, as Japan's nuclear crisis enters a potentially catastrophic phase, we are told that Obama is videotaping his NCAA tournament picks and that we'll be able to tune into ESPN Wednesday to find out who he likes.

Saturday, he made his 61st outing to the golf course as president, and got back to the White House with just enough time for a quick shower before heading out to party with Washington's elite journalists at the annual Gridiron Dinner.

With various urgencies swirling about him, Saturday's weekly videotaped presidential address focusing on "Women's History Month" seemed bizarrely out of touch.

Obama Friday took time out to honor the 2009-10 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks. Thursday was a White House conference on bullying - not a bad idea perhaps, but not quite Leader of the Free World stuff either.

Obama loves the "ceremonial" part of being president; pretty much a figurehead of American sovereignty. But when it comes to the hard, slogging work - the real drudgery of the job - Obama seems to shy away and vote "present." That's the book on this guy and has been from the start when he abrogated his responsibility to formulate his own stim bill and farmed the job out to the Hill. Nothing has changed much since then. He did the same with TARP II, Obamacare, and now the budget battle.

He cheerleads from the sidelines, kibbutzing and making ridiculous pronouncements about achieving "consensus." But in the end, he barely lifts a finger and when he does, he usually bollixes things up.

To paraphrase Ace of Spades, we pay this guy $400,000 grand a year. Just what is it that he does for that dough?