Obama on bowling: ‘I was terrible’
ALTOONA, Pennsylvania (AP) — While Democrats increasingly worry about winning ugly, Barack Obama was losing beautifully at a bowling lane in this central Pennsylvania city.
“My economic plan is better than my bowling,” Obama told fellow bowlers Saturday evening at the Pleasant Valley Recreation Center.
“It has to be,” a man called out.
Obama dropped by the bowling lanes as part of his new emphasis on low-key, face-to-face campaigning during a six-day bus tour through the state. So for the time being, he is scaling back on the big, raucous rallies that have been his calling card.
The Illinois senator said he wanted to “take time for the retail politics that I enjoy and think helps people know me better…. We’ll probably save the rallies toward the end of the campaign.”
Saturday night, it was Obama Bowl-a-Rama.
And it was clear from the start that Obama was way out of his league, certainly any bowling league.
As Obama laced up his size 13 1/2 two-tone bowling shoes, he let everyone know he hadn’t bowled since Jimmy Carter was president.
He shared a lane with Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr., who endorsed him Friday, and local homemaker Roxanne Hart. As the game went on, several small children bowled with Obama as well.
On his first warm-up ball, Casey rolled a gutter ball. Obama’s first ball flew gracefully off his hand but also ended up in the gutter. On his second try, he knocked down four pins.
The crowd of regulars pressed in to take pictures, get autographs, and rib him on his poor skills.
Obama did improve, nearly getting a strike in one frame, and in the seventh, picking up a spare, giving him a score of 37. Casey had a score of 71 after getting a strike, and Hart, with one less frame, racked up a score of 82.
“I was terrible,” Obama laughed as he shook hands with a crowd that had gathered outside the building once word spread he was there.
Asked about his game, Hart sounded like a politician, saying: “He has potential.”
In case you didn’t know, my roommate and I were intramural bowling champions in college. I even have the t-shirt to prove it. It may be about ten years old and is so worn and thin that is leaves nothing to the imagination, but I still love wearing it. However, WifeGeeding has a different opinion about the shirt.