A five-course meal at Honolulu’s priciest restaurant after golf........Obama faces another tough day in Hawaii

NewsBusters
Verbatim Post

Tim Graham

Mediaite's Nando Di Fino reports President Obama has played at least two rounds of golf in Hawaii with a high school buddy, Robert “Bobby” Titcomb, was arrested as part of a prostitution sting, after he allegedly approached an undercover police officer for sex in downtown Hawaii.

"What seems particularly interesting (“refreshing”?) here isn’t that President Obama would still hang out with a friend who had been arrested; it’s how many media outlets have either made no reference to Titcomb’s arrest, or simply stated it in passing," he wrote. "Both The New York Times and The Washington Post briefly made a note of Titcomb’s past in reporting the vacation stories. In this day and age of 'gotcha!' controversy-driven political coverage, is it surprising not to see more of a big deal being made?"

And maybe even more surprising, there doesn’t seem to be a purely political divide within the media. FoxNews.com, for example, in a story about Obama’s golfing on Christmas Eve, didn’t even mention Titcomb’s arrest when reporting on his participation.

In fact, it seems it was a British paper, The Daily Mail, that made the biggest deal out of Titcomb’s inclusion, blasting it across its headline: A five-course meal at Honolulu’s priciest restaurant after golf with his hooker-loving buddy… Obama faces another tough day in Hawaii

The Mail story also reported:

After several hours on the course with Titcomb and two others, the president kicked back with the First Lady, his sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, and several other friends at one of Honolulu’s priciest restaurants.

The presidential motorcade made a stop last night at Alan Wong’s Restaurant, located close to the Honolulu area where Obama spent his teenage years.

The Obamas sat down to a five-course dinner that include such menu items as the 'sassy salad' and a bacon-wrapped pork loin - for $75 each ($110 for wine pairings with each course).

The restaurant confirmed to MailOnline that the President's daughters Malia and Sasha did not join their parents for dinner...

While the Obamas may be away, that hasn’t stopped criticism about their expensive tastes while the rest of the country struggles to escape an economic downturn.

Michelle Obama came under the microscope yesterday after stepping out earlier this week in a dress worth $2,000.

Later that day, she appeared in a $950 skirt at a meet-and-greet with service members and their families.