A not-so presidential date night

Dean Poling

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michele Obama’s big New York date has attracted a lot of attention during the past few days.

In case you haven’t heard, he whisked her off to New York in Marine One. They dined at a fancy restaurant. They took in a Broadway show. He had traffic stopped all over the place in New York.

This was one of the first couple’s date nights. It has drawn a lot of criticism. Some folks point out how much this date cost taxpayers. Some note that with the economy putting a pinch on so many families that the Obama date rubbed people’s faces in extravagance.

I think another motive has spawned much of this criticism: How are most guys supposed to compete with that?

My wife’s and my most recent date night involved me saying, “Hey, have you ever seen the movie ‘Blade Runner’? Well, I rented it.” Our date night also involved microwave popcorn and yelling at the kids to go to bed.

Prior to the big movie in the DVD player, we purchased a fine meal from the drive-through window of the Taco Bell. I ate tacos while seated in my recliner looking forward to watching “Blade Runner,” a 30-year-old movie about hunting robots in the not-too-distant future. I also had to pick cheese off my shirt. See, romance is not dead.

But I must admit, my date night offerings fall a little short of the President’s. OK, mine look bad without even comparing them to the President’s taking the First Lady out on the town. But having the first couple zoom off for a New York date on the same weekend as my big “Blade Runner” date, well, that’s just not fair.

Forget cutting the taxpayers a break with these presidential dates. The President needs to cut his fellow married dudes a break.

Guys can’t even use the excuse of not wanting to go out because they have been working hard all week. Try it now, guys. Try saying, “I’d love to go to that soiree, show, shindig, etc., but, whew, I’ve had a lot of work this week and more on the way.”

Won’t cut it any more, guys. Not now. Try saying that and some wives will answer: “Well, I’m sure the President’s been working hard, too. He’s been running the country and all those auto companies and fighting wars. And he’s got time to take his wife to New York on a date. I guess your job requires a lot more work than being the leader of the free world.”

See, nothing but trouble.

So, Mr. President, from one husband to another, please stop these fairy tale date nights. You don’t have to stop your date nights. But, geez, tone them down a little. Go to a movie. Have the presidential motorcade swing through a Taco Bell. Rent “Blade Runner.”

Because, man, you’ve got to give the rest of us husbands a break.

Dean Poling is The Valdosta Daily Times assistant managing editor.