Skeet aren’t in season during the visit of Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani.

Via WAPO

On Monday, when Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani visits Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland will once again serve as the venue for important geopolitical negotiations on seemingly in­trac­table issues, a role it has played for more than seven decades.

But as Secretary of State John F. Kerry and other Cabinet members host the Afghan president, one major U.S. figure will not be present: President Obama.

The president’s absence is just one signal of how the role of the cloistered compound in Catoctin Mountain Park has changed under this president, a city dweller who prefers gym workouts and golf courses to hiking trips and fly-fishing expeditions.

For several of Obama’s predecessors, Camp David was a critical refuge from the public spotlight and a chance to spend time outdoors, as well as a forum for soft-touch presidential diplomacy.

For this president, its role has receded. When he wants to woo or entertain foreign leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping or Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Obama has opted for California’s Sunnylands retreat, which offers plenty of sunshine and an 18-hole golf course. When he’s looking to relax on his own, the woods are rarely his first choice.[…]

During a 2010 White House dinner the Obamas had with a group of historians, one of the academics asked the president whether he had taken advantage of Camp David to avoid the pressure of the job. Michelle Obama interjected that the president was “an urban guy” not that taken with the place, according to multiple participants.

“Some presidents really like rustic, no-frills living, like FDR and Jimmy Carter,” said Rice University history professor Douglas Brinkley, who has an upcoming book on Roosevelt’s relationship with the land. Of Obama, he added, “This president likes his golf.”

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HT: JWF