An exclusive golf club outside Washington, DC, is finally extending an offer to join to President Obama — after a months-long debate over whether to exclude the now-former commander-in-chief over his Israel policy.
The bitter brouhaha, first reported by The Post, reached its peak when members of the predominantly Jewish Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland, wanted to reject Obama after he instructed his UN team to allow for an anti-Israel resolution to pass.
“Political views have never been part of our membership criteria, and our members have always reflected a range of opinions on issues of the day,” said Woodmont president Barry Forman in an email to club members, according to the Washington Post.
“In the current, deeply polarized political environment, it is all the more important that Woodmont be a place where people of varying views and beliefs can enjoy fellowship and recreation in a relaxed environment,” Forman added.
Part of the country club fight revolved around whether Obama would be admitted without having to pay the $80,000 initiation fee.
But Forman, in his note, said the ex-president would be granted “special membership,” allowing him to bypass the fee and the normal application process.
The move may still invite lawsuits from members upset at the special treatment given to a president they don’t believe is pro-Israel.
“We are proud of our Jewish heritage, and we are also proud that our membership is now more diverse, which reflects significant changes in our society in recent years,” the club’s president told members.
“Given our legacy, it is regrettable that we have now been widely portrayed as unwelcoming and intolerant, because that is not who we are,” he added.
As a result of the controversy, a local mayor publicly resigned his membership, saying he could not belong to an intolerant community — and an organizing effort from a former staffer at J Street, a controversial left-wing group, argued that Obama’s policies regarding Israel should have nothing to do with whether Obama was admitted.
It is not yet known whether Obama will accept Woodmont’s offer to join, though he has enjoyed golfing there in the past.