Barack Obama spends double the time playing golf than on the economy "Like most people, presidents still do work while on vacation," said Mr Schweizer. So we really went out of our way to fairly and accurately reflect how the president spends his time. Breitbart also said that the analysts had been generous when calculating how much time Mr Obama spent in economic meetings. Anything on the White House calendar even remotely connected to economics, such as "Obama meets with Cabinet Secretaries" or "Obama has lunch with four CEOs" counted as an economic meeting. The president said in 2011 that the economy was his main priority. "You should know that keeping the economy growing and making sure jobs are available is the first thing I think about when I wake up every morning," he told an audience of UPS workers. It's the last thing I think about when I go to bed each night. But the GAI report showed that the amount of time spent on the economy has fallen significantly in the years since his 2009 election. In 2009, Mr Obama spent 187.2 hours in economic meetings. A year later that number dropped to 127.8 hours. In 2011 the total fell to 73 hours. By the end of 2012, the president had spent 100 fewer hours on finance than in his first year in office, with a total of 80.4 hours devoted to the economy.