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Cooper’s Eye on the Left: Trump critics forget what Obama did on seven of eight Memorial Days while president

New York Times File Photo / Then-President Barack Obama plays golf at Andrews Air Force Base in 2013 with then-Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia, and Mark Udall, D-Colorado.
New York Times File Photo / Then-President Barack Obama plays golf at Andrews Air Force Base in 2013 with then-Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia, and Mark Udall, D-Colorado. New York Times File Photo / Then-President Barack Obama plays golf at Andrews Air Force Base in 2013 with then-Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia, and Mark Udall, D-Colorado.

By Clint Cooper 5 min read

For the record

No one should have been surprised that President Donald Trump was excoriated by Democrats for playing golf on Memorial Day while many Americans were dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

His likely November election foe, former Vice President Joe Biden, criticized him. But Biden’s former boss, former President Barack Obama? What did he do on Memorial Days during his time in office, including during the Great Recession that dominated most of his term and even following the announcement of the death of an American at the hands of the Islamic State?

Why he played golf, of course.

During seven of the eight Memorial Days he was in office, Obama hit the links on a day many Americans set aside to honor those who died in service to the country.