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President Barack Obama Played Golf on 7 Out of 8 Memorial Day Weekends

Joel B. Pollakby Joel B. Pollak

President Donald Trump has taken criticism from his opponents and the media for golfing on Memorial Day weekend. But his predecessor, President Barack Obama, golfed on seven of the eight Memorial Day weekends of his presidency.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee to challenge Trump in the fall, tweeted a criticism that Trump was golfing on Saturday, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic:

The media echoed that criticism.

However, President Obama was notorious for golfing — even when the country was at war, or in mid-crisis. And he golfed on Memorial Day weekend every year but one. According to the tally at trumpgolfoutings.com, Obama golfed:

  • Monday, May 25, 2009
  • Monday, May 30, 2011
  • Saturday, May 26, 2012
  • Saturday, May 25, 2013
  • Saturday, May 24, 2014
  • Saturday, May 23, 2015
  • Saturday, May 28, 2016
The only exception was in 2010, when Obama went back to visit Chicago — and drew criticism from conservatives for failing to lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day to mark the occasion. (He laid a wreath at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery near Chicago, instead.)

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