Politics

Obama, Biden, Romney, Google all skip D-Day commemorations

Melissa Quinn Contributor
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Instead of spending Wednesday commemorating the anniversary of the 1944 “D-Day” landing at Normandy in France, President Obama decided to fly to California to attend two fundraising events in San Francisco.

The commander-in-chief attended the fundraisers Wednesday night before moving on to Beverly Hills for two more on Thursday, Keith Koffler of White House Dossier reported.

Michelle Obama, who advocates for military families through her Joining Forces campaign, also failed to commemorate the anniversary. Instead, the First Lady attended a fundraiser in New York City, and then continued to Philadelphia to meet with campaign volunteers.

June 6 marked the 68th anniversary of America’s brutal landing on the beaches of Normandy, but the Obama White House was otherwise engaged. 2012 marks the third year in a row that the Obamas have failed to recognize the anniversary in person.

On the 65th Anniversary of D-Day, though, in the first year of his presidency, the president did give a speech. And this year Obama — or perhaps his social media staff — tweeted a remembrance. “68 years ago today—D-Day—the brave members of the Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy,” the brief message read. “We have never forgotten their heroism. —bo”

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney similarly spent the day campaigning, fielding questions from small business owners, CNN Money reported. He, too, tweeted a message to honor those who fought, writing “thank you to those who stormed the beaches, took the cliffs and freed a continent. We should never forget #DDay.”

Vice President Joe Biden spent the day in North Carolina.

And Google decided to dedicate Wednesday to the first drive-in movie, changing its logo “doodle” to a movie ticket that morphed into an animation of an old-style drive-in.

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