At a campaign rally in Georgia on Wednesday, former President Obama pushed back against the attention his recent remarks about White House renovations had drawn. He argued that Republicans were spending more energy on the joke than on economic issues facing voters.
“They mobilized a whole-of-government response to that joke, not to inflation, but to that joke,” Obama said, according to The Hill. “This is what I mean when I say these are not serious people. They don’t have solutions to actual problems, so they’d rather have the media and you talking about the Cheesecake Factory.”
The comments that sparked the exchange came earlier at a stop in Cleveland, Ohio. Obama said the renovations, reported to cost $900 million, left the White House “looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory, it’s just gold everywhere,” a reference to the gold-heavy style of former Iraqi palaces.
Obama explains the remark, highlights food prices, and notes past controversies
Obama was in Georgia to campaign for Sen. Jon Ossoff and gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms. He noted that he had “heard the president was not happy” about the Cleveland comments, then shared a personal story about the restaurant.
“First of all, let me get this on the record. I am the father of two daughters. Do you think I could have survived their childhood without going to the Cheesecake Factory? I lived at Chuck E. Cheese and California Pizza Kitchen and the Cheesecake Factory. That was my jam for about a decade,” he said.
He went on to talk about rising costs at restaurants. “Of course, the real problem is the price has gotten so high, a lot of folks can barely afford to go out to eat, so you would think that this administration would be spending time worrying about that. But that was the interesting thing about how the administration responded to the speech I gave.”
According to Obama, the administration “did not dispute” his point that it was directly responsible for higher prices. He also said he was surprised the president “wasn’t even mad about the Saddam Hussein comparison.”
Obama mentioned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had stood outside a Cheesecake Factory in Washington after the original remarks. He said he “never thought of” asking his own Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, to do something similar.
He also brought up an older episode from his presidency involving a tan suit. “I am old enough to remember when a president wearing a tan suit was a major national controversy,” Obama said. “They were very upset, and I know I looked good in that suit.”
Trump answered while on the road for his own midterm events. He described the Cheesecake Factory as a “very successful company” and called Obama “a lousy president.”
“It’s not about money. It’s about seeing. Guys like Obama don’t see it. He doesn’t see dirt, he doesn’t see filth, he doesn’t see broken ornaments on a building,” Trump said. “For you to say it was a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you were a lousy president.”
Trump has directed updates to the Rose Garden, added a granite helipad on the South Lawn, and made other changes that include gold-colored decor and signage, a look he has favored since his first term. Both men have been traveling as the midterm election cycle nears its end.
Obama said he was supporting Ossoff “not because he looks like a Kennedy or handsome in the videos” but because he can “stir up some good trouble,” and called Lance Bottoms someone who is “in it for the right reasons.”
Decision Desk HQ projects Ossoff with an 89 percent chance of defeating Rep. Mike Collins. The race for governor is closer, with Lance Bottoms narrowly favored over Republican Rick Jackson to succeed term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp.
Published: Oct 29, 2026 07:30 am