At a campaign rally in Georgia on Oct. 28, former president Barack Obama doubled down on his one-liner about the White House decor — a joke that invoked the Cheesecake Factory and has since drawn Republican criticism, saying the reaction shows misplaced priorities.
Obama used the phrase while campaigning for Democrats in Georgia and then returned to it at the rally, saying Republicans prefer “phony outrage” and “talk about the Cheesecake Factory” instead of policy issues, according to an Associated Press report carried by local outlets.
Obama told the crowd that the White House did not rebut his core point — that the administration was focused on trivialities rather than voters’ concerns — and mocked the size of the response his joke produced, per local reporting and CNN’s live coverage of midterm events.
The comments were widely circulated in news clips and video of the Georgia appearance; CNN’s live midterm feed placed the remarks amid dueling campaign events in the state, and an AP-based local story reported Obama repeating the Cheesecake Factory line and pushing back on criticism.
Why it matters: Obama’s joke has become a midterm talking point that both parties are using — Democrats as a moment of ridicule at the president’s style, Republicans framing it as an insult to middle‑class patrons. Fox’s AP carriage of the story quotes Obama saying the reaction amounts to “phony outrage.”
Two internal articles on local fundraising and messaging offer related reading on the Georgia campaign scene and GOP communication struggles: Jon Ossoff hosts Washington fundraiser and Newt Gingrich says GOP is ‘inarticulate’.
Sources
- FOX10 (AP) — reported Obama repeated the Cheesecake Factory line in Georgia and said Republicans preferred “phony outrage.”
- CNN — included the remarks in its live midterm coverage and placed them amid dueling campaign events in Georgia.
