Five days later, on the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend, and attention on veterans saturating the news media, Obama held a news conference and vowed, “Anybody found to have manipulated or falsified records at VA facilities has to be held accountable.”

The next day, a Saturday, in an apparent effort to shift attention to something more positive with regard to veterans, Obama stepped into the Rose Garden to announce that the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan would end this year. Such announcements are rarely made on Saturdays, signaling White House worry about the VA scandal.

So the PR blitz continued. On Sunday, Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan where he was photographed surrounded by cheering American troops.

The next day, Memorial Day, the president used his traditional speech at Arlington Cemetery to reiterate that the war in Afghanistan is coming to an end. More photos in the midst of veterans and their families.

A day later, he was off to West Point.