ON POLITICS

At Israel's Holocaust memorial, comparing Donald Trump, Obama and Bush notes

Jessica Estepa
USA TODAY
The message written by US President Donald Trump at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum guest book and signed by him and his wife Melania is seen after their visit on May 23, 2017, in Jerusalem.

President Trump visited Yad Vashem on Tuesday, and, like his predecessors, left behind a note in the Holocaust memorial's book of remembrance.

His note was brief:

"It is a great honor to be here with all of my friends – so amazing & will never forget!"

Here's what Barack Obama, then in the middle of his first presidential campaign, wrote when he visited in July 2008:

"I am grateful to Yad Vashem and all of those responsible for this remarkable institution. At a time of great peril and promise, war and strife, we are blessed to have such a powerful reminder of man's potential for great evil, but also our own capacity to rise up from tragedy and remake our world. Let our children come here, and know their history, so that they can add their voices to proclaim 'never again.' And may we remember those who perished, not only as victims, but also as individuals who hoped and loved and dreamed like us, and who have become symbols of the human spirit."

Of course, not all notes need to be long. Here's what then-President Bush wrote months before, in January 2008:

"God bless Israel."