Obama back on links on day 2 of vacation

President Obama spent his second day of vacation the same way he did the first: hitting the links at the Marine Corps base near his Honolulu beach home.

{mosads}Two of the president’s golfing partners were the same as on Saturday: aide Mike Brush and childhood friend Bobby Titcomb. Lawyer Preston Heard rounded out the foursome, replacing advance staffer Joe Paulson in the group.

Heard last golfed with Obama during the president’s trip to Martha’s Vineyard in August. During that vacation, Obama faced criticism for playing a round shortly after delivering remarks on the beheading death of American journalist James Foley by terrorists aligned with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Obama subsequently admitted that he had made a mistake in golfing on that day.

“There’s no doubt that — after having talked to the families, where it was hard for me to hold back tears listening to the pain that they were going through, after the statement that I made, that you know, I should’ve anticipated the optics” Obama told CBS News. “You know, that’s part of the job.”

Obama’s round on Sunday came shortly after White House spokesman Eric Schultz announced the president had called New York Police Commissioner William Bratton to express condolences for the killing of two New York City police officers.