WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is taking criticism for using an eight-car motorcade to travel about 250 yards to welcome the Bush family at Blair House, the guest quarters across the street from the White House.

A Washington Post article cited a former Obama administration official who said previous presidents, including Barack Obama, "have made that walk before."

"Bone spurs?" CNN national security analyst Sam Vinograd sarcastically wondered, referring to a medical condition cited as the explanation for Trump's fifth deferment from the draft during the Vietnam War.

But observers suggested that the Secret Service likely requested Trump take the motorcade. Twitter users pointed out to a passage from former first lady Michelle Obama's new book "Becoming" in which she said the Secret Service would sometimes request she and her husband take a motorcade across the street.

"If Barack or I had a meeting in Blair House, located just across an already closed-off part of Pennsylvania Avenue, they'd sometimes request that we take the motorcade instead of walking in the fresh air," she wrote. "We respected the watchfulness, but it could feel like a form of confinement."

Post reporter David Nakamura tweeted that while he found six examples of Obama walking across the street to visit Blair House, he had not yet been able to find an example of him using a motorcade to do so.

One Twitter user argued that we would all take a motorcade to cross the street in winter if we were blessed with the opportunity.

"We drag Trump for a lot, but let's not pretend we wouldn't use an 8 car motorcade to cross the street in winter if we could," tweeted screenwriter and producer Bob Schooley.