Obama family vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard
August 23, 2009 by kenmorris
Filed under NEWS & REVIEWS
Stew Milne / AP
President Barack Obama waves as he escorts his daughter Malia, and first lady Michelle Obama walks with their daughter Sasha after arriving at the Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Station in Bourne, Mass., en route Sunday to a vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.
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Welcome to Martha’s Vineyard
President Barack Obama and his family will visit Martha’s Vineyard and stay at the Blue Heron Farm off South Road in Chilmark while on vacation during the last week of August. Click through our slideshow and take visual tour of some of the island’s better-known draws. more photos |
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Video: White House
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 Dems clash over public option
Aug. 23: President Barack Obama and the first family may have departed for vacation, but the debate over health care reform is following very close behind. NBC’s Mike Viqueira reports. |
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CHILMARK, Mass. – The first family settled in Sunday for their vacation on Martha’s Vineyard not long after Hurricane Bill
scampered away, leaving behind big waves and heavy rip currents for the Obamas.
A tropical storm warning was lifted just hours before President Barack Obama began his first vacation since taking office. The hurricane forced him to delay his departure from Andrews Air Force Base by a few hours.
During the flight from Washington to Cape Cod, White House spokesman Bill Burton conveyed a message from Obama, who boarded Air Force One in khakis and without jacket or tie, to the reporters traveling with him.
“He wants you to relax and have a good time. Take some walks on the beaches. Nobody’s looking to make any news,” Burton told reporters on the plane.
The Obama then flew by helicopter from the Coast Guard station at Otis Air Base to Martha’s Vineyard, and took a motorcade from the airport to their vacation home. Along the route, several people held signs, including ones that said, “Aloha Obama Family” and “Hope, Obama.”
Some Obama friends, including White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and Chicago physician Eric Whitaker, joined the family, as did Obama’s sister, Maya, and her husband. The president has no official events scheduled in the week ahead.
“You can bet there’s going to be some golf playing. Maybe a little bit swimming,” Burton said.
Then there are the likely trips for ice cream and salt water taffy, possibly a bike ride and plenty of quiet time at a secluded 28-acre private estate that rents for $35,000 a week. The Obamas are paying for their share of the vacation home; taxpayers are picking up the tab for security and White House staff, which is customary for all presidents.
Privacy requested for two daughters
Ahead of the trip, Obama and his aides asked for privacy for his daughters, 8-year-old Sasha and 11-year-old Malia.
The White House said there are no plans for Obama to visit ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy at his vacation home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod. A visit with Kennedy, who has brain cancer, could provide a rallying point for Democrats as Obama seeks to achieve one of Kennedy’s career goals: overhauling the nation’s health insurance system to provide near-universal coverage.
Vendors on Martha’s Vineyard are selling T-shirts with the first family’s pictures and even promoting Bo, the first dog who will join the Obamas. There are cupcakes and ice creams named for the Obamas and cardboard cutouts of the president in storefront windows.
The Vineyard is just 23 miles long with a year-round population of about 15,000. Any motorcade is certain to draw attention on an island already crowded with summer visitors.
