If there is one lesson to be learned from the presence of the Summer White House on the Vineyard, it is this: Never trust press spokesmen who tell reporters not to expect news during a presidential vacation trip. President Obama reinforced the no news forecast with a specific set of intructions conveyed through a deputy press secretary. The relaxed vacation talk was reminiscent of similar White House talk during the 1990s, the Clinton years on the Vineyard.
In August 1994, the last year the annual agricultural fair was held on the grounds of the old Grange Hall in West Tisbury, the fair was on, and I was crossing State Road by the town hall as two motorcycle escorts heralded the arrival of President Clinton’s motorcade.
Island merchants this week said it was too early to tell if President Obama’s recent vacation gave a boost to business, which by most account was generally poor this summer.
If there was any direct impact it was in Oak Bluffs, where the President stopped in town on Tuesday night for dinner at the Sweet Life Cafe and briefly the next day for a take-out lunch at Nancy’s Snack Bar.
At 4:23 p.m. on Sunday, the helicopters took off from the Martha’s Vineyard Airport, bringing to an end President Obama’s week-long first vacation since winning office, spent on the Island.
As Mr. Obama, his family and entourage took off, the clouds which had dumped some four inches of rain over the previous two days finally broke, and they left in watery sunshine.
For the past week, President Obama has been my neighbor on Martha’s Vineyard. He’s not what you call a cheek-by-jowl neighbor. Although we are both living in the same area of the Vineyard — Chilmark — we are separated by the Atlantic Ocean, Chilmark Pond, Tisbury Great Pont, South Road and legions of Secret Service.
With little fanfare, President Obama landed at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport yesterday afternoon to begin a 10-day Vineyard vacation as planned. Like last year, the arrival was completely closed to the public. The President traveled with the family dog, Bo, and a small group that included his close friend and senior advisor Valerie Jarrett and her daughter.
Halfway through his Vineyard vacation, President Obama has turned to Island links and basketball courts for his downtime, while the operation of the reform-minded White House carries on.
A rainy, windswept Monday afternoon found Mr. Obama shooting hoops at the Oak Bluffs School with longtime Chicago friend and former Illinois public health director Eric Whitaker along with UBS chief Robert Wolf and his two sons.
The worst-kept secret of the summer is out: the first family will return to Martha’s Vineyard to vacation at the end of August.
The White House confirmed on Friday what Islanders in the know have been whispering for weeks now: a year after their much-hyped and ultimately anticlimactic first presidential visit, the Obamas will return to the Vineyard on August 19 for a 10-day vacation. The current plan calls for the Obamas to leave the Island on August 29.
President Obama made a brief appearance Saturday evening at the home of his former law school professor, Dr. Charles J. Ogletree Jr., for what was described by the White House as a social event.
About a hundred people attended the event, according to pool reports, and small crowds waved flags along nearby streets as the President’s motorcade drove to Oak Bluffs.
