Former President Obama and his family are permanent homeowners on Martha’s Vineyard, after completing the purchase this week of a large home in the coastal perimeter of Edgartown.
Golf, dinner out with his wife, more golf. President Obama’s Vineyard vacation has been low key and mostly below the radar as he and his family begin a two-week-plus visit to the Vineyard. The Obamas arrived Friday night, a day earlier than planned.
President Obama departed the Island just after sunset on Sunday, concluding a 15-day vacation that saw a mix of work and recreation. There were fewer public outings this year during a vacation that was punctuated by strife in international and domestic affairs.
President Obama addressed the nation from outside his Chilmark rental home Thursday morning about the ongoing violence in Egypt.
The briefing took place on the sixth day of President Obama’s Vineyard vacation, a week punctuated by security and press briefings and a familiar pattern of golf, dining out and quiet time with family and friends.
From a podium bearing the presidential seal set up before a grove on Blue Heron Farm, President Obama spoke to the people of Libya yesterday, saying, “An ocean divides us, but we are joined in the basic human longing for freedom, for justice and for dignity.”
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.
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.