Posted on 08/23/2009 10:15:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In their quest for a quiet family vacation on the posh resort island of Martha’s Vineyard this week, President Barack Obama and his family have retreated to a 28-acre spread with a stretch of beach so private — it’s sealed off by the Secret Service — that the chances of a paparazzi photo of the president in his swim trunks are all but nil.
Immediately after arriving at a closed airport on Sunday afternoon, though, the Obamas’ "normal family vacation" got off to a not-so-normal start.
Dozens of people lined the roads from the Vineyard Haven airport to the family’s rented compound, waving and taking pictures as the Obamas rode by. Children sat on the tops of vans and convertibles to get a better view, and people hoisted signs welcoming the vacationers with "Aloha Obama Family" and "Hope, Obama!"
Hope is exactly what Obama was keeping alive, though, as he sent his emissaries out with a message for those who would intrude on the weeklong summer vacation.
A sandal-clad spokesman told reporters he had a special message from the president: "He wants you to relax," deputy press secretary Bill Burton said, and "have a good time. Take some walks on the beaches."
"Nobody," he added "is looking to make news."
Well, maybe nobody on Team Obama is looking to make news.
But tell that to Geraldo Rivera, just one of dozens of journalists planning coverage from the island in the days to come. Television crews alit on the sandy beaches over the weekend. Local motels filled with reporters.
There’s always a chance actual news will break out, of course, no matter where the leader of the free world happens to be encamped. Aides keep describing this as a non-working vacation, with press secretary Robert Gibbs insisting that, if there are any hot meetings with the president this week, they will happen on the golf course.
Even he had to concede Obama might make a few calls to members of the Senate Finance Committee, the hotbed of legislative action on the president’s attempt to overhaul the system of health insurance.
Also, the proximity to Sen. Ted Kennedy’s retreat on Cape Cod has inspired speculation the president plans to visit the ailing Massachusetts senator. (Not in the current plans, says Burton.)
And senior White House officials have not completely ruled out the possibility of a town hall meeting.
The temptation to speak his mind may be too much for the president to resist. Just because he’s taking a week’s break doesn’t mean the health care debate is doing the same thing.
Indeed, the conversation continued at close-to-full volume on Sunday.
Shortly after Obama left from Andrews Air Force Base, a collection of lawmakers across the party spectrum took to the airwaves to critique his health care efforts so far and offer advice moving forward.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., warned Obama should scale back his push to overhaul health care in light of concerns about the economy. In particular, Lieberman said on CNN’s "State of the Union," Obama should delay his push to cover every American with health insurance.
Have a happy Ramadan, Pres. 0!
Do Presidents choose the secret service detail?
obama, relax. Don’t worry about obamacare. We’ll take good care of it. ;)
“The temptation to speak his mind may be too much for the president to resist. Just because he’s taking a week’s break doesn’t mean the health care debate is doing the same thing.”
For God’s sake, give us all a vacation from Obama’s theatre events posed as open forum.
Gee it will be nice to not hear from him! Maybe everyone will realize how nice it is to not have him in our faces all the time.
This is what Obama wants. The fawning and oohing and aahing from the people. Also rubbing elbows with elitists.
I hope that is the case, but I fear we will have a constant stream of ice cream parlor news...whether we like it or not.
(Not!!)
And, this comes quite close to characterizing Marxist Obama as a "victim" of the paparazzi (when in truth, it is the lot of the malignant narcissist to crave constant attention.)
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Respectfully disagree. I want this jOker on 24x7, ad nauseaum. He kills television revenue with his Blather Conferences (except FOX, who ignores him and wins ratings wars against the lame-stream media). A good number of people are already sick of him and his fugly Aunt-Esther wife who couldn't tastefully dress herself out of a wet paper bag.
I don't watch or listen to him ever, but think of it this way: would you rather punish Americans with debt-slavery until the end of Time, or punish them with non-stop snooze-a-thons and fawning pieces on how The Salt Vampire is "taking the fashion world by storm." ???
<sarcasm>Oh drat!</sarcasm>
It's getting close to SHTF time.
prisoner6
Good lord. This is beyond a puff piece. And it reporters like this that call US teabaggers.
Congress and the President are on vacation. That’s the way to cut deficits.
Can he wear swim trunks during Ramadan?
Interesting they need a 28 acre estate for a very private vacation during Ramadan.
Everything this pustule says is a malodorous falsehood.
The term that comes to my mind is "The Beauty and the Beast"
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