Obama leaves DC for Massachusetts island vacation

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By JULIE PACE

AIR STATION CAPE COD, Mass. (AP) — President Barack Obama has arrived in Massachusetts for his two-week summer vacation, which comes as the U.S. is engaged in airstrikes against Islamic militant targets in Iraq.

Obama and his family landed at a Coast Guard station on Cape Cod before heading to their final destination — Martha's Vineyard.

Before leaving the White House, he told reporters that he was ready "to not have a suit on for a while."

FULL story at link.



President Barack Obama, center, walks with first lady Michelle Obama, left, and their daughter Malia, right, as they board Marine One helicopter on the South lawn of the White House in Washington, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014, en route to a family vacation in Martha's Vineyard. The president is doing something unusual with his summer vacation: He'll come back to Washington midway through the getaway to attend White House meetings. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140809/us--obama-vacation-3d72de54c5.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. Good for them. I hope he can get some rest--he looks tired.

[1StrongBlackMan]

2. And ...

In the quiet of his vacation, we will see developments for the better in all of the world's hot spots, that seemingly came from out of the blue.

Who wants to bet?

[Frustratedlady]

3. He looks tired and old. I'm sure the RW will explode that he is taking time off...

when he should be hard at work in the WH, what with all the unrest in the world.

Leave him alone.

[madashelltoo]

4. You can win money on they will start crying

about the President taking a vacation while there is a conflict in the Middle East. But, you won't hear a peep about them constantly vacationing while America crumbles.

[George II]

6. They already started crying yesterday on Fox "News", as though....

....a President isn't in telephone, radio, even video contact with every area of his administration?

[lumpy]

7. The reality is that the President is always "on call" no matter where he or she happens to be.

[Rebl]

14. If he

should be at the WH, then they need to come back as well and work on the many issues they have done nothing about.

[Cha]

17. Ignoring the fact that just because he's not inside the White House.. all of the problems

are just as available for him to deal with.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Good

This was actually on my mind today as I looked at the calendar but hadn't heard anything mentioned about it (including not seeing the usual annual Faux Snooze poutrage... at least yet)... Wasn't sure where they would be headed this year or even if events would allow it, but thank goodness they did go and he went too. He MUST MUST MUST have some time to decompress.

Yeah, the media will still follow him around on the Vineyard but some quiet is needed to process and then reformulate next steps.

[jmowreader]

8. But Dubya never took a vacation! He gave up golf and everything!

Bush didn't actually give up golf in honor of the troops, he gave it up after UN official Sergio Vieira de Melio was killed in Iraq. His aides brought him in off the golf course to do some presidenting; he had a little temper tantrum and said he wouldn't play golf again in office.

This was also about the time he gave up running for mountain biking; I wonder if some of his "I'm giving up golf" thing was because playing golf in pain is no fun.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-537554.html

[George II]

9. Chicken george set an all-time record for vacations in office. I think second place was Reagan

[jmowreader]

10. No kidding

I think Obama Derangement Syndrome is their effort to follow Reagan's Eleventh Commandment while simultaneously venting about the idiot son of an asshole: they blame all the shit Bush did on Obama.

[George II]

16. bush spent 1020 days on vacation, which calculates to 32% of his presidency*

*of course, he spent the other 68% sleeping through his presidency.

[CTyankee]

11. My dtr has a summer place on Chappaquiddick Island. You should hear some of the people

who go to Chappy or to the Vineyard! I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard "I saw Michelle shopping in Edgartown" or "I saw Sasha and Malia at a bookstore" or (my fave) "I saw Obama on the golf course as I was driving by the course he plays on"!

He used to stay at a "farm" in Tisbury, I believe. Then the owner sold the place to Sir Norman Foster, the renowned architect, who I guess said no dice to the POTUS family visit. Now they stay somewhere else. I remember passing by the entrance to the old place, with its nondescript and unmarked unpaved road, while on vacation there a few years back. I was surprised that there were only two police cars pulled up in front of the entrance...I would have thought there'd be some kind of gate and lights...but I imagine that if you'd dare set foot on that little road, there would be all hell to pay...Most people don't understand that the Vineyard is largely unpaved. It is extraordinarily beautiful and VERY protective of its ecology and the environment.

I love the Vineyard. The trip is a real sojourn. A drive up to a catamaran ferry in RI, a rough ferry ride going into the Atlantic, docking in Oak Bluffs, dtr picks me up there, another ferry to Chappy (only a few minutes). But believe me, the waters are pristine and the beaches are quiet and not crowded and not a plastic wrap or bottle anywhere...

[Cha]

18. Sounds wonderful, CTyankee. :)

[tooeyeten]

12. Let the Hannity & Fox outrage begin

Palin, Ingraham, etc., but who won't say a word is the vacationing Tea Party Congress, who have stalled legislation for two years.

[Brother Buzz]

13. Stay away from 'pink' bicycles...

and have a grand time.

[onecent]

15. Yes and congress takes the whole month

of August off after doing NOTHING. Boo Hoo. let Obama have a wonderful holiday and some peace and quiet.