A weekly gleaning of news reports about President Obama's vacation; where he will stay, what he will do and references to the Island (called Hollywood East, didn't you know?) and Islanders that may surprise some.
•The news is out. Last Thursday The Martha's Vineyard Times reported that President Obama would stay at the Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark, a luxury estate owned by William and Mollie Van Devender of Mississippi. Now that the White House has confirmed a Vineyard vacation the media has fixed on where the First Family will stay.
•On Thursday, the British newspaper The Guardian managed to work President Obama's vacation plans into a story about Prime Minister Gordon Brown under the headline, "Under-fire Brown is off to the Lake District."
"There can seldom have been a time when politicians yearned so much for their summer holidays," read the lead in The Guardian. "Westminster MPs, reeling from public outrage over their ludicrous expenses claims, must be thrilled that they can now pull up the drawbridges over their subsidised moats and watch their porn movies in peace. And after months of dealing with the financial and economic crisis, the political leaders of practically every nation must be feeling equally ready for a break."
The story went on to discuss the ways in which vacation destinations had affected the public standing of various politicians. "Even when times were good, Tony Blair was much derided for the glamorous foreign trips he made at other people's expense. In Tuscany he used to sponge off a very grand Italian nobleman, Prince Girolamo Guiccardini Strozzi, and in Barbados off an ageing British pop star, Sir Cliff Richard," said The Guardian.
Referring to Gordon Brown, The Guardian wrote, "It is hard to imagine Brown mingling cheerfully with socialites in an Italian villa or a French château, but he loves the United States and might well have preferred a break at Martha's Vineyard or Cape Cod if it had not been obvious that he would be excoriated for it."
Jumping from Mr. Brown to Mr. Obama, The Guardian noted, "It is to Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts, an island popular with both presidents Kennedy and Clinton, that Barack Obama is going with his family next month."
The Guardian noted that Bill Clinton feared that the Vineyard's elitist image could affect his political standing so in 1996 he commissioned an opinion poll to find out where people would like him to go on holiday. "A majority decided he should go camping and hiking in the great outdoors, and he meekly obeyed - taking a miserable holiday in the mountains of Wyoming, alone with a wife who was barely talking to him, instead of attending agreeable cocktail parties in Martha's Vineyard with east coast intellectuals and millionaires."
The Guardian said that Mr. Obama had escaped any criticism for his vacation choice. But that question was the subject of a question asked by CBS news anchor Katy Couric during a one-on-one interview that was the subject of a story in USA Today that same Thursday.
Ms. Couric asked the president if he felt "guilty going on vacation when so many families are struggling?"
Mr. Obama answered, "So, if the question is, 'Do I think every single day about the hardships that people are going through'? Absolutely. Do I think the American people think that because of those hardships I shouldn't spend some quality time with my daughters? I don't think that's what the American people think about it."
The Friday Vineyard Gazette described in exhaustive detail where the Obamas will stay on the Vineyard. "President Barack Obama and the First Family will rent the bucolic Blue Heron Farm off South Road in Chilmark for their vacation during the last week of August," the Gazette reported under the headline, "First Family's Vacation Plans Take Shape Around Familiar Chilmark Farm."
The Edgartown weekly reported that Wallace and Company Sotheby's International Realty of Edgartown has leased Blue Heron Farm for a block of 60 days in August and September from the Van Devenders and that the company will sublease the property.
Tom Wallace, owner of the real estate company, confirmed his company holds a lease, but according to the Gazette, said [wink, wink] he could not comment on who the tenants are.
"But sources have confirmed that it is in fact President Obama and his family who plan to take Blue Heron Farm for the last week of August," the Gazette reported.
"It is understood [Gazette phrasing for divine as opposed to attributable information] that the Obamas have treated the transaction as a standard Vineyard summer rental, from payment terms right down to questions about bringing the family dog," said the Gazette.
The story said the property includes a white Victorian farm house, a reconstructed Pennsylvania hay barn and a Vermont shed, an apple orchard, flower and vegetable gardens, stone walls, a swimming pool, golf practice tee and small basketball court.
"It is understood that Mr. Obama and his family will also be offered access to the private portion of Squibnocket Beach if they so choose," the Gazette reported.
News outlets around the country picked up the Gazette report. "Obamas not roughing it: First family planning vacation at luxurious home on Martha's Vineyard," reported the New York Daily News Friday online edition.
"The Obamas are going top shelf for their vacation next month on Martha's Vineyard, where their rustic digs come with a basketball court for the hoopster-in-chief," the New York newspaper reported. "The buzz on the island off Massachusetts Friday was that the First Family has rented the $20 million, 28-acre Blue Heron Farm in the Chilmark section for the last two weeks in August. The White House wasn't disclosing the rental price, but similar properties go for $35,000-$50,000 per week. The Obamas were expected to pick up the tab."
