OBAMA FOR USA
President Obama arrived with family and friends on Martha's Vineyard on Sunday for what aides said would be a relaxing week of beaches, a few games of golf — and hopefully no news.
The president flew on Air Force One to Cape Cod and then on a helicopter to this 23-mile-long island, riding in his motorcade the short distance to his rented farmhouse on 28 acres bordering Tisbury Great Pond. Dozens of people lined the roads from the airport, holding signs reading "Aloha Obama Family" and "Hope, Obama."
Merchants, vacationers and many of the island's 15,000 year-round residents were eager for a glimpse, but this is a mostly private respite.
"He wants you to relax," Bill Burton, a White House deputy press secretary who accompanied Obama here, told reporters. "Have a good time, take some walks on the beaches. Nobody's looking to make any news."
Even so, Obama will get daily national security briefings and can hold secure teleconferences if necessary.
Burton reiterated the president's wish that daughters Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, be left alone while on vacation. He said there are no plans to visit ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in Hyannis Port and pronounced a possible golf game with Tiger Woods "a bad rumor."
Instead, Obama came here with his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her family. Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, a Vineyard summer resident, also was on board.
The weather forecasts for the week are excellent, following Saturday night's brush with Hurricane Bill, whose tropical-storm-force winds closed some island beaches.
In choosing Martha's Vineyard for his first extended vacation as president, Obama is following in the footsteps of Bill Clinton and Ulysses Grant. Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy sailed and fished off its cliff-lined shores.
Obama's getaway is Blue Heron Farm, near the island's center and owned by Republicans William and Mollie Van Devender of Jackson, Miss. The farm, which rents for $35,000 or more a week, boasts a pool, tennis court, golf tee and basketball hoop.
So far, the Vineyard has reacted to its latest celebrity in two ways. Along the streets of Oak Bluffs, Edgartown and Vineyard Haven, Obama T-shirts and hats adorn store windows. At the same time, many locals are nonchalant.
"In my circle of friends, there's not a tizzy — there's a gladness," said Lynn Tharp, 65, of Oak Bluffs, seated in a rocking chair on the porch of the Chilmark Store before Obama's arrival. "I'm just so delighted that he's coming."
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