The Gulf or The Cape?

First Lady Michelle Obama recently came home from an expensive vacation in Spain. Today, President Barack Obama and his family are beginning a 10-day vacation on secluded Blue Heron Farm, a 28-acre waterfront property in Chilmark, on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, where they stayed last year.

I write this post with feelings that are only somewhat mixed: Any president of the United States is entitled to a break away from the pressure of what may be the world’s toughest job. But why this exclusive island resort in the northeast? Why now?

There is not only symbolism, but a good deal of substance behind every action that the President of the United States decides to take.

Both Mr. Obama and the First Lady have spent only a few days ‘vacationing’ in the Gulf to show their support for the region’s tourist businesses. But the latest was a mere one-day presidential photo-op in the Florida panhandle, and it was back to Washington.

No president ever gets away completely from his duties. Especially not in this super-connected electronic world. His/ (maybe someday her) responsibilities are simply too great. So any presidential vacation is really a working one peppered by hobnobbing with favored guests, and time alone to ponder his responsibilities in a quiet setting.

But why Martha’s Vineyard? Why not one or two locations along the Gulf Coast, where the hobnobbing can be with common people and where the president, quite frankly, has just blown a major opportunity to help reinvigorate the tourist, fishing, and petroleum industries of as many as five Gulf Coast states.

The New England tourist industry would not suffer one iota from his absence in the region this summer. But the same cannot be said for the businesses along the Gulf Coast which are flat on their backs.

The President has the right, but is it a wise choice? Somehow, for me, Obama’s decision is the wrong priority.

Just a thought. Stay cool. Thanks for reading. Stay engaged.

A Presidential Vacation

When President Barack Obama vacations on Cape Cod’s island retreat of Martha’s Vineyard, he is expected to pay for part of the $35,000 weekly rental for his family’s sojourn on a private 28-acre estate. The balance will be picked up by the Secret Service and the White House, since he will be accompanied by a large entourage.

I wonder to what extent this will be a time of rest and rejuvenation for the President, or if it will be as much an occasion to withdraw in seclusion outside the reach of all except a few choice guests and policy makers.

There very likely will be a mixture of pleasure and business – no president ever completely escapes his responsibilities while in office. (From ‘The Vineyard’ this morning, Obama – with Ben Bernanke at his side – went before the cameras to announce the re-nomination of Bernanke for another term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.)

Maybe Obama would be well-served after his vacation to spend some serious time onshore visiting some of Boston’s 23 varied neighborhoods – like Dorchester, Roxbury and the South End – where he could walk and talk among his constituents, getting real feedback about what people think and feel concerning his healthcare ideas.

Yes, I know. I must be dreaming, you say. But remaining isolated with staff and other hand-picked influential guests in a high-priced private enclave on one of the nation’s most exclusive islands is not going to give him the insight he needs about the nation’s healthcare problem.