The Obama family will begin their sixth holiday of the year today, an 11-day sojourn in Martha’s Vineyard, the island destination of the wealthy and well-connected American elite. President Barack Obama will be accompanied by his wife Michelle and daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, nine, and are expected to stay at the historic Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark.
Bill Burton, the deputy White House press secretary, said that the US president was “going to spend a little time recharging his batteries” at the Massachusetts island ahead of the November midterm elections.
There will be some hiking, some time at the beach, some time at the ice cream store - all the sort of things you do when you’re at Martha’s Vineyard. You enjoy the people and the good food.”
He is also expected to work on his swing at Mink Meadows golf club in Vineyard Haven and to work out every day, as he did when the First Family visited Martha’s Vineyard last year.
The tally of vacation days for an American president has become a contentious issue in recent years. President Bill Clinton conducted a poll about where best to holiday. President George W. Bush spent a total of 879 days on holiday in his eight years in office, according to Mark Knoller of CBS, the unofficial statistician of the presidency.
Mr Bush was usually working at his Prairie Chapel ranch in Texas, which was named the “Western White House” during his long summers there when he was accompanied by dozens of staff.
Mr Obama’s holidays have been particularly scrutinised in the last year, as he has come under fire for his handling of the US economy as well as the Louisiana oil spill. A poll released this week found that only four in 10 approve of his handling of the economy.
He was questioned last year for choosing to stay on the elitist Martha’s Vineyard during a severe recession, while in July he was criticised for taking his family to Maine rather than visit the Gulf of Mexico coast line. He subsequently took his family to Florida last weekend.
Although he appears to take more holidays than his predecessors, they have usually been very short. His five this year will total just 20 days - he did not accompany his wife and youngest daughter to Marbella, Spain. As well as Florida, Maine, and an 11-day stay in Hawaii over Christmas and New Year, he and his wife spent two days in Asheville, North Carolina in April.
His holidays also tend to be interrupted by major events. During the President’s first holiday of the year in his native Hawaii he spent much of his time grappling with the fallout from the failed terrorist attack by the Christmas Day “underpants bomber”. His last break in Martha’s Vineyard was interrupted by the death of Senator Edward Kennedy.
