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Barack Obama​’s misadventures in Martha’s Vineyard are some of the stranger unforced public-relations errors in recent memory. Spending a fortune to jet off to a fabled playground of the rich, while the country suffers from his recessionary economic policies, was a bizarre slap in the face to an electorate that has already come to view this President as arrogant and out-of-touch. “Optics” matter. Camp David is a nice vacation spot, too. Naturally, Obama played a lot of golf on vacation. Part of the problem with skipping off to the golf course so frequently is that when he plays a lot...

President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia walk from Marine One to board Air Force One, Friday, Aug. 26, 2011, at Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Station in Bourne, Mass., en route to Washington after a family vacation on Martha's Vineyard.

The White House says President Barack Obama is cutting his Martha's Vineyard vacation short because of Hurricane Irene. He'll return to Washington on Friday night instead of Saturday afternoon. Spokesman Josh Earnest says Obama made the decision shortly after urging Americans in Hurricane Irene's path to heed warnings about the storm. Earnest says Obama decided it would be more prudent for him to be at the White House at the end of the day, instead of in the New England area.

Is Michelle Obama a modern-day Mary Lincoln? Anonymous (so far) White House sources are saying it's a fair comparison as the First Lady does to President Obama what Mary Todd did to her husband by spending taxpayer money on luxuries like it was drying up forever. Which is possible... In the last year alone Michelle Obama is accused of spending more than $10 million on vacations and expensive accommodations, all on the public dime. The report, broken by the National Enquirer, is light on the sources, but heavy on the details. The picture painted seems to go way beyond what...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is keeping a line open to President Obama and the First Family as they vacation on Martha’s Vineyard and Hurricane Irene — growing both in size and strength — appears destined to pelt the Bay State sometime Sunday. An early POTUS pull out has not been ordered, but FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate told the Herald this morning, “We briefed the president yesterday and are keeping him and his team updated.” As authorities forecast yesterday, Irene exploded into a Category 3 storm overnight, now with maximum sustained wind speeds of 115 mph. She is churning west...

Is this the “bad optic” that President Obama’s critics have been waiting for: An Associated Press photo of the president taking a call on the golf course within the hour after the East Coast earthquake Tuesday? When Obama left for a 10-day vacation in Martha’s Vineyard last week, critics and supporters alike warned that the image of him pursuing leisure activities on the tony island might make for an unfortunate contrast with much of the country mired in economic doldrums. Turned out it was a natural disaster, not the economy, which pierced his vacation bubble. But now we have a...

As the economy continues to teeter on the precipice of a double-dip recession, there is a growing demand for the president and Congress to rush back from their vacations and do something. But why? What is it that we really think the president can do? While the president’s latest economic plan remains a deeply held secret until after his vacation, pretty much everyone in Washington expects him to call for . . . drumroll please . . . a stimulus plan. Now why haven’t we thought of that before? Oh, that’s right. We have. In fact, we have now had...

I'm wondering if the nightly newscasts will note Obama hitting his lowest levels, on the same day, in both Gallup and Rasmussen polls... all while he vacations in luxury (while everyday Americans suffer)? You can bet if this were Bush, Brian Williams would be breaking into NBC daytime programming for teases: Americans angry at vacationing president; Bush hits lowest levels. Blah blah. Instead, I'm sure, we'll get some puff pieces on how Obama is concerned about earthquake and hard at work on economic plan (despite bike rides, ice creams, and 6 hours on the golf course). And no mention of...

The presidential motorcade on Martha's Vineyard peeled out of Blue Heron Farms at 5:15 p.m. with the president and Valerie Jarrett in tow. After 10 minutes, we made an abrupt left turn on John Cottle Road — an unpaved, deeply rutted eight-foot-wide private path hemmed in by ivy, scrub oak and big, scary boulders. After bottoming out four times — we're talking two-foot holes in a sand-and-gravel road, along with one hairpin turn — Obama and Jarrett arrived at the West Tisbury home of their friends Brian and Aileen Roberts, spokesman Josh Earnest informs us. It was 5:30 p.m. Roberts...

OAK BLUFFS, Mass. (AP) — In between briefings on Libya, President Barack Obama packed golf, beach time, a stop at a seafood restaurant and a visit to a wealthy friend's seaside compound into his Martha's Vineyard vacation Sunday. Meanwhile, across the globe, rebels stormed into Tripoli as Moammar Gadhafi's hold on power crumbled. Obama monitored events closely even as he engaged in a heavy schedule of summertime activities under mostly sunny skies. As crowds gathered in Tripoli's Green Square, Obama was buying seafood at a popular restaurant. When reporters asked him for his reaction on Libya, he said he'd have...

Barack Obama skipped the 8th hole rather than be filmed by TV crews at the Vineyard Golf Course on Friday. The Boston Globe reported: But it was later, at the Vineyard Golf Course in Edgartown, where the president’s recalcitrance was most evident. Approaching the eighth tee in a golf cart with friend and frequent golfing buddy Eric Whitaker, the president noticed three TV cameras and a Globe photographer across the street. Rather than stop and be photographed teeing off, the president skipped the hole.

The Iraqi sniper captured after he killed two Marines has been freed and is at liberty - even as the still-grieving families of Brooklyn-raised Capt. John McKenna 4th and Queens-raised Michael Glover gather in Rockaway today for a memorial marking the fifth anniversary of their deaths.The families had been assured that "as long as there is a Marine in Iraq, the sniper will remain in jail." Their already overwhelming loss has been compounded by the failure of the Defense Department to inform them that Muhammad (Big Ears) Awwad Ahmad had been released.

A Day in the Life of the Clear and Pres_ent Danger in the WH (and the golf course too) Now on Vacation .. Whew! But, rumor is .. He's coming back! :-o

<p>President Barack Obama says members of Congress should put country before politics, set aside their differences and find ways to get people back to work.</p> <p>The president is vacationing on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, but he recorded his weekly Saturday radio and Internet address earlier in the week while in Alpha, Ill., during an economy-focused Midwestern bus tour.</p>

Before it had even started in earnest, the much-maligned vacation became a PR nightmare, after it emerged this morning that he and his wife took separate government jets to Martha's Vineyard just hours apart. Michelle Obama​ was revealed to have arrived at the Massachusetts retreat, only 500 miles from Washington, four hours before her husband yesterday. ... The extra transport to get the the First Lady to the island for only a few more hours of vacation time will have cost taxpayers thousands in additional expenses. The costs related to Mrs Obama’s solo trip mainly include the flight on the...

VINEYARD HAVEN, Massachusetts — The White House showed President Barack Obama absorbed in a security briefing with his top anti-terror aide Friday, countering Republican complaints about his summer vacation. Arguing the duties of his job follow him everywhere, aides released a picture of Obama, in a blue leisure shirt, receiving his daily intelligence briefing from John Brennan at rented Blue Heron Farm on Martha's Vineyard. Officials did not divulge contents of the briefing but it took place at a time of escalating fighting between Moamer Kadhafi's forces and Libyan rebels and followed a US call for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad...

... Postcards From Obama's Island Vacation? I saw this on The Business Insider.. Its certainly not something the White House would be happy about... But.. is it Funny? Fair Game? Or in Bad Taste? "The Republican National Committee is up with a new website today poking fun at President Barack Obama's Martha's Vineyard vacation." "Visitors can send postcards featuring Obama relaxing, with one-liners critical of his leadership of the economy."

Reporting from Vineyard Haven, Mass.— President Obama made his first foray out of his vacation compound Friday with a trip to the legendary Bunch of Grapes bookstore in Vineyard Haven. Bystanders who had been browsing upstairs at the two-story bookstore rushed to the windows as crowds gathered on the street outside. Obama, in a blue polo shirt, jeans and sneakers, wandered in with his daughters. After telling some customers that Sasha was going to browse, he wandered the store with a staff member while discussing his choices with one of the employees. In a stack of at least four books,...

As the U.S. economy takes hit after hit, President Obama is taking heat for his 10-day fun-in-the-sun vacation at Martha's Vineyard that began Thursday. From the left: Colbert I. King, op-ed writer for The Washington Post, observed: "Mr. President, Martha's Vineyard is the last place in the world you should visit. ... You simply don't have time to take time off from America." From the right: Mike Murphy, a Republican strategist, told the Daily Beast that Obama is "acting like the rich guys he wants to raise taxes on." From The Donald: Obama "takes more vacations than any human being...

Sarah Palin has yet to make clear her intentions for the 2012 presidential elections, but she remains vocal in the debate over President Obama's performance. In a Fox News appearance on Thursday, Palin blasted President Obama for taking a vacation on Martha's Vineyard - and predicted that "he will come back early" after hearing from disgruntled Americans. Palin, a paid Fox News contributor, called Mr. Obama's vacation "very, very tone deaf" considering the nation's current economic woes, and said she would have acted differently. "I wouldn't if I were he, especially to Martha's Vineyard," she said. "I think he will...

Obama heads to Martha's Vineyard for a can’t-win vacationBy Sam Youngman - 08/18/11 05:52 PM ET Critics are lining up to blast the president for taking time off amid continued economic turbulence as President Obama jets off for his annual August vacation. Obama left the White House Thursday afternoon to join his family in Martha’s Vineyard, where he is expected to stay for about a week. The optics of a president vacationing at a tony, upscale spot while the country faces unprecedented challenges is not new. This will be the third August in a row that Obama has headed to...

Hey, President Obama: The stock market’s in the toilet, the nation’s credit rating tanked and unemployment’s still over 9 percent, what are you gonna do now? He’s going to the Vineyard! The prez and his family are scheduled to arrive on The Rock late this afternoon to begin a 10-day vacation on the celebrity-choked summer home to the rich, famous and well connected. And as the first family got set to check into Blue Heron Farm, their $50,000-a-week summer rental in West Tisbury, the chorus of catcalls continued over the commander-in-chief’s ill-timed retreat. Former Mass. governor Mitt Romney said Obama...

The Washington Post reports that Barack Obama will go back to the drawing board during his vacation* this month and draw up a plan to stimulate job creation. At least that’s what Obama has promised, along with a deficit reduction plan that he has promised since April: President Obama has decided to press Congress for a new round of stimulus spending and tax cuts as he seeks to address the great domestic policy quandary of his tenure: how to spur job growth in an age of austerity.Obama will lay out a series of ideas in a major address right after...

There’ve been a lot of loud critics of President Obama’s vacation plans to Martha’s Vineyard -- even from some of his avid supporters. But when he touches down on this posh island in about six hours, he won’t find many here, if you believe Jenna Ware, a long time resident and driver for Stage Coach taxi service. Ware, sporting a dark tan you’ll see on most residents here, says that when the recession hit, the Vineyard remained unscathed. The island is pretty much recession proof, she says. When a passenger noted in a 2009 visit – the first time Mr....

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A gauge of factory activity in the Mid-Atlantic region plummeted in August, falling to the lowest level since March 2009 and casting more doubts on the strength of the economic recovery, a survey showed on Thursday. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank said its business activity index dropped to minus 30.7 from positive 3.2 the month before and was far below economists' expectations for positive 3.7, according to a Reuters poll. It missed the poll's lowest forecast for minus 10.0. It was the biggest month-over-month drop since October 2008, during the heart of the credit crisis.

Fresh off three days of barnstorming in the Midwest, President Obama will spend the morning at the White House in two closed-door meetings, first with his senior economic advisors in the Oval Office then with his national security team in the Situation Room. In the afternoon, Obama heads to the island oasis of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts, where he’s expected to spend the next 10 days vacationing with his family.

As President Barack Obama departs on his 10 day Matha's Vineyard vacation, let me first say that I do not begrudge he and his family some time away together and I believe that no matter where he may be the US president is 'always on the job'. But three things about this particular president and this specific vacation prove that, despite his occasional references in campaign speeches, he is completely oblivious to the real economic suffering most Americans currently endure.

Following his three-day bus tour to promote his economic agenda -- and not to mention the debt limit rancor in Washington before that -- President Obama is finally getting some rest and relaxation. On Thursday, he and his family are heading off to Martha's Vineyard, the island off of Massachusetts. They'll be staying at a 28-acre retreat called Blue Heron Farm for about 10 days. There has been criticism of the president's vacation at this time. But how does the number of vacation days the president has spent compare to his predecessors? CBS Radio's Mark Knoller has kept track of...

Martha's Vineyard prepares for Mr. Obama, first family, many more By Steve Myrick August 16, 2011 President Barack Obama and his family are scheduled to arrive on Martha's Vineyard Thursday, August 18, for their third summer vacation on the Island. A vacation may be welcome relief for Mr. Obama, who was buffeted in the month of August by a bruising political battle over the federal debt limit. The first family will once again spend about 10 days at Blue Heron Farm, a luxury retreat on Tisbury Great Pond in Chilmark.

Given the critical nature of the current unresolved economic issues, should President Obama nevertheless take time off for a family vacation? Yes - 95% No- 5%

At a time when many more cash-strapped Americans are stuck at home instead of vacationing at the beach, President Obama next week will lead an entourage of several dozens to exclusive Martha's Vineyard island at a cost of millions to taxpayers. While technically he is paying for his estimated $50,000 a week rental of the 28-acre beachfront Blue Heron Farm in woodsy Chilmark, the dozens of U.S. Secret Service agents, communications officials, top aides, drivers, and U.S. Coast Guard personnel with him will be covered by taxpayers as with every other presidentialvacations. His 11-day stay will require the Coast Guard...

Senate Democrats are charging taxpayers for a trip to Hawaii, The Daily Caller has learned. The entire press staff of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee is in Maui, even though a field hearing there won’t happen until next Wednesday. The committee’s oversight field hearing, scheduled for August 17 at 9:00 a.m. at the Maui Beach Hotel, will focus on “Strengthening Self-Sufficiency: Overcoming Barriers to Economic Development in Native Communities.” Rick Manning from Americans for Limited Government, which first discovered the hearing, told TheDC it’s unbelievable that Hill staffers talking about fiscal responsibility would waste money on a trip to Maui....

First Lady Michelle Obama over the last year has spent a total of 42 days on vacation, or a little more than one out of every nine days, according to a White House Dossier analysis of her travel. Her vacations, the cost of which are mostly borne by taxpayers, include trips to Panama City, Fla., Martha’s Vineyard, Hawaii, South Africa, Latin America, Vail, Colo., and her visit this week to her brother in Corvallis, Ore. The total does not include a nine day sojourn in Martha’s Vineyard that the Obamas will enjoy this month. Nor does it include a trip...

With the credit rating of the United States downgraded for the first time, and the stock markets on a rollercoaster ride, critics argue that relaxing on the exclusive Massachusetts island with his family for 10 days at the end of the month would send the wrong signal to voters. Newt Gingrich, a former Speaker of the House now running for the Republican 2012 nomination, said: "He ought to cancel the vacation - period." He also demanded that Congress should return from an even longer break of five weeks. Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, was forced to defend the president's...

These events did not come out of the blue. They all have the same root cause. Debt. I believe that events around the world completely vindicate the decisions of this Coalition Government from the day it took office to get ahead of the curve and deal with this country’s record deficit. While other countries wrestled with paralysed political systems, our Coalition Government united behind the swift and decisive action of in-year cuts and the Emergency Budget. While other countries struggle to command confidence in their fiscal forecasts, we have created an internationally admired and independent Office for Budget Responsibility. These...

At a time when many more cash-strapped Americans are stuck at home instead of vacationing at the beach, President Obama next week will lead an entourage of several dozens to exclusive Martha's Vineyard island at a cost of millions to taxpayers. While technically he is paying for his estimated $50,000 a week rental of the 28-acre beachfront Blue Heron Farm in woodsy Chilmark, the dozens of U.S. Secret Service agents, communications officials, top aides, drivers, and U.S. Coast Guard personnel with him will be covered by taxpayers as with every other presidential vacation.[Get your Whispers on your iPad--subscribe to U.S....

President Obama has canceled a vacation to Montana scheduled this weekend, local police confirm to Fox News. The first family was slated to visit Whitefish, Montana from July 8-10. "He was coming in for a brief vacation, this was all before the budget crisis hit, we were gearing up until last Friday, and then heard from Secret Service it was canceled," Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial said. Obama announced Thursday that he was asking lawmakers and staff to work through the weekend and that leaders would come back to the White House on Sunday for another meeting to hammer out...

President Barack Obama and his family will spend their summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard again this summer. He was here last summer, too. He was here in 2009, but the weather blew. The First Fam keep their vacation plans pretty close to the vest for security reasons, but people in the Know tell me it's coughcoughAugustcough. Those same people tell me that he'll be in Chilmark, again enjoying the 28 acre Blue Heron Farm. The farm overlooks Tisbury Great Pond, and has a pool and a boat house. They also have a basketball hoop at their disposal, so I might...

The Texas Tea Party Patriots PAC is hosting a Vacation Liberty School for eight to thirteen year old children during the second and third weeks of July. Vacation Liberty School is modeled after Vacation Bible School by engaging children in a fun atmosphere to learn during their summer break from school. Vacation Liberty School helps fill in the blanks of some of the areas of American history that have been glossed over in public school text books due to political correctness. The focus of the Vacation Liberty School is to help the children learn more about founding principles of the...

It's an amazing thing to watch liberals stumble all over themselves to defend President Obama's actions and failures. One is his inordinately high vacation time. The left will scream that President Bush spent so much time on vacation. They'll say that President Obama plays much less golf than Mr. Bush did (even though President Bush gave up golf in 2003). But here's something they cannot deny: from January of 2009 to January of 2011, President Obama spent a mere 48% of his time in Washington, D.C. This timetable is specifically from January 20, 2009, the day Mr. Obama assumed office,...

Are your summer vacation plans affected by high gas prices? Yes. We plan on staying closer to home. Not sure. It's a thought as we do our planning. No. In the grand scheme of things, a good vacation is more important than the price at the pump. Other (post a comment).

White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett said President Obama will not release his academic records, commenting a day after Obama put out his “long form” birth certificate and Donald Trump decided to press his luck by demanding Obama’s college transcripts. “We know this is nonsense,” Jarrett said in an interview on The Joe Madison Show on SiriusXM on Thursday morning.”He is almost 50 years old. And he is president of the United States and I don’t think anybody will debate his intelligence and so now we do need to get serious…let’s just get serious…get back to focusing on what’s important.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits surprisingly rose last week to their highest level since January in a sign an anticipated recovery in labor markets may take time, a government report showed on Thursday. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000, up from a slightly upwardly revised 404,000 the preceding week, the Labor Department said. Economists polled by Reuters were expecting claims to slip to 392,000 from the previously reported 403,000. Jobless claims below 400,000 are associated with steady job growth. The four week moving average, a better measure of underlying trends, climbed to...

Deep in the 200-page contract that Gov. Jerry Brown recently approved for state prison guards is a provision that could generate a cash windfall to the officers when they retire. The guards, who are among Brown's largest political benefactors, would be able to save an unlimited number of vacation days under their new deal. When they leave state service, those days could be exchanged for cash at their final pay rate, which would probably be higher than when they earned the time off. The governor is extending this benefit only to members of the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., a...

Did I read what Trump just told Hannity right? That he has Osama's college grades and papers? Now that would be a treasure trove, cuz I firmly believe that regardless of where Osama was born be attended college as a foreign student, lied all thru college and claimed various affiliations which he benefited from. Did I hear Trump right?

The leader of the free world may be coming to Williamsburg for some rest and relaxation if Congress is able to come to agreement on the budget. President Obama and the First Family are planning to visit the area this weekend in what the White House described Wednesday as a "long-planned family trip to Colonial Williamsburg."

“The first family has a long-planned family trip to Colonial Williamsburg this weekend,” said Josh Earnest, the deputy White House press secretary. “The president’s priority is working with members of Congress from both parties to avoid a government shutdown, but obviously the family’s plans will change if an agreement is not reached.” Mr. Obama has had terrible luck when it comes to work interfering with play. The family’s Hawaiian vacation in 2009 was interrupted by the Christmas Day attempt to bomb a plane. Their attempt to relax in Martha’s Vineyard in August of that year was cut short by the...

White House fires back at Boehner; Libya delay would have 'cost lives'By Sam Youngman - 03/24/11 04:07 PM ET The White House fired back Thursday at criticism over the Libya military mission, saying lawmakers were briefed and consulted at length before air strikes began. White House press secretary Jay Carney read off a list of dates when administration officials briefed members or testified on the Hill during an off-camera briefing held the day after President Obama returned from a trip to South and Central America. The press secretary also said the U.S. had to act quickly when air strikes began...

U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama listen to their national anthem during an arrival ceremony at the National Palace in San Salvador March 22, 2011. U.S. President Barack Obama (3rd R) looks at a limited edition print with images of Archbishop Oscar Romero, which has been given to him as he tours the National Cathedral in San Salvador, El Salvador March 22, 2011. Standing with Obama are: El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes (R), Archbishop of San Salvador Jose Luis Escobar Alas (L) and a translator U.S. first lady Michelle Obama smiles as she paints a mural next...

U.S. President Barack Obama offers a toast as first lady Michelle Obama raises a glass to El Salvador President Mauricio Funes and first lady Vanda Pignato during an official dinner at the Casa Presidential in San Salvador March 22, 2011 U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama watch a cultural performance during an official dinner at La Moneda Presidendtial Palace in Santiago March 21, 2011. U.S. first lady Michelle Obama makes a toast a lunch at the Palacio do Itamaraty in Brasilia, March 19, 2011. U.S. President Barack Obama and Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff toast during lunch in...