Following a frenzied weekend of rallies for two of the 2008 Democratic Presidential contenders, the third of the front runners, Barack Obama. slid quietly into the Vineyard early this week for aclosed-door high-ticket fundraiser and no fanfare.
Vineyard voters came down decisively on the winning side of history on Tuesday, turning out in record numbers to help elect America’s first black President.
Knowing of course that he is on vacation, what would you say to Barack Obama if you had a moment to speak with him? At the Inkwell Beach in Oak Bluffs, Squid Row in Menemsha and the front porch of the Chilmark Store, the Gazette found a variety of lively responses.
The Obamas will miss what is generally considered the busiest week on the Vineyard, featuring Grand Illumination Night at the Camp Ground in Oak Bluffs, the Oak Bluffs fireworks and the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society Livestock Show and Fair in West Tisbury.
In sharp contrast to previous Presidential visits, the public will be shut out when Barack Obama and his family arrive on the Vineyard somewhere in a five-hour window on Sunday afternoon.
As the Martha’s Vineyard Airport and later a White House spokeswoman confirmed yesterday, there will be no chance for the media, or, more importantly, Islanders to see the First Family.
“It will be what’s called a closed arrival,” said the airport manager Sean Flynn.
President Obama and his family arrived on the Vineyard on Sunday afternoon for a one-week vacation and received a typically warm welcome from Islanders, despite the fact that the arrival was closed to the public and surrounded by tight security.
Summer White House spokesmen yesterday blamed bad weather for the closed arrival — the first hurricane of the season was churning in the Atlantic far offshore — but suggested that Mr. Obama could be more accessible in future.
To compare the Vineyard vacations of former President Clinton and current President Obama all you have to do is stop in an Island ice cream parlor. Once there, you will probably find a picture hanging on the wall of the former President eagerly peering over the counter to view the lineup of flavors, chatting with patrons or munching on an ice cream cone.
If there is one lesson to be learned from the presence of the Summer White House on the Vineyard, it is this: Never trust press spokesmen who tell reporters not to expect news during a presidential vacation trip. President Obama reinforced the no news forecast with a specific set of intructions conveyed through a deputy press secretary. The relaxed vacation talk was reminiscent of similar White House talk during the 1990s, the Clinton years on the Vineyard.
In August 1994, the last year the annual agricultural fair was held on the grounds of the old Grange Hall in West Tisbury, the fair was on, and I was crossing State Road by the town hall as two motorcycle escorts heralded the arrival of President Clinton’s motorcade.
Island merchants this week said it was too early to tell if President Obama’s recent vacation gave a boost to business, which by most account was generally poor this summer.
If there was any direct impact it was in Oak Bluffs, where the President stopped in town on Tuesday night for dinner at the Sweet Life Cafe and briefly the next day for a take-out lunch at Nancy’s Snack Bar.
