White House: Obama Ending Vacation Due To Irene

[Purveyor]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

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.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/08/26/national/a100434D94.DTL

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Will he be in the WH when it hits?

Best guess: West Coast fundraiser

[David Sky]

3. He was already scheduled for something in DC on Sunday, so ...

I doubt he was going to Calif on Sat anyway.

The dedication of the MLK statue has been postponed from Sunday to a later date, not yet firm but in Sept or Oct.

[pinto]

10. It's his job to be in DC at this time. He's doing it. And fund raising is likely,

down the road. One doesn't negate the other, imo. And I think he's made a good call to return to DC, symbolically and functionally.

:hi:

[No Elephants]

14. Plus, he and his family were a lot safer in the WH than on the Vineyard.

[louis-t]

2. Are teabaggers criticizing him for it yet?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. "He's not taking enough vacation!"

Count on it.

[David Sky]

5. They were praying for him to be blown out to sea. n/t

[christx30]

8. I have a perfect slogan for them:

Obama golfed while Virginia shook!

Anyone besides me outraged that the east coast had minor damage and zero deaths in an earthquake while the president was on vacation?
Wait... that's not outraged. I think that's indigestion.

[BeyondGeography]

6. The political life

It's not for everyone.

[JJW]

7. His Banker Friends

need to return to NYC because they're shutting down the city. They likely want to be ready to do some looting, if the power goes out.

[madrchsod]

9. well duh.....where else would he be?

the whitehouse could survive direct hit by a hurricane with minor damage

[laconicsax]

11. On a ranch, at a party, etc.

[tawadi]

12. There. Hopefully this will be the end of the vacation bashing. eom

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

13. Flashback: Bush a few days after Katrina

while New Orleans was drowning

[No Elephants]

15. Cape Cod gets battered pretty hard by storms. Plus, you;'d have to be a moron and have a staff

full of morons to repeat Bush's Katrina performance, especially when your vacation was ending the next day anyway.