President Obama will depart the White House with his family for a vacation on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard Friday afternoon, one day earlier than his original scheduled departure date.
The Associated Press reported that the Obama family moved up the date of departure, extending their summer vacation to 17 days, more than four times the length of the average American vacation. In fact, Obama’s summer break is one day longer than the total amount of vacation time the average American worker is allotted for an entire year.
The first family will reside in the same $12 million mansion in Chilmark that they rented last year. Positioned on 10 acres of land, the 8,100-square-foot home houses seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. The estate is enhanced by a dual basketball/tennis court and an infinity pool.
Obama will spend over two weeks on the island, returning August 23. The president has planned no public events during the vacation, though he has pre-taped interviews with various news outlets on the topic of the Iran nuclear arms deal so that he can continue to sell the agreement even during his time away.
Obama has spent every summer vacation of his presidency on Martha’s Vineyard, save 2012 when he was running for reelection against Mitt Romney. His vacations are typically punctuated by multiple rounds of golf; last year, Obama embarked on a golf outing a mere half-hour after arriving to the island.
Following his sojourn, Obama will return to Washington to continue to push the Iran deal, which Congress has until mid-September to review. He will also welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pope Francis to Washington next month in separate visits.
"After some downtime with his family, the president is looking forward to a fall schedule that is shaping up to be a blockbuster--as several high-priority issues come to a head, seemingly at the same time," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.