Santa Barbara, California – The President needs to take a vacation, too. But for the Commander-in-Chief, a vacation means doing a lot of work for the people wherever the President chooses to relax.
Hotels were quickly booked out by the President’s entourage of Secret Service, aides, and journalists. Restaurant reservations were impossible. Local roads were closed due to traffic congestion caused by the President’s motorcade.
Almost every president is linked in the public imagination to a favorite vacation spot. President Biden and Rehoboth Beach; Former President Donald Trump and Mar-a-Lago; Former President Barack Obama and Martha’s Vineyard; Former President George W. Bush and Crawford, Texas; Former President Bill Clinton and Hampton.
This week, Mr. Biden is vacationing in Santa Ynez, California, a small Southern California town in the heart of Santa Barbara wine country. But the world is also in the Middle East and The Democratic National Convention is being held in Chicago.The presidency can never be completely separated.
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“There is no such thing as a presidential vacation,” says Russell Riley, co-chairman of the Miller Center’s Presidential Oral History Program and author of “Inside the Clinton White House: An Oral History.” “It’s certainly true that when they leave, there’s a different dynamic, and the change of pace can be peaceful. But they’re still working.”
And when the president is on duty, the president’s team is on duty. Wherever the president goes, we have to set up a temporary situation room and be ready if needed.
The president’s favorite city is Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where the Bidens own a vacation home and frequently visit in the summer.
Mr. Biden has been spotted frequenting the local brunch restaurant, Egg. Egg manager Hope Snyder said she was initially nervous about waiting for the first family, but they and the Secret Service were friendly and easygoing.
“We appreciate that they come to our restaurant of all restaurants,” Snyder said. “It creates a buzz in town. They hear the president came last weekend. It definitely draws some people.”
Ahead of this seemingly casual breakfast, Secret Service agents scout the area for days in advance, checking all entrances, exits, and potential security threats.
“Especially right now, when an assassination attempt is already top of mind for every Secret Service agent, I’m sure they’re still very concerned about that security perimeter, even if the president is a boiteux president,” said Johanna Maska, a former White House communications director under President Obama. “The president is still the person who makes all the decisions on our biggest global issues, and he carries the nuclear codes wherever he goes.”
Maska said Obama, like other vacationing presidents, would limit his movements during the holiday, especially if it would cause too much chaos in the town. But even so, any potential stop, whether it was a beach or a coffee shop, would have to be checked out by the Secret Service in advance.
One of the biggest impacts on the city due to the presidential visit is traffic congestion that can last for hours.
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When the Clintons traveled to the Hamptons on Long Island in 1998, locals feared it would take 10 to 12 hours to get there and back, and according to accounts in the Sag Harbor Express, a local newspaper, residents stocked up on groceries the Thursday before the president arrived. But the fear of traffic was so great that many people didn’t go out that weekend, resulting in quieter roads than a typical Hamptons summer day.
The White House team also takes into consideration the visual characteristics of the vacation destination.
Clinton reportedly asked for a poll in 1997 to find out what vacation activities “married people with children” preferred, in an effort to improve his image. According to his political adviser Dick Morris, the results suggested fishing and hiking in mountainous areas, so the Clintons traveled to Wyoming for a quintessential American vacation out West, rather than the trendy East Coast hot spots.
“There was a sense that going to Martha’s Vineyard or the Hamptons was a lesson to the American people that this was not a lowercase ‘d’ democracy vacation. So they went there, but Clinton had allergies and I think that trip didn’t go well,” Riley says.
So while President Biden vacations in wine country, another city will be hard at work accommodating the White House tour that follows America’s leader.
