Pat Dollard

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US President Barack Obama on Friday was to kick off the first week-long vacation of his presidency, but global economic woes, violence in Iraq and Afghanistan and his troubled health care reform push could spoil any down time at the beach.

Obama, who also faces drooping job approval ratings, was to take off for the Camp David presidential retreat Friday and was expected to head from there to the tony Martha’s Vineyard resort island off the Massachusetts coast on Sunday.

In addition to the metaphorical storm clouds, Hurricane Bill was expected to punish the US East Coast with “extremely dangerous surf and life-threatening rip currents,” according to the US National Hurricane Center.

As if to underline that US presidents are never really fully on vacation, or free from the demands of world affairs, the White House made a late addition to his Friday schedule: Remarks on the Afghan elections.

And spokesman Robert Gibbs has made clear that Obama knows he cannot stay wholly silent if he wants to salvage his battered push to remake US health care, one of many major legislative tests the president faces.

“We’ll have some scheduling updates for you throughout the week on events that may or may not be added on health care,” Gibbs said Tuesday.

But “there will be a certain point in which the president will largely be down enjoying his vacation, as well as I think the vacation that millions and millions of Americans hopefully will,” the spokesman added.

The White House underlines that the Obamas are paying their own way when they stay on Martha’s Vineyard, where they are expected to stay in the rural town of Chilmark, at a well-guarded mansion called Blue Heron Farm.

And Obama’s break with wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha is in keeping with tradition: US presidents typically flee the White House and the scorching Washington summer for some of steamy August.

But they rarely escape media attention or criticism from political foes eager to paint the president as shirking the critical duties of the office — whether or not the public agrees.

In 2001, George W. Bush drew heavy fire for spending most of the month at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, clearing brush from the 1,600-acre (850 hectare) estate.

In 2005, Bush took heat again for spending time on the estate as killer Hurricane Katrina bore down on the US coast — and the botched government response to the killer storm soured much of the public on his presidency.

This time, a conservative group fiercely opposed to Obama’s health care overhaul plan is mocking his vacation with an advertisement entitled “Surf’s Up” set to run on Massachusetts television.

The ad, which urges Obama to abandon his health care drive when he returns to Washington, showcases idyllic images of a sun-kissed, surf-lapped beach — a placid scene that may be at odds with the reality in the face of Hurricane Bill.

Ned Kaiser, assistant harbor master at Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard, said Bill “will probably miss us” but that callers worried about the storm had telephones “ringing off the hook.”

“We’ll be on watch but right now we’re fine. We’re taking every action you can while we wait to see what develops,” said Kaiser.

The president’s vacation comes as US lawmakers are on a month-long August break, many discussing the president’s healthcare push with their constituents as the pitched political battle over the plan wears on.

Only 49 percent of Americans express confidence that Obama will make the rights decisions for the country, from from 60 percent at the 100-day mark in his presidency, according to a new survey by the Washington Post and ABC television.

But his overall approval rating sits at 57 percent, and only 21 percent of respondents said they thought his Republican foes would make the right decisions for the country.

The Congress has a full plate when it returns in early September, with the healthcare plan, sweeping legislation to battle climate change, and a fierce debate over efforts to revive the battered US economy.

US officials have been highlighting what they described as hopeful signs that the global recession may be easing.

(AP)