Obama Family To Vacation in the Gulf Coast - Political Punch
w00t! This is a great story! Many vacation spots along the Gulf have had no oil (or so little it was picked up within hours), but have lost business because of the scary news reports.
I’m glad to see the Obama’s will be spending at least part of their vacation here; hopefully others will follow. We know there will at least be entourages of news people, so that that will help, as well!
The First Family has changed their vacation plans and will “spend the weekend” in the Gulf Coast the weekend of August, 14th, the White House announced today. Both the president and the First Lady have made a big public pitch encouraging people to vacation on the region’s beaches that have not been directly impacted by oil spill even as they planned their own vacations in the Northeast.
“There’s still a lot of opportunity for visitors to come down here, a lot of beaches that are not yet affected or will not be affected,” President Obama said last month in Gulfport, Mississippi, “ And we just want to make sure that people who have travel plans down to the Gulf area remain mindful of that, because if people want to know what can they do to help folks down here, one of the best ways to help is to come down here and enjoy the outstanding hospitality.”
Similarly during her first visit to the region last week First Lady Michelle Obama also encouraged people to visit the unaffected areas of the region.
“There are still thousands of miles of beaches that have not been touched by the spill,” Mrs. Obama said in Panama City Beach earlier this month. “It is vacation time. Folks are looking for things to do with their kids, and this would be a great opportunity to do a few things — help this community, send a different message about the extent of the spill, and also think long term about how the rest of the country can help this economy and the folks down here.”