President Barack Obama walks with daughter Malia Obama, to board Air Force One at Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Station in Bourne, Mass., on Sunday, Aug. 17, 2014, en route to Washington via Cape Cod from the Massachusetts island of Martha鈥檚 Vineyard. The president is taking a short hiatus from his family vacation on the island of Martha鈥檚 Vineyard to attend meetings in Washington. AP
WASHINGTON 鈥� President Barack Obama returned to Washington just after midnight Monday for a two-day break from a summer vacation, during which airstrikes in Iraq and violent clashes in a St. Louis suburb intruded on his golf and beach plans.
The exact reason for Obama鈥檚 return remained unclear, though it appeared aimed in part at countering criticism that Obama was spending two weeks on the Massachusetts resort island of Martha鈥檚 Vineyard in the midst of multiple crises. His return to Washington was planned even before the U.S. military began striking targets in Iraq and before the standoff between police and protesters in Ferguson, Missouri.
Obama had meetings on both matters scheduled for Monday. The president was scheduled to return to Martha鈥檚 Vineyard Tuesday night.
The president spent a leisurely Sunday on the island before his late night departure. He played a round of golf 鈥� his most frequent vacation activity 鈥� then attended a jazz concert and dinner with first lady Michelle Obama.
While Obama has had plenty of downtime since arriving in Martha鈥檚 Vineyard a week ago, he also made two public statements about the situations in Iraq and Ferguson. The president had ordered the Iraq strikes days before leaving for vacation, while the tensions in Ferguson that stem from the shooting death of an unarmed teen boiled over during his vacation.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 fair to say there are, of course, ongoing complicated situations in the world, and that鈥檚 why you鈥檝e seen the president stay engaged,鈥� White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.
Obama鈥檚 vacation has also been infused with a dose of politics. He headlined a fundraiser on the island for Democratic Senate candidates and attended a birthday party for veteran Democratic adviser Vernon Jordan鈥檚 wife, where he spent time with former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
That get-together between the former rivals-turned-partners added another complicated dynamic to Obama鈥檚 vacation. Just as Obama was arriving on Martha鈥檚 Vineyard, an interview with the former secretary of state was published in which she levied some of her sharpest criticism of Obama鈥檚 foreign policy.
Clinton later promised she and Obama would 鈥渉ug it out鈥� when they saw each other at Jordan鈥檚 party. No reporters were allowed in, so it鈥檚 not clear whether there was any hugging, but the White House said the president danced to nearly every song.
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