The POTUS Cometh

A book cover depicting the face of President Obama sits in the window of Sherman's Bookstore in downtown Bar Harbor on Wednesday evening.

At the end of the workday last Friday, word got out that President Obama and his family - First Lady Michelle, daughters Sasha and Malia - were coming to Mount Desert Island for a little R&R. At first it was thought they were coming this past weekend (July 9, 10 & 11), but according to U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (whose district does not include MDI) the Obamas will be vacationing on MDI this coming weekend, July 16, 17, & 18).
MDI has long been known as a place where the rich & powerful like to escape in the summer, if only for a few days, but the presence of a sitting President of the United States on MDI hasn't happened in recent memory. According to Associated Press, three have visited the island, the most recent being William Howard Taft almost exactly 100 years ago. In 2008, Laura Bush, who was then First Lady, made a brief visit to MDI, including an informal meet and greet with Acadia National Park personnel, but "W" was not in tow.
The Obamas aren't planning to make any public appearances, according to reports, and there was heated speculation locally about where they might stay until word got out early this week that they'll stay at the Bar Harbor Regency hotel, a 278-room waterfront hotel owned by Ocean Properties Ltd., a private firm that owns more than 100 hotel and resort properties in North America.
The use of a hotel seems odd, given the number of huge, private and well-appointed private estates on the island. I've long heard rumors that David Letterman sometimes stays at the Balance Rock Inn in Bar Harbor, sequestering himself in a third floor, ocean-view room , venturing out only when leaving to return home.
Many local estates include those owned by people in high political positions. The late former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, whose family traces its seasonal roots on MDI back more than 100 years, owned a home overlooking Seal Harbor. Bush's former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley visits a home near Long Pond, and now-deceased former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger lived on Route 198 in Somesville. And don't forget former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who owns a home in Seal Harbor.
Aside from those in political power, there are many with money and other types of influence, such as television producer Dick Wolf, Martha Stewart, and Susan Sarandon. The usual coterie of super-wealthy magnates who summer on MDI - outside the Rockefellers - nowadays also includes billionaires Edward "Ned" Johnson, Robert Bass, Charles Butt and Mitchell Rales, among others.
But up until the Regency revelation, many speculated that the Obamas might stay with Mitchell, whose shares the Obamas' political party affiliation and serves as s Obama's special envoy for peace in the Middle East. Aside from his political connections, according to Judy Harrison of the Bangor Daily News, Mitchell has two children of his own who are the same ages as the Obama girls, who are 9 and 12. Many thought this was a sure sign the Obamas would stay with the Mitchell family while in town.
But the list of politically connected people on the island also includes Ocean Properties' owner Tom Walsh, which may help explain why the Obamas are staying at his hotel. Sen. Mitchell partnered with Ocean Properties in the company's failed bid to redevelop the Maine State Pier in Portland. Walsh, a Bangor native, also is friends with Gov. Baldacci and partnered with the governor's brother Bob in the same unsuccessful Portland project.
So with the First Family's lodgings having been ferreted out, what they might do remains a secret that the White House and Secret Service aren't telling. A trip into Acadia National Park seems a sure bet. Aside from that, the only other likely concrete outcome of the visit is congested roads around Bar Harbor caused by crowds of curious Obama-seekers and the traffic restrictions that will be imposed around the hotel.
The excitement among local residents about the Obamas pending visit is palpable. Whether such enthusiasm might be enough to win out over the inevitable traffic complaints, we'll just have to wait to find out.