WORLD> America
Obama golfs with his chef
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-26 12:02

Obama golfs with his chef
US President Barack Obama walks off the final green as members of his group high-five during a round of golf at the Mink Meadows Golf Club on Martha's Vineyard, August 25, 2009. [Agencies] 

"Folks have been very warm in welcoming him," deputy press secretary Bill Burton told reporters. "He's been coming here for some 10 years now and he plans to come back. So hopefully, going forward, there will be some opportunities for him to be out in the public, but for right now he's just spending a little time with his family."

One visitor Obama definitely plans to avoid: anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan. The mother of a fallen US soldier dogged President George W. Bush during his summer vacations at his ranch near Crawford, Texas. With a new White House occupant, the activist is on the island to push the president to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"While Obama was golfing yesterday, four American soldiers died in Afghanistan," read a flier announcing a Thursday news conference. "There are no vacations for body bags."

During the Bush presidency, Sheehan and her corps of anti-war protesters lined up near Bush's ranch to protest the war and to honor the memory of her son. It eventually became something of a media circus.

Obama and the first lady visited White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett later Tuesday and then accompanied her to a nearby restaurant.

The Obamas' motorcade left their rented compound in Chilmark for Jarrett's nearby home in Oak Bluffs early Tuesday evening. Reporters traveling with the Obamas did not see the couple enter the home on the north shore of Martha's Vineyard. The Obamas then accompanied Jarrett and Eric Whitaker, another longtime Obama friend to a restaurant.