Obama Vacations at GOPer's House, His Own Expense

The Obama clan will head to Martha’s Vineyard on Aug. 23 for a low-key summer vacation, the Washington Post reports, and they’ll be staying in enemy quarters. The president will be renting out the private estate of noted Republican donor William Van Devender, a Mississippi timber merchant who backed John McCain. In an unusual move, Obama will also pay his family’s portion of the week's rent, which will likely be around $25,000.

Typically, taxpayers pick up the tab for such accommodations, with the White House and Secret Service splitting the tab. Obama says he’s not worried that the getaway will seem unseemly amidst a recession. “Do I think the American people think that because of those hardships I shouldn’t spend some quality time with my daughters?” he said recently. “I don’t think that’s what the American people think about.” (More Barack Obama stories.)