Jets escort plane from Obama vacation spot

STUART, Fla. Officials say two F-16 military jets have escorted a small plane away from a no-fly zone above where President Barack Obama is vacationing along Florida's Treasure Coast.

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Mike Humphreys said the planes forced the Cessna 152 to land in Witham Field in Stuart around noon Saturday. Local authorities met the plane when it landed. No other details were released.

Federal Aviation Administration officials said they are investigating whether the Cessna entered the temporarily restricted flight area.

Faced with a long weekend in an empty White House, President Barack Obama figured he needed a getaway, too, so he put together a golf outing with some buddies.

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Not at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland or at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, two Washington-area military posts where he's a regular on their courses.

Instead, he went south, to Florida, to spend the long President's Day weekend staying and playing at the Floridian, an exclusive and secluded yacht and golf club on the state's Treasure Coast. He arrived Friday night after a speech in Chicago and wasn't expected to be seen again in public - including by the members of the news media traveling with him - until he returns to Washington on Monday.

"At this time, there are no public events scheduled or plans for the president to leave the grounds of the golf club," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Saturday.

Call it a weekend with the boys, presidential style.

Eyebrows might have been raised at the thought of the president, any president, high-tailing it out of Washington, without his family, for some "me time" hundreds of miles away from the Oval Office. First lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha are on an annual ski vacation out West.

As it turns out, it isn't at all uncommon for a president to go on vacation on his own.

And, Obama has gone off alone in the past.

During the weekend, the president, a sports enthusiast and avid golfer, planned to practice his putting technique on the club's private, 18-hole course, which opened in 1996, according to golfnow.com, and is owned by Jim Crane, a Houston businessman who also owns Major League Baseball's Astros.

Crane has made political contributions to Republican and Democratic candidates, including $35,800 last year to a joint fundraising committee for Obama and the Democratic Party, and $2,300 to Obama in 2007, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Members of the club and their guests have access to one of eight cottages, a 68-slip deep water marina, the club's 61-foot Viking yacht, a 24-foot Hurricane Deck Boat and the club's private helicopter service with two on-site helipads along the St. Lucie River.

The White House arranged for reporters traveling with the president to stay at a hotel in Port St. Lucie, about a 25-minute drive away.

Obama's longtime friend from Chicago, Eric Whitaker, joined him on the flight from Chicago to Florida. The two have played golf together in the past. Another regular member of Obama's golf foursomes is White House trip director Marvin Nicholson, who also traveled with the president on Friday.

The White House was expected to release the names of those who played golf with the president on Saturday later in the day.

At least one instructor to some top professional golfers out the word that he'd be on the green with Obama in the afternoon.

"I will be with POTUS this afternoon, playing 9 holes and some practice time," Butch Harmon, Tiger Woods' former swing coach, said in a text message to The Associated Press. POTUS is an acronym for president of the United States.

Harmon was Woods' coach when he turned pro and reached what many believe to be the peak of his game in the early 2000s. He also was Greg Norman's coach when he was No. 1 in the world in the 1990s. Harmon has taught such top golfers as Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els, and annually ranks No. 1 on magazine lists of golf's best teachers.

Crane, meanwhile, was scheduled to play a round of golf with Obama on Sunday, according to a report on the website for Major League Baseball. Crane said he was at the club to welcome Obama when he arrived Friday night.

"Looks like I might get to play with him a little bit tomorrow, and we're looking forward to that," Crane said Saturday as he addressed the Astros before a team workout, according to mlb.com. "He came in late last night and was very cordial. His staff is great and it's very exciting. I mean, when do you get the president staying in your place?"

Crane said he received a call about a week ago asking if the president could use the course. He said Obama then contacted him personally to thank him.

America's presidents have been taking solo vacations for decades, according to Larry Knutson, a former White House reporter for The Associated Press who wrote a book about presidents and their vacations.

Although Bess and Margaret Truman visited him there just a couple of times, President Harry Truman vacationed most often by himself in tropical Key West, Fla. Many aides, all men, accompanied him.

Truman enjoyed the male companionship and his wife may have stayed away out of a desire to not interrupt his cherished late afternoon and evening games of poker. Truman vacationed in Key West 11 times between November 1946 and March 1952; his wife and daughter joined him for the first time in November 1948, after his surprise victory in that year's election campaign.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt often visited his cottage at Warm Springs, Ga., alone; wife, Eleanor, didn't much care for the place or the Southern atmosphere. Roosevelt was at Warm Springs, on his own, when he died in April 1945.

He also often traveled solo to his home in Hyde Park, N.Y., during World War II. The first lady often did not accompany Roosevelt on his wartime visits to Shangri-La, which is now the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, or when he traveled on the presidential yacht or on Navy warships.

In 1997, President Bill Clinton was in Florida for fundraising and to play in a golf tournament when he stumbled on steps at the home of golf pro Greg Norman and needed surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right knee. He was treated at a hospital in West Palm Beach before being flown to Washington for the operation.

Obama's stay at the Floridian isn't his first get-away without his wife and daughters.

In 2010, as his 49th birthday approached, Obama was left home alone after the first lady took Sasha with her on a trip to Spain, and Malia was away at camp.

Rather than stay in the sprawling White House by himself, Obama fled, taking family dog Bo, home to Chicago for a birthday dinner with friends there that included Oprah Winfrey, her pal Gayle King, Whitaker and White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, a fellow Chicagoan.

[Mike239239]

I see by the posts that all republicans have turned into complete moron ditto heads with no hope of any of them thinking for themselves.So sad for this country that they would let a propaganda machine tell them what to think and when to think it.

[realtimecoffee]

Almost as predictable as the leftwing dittoheads that can't imagine or tolerate an opposing veiwpoint and so have to blame some radio host or cable news network. That way they don't have to bother themselves with the realization that there isn't a dimes worth of difference between the two dominant parties.

[bertogooch]

This article is bullshhhhhhh.....I watched this happen over my house and the Cessna was flying next to Marine One while 2 AF Jets, one in front of the Cessna and one which was flying in circles around the Cessna were seen. Obama wasn't just at the vacation sight as they make it seem in this article. He was actually in flight and when seen in person, I can tell you that the Cessna was close enough to Marine One for the pilot to wave to the President. He could have swerved towards Marine One and personally as close as they were I dont see how the Jets wouldve been able to stop him at that point. They are brushing this close call off b/c someone screwed up. This article straight up leaves out the truth.

[thrasher888]

Are you serious? I was at the park in Rocky Point when this happened. Marine one was nowhere in sight. The only helicopters flying that morning were the from the US Coast Guard. The f16 did circle the the private plane a few times, I'm guessing because the F16 couldn't fly as slow as the private plane and the other F16 was flying several hundred feet high up. I'm not sure what was in your morning coffee, but it sure made you think you seen something that you did NOT !!

[ashorttrip]

What's the deal? Every time this man goes on vacation a plane has to be escorted out of somewhere. He needs to start wearing a disguise

[TBIneluctable]

How much did that cost the American taxpayer, BO does not care.

[Rafterman11]

Yeah, he Secret Service and the military should just let anyone take shots at Obama. Why protect the president, right?

Moron.

[realtimecoffee]

Shots at the Pres Raft? In the history of the world, when was the last time a small plane ever posed a real threat to the POTUS? It ALWAYS turns out to be someone who didn't get the Vacay notice.

[TBIneluctable]

Nothing is more important than a golf game for BO. What about the physical cliff? What about sequestration? BO is the worst President in history.

[Rafterman11]

And of course, you criticized all the times Bush played golf too, right? Bush told us, while playing golf, that bin Laden wasn't important anymore. But that was OK, right?

[realtimecoffee]

Nope, physical cliff is right. The President might wander off one, and they should be restrained. That back nine can be treacherous.

[crashdummy38]

Seems like we have more pressing problems to face. End the campaining and go to work!! We need some real leadership, but have not seen any in a long long time.

[Rafterman11]

You are right, the GOP led House and Boehner have shown zero leadership.

[Htos1]

His "handlers" are scared shi*less someone's gonna get through.

[bobnjersey]

[Officials say two F-16 military jets have escorted a small plane away from a no-fly zone above where President Barack Obama is vacationing along Florida's Treasure Coast.]
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why did it require 'two' f-16's?

[Rafterman11]

Because flights always operate in twos.

[hypnotoad72]

If Congress didn't go on vacation, then Obama would look bad in following suit...

[ReasonableVoicesAmongUs]

I equate civilian aviation to taxi drivers...not well trained...not enough oversight.

[flynaround]

That is a real pinheaded statement.

[Htos1]

"Deflect" from the illegal potus,"attack" the innocents with a goal of killing them off(civilian avaiation).Thanks clower-piven and the low info obamavoter.Too stupid to even realize he's a phuquin' tool.