Obama-Mania Rises in Martha's Vineyard

Obama-mania is hitting Martha's Vineyard, especially Oak Bluffs, the African American enclave very close to Blue Heron farm, where the Obama family will reside, later in August.

 Sharky's Obamarita is made with real mandarin orange puree, rumored to be President Obama's favorite fruit. Martha's Vineyard Times reports strong sales of Obamaritas at Sharky's. The drink is made with mandarin oranges, rumored to be POTUS's fav fruit. (Canned oranges, Mr. President?) Mandarin organges are pureed with 100 percent real lemon and lime sour mix, triple sec, Sauza tequila, and a splash of pineapple juice in honor of Hawaii.

Check out Good Taste: Care for a drink? Part two on Martha's Vineyard Times for more libations waiting for the Obama drowd.

To their credit, The Martha's Vineyard Times doesn't have Obama-mania from what I can see. It remains a newspaper for the people of Martha's Vineyard.

President Obama will arrive on Aug. 23 to the house at Blue Heron Farm. Michelle and the girls will come earlier.

Martha's Vineyard merchants and service providers hope to make up for the dreadful loss of business, during June's 25 days of rain.

Politically, Martha's Vineyard is Obama Country. Seventy-five percent of MV voters went for Obama.

A woman wearing a T-shirt that reads "Relax It's All About the Vineyard" in the town of Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard. via NYTimesT-shirts with slogans like “Summer White House ’09” and “Barackin’ the Vineyard Summer ’09” hang in stores, posters welcoming the family are selling for $3.99 and an oil painting called “Yes We Can — Fist Bump” is on sale in a local gallery for $1,100.

Race relations on Martha's Vineyard get very positive reviews, although prominent African-Americans congregate in Oak Bluffs.

The Boston Globe writes: Today, the island, like society itself, is more open and more people of color have the means to move beyond the cottage colonies that formed the community’s first foothold here. Yet Oak Bluffs remains the heart of African-American life on Martha’s Vineyard. This is where filmmaker Spike Lee, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, former US Attorney Wayne Budd, and Obama friend and advisor Valerie Jarrett vacation. This is where the striving, as well as the already arrived, come to unwind in the comfort and company of the like-situated. This is where generations return year after year for reunions of family and old friends. People run into each other along Circuit Avenue or on the post office plaza or at the so-called “Inkwell’’ beach beside the road to Edgartown.

Harvard Law School Professor Lani Guinier relays the story that when her family purchased a stately house in a part of the Vineyard 'frosty, if not closed' to African-American buyers, her white mother handled the transaction. The seller didn't meet the rest of the clan, until they moved in.

MAISIE CROW FOR THE BOSTON GLOBEGretchen Mercer with her sons Brandon (left) and Jason on the porch of her family’s home in Oak Bluffs. The home has been in her family for generations. (Maisie Crow for The Boston Globe) Martha's Vineyard sailing scene: Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton with Walter Cronkite in August 1998.Earlier in the week, the NYTimes ran a piece on Why Democrats Love Martha's Vineyard. Read the impressions of Julia Well, editor, Vineyard Gazette; Jill Nelson, author; Skip Finley, radio broadcast executive; Alan M. Dershowita, Harvard Law School; Todd S. Purdum, national editor of Vanity Fair; Charles J. Ogletree Jr., Harvard Law School; John Harris, editor in chief, Politico.

Earlier writing from Anne about Oak Bluffs and the Vineyard:

The Life and History of Oak Bluffs Will Be Rewritten Forever

Gates, Obamas, Jarrett and Other Royals Will Create Lots of Martha's Vineyard Buzz next Month

Obamas Appear Headed to Martha's Vineyard Blue Heron Farm for August Vacation