Tragedy.

Via Boston Globe:

After three consecutive summer vacations on Martha’s Vineyard, President Obama and his family apparently will not be relaxing on the island this year as a heated presidential campaign gathers momentum toward what is expected to be a close election.

The State Police detachment on the island has been told that the president will not be coming; extensive bookings to house the president’s staff and security have been canceled by the White House travel office; and the 28-acre waterfront ­estate in Chilmark where the Obamas stayed the last three years has been sold to a British couple.

“The word I have is that they are not coming this year,” said State Police Sergeant Thomas Medeiros, who said that notice came from the Secret Service.

As a result, tee times in mid-to-late August might be easier to book on the Vineyard’s golf courses; meals at Nancy’s in Oak Bluffs and the Beach Plum Inn in Menemsha might be uninterrupted by a presidential visit complete with the Secret Service; and traffic might be slowed only by the normal congestion that makes summer driving on the Vineyard a stop-and-go endurance test.