Obama Remains at Sunnylands Centre and Gardens

Photo courtesy of the White House

By City News Service

For the third year in a row, President Barack Obama is spending Father’s Day in the Palm Springs area.

Reporters watched as Obama worked out, at 6:30 a.m. Sunday, at a gym across the street from the gated community where he spent the night. Reporters were asked not to disclose that location.

Golf and White House business were presumed to be the day’s plan, with Air Force One to take him back to Washington in the afternoon.

He arrived at about 11 a.m. Saturday and, after being greeted by a coterie of local officials, made a beeline for the golf course at the Sunnylands Centre and Gardens. It continues a trend of June visits by the president, who came to the area around Father’s Day last year and in 2013.

First lady Michelle Obama and the couple’s daughters, Sasha and Malia, are in Europe.

White House officials say the president has no public events scheduled and is instead expected to relax, spend time with childhood friends from Honolulu and play a few more rounds of golf.

Obama usually golfs at Sunnylands or Porcupine Creek. There has been some criticism of his golfing on two courses that have been accused of excessive water usage amid California’s ongoing drought.

But White House spokesman Eric Schultz pointed out that many California golf courses have taken steps to conserve water.

The president discussed the drought during a private meeting with Gov. Jerry Brown Friday in San Francisco, where he stayed overnight.

Obama spent Thursday and early Friday in the Los Angeles area where he attended two fundraisers and sat for an interview with comedian Marc Maron for his podcast “WTF with Marc Maron,” which will be available online Monday.

Street closures during the president’s Sunnylands visit will continue through Monday morning, although Obama was expected to leave this afternoon.

Kirk Douglas Way, between Ramon and El Cielo roads, and Airport Center Drive at Kirk Douglas Way were to be closed until 7 a.m. Monday.

Palm Springs International Airport can be accessed from the Tahquitz Canyon Way-El Cielo Road entrance.