Obama Loves Camp David, But Daughters' Schedules Come 1st

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama holds the keys to Camp David, the sprawling retreat in the Maryland mountains that would be the envy of any busy professional looking for a break from the pressures of a harried workweek. But facing a problem that other parents can relate to, he seldom finds time to go there. The reason, according to the president: His daughters' schedules take priority.

"We love Camp David, and we'll probably end up spending quite a bit of time up there during this summer," Obama said during a White House interview Wednesday with The Baltimore Sun and five other newspapers.

"You know, we had travel. I had to go to Normandy. And then the girls had, Sasha had her birthday party here, and she was flying folks in for a pool party. So, really, it revolves around the girls' social schedule.

"If Michelle and I had our way," he said, "we'd go there every weekend."

The president has used his spare weekend time recently to squeeze in some golf at courses near Washington. The last time he visited Camp David, perched atop the Catoctin Mountains north of Frederick, was in May.

Michelle Obama has been quoted as saying that the "most unexpected and uniform advice" she got from former first ladies was: "Go to Camp David, early and often." She said it is "the one place you can go where you feel some level of freedom and an ability to breathe."

But only if the girls' soccer schedule allows, it would seem.