If East Hampton Becomes Hillary Clinton’s “Summer White House”

There is nothing like the Hamptons in high summer season. Yes the crowds, the traffic and the fun is usually at a feverish pitch. If Hillary Clinton becomes the next President, all that madness will definitely change. For the last decade the Clinton’s have made a point of renting in the Hamptons in August and the rumors have always centered on will they buy a home south of the highway or continue renting?

From 1976 to 1992 I used to summer in Kennebunkport, Maine. But things changed in that town when long time summer resident, George H.W. Bush became President. Way back in the late 1970’s, I would play tennis at the River Tennis Club in Kennebunkport. Back then George Bush (41), who kept his personal life relatively private at the time, would be on one court. Believe it or not, Barbara Bush would be playing doubles on another court with daughter Dorothy, and the Bush boys, including George “W,” Jeb, Marvin and Neil, would be running around the clubhouse and dock where the family boat sometimes would be tied up.

Then when George Herbert Walker Bush became V.P. in 1988, the Bush’s built tennis courts on Walker Point (the name of the family home), and then the Secret Service put in security at the estate entrance on Ocean Road, the main road along the water in Kennebunkport.

When George H.B. Bush became President in 1988, Kennebunkport changed hugely and not for the better.

First, a whole new class of tourists arrived daily for a Bush stakeout. Ocean Road in Kennebunkport had checkpoints with the Secret Service stopping/blocking traffic when the President was in town, which was nearly the entire summer. Then, when he went out to dinner, roads were blocked, and all that nonsense.

Now it’s true that East Hampton Village is larger than Kennebunkport, Maine, non-the-less it is not that much larger. When/if Hillary Clinton becomes President, and if she chooses East Hampton as her summertime home from the White House, all that stuff will happen and perhaps even more due to the new security measures post 9-11. Only God can imagine the changes that the village will see.

Yes, the south side of the highway has the estates to safely secure a President, but just think of certain beach roads that will be closed indefinitely with roadblocks. Then think of the long motorcades of SUV’s and Limo’s every time the President’s entourage goes out for dinner to say, Almond in Bridgehampton, or even the Blue Parrot in East Hampton.

Now, for those who worry about helicopter noise issue, as fast as you can say “What town laws?,” helicopter activity will be at a whole new level. Believe me there is no other helicopters like Marine One.

Finally as the “working press” invades the area, behavior like booking whole floors of local Inns and hotels will become the norm, and in East Hampton there really aren’t that many. Local stores will start selling Hillary Presidential souvenirs, just like the Bush ones in Kennebunkport, and not for a while but forever. I predict there will be “The Ralph Lauren official Hillary East Hampton collection.”

Lastly, when Bush Sr. was in Kennebunkport as President, a naval vessel or two was always off the shore with anti-missile capabilities, so I suppose Main Beach may have some new views of U.S. Navy ships. Now add the “Bill Clinton” effect, meaning his security detail will also be patrolling about, thus meaning East Hampton will be a new kind of fun/misery experience for all those in the Hamptons!