Fatimah Ali: A welcome Obama timeout

IT'S A GOOD thing President Obama is using this week to rejuvenate in Martha's Vineyard, Mass. His vacation comes just as his lovefest with the media seems to be over.

Although Hurricane Bill missed the island, several political storms have been brewing, not the least of which are the explosive town-hall meetings that have raged across the country. Both Pew and ABC News polls report that the president's approval ratings have dropped 10 points, and 37 percent of Americans appear to think that he's not doing a very good job. Some journalists, responding to his declining support, have dipped their pens in more critical ink.

Sequestered at Blue Heron Farm, the president is trying to avoid the media, which might irritate journalists prickly about "access."

How the president resolves health-care reform will be the key to his success, but Americans are also still spooked by the gloomy economy, despite prognosticators who insist that the nation is headed for recovery.

But not all factors are so serious. Take the first lady's "Shortsgate" controversy. The press spent a week discussing that outfit, which made international news. But Michelle Obama more than made up for it on Sunday, arriving on the island in a beautiful white summer dress.

But there's something more than just one outfit going on here. Take an Essence blog from June, when it became known that the Obamas would vacation in the Vineyard. That item, which even had someone wondering if the first lady was too "ghetto," asked if the Obamas would be accepted by the elite African-Americans who summer on the island, some in family homes passed down for generations. Clearly, such an insult is a dig at Mrs. Obama's humble beginnings, and also throws some light on the issue of bourgeois blacks and the perception that classism still prevails in the African-American community.

Dictionary.com defines "ghetto" as "a section of a city, esp. a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships." But the slang version at Urban.com explains ghetto as "improvised, or homemade, usually with extremely cheap or substandard components."

For the record, I believe wearing shorts in public should be taboo for Michelle Obama, or any first lady, who has to protect her image lest it undermine her husband's office. I know it's an old-fashioned view, but showing too much skin detracts from what's most important. (Unless, of course, she actually wore them to distract the media.)

A woman with humble beginnings, Michelle worked herself up into the top 2 percent of the nation economically and is married to the man who now runs it. She left the ghetto behind years ago. And I seriously doubt she'd ever feel the need to chase any group - elite or not. The Obamas are trendsetters and already run with their own circle of high-powered friends.

Some have criticized their expensive vacation spot (which they're paying for themselves), but islanders say it's the perfect retreat for their coveted privacy. Vineyarders are excited about the first family's visit, despite the fact that they don't have a public schedule.

I think I have a good sense of the Vineyard since my parents have been going there for decades, and first took me there as an infant. Dad says town merchants have prepared welcoming window displays, people don't really expect to see the Obamas. But it's hard to have children on the island and not make at least one run for ice cream, or ride the merry-go-round at the historic Flying Horses.

AS FOR THE shorts, White House advisers work hard to keep the first family "on-brand," and I don't believe Michelle would just randomly venture that far off that mark. So I think she knew exactly what she was doing when she wore them - and believe they were her ploy to discombobulate the increasingly persnickety media. After all, this is still a young administration, and I have faith that President Obama will come through for the country, no matter what the polls and the media say.

Fatimah Ali is a journalist, media consultant and an associate member of the Daily News editorial board.