--- title: Obama's Vacation Photo Memes, Internet Reactions description: Richard Branson shared footage of Barack Obama kitesurfing in the British Virgin Islands, and Twitter has many feelings on the matter. canonical: https://time.com/4662699/obama-vacation-reactions/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-07T16:47:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T12:14:20.000Z og:title: The Internet Is Going Wild for Obama's Vacation Photos og:description: "Obama just posed for the 'I'm doing great' pic" og:url: https://time.com/4662699/obama-vacation-reactions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52a9e6915b64e353/6988b914ab6d77ab826acc40/obama-virgin-islands2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1236 og:image:height: 695 og:image:alt: obama-virgin-islands2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Is Going Wild for Obama's Vacation Photos twitter:description: "Obama just posed for the 'I'm doing great' pic" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52a9e6915b64e353/6988b914ab6d77ab826acc40/obama-virgin-islands2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Internet Is Going Wild for Obama's Kitesurfing Photos > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d4dcc881-d22d-4196-8df8-afebffd5648f&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:14 PM UTCPublished: Feb 7, 2017 4:47 PM UTC  Jack Brockway/Virgin.com  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:14 PM UTCPublished: Feb 7, 2017 4:47 PM UTC Barack Obama [took a well-earned break](http://time.com/4662331/barack-obama-richard-branson-necker-island/?xid=time%5Fsocialflow%5Ftwitter) from Washington, D.C. this month, spending time at Virgin founder Richard Branson’s Necker Island, a private and, by all accounts, idyllic tropical escape in the British Virgin Islands. He was spotted [wearing a backwards cap](http://time.com/4656707/barack-obama-vacation-photos/), bro-ing out with Branson, and kitesurfing up a storm in the azure waves. Branson even [shared some footage](https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/richard-vs-barack-kiteboard-and-foilboard-challenge) of the two dudes goofing around and testing their water sports acumen, both of them looking pleased as punch. As Branson [noted in a blog post](https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/richard-vs-barack-kiteboard-and-foilboard-challenge), Hawaii-raised Obama—a lover of water sports—had to set that particular interest aside during his presidency. But no longer. During their shared vacation, Branson learned to foilboard while Obama learned to kitesurf. The two even had a friendly competition in their new hobbies. (Obama won.) Naturally, the internet has plenty of feelings on this enviable midwinter getaway. Some are a little miffed that Obama has moved on so quickly from his eight-year-long super-serious relationship with America. > [](https://twitter.com/luckyturner/status/828957162982559744) > [](https://twitter.com/DanaSchwartzzz/status/828970764321832961) > [](https://twitter.com/B%5FObamaMemes/status/828986493125410817) > [](https://twitter.com/comeupshuffle/status/828986887662604288) > [](https://twitter.com/ReignOfApril/status/828955250740563968) > [](https://twitter.com/FreddyAmazin/status/829320641333583872) > [](https://twitter.com/jonnysun/status/829002528184492032) > [](https://twitter.com/MatthewACherry/status/829144144064897029) > [](https://twitter.com/dangitobama/status/829054228249399297) > [](https://twitter.com/EriElizS/status/829324834807103488) > [](https://twitter.com/FireinFreetown/status/828972020465618948) But others know that true love means being able to rejoice in your significant other’s happiness as if it were your own. > [](https://twitter.com/jordangerous/status/829000317828227073) > [](https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/828947345626767360) > [](https://twitter.com/apbenven/status/828989099830804482) > [](https://twitter.com/Hellaslammin/status/829334158191247362) > [](https://twitter.com/katlyncatubig/status/829332042332659714) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4662699/obama-vacation-reactions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4662699/obama-vacation-reactions/"},"headline":"The Internet Is Going Wild for Obama's Kitesurfing Photos","datePublished":"2017-02-07T16:47:54.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T12:14:20.000Z","description":"\"Obama just posed for the 'I'm doing great' pic\"","url":"https://time.com/4662699/obama-vacation-reactions/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Barack Obama","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52a9e6915b64e353/6988b914ab6d77ab826acc40/obama-virgin-islands2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52a9e6915b64e353/6988b914ab6d77ab826acc40/obama-virgin-islands2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"obama-virgin-islands2","caption":"","creditText":"Jack Brockway/Virgin.com","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4662699/obama-vacation-reactions/","name":"The Internet Is Going Wild for Obama's Kitesurfing Photos"}}]}] ```