Several Turkish diplomats were physically restrained by U.S. Secret Service agents when they tried to enter a tent holding President Obama’s limo and could not understand yelled orders to stop.

The fracas Tuesday night happened just outside the New York hotel where Obama was speaking at former President Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative meeting.

As Clinton was walking Obama out to his limo, a small horde of agents and police got into a shouting match with some people at one corner of the tent where the presidential limo was waiting.

“A foreign delegation got confused and were trying to enter the president's departure tent and didn't understand the verbal instructions being given,” Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said.
“They had to be physically restrained."

Donovan said he did not think the diplomats, identified as Turkish by White House pool reporter Jon Ward of the Washington Times, made it into the tent. They were not detained.

"Our feeling is the incident was exacerbated by a language barrier,” Donovan added.

Despite President Obama's determination to avoid every mistake made in Bill Clinton's pitch for a health care overhaul, he's getting almost exactly the same results in the polls.

A new survey by respected Republican pollster Bill McInturff released today finds remarkably similar results from an identical poll taken in June 1994, with both finding that the more people learned about the president's proposal, the less they liked it.

The key questions:

Familiar with the plan: 67 percent in 1994, 64 percent in 2009.

Favor the plan: 23 percent in 1994, 25 percent in 2009.

Oppose the plan: 35 percent in 1994, 37 percent in 2009.

No Opinion: 42 percent in 1994, 37 percent in 2009.

"The more I hear about the plan, the less I like it:" 52 percent in 1994, 49 percent in 2009

"The more I hear about the plan, the more I like it:" 34 percent in 1994, 38 percent in 2009.

"This data is hauntingly familiar to what we saw in 1994," McInturff said Thursday morning over breakfast with reporters. 

Before you write that McInturff is a Republican and somehow suspect, we find him to be a fair-minded pollster and find the wording of his questions straight and objective.

The poll of 800 registered voters was conducted Aug. 11-13 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

President Obama and the First Family arrived on Martha’s Vineyard Sunday afternoon for the storm-delayed start of their week-long vacation.

The First Family left Washington several hours late, waiting for storms to pass, then flew to a Cape Cod airport. Then they flew Marine One on to the exclusive Massachusetts island retreat where the Clintons often vacationed while in the White House.

On friendly, Democratic turf, Obama’s motorcade to his rented estate in Chilmark passed dozens of people who waved, took pictures, and waved signs. “Aloha Obama Family,” said one. “Hope, Obama,” said another.

En route, sandal-wearing White House spokesman Bill Burton urged the press to chill out and give the First Family some privacy.

"He wants you to relax," Burton said aboard Air Force One. “Have a good time, take some walks on the beaches. Nobody's looking to make any news."

Burton said Obama asked that the news media respect the privacy of the president’s daughters.

He also dismissed reports that Obama might visit with ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who lives at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport nearby. Burton said there were no plans for a visit, despite the two men’s friendship and shared hopes for a major health care overhaul.

While Obama is likely to play golf on the island, Burton brushed aside talk of a possible round with Tiger Woods. “A bad rumor,” said Burton.

In a quick signal of the relaxed vacation mindset aboard Air Force One – beyond Burton’s footwear – First Dog Bo wandered back into the press cabin before Malia Obama came to retrieve him.

Also on board: the president's sister and her family, and senior adviser and close family friend Valerie Jarrett.

Former President Bill Clinton meets with President Barack Obama today at the White House, Clinton’s first chance to meet with Obama face to face since traveling to North Korea to secure the release of two American journalists.

The private meeting, scheduled to be held in the White House Situation Room, is likely to cover anything Clinton learned or discussed about North Korea’s nuclear weapons plans. 

Coincidentally, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with Obama earlier in the Oval Office, her first meeting with Obama since her trip to Africa.

President Obama announced today that he’ll nominate three more individuals with Clinton administration experience to serve at the State Department under Secretary Hillary Clinton. Melanne Verveer, who was chief of staff to first lady Clinton during Bill Clinton’s presidency and heads an international women’s leadership nonprofit, is the administration’s pick for a post of Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. The White House also said Obama has tapped Esther Brimmer as assistant secretary for international organizations. Brimmer directs research for the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Schoolof Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and previously worked for the State Department. Phil Gordon, a senior foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution who served on the National Security Council under President Clinton, is the choice for assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs.