Obama heads to Hawaii for the holidays

[Pirate Smile]

Obama heads to Hawaii for the holidays
By CAROL E. LEE | 12/19/08 9:08 PM EST

HONOLULU – President-elect Barack Obama returns to his home state of Hawaii on Saturday for his last family vacation before taking office next month, savoring the respite in an oceanfront estate in one of Oahu’s most exclusive neighborhoods.
Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two young daughters, Malia and Sasha, will spend the holidays with a small group of close friends at a cluster of privately-owned beachfront mansions on Oahu, the island where the president-elect was born and raised by his grandparents.

Obama has no public events scheduled over the next 12 days. But he will attend a memorial service for his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who died just before her grandson was elected the nation’s first black president.
Obama was last in Hawaii in October for an emotional 22-hour trip to visit Dunham, who died two days before the November election at the age of 86. In a private ceremony, the president-elect will pay tribute to the woman he affectionately called “Toot” and whom he has credited with being a steady, constant influence in his life and the cornerstone of his family.
Dunham had lived in Oahu in the same apartment where she and her husband raised Obama. Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, is a school teacher in Honolulu, where she lives with her family.

-snip-
But mostly the trip will be a time for the president-elect to recharge before moving to Washington, D.C., to face an economic recession, a growing deficit and two wars.

Hawaii has served as a tropical retreat for Obama during his breakneck rise from first-term senator to commander in chief. In his memoir Dreams from My Father, Obama wrote, “Even now, I can retrace the first steps I took as a child and be stunned by the beauty of the islands.”
A Hawaii vacation over Christmas and New Year’s Eve has become a tradition for the Obamas and the families of three of their closest friends, Martin Nesbitt and his wife, Anita Blanchard; Eric Whitaker, and Jarrett. Obama contemplated a run for the presidency in Oahu over the holidays in 2006, telling reporters at the time that he would reveal his decision after he returned.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16764.html

[dkf]

1. Its still a bit surreal to think a local boy has done good.

Crazy.

[jenmito]

2. He's REALLY going there to finish up the business with his fake birth certificate!

Haven't you heard? :D

[Jennicut]

5. LOL...that is what the Freeps must be thinking

[babylonsister]

3. I'm happy for the Obamas. This past year has been brutal, and

now they'll be out of the snow, relaxing (maybe).


Sounds great to me.

[AlCzervik]

4. i'm sure he and his family could use a some down time.

[gblady]

6. I hope....

that he and his family can get some much deserved and probably needed rest.
I'm sure this will be a tough trip for Barack...his first trip back since Toot passed.

[Clio the Leo]

7. And in the name of all that's decent.....

..... please press, leave the man alone and give him some privacy.

I went 31 years without seeing him walk down the street or spend some time with his children on the beach, I think I'll be able to manage going 12 days without seeing him.

Give the man a break.

[firedupdem]

8. I hope they have a great time together. He's been on the stump

for 2 yrs and Michelle and the girls have been going through it too.

Have fun first family!!!


I'll be waiting for you to fix the economy and get me back to work when you get back! LOL

[redstate_democrat]

9. No! I want him to stay and save the economy from cratering, bring the troops home, and

stop climate change...before he takes office. This is not what I voted for.