Obama Friend: "Plain Old Barack Is Gone"

The Washington Post talks to friends of President-elect Barack Obama about the inevitable changes in his life:

A familiar number showed up on Terry Link's cellphone last week, the one that belonged to the friend he tutored in politics, dominated in golf and sometimes referred to playfully as "Ears." At least once each week for almost a decade, the Illinois state senator had talked on the phone to Barack Obama, but now the number seemed to belong to somebody else.

"This time I answered, 'Hello, Mr. President,' " Link said. "When he called, it used to just be 'Hey, Barack. What's going on?' But plain old Barack is gone."

Obama's home in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood has become a compound guarded ever more closely by bomb-sniffing dogs and Secret Service agents who peer through binoculars at neighboring rooftops. When he travels around the city, it is in an armored limousine and 20-car motorcade, so he has mainly stayed bunkered at home or a downtown transition office. Last week, Obama told one friend that he felt "a little boxed in."

This is only the beginning of the transformation that awaits the president-elect and his family. In two months, they will move into a sterile house in a unfamiliar city where they have never felt particularly comfortable. Friends say Obama is savoring these final weeks in Chicago and spending as much time as possible with his family before he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.

During his political rise, Obama safeguarded times of normalcy and credited them for keeping him sane. A run on the treadmill in the early morning. An evening meander through 57th Street Books. Date night with his wife, Michelle, at one of their favorite restaurants. Pickup basketball at a gym downtown.

Obama already has learned that his mundane routine will be difficult to replicate as president, but his friends say that establishing some kind of similar comfort zone is critical to his success in Washington. They consider it one of the most pressing -- and most challenging -- issues of Obama's transition: How can he create a life as president that keeps him happy?

Read the whole thing.

Comments

[sammy cole]

I hope that as Barack experiences success after success as President he'll feel his own sacrifice for the American people was worth it. Already I appreciate him. I believe Barack Obama will never forget his personal friends as he transitions into this incredibly difficult job, including the boxed in part.

[Busterdawg]

Oh yes.. he has sacrificed sooo much... *sniff sniff* ... now you've brought tears to my eyes.

[ensure]

Obama Names Econ Team, Sees 'Historic' Crisis: http://www.sefermpost.com/sefermpost/2008/11/obama-names-econ-team-sees-historic-crisis.html

French Minister Slams Berlusconi For Obama "Suntan" Remark: http://www.sefermpost.com/sefermpost/2008/11/french-minister-slams-berlusconi-for-obama-suntan-remark.html

Publishers cash in on Barack Obama book boom: http://www.sefermpost.com/sefermpost/2008/11/publishers-cash-in-on-obama-book-boom.html

[MissKaren]

He, MIchelle and the girls will eventually find a comfort zone to which he can retreat to recharge. Playing a pickup basketball game will give him a continuity with his "old life" and a way of blowing off steam. His life has been changed forever and he has to come to terms with that.

[Progress08]

Is there still a pool at the white house??? If not, too bad, the girls would've enjoyed that. maybe they can take tennis lessons.

[jimbeaux1961]

Nixon filled in the pool and turned the slab into the Press briefing room; a little shot at JFK.

[Cheryllou]

Bush seems to be happy in the WH. He laughs all the time, even when things aren't funny.

[Colmore]

Drunks tend to do that. Plus, laugh at nothing at all.

[Topfeeder]

Imbeciles too!

[PrickliestPear]

Bush also took more vacation days than any other president in history.

[VOTER]

The laugh of the insane.......................