Obama Christmas: Visits Military Families

KAILUA, Hawaii — President-elect Barack Obama visited military families while they ate Christmas Day dinner, thanking them for their service and posing for pictures.

Obama on Thursday visited Marine Corps Base Hawaii near his rented vacation home and briefly chatted with enlisted members who ate turkey, ham and roast beef. He didn't make formal remarks or speak to reporters during the stop, one of the few public sightings of the president-elect on what aides call a private family vacation.

"Hey," Obama said as he walked into the mess hall wearing a short-sleeved shirt and slacks. "Just wanted to say 'hi.'"

Obama lingered a few minutes at each table as the Marines and sailors and their families stood to greet their next commander in chief. At other tables, the visitors ate candied sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping, mashed potatoes and simmered corn and broccoli.

"What part of Indiana?" he asked one person. To another: "This is the East Coast table, huh?"

Obama and his family planned to spend their Christmas holiday mostly out of sight, an accomplishment given his two-year, high-profile marathon to win the presidency.

Obama, wife Michelle and their two young daughters opened presents earlier Thursday and planned their own dinner of turkey and ham, according to aides. They did not release any other details.

The Obamas arrived in Honolulu on Saturday with four aides, his Secret Service detail and a small group of journalists. Since then, he has been largely sequestered at the beachfront estate.

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With less a month before Obama takes office on Jan. 20, he is taking every step possible to make sure this holiday is as private as possible _ something he bemoaned while walking to a driving range last Sunday.

"OK, guys," Obama said, recognizing the photographers snapping pictures. "Come on. ... How many shots do you need?"

That was one of only a handful of trips Obama and his motorcade have taken. He and Michelle Obama have visited Marine Corps Base Hawaii for daily morning workouts. Twice, he and friends have played a round of golf. He attended a private memorial service for his grandmother on Tuesday and scattered her ashes into the Pacific Ocean.

And that's been it.

While the Democratic president-elect vacations in his native Hawaii through the New Year, he and his aides have taken careful steps to minimize his profile. He has no public schedule while vacationing, although he remains involved in transition plans and has received intelligence briefings.

While Obama's aides have taken steps to keep the vacation low-profile, he hasn't been entirely successful. Photographers captured images of him scattering his grandmother's ashes from a rock ledge on Tuesday while the press corps waited in a bus. Another photographer captured the future first family _ including a shirtless Obama _ in the backyard.

The Secret Service has blocked the street where he is staying, citing security concerns. A few cars a day have rolled into the dead-end street, but they did not get past the checkpoint. And a few neighbors who tried to walk past the house on Christmas Day were rebuffed by agents.

One man left with an aide a Christmas card addressed to the Obama family. It featured a palm tree with the word "peace" written on it.

Comments

[Right-turn]

Good for him. I just want him to respect our troops. If he can do that, he isn't half bad.

[Kiabell04]

You surely dont see enough Republicans doing this...considering their party is supposed to be all about "country first" and all ::rolls eyes:: Obama and Biden are two class acts.

[TimNorman]

Visiting the troops is good. Obama should be doing htat.

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/505.html

[Pdubya]

was he handing out active duty orders to afghanistan?

[rollingdivision]

Well at least he tried to his credit.

[Stud99]

Thanks to my posts he visited some troops in the ever dfangerous land of Hawaii.

[genia]

so....only the endangered troops deserve thanks...r­ecognition­?

[lassouth]

We need to bring back respect in this country. My son fought in afganistan, he was witness to all of the war that we are fighting aganist the muslim terrorists. When Obama met with the marines, he was greeted with dead silence.

[markinaz]

I guess those 25% are why we have to grade on a curve. Don't let the door hit ya where the good lawd split ya Georgie, on the way out.

[bygollymissmolly]

Another photographer captured the future first family _ including a shirtless Obama _ in the backyard.
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I find this terrifying. Where are the secret service? Anyone with a telephoto lens long enough to get a picture of them could also have had a rifle in his hands.

[TrooAmerican]

They discussed that set of questions on some news channels before christmas. They mentioned that the rental property is adjacent to some public beaches where SS has staked out a barrier, however, an expensive telephoto lens on a good camera can take photos from the distance he is from the perimeter. Which i think is something like a few hundred yards from the back yard of the house.

[knerd]

I agree. Right after the "shoe bomber" incident at Bush's press conference in Iraq--although amusing and yet profoundly and tragically sympolic--the Secret Service seemed mysteriously asleep at the switch there as well!

I know I am being paranoid by drawing a connection between the Obama photo and the show-throwing incident, but I will cop to being paranoid and express my own puzzlement and fear as well. I thought the Secret Service were supposed to instantly and automatically dive between the president and any incoming missles--as well as scout out the territory pretty extensively (as they obviously didn't in Obama's case) in any public setting.

Strange.

[lj9283]

Perhaps the Secret Service can work on a sniper detail for the paparazzi. Take one or two of those parasites and they'd keep their cameras in their pants.

[cinnysmom]

Thank you to all of our brave men and women serving here and abroad, past and present. Thanks to everyone who donates their time and money to help out others may you all have a Happy New Year!!!!!

[barackobama4prez]

I think O will be a visible president in the community. I just pray for his safety...

[xmw]

Yes, yes. From your mouth to God's ears. Thank you.

[pilgrim7]

Poor Obama. No privacy. So just where can I find those stolen pics?

[zakwouldhave]

I don't envy our troops or the next Commander in Chief when the tough decisions about Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan are necessary. I hope wisdom and cooperation with our allies allows our troops to not feel so isolated against the world. Our troops absolutely deserve the best....smarter leadership will be a good start.

[UrbanRube]

Amen.

[instagladiator]

Not to mention adequate medical care/attention for injured troops and (heaven forbid this happen) dignified and honorable receptions for those who loose their lives. Having served my 20+ years, with a stint in Vietnam, I have been appalled by the lack of attention these lost souls, and their families, have received. What greater sacrifice can one give? And it is even moreso because of this "unjust" so-called war.

[Cambridge9]

Thank you for your service. I agree whole-heartedly with you. the brave souls who could not return to their loved ones should have greeted with the respect they had earned. Not in the dead of night. Even Joe Biden (then a Senator) complained that he was not allowed on base - in his home state of Delaware) to welcome them home.

I'm very confident that Jan 20 will bring so many good things.

[1differentdrummer]

It goes back as far as Korea. Think those vets were cared for? Think again.

I want to see an honor guard meet every casket and I want press access to them. This censorship is un-American.

[instagladiator]

Not to mention adequate medical care/attention for injured troops and (heaven forbid this happen) dignified and honorable receptions for those who loose their lives. Having served my 20+ years, with a stint in V.i.e.t.n.a.m., I have been a.p.p.a.l.l.e.d. by the lack of attention these lost souls, and their families, have received. What greater sacrifice can one give? And it is even moreso because of this "unjust" so-called w.a.r.

[roshni]

Given how the Bush administration has treated them, it can only get better. I think Obama genuinely cares about people and he is smarter.

[GoogleMaster]

I can hear it now (assuming the campaign was still going on) ..

PALIN: I don't understand how someone who pals around with terrorists and who Joe says is a Socialist can try and create a media photo-op for himself by showing up at a military base on a tropical island surrounded by warm sandy beaches and pretending to care about the troops of America when he's not really one of us. I don't understand Katie (smile)

[Marie62866]

Please ad that she smacks her lips when she is finished with a comment!

[JayHorus]

That is only because moose meat can be a bit greasy.

[NoMoreFreepers]

people who frequently engage in oral intercourse tend to move their mouths in that fashion

[mjb5406]

Obama visited the troops and Biden served the homeless... two amazing people that are going to rescue this great country of ours.

[instagladiator]

But hey! W just "HAS" to finish reading his My Pet Goat book before the end of the year and Chainey (sp intentional) is busy hunting people, or balancing his HalliB account?

[JulieSA]

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/22/bush-cheney-comforted-troops-privately/

"For much of the past seven years, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have waged a clandestine operation inside the White House. It has involved thousands of military personnel, private presidential letters and meetings that were kept off their public calendars or sometimes left the news media in the dark.

Their mission: to comfort the families of soldiers who died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to lift the spirits of those wounded in the service of their country."

It's nice what Obama and Biden did, too. Very admirable.