Obama Ditches Press Pool To Take Daughters To Aquatic Park

UPDATES:

More from the Obama press pool:

Dec. 26, 2008 Waimanalo, Hawaii Pool Report No. 5

President-elect Barack Obama arrived at Sea Life Park, a marine amusement
park in Waimanalo, about 12:10 p.m. He is apparently inside the park with
daughters Malia and Sasha. He left their Kailua vacation home without the
protective press pool.

Your pool arrived at the park about 1:10 p.m. and are holding outside the
park to await instructions on whether we will have access to the Obamas.

Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt issued the following statement to your pool:
"With no further scheduled events for the day, a lid was called until
further notice. The President-elect decided to take the girls to a water
park and we assembled the pool as quickly as possible."

The park is nestled along the shoreline in the sparsely populated and
scenic Waimanalo area, with soaring volcanic mountains nearby.

For the first time on his Hawaii vacation, it appears Obama gave the press pool that follows him the slip. From the Obama press pool report:

Dec. 26, 2008 Pool report No. 4 Kailua, Hawaii

President-elect Barack Obama left his vacation home with daughters Malia
and Sasha about 11:45 a.m. His motorcade left without the pool, the first
time he has done so on this Hawaiian vacation. Your pool, which had a lid,
was not informed in time and is now en route to the Kailua home to be swept
by Secret Service. Pool will attempt to meet up with the Obamas shortly.

The Obamas are apparently at Sea Life Park, a marine amusement park near
Waimanalo and Bellows Air Force Station.

Updates to come once the pool is taken to the park.

Comments

[jmbakewell]

The 'press pool' need to get real (IE. useful) jobs. What a pack of rabid low life. Leave the Obamas ALONE...not even privacy during the memorial for Barack's grandmother...PATHETIC bunch of morans.

[notthistime]

Amen to that jmbakewell.

co-signing on your comments

[weatherwaxx]

Let the Obama family have one last vacation in peace before they're dumped into the political cauldron.

How come the press didn't complain when Bushie went to the ranch in Texas to do whatever he did behind closed doors?

Barack Obama is the President-Elect. He's not a damned sideshow.

[rayboston]

What? A water park with no pool?

How self-contradictory.

[mesut]

I can't believe the article is date/time stamped. Seems whoever wrote it had nothing better to do. There are some seconds he or she may have missed what happened then? What a dumb article? I spent the Chrismas with family too like most people. How is that news?

[Riani]

BTW, was that tuna sandwich with or without mayonaise? Just so that I don't have to live in ignorance, you know.

[Riani]

You know, just around the time of the election, one blogger advised PE Obama to maintain his family values as president, and to not let the demands of the White House damage his relationship with his wife and daughters. But how is he supposed to do that when he can't take the girls for an ice cream, order a tuna sandwich on 12 grain bread, treat the girls to shaved ice, eat a spam sushi, or take the missus out for dinner without the whole world knowing about it? I sit in Dubai, the Gaza strip is burning, and today I learnt that Barack Obama ordered tuna on 12 grain bread!!!!! HELP! What is wrong with these journalists? "Do they know it's Christmas time at all?" Why is there a whole press pool following the man when he is not even president yet, and he is on holiday with his family? Go home! if something happens, he'll get someone on his staff to organise a press conference or just e-mail you all a press statement. Get a life!

[mesut]

Amen!!

[rayboston]

To be fair to them, Obama is in Hawaii.

I am in New England and would be happy to cover the President-Elect in Hawaii this winter.

So, if there are any openings in sunny Hawaii...

[barbara615]

FYI: Sea Life Park is not a water park, it's a marine animal park so there are no "swimming" pools, per se. Only pools in which guests can participate in dolphin encounters, or pools (or lagoons) in which the there are shows or demonstrations with the dolphins, whales, sea turtles or sea lions, etc.

[TLaw]

These cl0wns are treating President Obama like some sort of bl oo dy MOVIE STAR!

I've never seen or heard about any elected official being followed around like they were Michael Jackson! H ell, the paparazzi doesn't even follow him around much anymore! Gotta love the American Media ((NOT))

[SoCalAmerican]

I would have to agree. Its as shameless at the European paparazzi media in the UK or the ones involved in the high speed death of Princess Diana.

I can care less about the Press following him on his Holiday vacation just as long as the Secret Service goes with him.

[rayboston]

Am I missing some startling internet trendy by spelling my words with letters separated by spaces? Also, am I making a mistake by placing the periods at the ends of sentences rather than in the middle of words?

How did I get so out of touch?

[Riani]

I think some people are trying to write the way Sarah Palin talks.

[Rightone11]

You aren't the one out of touch. Good writing and communication skills NEVER go out of style.

[TLaw]

These clowns are treating President Obama like some sort of bl oo dy MOVIE STAR!

I've never seen or heard about any elected official being followed around like they were Michael Jackson! Hell, the paparazzi doesn't even follow him around much anymore! Gotta love the American Media ((NOT))

[Bluebell123]

This just gets more bizarre. An article about a story that never happened. And when is some kids playing in a water park a story anyway? Let's focus on the news, like the snakes "managing" the economy these past 8 years.

[letour]

This is a weird post. Who wrote it? It reads like a report from a rookie police investigator, maybe one still in police investigator school, following a suspect. It does not, by any stretch, contain any news. Writer: why not spend your spare time fact-checking or something that will make a future post, with news in it, worth reading?

[hortonhearsawho2]

Palin would have ditched her daughters and taken the press to the pool.

[2008CaliforniaFan]

'protective press pool'..?..This is like the term "military intelligence' I presume?

I'm glad... that THIS shows that he is smart enough to know what the 'priorities' are.
The press only gets the facts right 50% of the time anyway... or make up the story. Who needs the Prez for made-up stuff.
I'm just hoping this becomes a pattern or the norm. Congrats to you PE Obama.

[DesertKayaker]

"Press pool" is the new politically correct term for paparazzi.

[MossyOak]

"Vultures" is more accurate.

[hortonhearsawho2]

Spot on Dude.

[Kiabell04]

OOOOOooooo stop the presses, Obama ditches the blood-thirsty press to be a good dad! Come on, it's not like he did anything bad. You only get to see your kids grow up ONCE, you don't get a second chance.

[hortonhearsawho2]

Palin begs to differ...

[Anonani]

And then the lights went out...and we all went to bed!

[hortonhearsawho2]

not a creature was stirring...