Voter Political Blog

President-elect Barack Obama spent a private Christmas Day with family and close friends, continuing a vacation that has been remarkable for how low-key he and aides have kept it.

Obama, wife Michelle and their two young daughters opened presents at their rented vacation home and planned a dinner of turkey and ham, according to aides. He planned no public events, and aides said they did not expect to release any further 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.

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?”

It 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.

Source: http://latestobamanews.com/2008/12/25/obamas-keep-low-profile-on-christmas-in-hawaii/

So far, four out of five Americans support President-Elect Barack Obama and his transition team, meaning the scandal in Illinois is having little to no effect on Obama’s popularity. Eighty-two percent of those questioned in a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Wednesday morning approve of the way the Obama is handling his presidential transition. That’s up 3 points from when we asked this question at the beginning of December. Fifteen percent of those surveyed disapprove of the way Obama’s handling his transition, down 3 points from our last poll.

Source: http://www.nicksloan.com/2008/12/82.html

President-elect Barack Obama, wishing the nation a happy, yet sober New Year, honored the service of the U.S. military and asked Americans to help pull the country out of recession.

Obama, 47, in his weekly radio address, also said the holiday season should be a time to “renew a sense of common purpose and shared citizenship,” which will be a guiding principle of his administration.

“As we count the higher blessings of faith and family, we know that millions of Americans don’t have a job, many more are struggling to pay the bills or stay in their homes,” Obama said in the radio address, scheduled for broadcast Dec. 27 at 11:06 a.m. New York time.

Now, we must all do our part to serve one another; to seek new ideas and new innovation; and to start a new chapter for our great country,â€

Americans are celebrating the holidays during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. A Commerce Department report yesterday showed the economy shrank in the third quarter at a 0.5 percent annual pace, after a growth rate of 2.8 percent in the previous quarter. Jobless claims rose to a 26-year high, according to a Commerce Department report today, signaling that consumer spending will keep sliding into 2009.

Employers cut 533,000 workers from payrolls in November, the most in three decades, and the unemployment rate jumped to 6.7 percent, the highest level since 1993.

First Priority

Obama has said his first priority as president is an economic recovery plan with goals of job creation and planning for the future with investments in infrastructure and health care. He has asked his economic advisers to draft a proposal, designed to create or save 3 million jobs over two years, by the time he returns from his Hawaii vacation on Jan. 2.

“If the American people come together and put their shoulder to the wheel of history, then I know that we can put our people back to work and point our country in a new direction,” Obama said. “That is how we will see ourselves through this time of crisis and reach the promise of a brighter day.”

Obama also asked Americans to keep the country’s troops, including the 143,000 in Iraq and 31,000 in Afghanistan, and military families in their thoughts and prayers to offer “full support in the weeks and months to come.”

“Many troops are serving their second, third or even fourth tour of duty,” Obama said. “This holiday season, their families celebrate with a joy that is muted knowing that a loved one is absent and sometimes in danger.”

Vacation in Hawaii

Obama, on a 12-day vacation with family and friends, began Christmas Eve with a workout at a Marine Corps Base at Kaneohe Bay on the island of Oahu. Obama greeted a crowd of about 60 people gathered in the parking lot.

Obama wished the group “Mele Kalikimaka,” Hawaiian for “Merry Christmas,” and asked the children in the crowd if they had their Christmas lists ready. He played golf later in the day.

Yesterday Obama honored his maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who died at age 86 on the eve of last month’s presidential election after a battle with cancer. Obama and his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, scattered Dunham’s ashes in the ocean following a memorial service.

Source: http://latestobamanews.com/2008/12/25/obama-honors-military-asks-americans-to-help-economy/

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Christmas came a few hours early for two dozen White House officials and supporters Wednesday, who were appointed to three- to six-year positions on government committees and councils.

The full list released by the White House – which includes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Karl Rove deputy Israel Hernandez – after the jump.
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Personnel Announcement

President George W. Bush today announced his intention to appoint 24 individuals to serve in his Administration.

The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, for terms of four years:

–Carol Ann Bartz, of California;

–Maria Cino, of Virginia;

–Israel Hernandez, of Texas.

The President intends to appoint Jennifer E. Sims, of Virginia, to be a Member of the Public Interest Declassification Board for the remainder of a three-year term expiring 10/03/11.

The President intends to appoint Mark Sanford, of South Carolina, (Governor), to be a Member of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, for the remainder of a four-year term expiring 06/10/09.

The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee:

–Kevin R. Johnson, of Washington;

–Kay Sears, of Virginia.

The President intends to appoint John M. Hart, of Maryland, to be a Member of the National Capital Planning Commission, for a six-year term beginning 01/02/09.

The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Commissioners of the United States Section of the United States-Russia Polar Bear Commission, for an initial term of four years:

–Geoffrey L. Haskett, of Alaska, (Federal Representative);

–Charles J. Johnson, of Alaska, (Alaska Representative).

The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, for six-year terms expiring 10/23/14:

–Sander R. Gerber, of New York, to be Vice Chair;

–Charles E. Cobb, of Florida, (Public);

–Carlos M. Gutierrez, of Michigan;

–Barry Jackson, of Ohio.

The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the Federal Service Impasses Panel, for five-year terms expiring 01/10/14:

–Barbara Bruin, of New Mexico;

–Mark A. Carter, of West Virginia;

–Grace Flores Hughes, of Virginia.

The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts:

–Nancy Goodman Brinker, of Florida, for the remainder of a six-year term expiring 09/01/14;

–Condoleezza Rice, of California, for the remainder of a six-year term expiring 09/01/14;

–Leonard Sands, of California, for the remainder of a six-year term expiring 09/01/13.

The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board:

–Jean Loretta Becker, of Texas, for a three-year term expiring 09/22/11;

–Gary R. Edson, of Illinois, for a three-year term 09/22/11;

–Anita B. McBride, of Connecticut, for the remainder of a three-year term expiring 09/22/11;

–James L. Oblinger, of North Carolina, for a three-year term expiring 09/22/11.

Source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/12/25/bush-announces-new-appointments-for-24-aides-and-supporters/