Obama ends low-key vacation, preps for campaign
President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama wave before departing from Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu Jan. 2, 2012. / AP Photo
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will waste little time getting back in front of voters following a 10-day Hawaiian vacation spent largely out of the spotlight.
Air Force One landed just before daybreak in Washington on Tuesday morning after an overnight flight from the island of Oahu. The president is returning from vacation the same day Republican presidential candidates square off in the Iowa caucuses, the first nominating contest of the 2012 campaign.
Mr. Obama plans to make his presence in the campaign known quickly.
The president will host a live web chat with supporters in Iowa on Tuesday night as the caucuses are unfolding. The following day, Mr. Obama will travel to Cleveland for an event focused on the economy.
Obama to hold live web chat during Iowa caucuses
Mr. Obama aides said the president will seek to draw a contrast with his GOP challengers during Wednesday's trip to Ohio, a state sure to figure prominently in the presidential campaign.
Mr. Obama returns to Washington facing further debate on extending payroll tax cuts, the same issue that consumed Washington during the final days of December.
Congress broke through a stalemate just days before Christmas, agreeing to extend the cuts for two months. Lawmakers will get back to work later this month to negotiate a full-year extension of the cuts, which Obama supports.White House officials say the tax cut extension is the last "must-do" legislative item on Mr. Obama's agenda this year. His strategy for his fourth year in office will focus largely on taking executive actions that do not need approval from lawmakers as he seeks to break away from a deeply unpopular Congress.
The payroll tax cut debate almost prevented Mr. Obama from taking his annual Christmas trip to Hawaii. He delayed the trip nearly a week, finally departing on Dec. 23, just hours after Congress finalized the two-month extension.
The president, wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha stayed largely out of the public eye during their trip to Oahu, the island where Mr. Obama was born and mostly raised.
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The Obamas stayed in a multimillion-dollar oceanfront rental on Kailua Beach, near Honolulu, and surrounded themselves with a close-knit group of family and friends. That included Mr. Obama's sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, who lives on Oahu, and several of the president's childhood friends.
Mr. Obama's outing consisted largely of trips to the gym and golf course at Marine Corps Base Hawaii near his vacation rental. The first family also made a few outings around the island, including a snorkeling trip to popular Hanauma Bay and a stop for shave ice, a Hawaiian snow cone.
The president also took his family to the East-West Center, a research and exhibition center that is displaying the anthropological work of his late mother.
Aides say Mr. Obama spent a bit of time on vacation brainstorming ideas for his Jan. 24 State of the Union address, where he will lay out an agenda that also will serve as the basis for his campaign message. He also was briefed by a small cadre of traveling advisers on some of the international issues looming in 2012, including renewed threats from Iran and a request from Yemen's outgoing, autocratic president to come to the U.S. for medical treatment.
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Americans must not be distracted by Corporate Fascist Puppet Barack Obama saying "my Administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens" in his signing statement for the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (H.R.1540). Presidential "signing statements" are political propaganda with no Constitutional basis. A President who breaches a signing statement covenant faces no more consequences than any other corrupt politician who renegs on a promise. By signing NDAA and attempting to give its unconstitutional provisions the force of law, Barack Hussein Obama became complicit with all of the bought-and-paid-for U.S. Senators and Representatives who voted for this bill, and along with them should be charged with Seditious Conspiracy under U.S. Code Title 18 Part I Chapter 115 Section 2384. Unless and until these vermin are arrested, charged and removed from office, I will no longer consider the government they infest to be legitimate. Nor will I respect any ruling to the contrary from a judicial system that grants rights of citizenship to corporate entities that treat settlements and penalties for criminal conduct as costs of doing business with no concerns about incarceration or execution to deter their illegal, immoral or unethical conduct.
No more Left. No more Right. Time to Unite. Stand and Fight!
IronBoltBruce via VVV PR ( http://vvvpr.com | @vvvpr )
Look at Michelle's hair, what is that ?
She looks like a man. I think Barry likes that.
Obama has been campaigning for over a year.
Obama has all but destroyed America.
What planet are you from? Obama can't destroy this country, the Republicans would not allow him to do that. They can't work together. you need to wise up