Obama Says Goodbye To Former Life

Washington Post: President-Elect Who Thrived On Routine In Chicago Now Seeks Comfort In A City He Has Never Embraced

(Washington Post)  This story was written by Eli Saslow and Peter Slevin.

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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?

"Look, there are just certain things that he can't do anymore, or he can't do as easily, and that's going to be hard," said Marty Nesbitt, Obama's closest friend in Chicago. "The objective is to just make sure that things stay as similar to the way they used to be as they can. The same routines, the same conversations -- that's what he wants."

The Obamas have said they will personalize the White House by buying a dog and hosting sleepovers for their daughters. Friends expect them to occasionally spend time back in their Hyde Park home and take annual vacations to Hawaii. Inside the impermeable White House, Obama, by instinct an introvert, can read in the solarium or write in his office, alone and unbothered.

For almost five years now, Obama has lamented the way his public rise has infringed upon his personal space, calling it the most painful drawback of high-profile public service. During his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, he chafed when friends suggested it was no longer safe for him to run alone on the shore of Lake Michigan. He argued with aides a few years later when they assigned him a full-time driver, explaining that he preferred alone time in the car.

On the night of his election, Obama questioned whether it was necessary to speak to a crowd of 200,000 in Grant Park behind two panes of protective glass, agreeing to the arrangement only after staffers convinced him that it was. Although his staffers continued to party into the early hours, Obama was home before 2 a.m. He awoke by 8 the next morning, dressed in a sweat shirt and a baseball cap, and rode to the gym in a friend's apartment building for his regular morning workout.

"Like everybody else, he's got his routines," said Alexi Giannoulias, a friend who plays basketball with Obama. "There are some little things that make him enjoy life, and he's not just going to give all of that up."

Many things, though, Obama has relinquished. Only three times has he left home after dark since Election Day. He traveled with his wife to a friend's house to celebrate adviser Valerie Jarrett's 52nd birthday. One night, the couple went to dinner at Spiaggia's, a stylish and expensive Italian restaurant where the Obamas traditionally celebrate Valentine's Day over a quiet meal. This time, Secret Service agents guarded the perimeter and a crowd gathered and snapped pictures of the Obamas on their way back to the motorcade. And on Saturday night, he went to parties at the homes of Nesbitt and Penny Pritzker. He played basketball with friends Sunday afternoon in Hyde Park.

Obama's typical day as president-elect follows a routine that is necessarily spare: breakfast at home with his daughters, a trip to the apartment-building gym, six or seven hours at his downtown transition office and the evening at home. He usually enters buildings through underground parking garages and almost never ventures outside.

Gone are the trips to his cacophonous Hyde Park barbershop to see the man who has cut his hair for 15 years; now his barber, Zariff, comes to him. Gone are lunches at Medici, where servers still wear T-shirts that read "Obama Eats Here." Now, if anything, Obama carries in, although on Friday he allowed himself a rare liberty: a trip to Manny's Coffee Shop and Deli. "I'm just glad to be out," he said.

"There's still some things we're not adjusted to," Obama told "60 Minutes" during his only extended interview since he was elected. "You know, the small routines of life that keep you connected, I think some of those are being lost. One of the challenges I think that we're going to be wrestling with is how to stay pretty normal."

[cheteunice]

Obama is always talking down to people whenever he speaks publically.

[cheteunice]

hatesthecolt, And who often stutters as he starts to answers questions!

[hatesthecolt]

Hey ChloeMont; do the folks at the rehab center know you have access to the internet?

[lalabradle]

Scroll back to the top and take a look at Obama. What an embarrassment to the United States of America. SHAME


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Posted by mr22587 at 04:17 AM : Nov 25, 2008
+ report abuse

The embarrassment is on his way out. What''s really embarrassing is the mentality of the Republican party. Now we know why racism has never changed. We had a totally racist party running this country for years. They should change the name to the redneck party.

[cheteunice]

kershaw_31, Wait to see if the tax cuts ever arrive.

[cheteunice]

Poor thing--should have realized that these changes were coming ahead of time!

[hatesthecolt]

kershaw31, you hit the nail on the head; these are stupid uneducated anti-intellectuals... the exact kind of ignorant Neanderthals that Sarah Palin appeals to. They have been raised to beleive that "real Americans" don''t get an education and that Joe Six Pack should be America''s hero. This is what has been leading our nation for the last 8 years; is it any wonder we have no respect in the international community?

There''s a great piece out there somewhere on the web that celebrates the joy of having a President Elect that can speak in full sentences (even if it scares the redneck republican community to death). Hooray for 4 years of a President I can encourage my kids to emulate!

[job08]

Rowdydfw and ChloeMont
You two are morons and the most disgusting cowards and pathetic liars, hiding yourself and sending such a hateful racist poisonous propaganda against the brilliant man of his generation who is elected by the American people to lead this country. For whatever your hatred message, you don%u2019t have a single evidence except your deep buried loathes in your soul. It is a precarious sickness that you may need to look for a help. Do not waste time go and seek a help. You need it badly.

[brightfame53]

Before the electors vote in December, it would be a good idea to verify that Sen. Obama is a "natural born citizen" of the United States who is Constitutionally eligible to serve as President. There are plenty of reasons to doubt that this is true. Don''t expect to see this story anytime soon at cbsnews.com, but you can find extensive coverage of it at WorldNetDaily.com. While you''re there, sign the petition!

[chloemontague]

Ummmmmmmmn is he also saying GOODBYE to his underground evil racist communist terrorist friends? And what about this....
Larry Sinclair held a meeting at the National Press Club to address his alleged gay relationship with Barack Obama, and answer questions from the Press.

Larry Sinclair stated to the press that he and Barak Obama had gay *** while Obama smoked crack, not once but twice. Once in a limo and the next day in a hotel room. Sinclair stated that the murdered Donald Young, Obamas churches gay choir master told him, by phone, he also had *** with Barack Obama, before Young was MURDERED in December 2007!!!

watch it here

Barack Obama %u2014 Larry Sinclair Press conference Pt 1
(Part 2 gets right to it .. & 3 also)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lrf8DbrJH0

Then watching this video by the infamous Pastor Manning makes sense.... www.youtube.com/watch?v=88V3F6_iUus

OBAMA *** & CRACK & MURDER - EXPOSED why was this not in the press?

[chloemontague]

KENYAN AMBASSADOR Paul Ogego Admits Obama was Born In kenya

LISTEN TO OUR CALLS TO THE KENYAN EMBASSY ABOUT BARACK OBAMA!

November 21, 2008

We recently called the Kenyan Embassy and learned some pretty interesting things about our President elect, Barack Obama.

From Mike In The Morning radio show, it goes for just 19mins%u2026 quite entertaining. Obama is so reveled that Kenya had a Public Holiday!

tinyurl.com/69zlcp

[kershaw_31]

obama said he was going to lower the taxes for middle class and raise the taxes for the rich and now he is backing down from that promise

Posted by agidoi

Do you idiots really like looking stupid to the rest of us by twisting words? It has been reported that he is thinking about just allowing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire when they are supposed to which is in 2011 instead of just ending them when he gets in office in January. He is still going to give targeted tax-breaks to the middle class. If you nutty loons will watch something besides Fox Noise or read a newspaper sometime, you might be a little enlightened.

[kershaw_31]

Neocons hate the educated. Now I understand why they only like dumb candidates. LOL

[kershaw_31]

The bottom feeding gooberheads fell for the HOPE and CHANGE ***** AGAIN!
It''''s HILARIOUS!

Posted by Rowdydfw

Need I say anymore? Poor, stupid, out-of-touch neocons.

[kershaw_31]

I have concluded that the neocons are too dumb and stupid to know that they are on the outside looking in. They seem to think we are stupid because we elected a man (who is brillant to most of the world) and they say we have made a terrible mistake in electing him. I guess they think GW Bush has been great these last 8 years. They are the 12% of the electorate who think the country is on the right track. I guess when you are delusional, you can make sense of anything.

[hatesthecolt]

The bottom feeding gooberheads fell for the HOPE and CHANGE ***** AGAIN!

It''''''''s HILARIOUS!

Posted by Rowdydfw at 10:13 AM : Nov 25, 20

Oh and in addition to the morons and we also have our redneck texas flatlanders who just can''t live with the fact that educated people are now in chargte of the country (and can''t spell educated). You know your a texan if you consider a six-pack and a bug-zapper high-quality entertainment.

[hatesthecolt]

No, 57 million scumbags voted for Barry along with a pack of cigs. Even if we got out of the way, you morons would still be walking off cliffs.


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Posted by Kimcon22000

I see the idiot brigade is out in force this morning. Let''s play How dumb is the Neocon:
The Neocon is so dumb ... it took her an hour to make minute rice.

[agidoi]

i think we should get rid of both parties and start a new one

[agidoi]

obama said he was going to lower the taxes for middle class and raise the taxes for the rich and now he is backing down from that promise

[kershaw_31]

No, 57 million scumbags voted for Barry along with a pack of cigs. Even if we got out of the way, you morons would still be walking off cliffs.

Posted by Kimcon22000

It is quite amazing when someone who supported the GOP ticket has the audacity to call someone a moron. The GOP faithful are the only morons that I have seen in my 30 years on this earth. It is quite funny to read how you nutty loons try to put people down when it is obvious that you are delusional and brain-challenged. A comical sight!