In the history of mankind, many republics have risen, have flourished for a less or greater time, and then have fallen because their citizens lost the power of governing themselves and thereby of governing their state. TR

Wh3

Obama Lands in Hawaii

President Obama and his family arrived just after midnight local time for their annual vacation in Hawaii, according to the Associated Press.

The Obamas immediately departed Air Force One and headed for their vacation home on Oahu. The president has indicated that at least he will return to Washington this week after Christmas.

108 thoughts on “Obama Lands in Hawaii”

          1. I was just so worried that he and Michelle wouldn’t get their much-needed luxury vacation. Time to spend with the family, and the retinue of friends they always take.

            In contrast, my husband and I (and kids) will have ONE day together. The 24th. At home.

            But I look forward to hearing about what a fabulous time they’ll be having.

          2. And just to clear this up – since it’s come up a few times here – my name is “Carin” with an unusual pronunciation – thus the gap in my screen name.

            Female. Car-in.

  1. I can hardly wait for all the pics of him playing golf with his criminal friend, the family eating shave ice, and the obligatory pics of Obama and Mooch out in their swim suits showing body parts we don’t want to see. I wonder if they flew the dog out on a separate plane this time?

    1. I thought the dog wasn’t allowed due to quarantine issues? Bo took his own flight out to Martha’s Vineyard, but I think for Christmas he’s stuck in DC with his $100,000 dog- walker.

      I hope the projectionist is still on duty. Bo may want to watch a movie.

          1. Bo can go with them and pass through on the Quick quarantine program the islands have now. Plus, he’s presidential now so he too can ignore laws.

      1. I thought the dog wasn’t allowed due to quarantine issues?

        Rules don’t apply to the Obamas. We have been under a state of lawlessness for the past four years.

  2. Well, the wife finally showed up! Seems that she has been in town all along but couldn’t find time to atend the Newtown Memorial, Hawaii’s Sen. Inouye’s funeral service, or visit the wounded vets at Walter Reed. Hope it rains every day!

    Photos
    http://theobamadiary.com/

      1. What could be more narcissistic than the likes of you believing anyone outside your circle jerk peanut gallery here caring what you think? Weasel zippers, jeez.

        1. That Alinsky crap don’t work around here sonny boy…or girl…or eunuch. Buzz off and go light the candles at your shrine of the cult of personality.

      2. Thanks for that link, Susan. I refused to watch/listen yesterday and only heard that one line this morning on TV. That line alone made me say, “What a narcissist!”:

        “….and the way he commanded the respect of an entire nation I think it hinted to me what might be possible in my own life.”

        Now I see that was near the end of his remarks. I followed the WZ link to the Weekly Standard article and holy crap, this guy is unbelievable! He went on and on and on about HIS life, his childhood stories. Yeah, some eulogy.

        Me, me, me:

        http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-uses-funeral-service-talk-about-himself_690960.html

    1. I have been wondering where Michelle has been since last week (re: Obama flying into CT for the Memorial and Inouye’s Service) BUT everytime I ask I’m called a “RACIST!” for asking what that uppity, so-called “Flotus” does.

  3. What a charming place …… staffed 24/7 by the military already there serving other purposes.

    http://aboutcampdavid.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-at-camp-david.html

    But I think it’s for families who like each other. You guys do know that the Obama’s didn’t make Hawaii their “traditional” annual Christmas vacation until after he was elected?

    Let’s have a new rule for future Presidents, and this is because I have no problems with any of them going home for the holidays or vacations. We, the taxpayers, will happily pay their expenses to their official home of residence on the day they were elected. Any mileage over that will be billed to the First Family.

    I don’t recall in my lifetime having a President throw his security and staff under the bus for the holidays. They either go “home” or stay at Camp David to give them time with their families on Christmas Day.

      1. LOL, I’ve been whining about the Obama Hawaiian Christmas Vacation ever since 2008. The media keeps calling it their annual tradition, but only since his first election. I can’t find any info where they spent time with Grandma during the holidays when she was alive. No photos with her and the great-grandbabies which should be treasured family keepsakes ?

          1. How about Saint Ronnie’s case just to name one of many, just about all, modern day Presidents who spent Xmas away from the WH. Some on the WH detail draw the short straw and go to David, are you kidding me, and why don’t YOU check google maps to see it’s not an easy commute back to DC after a shift. And I’ll bet those 77 trips to Crawford were fun fun fun, especially in Summer.

        1. The Bush families and Reagans had SS protection when they were at Camp David or at their own homes. The difference is that the SS is already set up at these locations, having to provide protection for POTUS and family year round.

          However, when your principle (ie POTUS in this case) travels to an area that is not normally secured, such as their personal home or a place like C.D., you have to send a flotilla of advance teams, set up comms, lock down the travel route and immediate areas, and basically disrupt everyone’s life for the extent of the stay. That is why it is easier, and more cost efficient to have your principle go to an area that is already set up, and secured. These trips to Hawaii are not only an excessive cost to the taxpayer, but a logistical nightmare for the SS, local LEOs, and the community.

          1. Again, 77 or is 78 trips to Crawford for Bush. All the logistical complications you cite, check check check, hassles for locals, for all Obama’s predecessors. Obama has always stayed in the same immediate locale on the beach at Kailua. The ocean is your friend in terms of securing most of the property and a Marine base is very close at hand. By the way did you know Obama put his feet up on the presidential desk unlike any other President except all his predecessors?

          2. The ocean maybe your friend, as you put it, in securing a portion of the property, but how do you think it is secured? It is secured by USCG and USN ships that have to beef up patrols to the area, an additional cost.

            As to Crawford TX, the property was Bush’s, and already established as a vacation area, having all the comm systems in place, along with a contingent of SS that were assigned to the ranch. The disruption to the local community was minimal, as once GWB was secured, he did not venture out that often for things like bike rides or looking for shaved ice. He worked his ranch, and spent time with family and others from the area, people he knew intimately.

            Regarding MCBH, what the hell do you expect the Marines to do in the event of an attack on POTUS. By law they cannot respond to a civilian situation, Posse Comitatus, and would have to stand down unless ordered by POTUS to respond. Just the presence of the Corps being there is not enough to keep a would be assassin from attempting a hit on POTUS.

            Your logic is flawed, and shows no understanding of the logistical and tactical disadvantage having your principle place him/herself in a questionably controllable situation. Having worked for a number of years dealing with various government executives at different levels of government, and providing for their personal safety, I know the nightmare that comes from having a principle that does things the way s/he wants.

            The overriding idea is to protect your principle at all costs, and Obama et al traveling to areas that are not within the norm of protection protocols (ie personal home, C.D., etc.) adds to that cost.

            BTW – I never said anything about the desk, so I don’t know where that came from.

          3. Nobody is talking impeachment. We are talking about the extra cost of providing a secured enviro for POTUS, one that does not cost the taxpayers massive amounts of extra dollars.

            The problem with the left or Obama supporters is that whenever you are presented with logic and reasonable arguments you engage in reductio ad absurdum. Everything is take to an “Nth” degree with his cheerleaders, and any argument is brought back to “Bush did ‘X'” or “Reagan did ‘Z'”. The fact that you cannot engage in a legitimate exchange of ideas or philosophy demonstrates the incompleteness of your train of thought.

            Please stop trying to redirect the dialogue into something that was not even discussed at the beginning. Thanks.

          4. So you don’t like me harking back to you heroes Bush and Reagan who almost certainly cost more in real dollars for their travel and protection? On what basis then can anyone judge Obama’s expenses to the taxpayer except by comparison to his predecessors? Thus my quip about the fake outrage over Obama’s feet on the Resolute desk, same damn thing.

          5. @Anonymous

            Cite your source on Bush and Reagan costing more, bub. If they had cost 1.4 billion dollars in one year–or anywhere close to it, inflation or not–then the press would have crucified them, and you damn well know it. That didn’t happen, so they must not have been TOO extravagant, yeah?

            So show us your data, using official government websites only. You know the internet phrase “Pics or it didn’t happen”? Well, Evidence or it didn’t happen. And your evidence had better be official.

            As for Reagan, you’re also going to have to allow for all the summits he did–winning the Cold War took more than a couple of hops–compared to all of Obama’s strictly recreational travel.

            The larger issue is not how many miles were traveled, or where, or at what cost. It is the nature of that travel. Obama has undeniably racked up the vacation miles to all manner of exotic destinations; more, he has done so while average Americans are losing sight of the American Dream. And if you say “Bush went to Texas” one more time, we’re all just going to have to write you off as just one more uniformed partisan hack unworthy of any serious consideration. Crawford isn’t Martha’s Vineyard, or Oahu, or the Spanish Riviera, or Mount Desert Island, or Panama City, or Vail, or South Africa, or Aspen.

            Perspective check: Jimmy Carter may have been an economic disaster, but he at least had the common decency to not stick the taxpayers with a Hawaiian junket every Christmas.

            I don’t begrudge the man a few days off over the holidays. Really, I don’t. But I DO resent that he’s flying a quarter of the way around the world, at taxpayer expense, to do it.

          6. Let’s concede that perhaps POTUS could use some down time over the holidays.

            (Never mind all the red arrows on Wall Street with the fiscal cliff a week away. Details, details.)

            Why, exactly, does this president have to pick the most luxurious destination possible in the entire country? If he wanted sun and sand on the mainland, there’s plenty of that in Florida. But NO, he’s got to jet off to Hawaii, a distance of 4,831 miles (DC to Honolulu). The man could literally spend Christmas in Paris and be almost 1,000 miles closer to DC. Look it up.

            And it doesn’t get more upper-crust than Hawaii. If Obama wanted to spend the holidays in a location that were one iota more swank, he’d have to go to to the Caribbean.

            Bush went to Crawford to do work around his ranch; Obama goes to Hawaii to sun it up, hit the links, body surf, and generally live like a king. Even if we concede on the number of trips there–nice trick, by the way comparing two terms’ worth of visits to one–you have to admit that going to a ranch in Crawford, Texas, is miles away (literally and figuratively) from sunning it up on the beach in Oahu. And given the volatile situation at home, this is exactly the wrong time for Obama to escape to paradise and take the phone off the hook (which he will).

            Meanwhile, We The People are looking at having a whole lot less money in our paychecks in the New Year. Many of us couldn’t afford Hawaii right now if we wanted to, and there are a lot of us that resent that our tax dollars are going to pay for King Barry the First to sun it up in paradise. And given the blizzard that just rampaged from Colorado to Michigan, there may be some taxpayers that take particular umbrage.

            Is your need to defend the indefensible for partisan reasons completely blinding you to the reality of the larger situation?

          7. Bush didn’t work at his ranch, he photo-opped clearing brush. Same with Reagan chopping wood in Santa Barbara but at least he rode a horse. And sorry, the 8 trips Obama will have made to Hawaii as President (happy now?) will never exceed nearly 80 to Crawford in expense. By the way, you do know Hawaii is a state, don’t you, has been since 1959, that Obama was born and largely raised there, his only sibling and her family, many friends there?

          8. Hawaii is a state, yes, but it’s not the mainland. It’s six time zones away from Washington. Flying six time zones east from Washington would put you in central Europe. As I said, there’s plenty of sun and sand in Florida, but Obama has to jet a quarter of the way around the world every Christmas.

            And it’s a nice trick you’re using, comparing two terms of Bush visiting Texas to Obama’s one term so far. He’s going to visit Martha’s Vineyard another four times, and since he doesn’t have to worry about the fallout, I’d bet he REALLY starts racking up the frequent flier miles now.

            So come back here in another four years, and another twenty-plus Obama vacations, and we’ll have this discussion again.

          9. Why is it that Obama in his adult life never spent a single Christmas in Hawaii UNTIL as President he could make the US taxpayers foot the bill?

          10. In reply to your prior post your 1.4 billion dollar re Obama is utter BS like the $200 million per day trip to India. I’m not going to waste more time dealing with a liar.

          11. Baloney, the Reagan ranch is rural in no sense remote. There is one main highway 154 that serves everyone in the Santa Ynez Valley including fellow former neighbor Michael Jackson. The residents would have been just as inconvenienced as those in Kailua, a smallish town by Presidential comings and goings. Keep looking for that Romney Tsunami, Denise.

          12. Since you seem like an ‘expert’ Team Obama blogger/”troll” may I ask: Is it a slow weekend (Holiday season) at Team Obama Propaganda HQ that you have to “trol”l on this fine website?

    1. going home for them would be Chicago?? Not exactly where I would want to go, and I am sure the Secret Service are happy also. Talk about headaches (no matter how much Rahm says it’s safe). To me, Chicago home is just a address now.

        1. Exactly! They have been seduced with luxurious travels, 5 Star accommodations, wine, women and song. Obama knew exactly what he was doing. After 8 years in desolate Crawfored, the WH press corps was raring to go.

          1. Seriously comparing Crawford the Reagan ranch to Hawaii is
            laughable on its face. Might as well throw in Kennebunkport too.
            Crawford paid for by GW Bush, Reagan paid for his home in CA
            Bush family home in Kennebunkport was an inherited family home.
            Now I have been to Hawaii twice R&R during the Vietnam war home and again in 1984 and it is very costly and the Obama’s
            rental is more costly than a five star hotel anywhere in the world.
            Lastly having been lectured to about ‘leveling the playing field’ till
            I’m sick I ask how does this make for a fine example going to vacation in a place only the dreaded 2% could afford.

  4. Well I for one wish them happiness and joy for the season holidays regardless of which holidays thay might choose. Hopefully they will have beautiful weather with plenty of time for body surfing on the north shore. Say, when is “Shark Week” anyway?

      1. Yes, they have done that before. Because they can’t watch any newly released movies at anytime back in the WH /sarc.

        I think I read somewhere the WH does get advance copies of movies before the public ?

  5. I gave this tool 1 slim chance for once to be a better man, forgo his vacation and stick it out here, but with the Middle East in Flames, our country ripped apart after his class warfare crap, and our government on the verge of imploding, he walked away.He just magically thinks they are going to fix this on Thursday and Friday next week? cmon..( I do realize that a chunk of the population is apparently too stupid to be let out of the house, but its obvious his supporters are only worried about themselves and what free shit they can get while on the ride.)It is absolutely disgusting.

    1. maybe Santa can trip him up in the ocean and he can step on a piece of nasty coral that rips his foot up leading to months of pain, a walker and or a wheel chair,so the lazy sob is stuck in his office and just MIGHT be forced to do some work for a change, it would at least keep him off the golf course.
      I have zero respect for a man who has zero respect for the people or the very office he holds.. to me he is nothing but a fraud, and with his new cabinet will capitulate to the mullahs in 2013.

  6. Rats! You’re not doing headlines this weekend, and there’s a humdinger on the NYT this morning. The headline is In Taxes, Guns and State Dept. Pick, Gridlock Grips Capital. Then a little text: A political opposition that is still bitter about President Obama’s victory remains unwilling to compromise on social policy, economics or foreign affairs, severely constraining his powers.

    Anyone see anything wrong with this? Is the NYT aware that the Constitution provides for a system of checks and balances and separation of powers?

      1. “The Gray Lady dons a white sheet and hood.” ~ Herman Cain

        The left thought they destroyed this good man, and he has turned out to be a bigger thorn in their side than he ever was before.

    1. It’s all about HIM!

      “At some point there’s got to be I think a recognition on the part of my Republican friends that, you know, take the deal,” the president said, pointing to polling that shows that Americans agree with his position. “You know, they will be able to claim that they have worked with me over the last two years to reduce the deficit more than any other deficit reduction package; that we will have stabilized it for 10 years. That is a significant achievement for them. They should be proud of it. But they keep on finding ways to say no as opposed to finding ways to say yes.”

      Obama on GOP: It is very hard for them to say yes to me
      .
      “And I don’t know how much of that just has to do with, you know, it is very hard for them to say yes to me,” he continued. “But, you know, at some point, you know, they’ve got to take me out of it and think about their voters and think about what’s best for the country.”

          1. Obama on GOP: It is very hard for them to say yes to me

            Or tweak it the way a leader would say it–it’s very hard for them to take an idea I throw out, add to it, suggest something, and come to something we can both live with.

    2. Who says we can’t do our own headlines ? Maybe the WHPC can read-a-long with us and learn a few things … like how there’s other news out there without Obama’s slobber on it ? SQUIRREL !

  7. Sorry if this has already been posted here this week, as I’m way behind in reading comments. Did you all see this a few days ago:

    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-hadro/2012/12/19/nbc-fawns-over-white-house-christmas-ignores-cost-obama-vacation-taxpaye

    NBC Fawns Over ‘White House Christmas,’ But Ignores Cost of Obama Vacation to Taxpayers

    Missing from NBC’s rosy Wednesday interview of Michelle Obama is her family vacation’s cost to taxpayers. Reports are that the taxpayer bill for the Hawaii vacation will top $4 million.

    “Come Christmas the First Family, Bo included, will head some 5,000 miles away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” Today contributing correspondent Jenna Bush Hager said during NBC’s “A White House Christmas” segment. “After an exciting but exhausting election season, the Obamas are happy to take this time to be together and enjoy the simple pleasures of family.”

    Hager asked the First Lady about the family’s “talent show” and the Christmas meal, but made no mention of the Hawaii trip’s cost to taxpayers.

    The Hawaii Reporter estimated the cost of a 20 day round-trip vacation to be over $4 million. Travel alone would be over $3.6 million, with additional costs for security.

    The whole transcript is worth a read. Moochelle O in all her nauseating, phony glory.

    But THIS really struck me:

    HAGER: (voice-over) Come Christmas the first family, Bo included, will head some 5,000 miles away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

    (On camera) You spend the holidays in Hawaii.

    OBAMA: Yeah. Every year we leave after all of the holiday festivities and when the girls are finished with school, and we go out there. That’s a big tradition. That tends to be our gift to each other. The President and I, we don’t exchange gifts. We say we’re in Hawaii. Merry Christmas. But we also like to do crazy stuff. We do a talent show. Everyone has to participate. The moms and dads. Whether it’s singing or reading a poem. The kids will construct a play of some sort.

    REALLY? This trip to Hawaii is the O’s gift to each other? WTH??? WE pay at least $4 million for this trip, probably much more, especially if Obummer flies back for a photo opp next week to appear as if he’ actually doing something when Congress is back in DC.

    What a joke! As if the O’s ever skipped Christmas gifts to each other before the White House years and instead treated the family to a two plus week vacation in Hawaii. Sure. That trip is OUR Christmas gift to them, as involuntary and expensive as it may be.

    By the way, read the entire transcript and see nary a mention by Mooch of all the volunteers and WH staffers who work so hard to get everything ready and beautiful for Christmas. However, I did see that in discussing the video clip of her Mooch interview Jenna Bush mentioned the volunteers who decorate the WH, and she also remarked how nice it was to be back at the WH and see staffers she has known since she was a young child. She actually said that seeing them again was truly the most special part of her visit back to the WH (for the interview). Ha, take that Mooch.

    1. Yep, he sure keeps Christmas in his heart, doesn’t he? No church, no gift exchange with the fam, nothing.

      http://catholicexchange.com/obamas-want-to-neuter-christmas/

      Just crazy Michelle Antonette spending the people’s money on 52 “Christmas” trees that they’re never there to see anyway, and a 300 pound Gingerbread White House with accurate decorations in each room – and electrical wiring!

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/30/white-house-gingerbread_n_2219799.html

      He DOES seem to enjoy those private Ramadan dinners, though. That much might have some reality for him (long as we keep it on the Sunni side, eh?). Everything else is just show.

      Remember his Hanukkah celebration? He starts out by conflating it with his “triumph” of “Hurricane” Sandy management (side note: notice how, when it’s about Obama it’s a “Hurricane”, but when it’s about who pays the bills, Democrats insist NOAA call it a “Superstorm” just to scr@w the insurance companies [which raises everyone else’s premiums]? http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/267261-schumer-presses-weather-agency-to-keep-sandy-a-storm). This is followed by a complete lie about America’s “Unshakable” support for Israel (Ask Prime Minister Netanyahu if HE feels the love on that!).

      Given Obama’s treatment of Israel, both in how he’s handled Bibi Netanyahu and in the treatment of Israel on the world stage, I would expect Obama to be as welcome as a ham and cheese sandwich at a Hanukkah celebration.

      I particuraly like this one;

      “‘To this day Jews around the world honor the Maccabees everlasting hope that light will overcome the darkness, that goodness will overcome evil and that faith can accomplish miracles,’ the president said.” – Obama

      I am not a Jewish historian, but I have some familiarity with the text. Enough, anyway, to know that Judah Macabee always glorified God – not himself – after every victory. Mr. Obama, can you say the same?
      (crickets)

      And, Mr. Obama, you’d better hope goodness DOESN’T overcome evil, if you want your second term agenda to suceed, Just another proof of your cynicism, I suppose…

      By the way, you’re celebrated return to whup up some more on Boehner happens to be the first day of Kwanzaa.

      http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/kwanzaa

      Does Obama think no one celebrates Kwanzaa in either house of Congress? Is there no limit to this man’s religious bigotry?

      I understand he cares nothing for White traditions, but THIS is for people who look like him EXCLUSIVELY!!! And, it has Islamic overtones he could really groove on! Wait, I know, the problem is that it doesn’t glorify the One, True Obama. Sorry, I forgot where his priorites are…

      No, I wouldn’t worry about the “Fiscal Cliff” ruining Obama’s Christmas. Not only is Christmas not really his “thing”, but Boehner will have PLENTY of presents for him when he gets back, whatever his beliefs.

      For Obama, there’s ALWAYS plenty of “ME!” under the tree, wherever he may be. As long as he can force others to bow to his glorious self, what need of Christ has he?

    2. Another thing Jenna mentioned in the interview was that the volunteers decorated 13 Christmas trees in 13 rooms. Not the Mooch – 50 trees! Everything with the Obamas has to be excessive and ostentatious – typical of the nouveau riche. No class. I bet they never even had a Christmas tree in Chicago lest it would offend their athiest friends.

    3. Thanks, SnarkEsq. Haven’t seen or read about this interview as I’ve been trying to avoid the saccharin platitudes from this evil wench. Not surprised that she takes the credit for all the work done by others. Then she has the nerve to give herself the title of “hostess-in-chief”…probably how she justifies spending boatloads of our money on her ugly self.

    4. Growing up I remember the White House Christmas & Holidays were a big deal.
      Ever since Obama took over, the Washington DC Christmas & Holidays just do not have the same honest feel. It feels like Obama & family just use them to glorify themselves and skip over any true meaning of the Season.

        1. See my comment below Keith, that wasn’t intended to flame anon for using the N-word, just experience from playing on his team for too darn long. I’m a former “hater”, I know how to play the game ;)

  8. The bottom line is the love affair with the Obamas is that people believe they are the coming of a second Camelot. Pretty hard to believe that they are put in the same category as JFK. Obama wouldn’t be allowed to polish JFK’s shoes if he were still alive.

    1. I’m old enough to remember the Kennedy family, they were a classy and beautiful family inside and out, until the tell-all books came out and squished that illusion. Still, while in office, they represented our country with pride all over the world. And Jackie was awesome for her love of the White House, the people’s house, and started the WH Historical Association to keep her preserved in our hearts and for generations to come !

      I wish Michelle would follow that lead and preserve our National Mall, it was in horrible shape my last visit (more dirt than grass).

  9. Or DU and Dkos. I “lived” at those places for over 4 years, even went to two peace marches and a Yearly Kos convention (2007). As I look back, it’s how our country became so divided. Just reading those sites now make me sick to my stomach, yet I was never banned, just moved on :D

  10. It’s good to be King & Queen of the United Socialist States of America.
    Three Weeks in Hawaii = $4 million dollars, all on the back of the serf’s…

  11. Pingback: Mele Christmas Obama Family 2012 | Stealth Magnolia

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