A vacationer of habit, President Barack Obama spent the first day of his Hawaiian holiday on the links at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
It was the president’s fifth visit to the course in the six consecutive years that he and his family have spent Christmas in Hawaii. He has also teed off at Mid Pacific Country Club, Luana Hills Country Club, Ko‘olau Golf Club and Olomana Golf Links during previous vacations.
Obama, first lady Michelle, daughters Sasha and Malia, mother-in-law Marian Robinson and pooches Bo and Sunny arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam around 11:30 p.m. Friday and headed straight for a luxury estate on Kailuana Place, the same exclusive enclave of vacation rentals where the Obamas have spent each of their previous isle vacations.
The Obamas are scheduled to remain in Hawaii until Jan. 5. And while Obama will receive regular briefings while he is here, it is expected that the everyday business of dealing with congressional wranglings, diving poll results and post-Obamacare implementation backlash will take a temporary back seat to sun, surf and whatever is cooking at Alan Wong’s, Nobu or perhaps Zippy’s.
Obama got a relatively late start on Saturday, emerging from the vacation rental just after 1 p.m. for a 10-minute drive to the Marine base.
As the presidential motorcade drove through the base, onlookers waved at Obama and snapped photos, according to a pool report from The Washington Post.
Obama spent the afternoon golfing with trip director Marvin Nicholson, White House chef Sam Kass, and longtime friend Bobby Titcomb, wrapping up shortly after 6 p.m. with the sun already set.
The president returned to Kailua around 6:20 p.m. for what was expected to be a quiet evening indoors.
The Obamas are expected to attend a Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic basketball game at the Stan Sheriff Center today.
Oregon State University will play the University of Akron (Ohio) at 2:30 p.m.
Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama’s brother, is the head coach at Oregon State, which, win or lose, will play again Monday.
