Obama and family arrive in Hawaii for Christmas
KAILUA, Hawaii (AP) - President Barack Obama and his family have arrived in Honolulu to spend Christmas in Hawaii, where the president was born and raised.
Air Force One touched down in Honolulu minutes after midnight local time on Saturday. The first family departed the plane and traveled quickly to their vacation house in the beach town of Kailua, a scenic, sleepy beach town on the east side of Oahu.
Kailua is roughly 12 miles from downtown Honolulu. Obama's vacation house sits near a Marine base, on the north end of a five-mile stretch of beach popular among windsurfers and paddle surfers.
As the president and his family departed Air Force One, Obama had shed the jacket he was wearing when he left Washington and was in a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The first family left Washington on Friday night.
White House officials say the president's vacation itinerary doesn't include any scheduled public events.
No return date has been given by the White House. Obama himself said earlier Friday that, since a deal hasn't been reached to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff," he would be returning to Washington after Christmas.
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Associated Press writer Oskar Garcia contributed to this report.
Air Force One touched down in Honolulu minutes after midnight local time on Saturday. The first family departed the plane and traveled quickly to their vacation house in the beach town of Kailua, a scenic, sleepy beach town on the east side of Oahu.
Kailua is roughly 12 miles from downtown Honolulu. Obama's vacation house sits near a Marine base, on the north end of a five-mile stretch of beach popular among windsurfers and paddle surfers.
As the president and his family departed Air Force One, Obama had shed the jacket he was wearing when he left Washington and was in a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The first family left Washington on Friday night.
White House officials say the president's vacation itinerary doesn't include any scheduled public events.
No return date has been given by the White House. Obama himself said earlier Friday that, since a deal hasn't been reached to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff," he would be returning to Washington after Christmas.
___
Associated Press writer Oskar Garcia contributed to this report.
I read that this little (20 days)Â vacation in paradise is going to cost the American tax payer between four and six million dollars. Nice huh ??
 @lmdk2 is this a problem because he's black? Check vacation time for George W Bush then get back to meÂ
 @Alikelystorey I did, Bushs time was less than 1/3rd of Obumblers time out of town, and where did the race comment come from ?? He's only half black remember. You brought it up, not me !!
 @lmdk2 NOT even close tool.
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http://theweek.com/bullpen/column/235844/deconstructing-the-5-most-ridiculous-myths-about-barack-obama
 @lmdk2  @Alikelystorey http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-20093801.html
 @Alikelystorey  @lmdk2 Are you racist alikelystorey?Â
 @Alikelystorey You will soon be out of cards at this rate.
Although I do not like this man's policies, and never voted for him, I will lay down my differences in opinion long enough to wish him and his family a Merry Christmas. Everyone deserves a break, and THIS would be the best time of year to just take a "time out" from the bickering, and enjoy the season. We can all resume our petty squabbling after the 1st. Truce?
Obama deserves a vacation.
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I cannot believe anyone would chose to use that as an arguing point.
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You are pathetic and your thin skin is showing.
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C'mon people...stop complaining about the President taking a few days of for Christmas with his family. Â The guy grew up in Hawaii...if he grew up in South Dakota, he'd be going there for Christmas too. Â Get over yourselves and give the guy a break. Â If you are so unhappy with your own lives, take action to make it better and stop complaining.
 @Scott Neal Amen, Mr. Neal. Let the man enjoy Christmas with his family.Â
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@Scott Neal  I enjoy watching them complain. That's what they do best.Â
Thank the Bush Administration for your belly achin'
How many years will the liberals keep using Bush as an excuse?
 @rainmaker81 It is going to take at least 20 years to repair the damage he caused this country so I think 20 years is about right.
 @Ronn  @the unvarnished truth  @rainmaker81 You do make some good points in here, Ronn. Our educational system sucks. But greed caused this housing crisis. Uncontrolled greed.
 @FED__UP  @al_wa  @Hagar If you pursue that logic the fault lies with the voters. Voting has consequences.
 @the unvarnished truth  @Hagar "BJ taught those 4 muslims how to fly (but not to land)"
That kind of statement is neither true nor fair.
 @Hagar  @the unvarnished truth  @rainmaker81 With 47% of the people not being able to read in Detroit I think the education system needs to be slashed and rebuilt. The teachers unions have destroyed the system there and else where in this country. The housing crisis in this country was cause by Barney and Dodd and when Bush tried to fix Fanny and Freddie Barney in a televised statement told Bush and company to back off The democratic controlled congress stopped the fix. The collapse happened less that 20 months later.
 @the unvarnished truth  @rainmaker81 Oh really? Trying to revise history, are you?
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Handed a recession by Clinton? Excuse me but your hero was handed a booming economy which resulted in a generous budget surplus that your hero urinated away in tax cuts to the rich!! Wow, I cannot believe you even suggest otherwise.
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Clinton failed to tell Bush of a terrorist threat? Poppycock. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB147/index.htm Bush wanted us to be hit to justify his war in Iraq. We got hit harder than he expected.
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Of course the deficit went up, GDP went down, and unemployment went up after Obama came into office. Bush destroyed everything for his buddies.Â
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No wonder the Republicans want to slash educational spending. So their uneducated minions can stay uneducated and spouting off their simplistic talking points.
@al_wa @Hagar They? are you referring to congress? They are responsible for this mess, not any president. And they have set themselves up to continue to get re-elected over and over again. You know you can do that when you make the laws. Problem over the last few years is all those deal makers, Kennnedy, Dole, Byrd, are all gone. Now all they do it fight, before it was you give me this and I'll give you this, None really cared about the american people or the future generations. I wonder just how they thought we would pay back all the social security money the took. How we would pay for all the benefits and pensions of all the government employees.
 @Hagar 20 years IF Obama hadn't added to that damage. Now, I don't see our country getting any better until we finally get someone in the White House who cares about this country. 20 years is wishful thinking. I am guessing more like 40 and most likely long after I am gone.
 @al_wa Man if that ain't the truth.
 @Hagar If they don't get started it will never be done.
These huunks of crap are certainly not leading by any examples whatsoever. While we all put on another sweater and worry about what bills to pay, and face higher everything, these bleeps gleefully stick this vacation right in our faces. I guess though, it's always OK when you're a liberal democrat to exhibit your a hypocrite. I miss Reagan
 @Troglidite reagan started the recession we just had.
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deficit spending building military with no taxes while cutting education and health programs
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that does not build a strong country no matter how strong your military is
@Troglidite Yeah...like this never happened with any administration in the past. I seem to recall MANY a vacay by Reagan and Bush during their time in office... were ya belly achin' back then too?  Â
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 @the unvarnished truth http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-20093801.html
 @the unvarnished truth  @skepticaloptimist  @TrogliditeÂ
dumbest comment of the day
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Unvarnished truth congratulations
I refuse to pay for a trip for a family that takes the TAXPAER pocket book  everywhere they go ! I think They SOULD take it out of there own MONEY and pay for there own trip!
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here is the bill for this years trip for Christmas !Â
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â¢Obama's Air Force One flight estimated at $3,271,611 â¢Total travel costs for Hawaii holiday are $3,629,622 â¢Housing comes to $151,200 and hotels at $72,216 ... â¢Hawaii Reporter estimates total cost at $4,113,038 The U.S. Air Force calculates it costs $181,757 per flight hour to operate Air Force One. Travel time
Travel time direct from Washington D.C. to Hawaii is about nine hours, which gives a total of $3,271,611 there and back. â¢Support aircraft: $258,000 HOUSING: $151,200 â¢Secret Service, Coast Guard and Navy Seals housing HOTEL: $72,216 â¢24 staff in hotel LOCAL TAXPAYER: $260,000 â¢Local police: $250,000 â¢On-call ambulance: $10,000 SOURCE: Hawaii Reporter
 @Pirate Jon Don't forget, he's flying back Wednesday for political reasons and then returning again.  Cha-ching.
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But then again, he is the President and this is what the people wanted. Â Let's get behind it. Â It is what it is for four more years. Â that's not George Bush's fault - it's the voters.
@Pirate Jon: I will not quibble with your source. I just don't have the resources or any reasons to. However, I do think if you check a little you will find that the Democratic Party and other private sources are funding at least part of this or any vacation the President takes. This goes for any sitting President. As for security costs, well that is one of those fixed expenditures of ensuring the safety of the president. And yes, the Feds paid for security upgrades to any and all of their personal compounds. I remember all the hullabaloo about the cost to secure Nixon's California and Florida escapes as well as those of subsequent Presidents. Yes, even Bush and Reagan. Sorry, that ain't gonna change!
Since my taxes are gonna go up by about $5,000, I won't be taking the family to the islands this year. Who knew that I'm a millionaire or billionaire?
@Getov Mylon You can thank your "red team" for that. The Senate already passed the bill to prevent your taxes from going up and the Prez has said repeatedly he would sign the final bill. Too bad the Republicans in the House didn't want to prevent taxes going up for 98% of us.Â
 @lakeview  @Getov Yes, do what the President demands and all will be well. Yes, Harry Reid refuses to bring up bills in the Senate but the R's are obstructionists.Â
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Although...I think  Boehner botched it for different reasons.  He should have proposed tax CUTS for 99% of us and leave the rates for the ACTUAL millionaires and billionaires, not the ones that make $200,000
@Getov Mylon And one more thing: Why do you think that Boehner has refused to bring the Senate bill (that passed already) to a vote on the House floor? Is is possible, just maybe, that it would pass?Â
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 So you go ahead and blame everyone else for your taxes going up except the republican leadership. It's downright hilarious.Â
@Getov Mylon  You're mad about Harry Reid not bringing up other random bills that have nothing to do with this.Â
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That is quite hilarious in light of the fact that Boehner refused to bring his Plan B bill to a vote yesterday. His own caucus didn't support him, so he chickened out and didn't want the vote to happen. He did the same thing that you claim Reid does. But it's even more absurd because the Republicans were going to vote their own leader's bill down. Now, we can't have that can we? So let's just table the bill and hope the Republican masses don't notice. Â
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 @lakeview Then leave town...