Obama spends New Year's Eve playing golf, attends private talent show

[News_Editor]

Obama spends New Year's Eve playing golf, attends private talent show

2011-01-01 12:59:57 GMT+7 (ICT)

HONOLULU (BNO NEWS) -- U.S. President Barack Obama spent New Year's Eve in Hawaii by playing golf with friends and attending a private talent show with his family.

Obama and the First Family have been staying on the Hawaiian island of Oahu since December 22 and will stay there until January 4, two days longer than initially planned. He has been keeping low-key ever since arriving on the island and his New Year's Eve was no different.

The President began New Year's Eve by receiving the Presidential Daily Briefing, a top-secret document which is provided to Obama every morning. He then left his vacation home at around 8.15 a.m. local time for his usual workout and was greeted by a handful of well-wishers who had waited for him outside a Secret Service checkpoint. They were holding signs such as "So much love & Gratitude."

Obama finished his workout at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe about an hour later, at 9.20 a.m. local time, and returned to his vacation home shortly after. Several hours later, at 12.50 p.m., Obama left his rental home for the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course where he played golf all afternoon.

He left at around 6 p.m. after playing 18 holes with his friends Eric Whitaker, Marty Nesbitt, Bobby Titcomb, and Mike Ramos. "A few onlookers were waving as the motorcade passed through the first checkpoint," said reporter Rob Shikina, who was covering Obama's last day of 2010 for the White House press pool.

Not much else is expected to be released about Obama's last hours of 2010, although the White House did release some insight. "Tonight, the President will be spending time with family and friends and later they will have the annual New Year's Eve Talent Show," said Bill Burton, a White House spokesman.

Besides celebrating New Year's Eve and Christmas in Hawaii, Obama has also had some time to read books. Burton said the books Obama read were 'President Reagan - The Role of a Lifetime' by Lou Cannon, 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet' by David Mitchell and 'Our Kind of Traitor' by John le Carre.

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