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Obama to Hawaii for holidays, challenges await him in 2010
AFP - Saturday, December 26
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US President Barack Obama arrives at the Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – President Barack Obama has arrived in Hawaii for the holidays, buoyed by a landmark Senate vote to reform US health care but undoubtedly weighed down by daunting political challenges awaiting him in 2010.
Leaving Washington's political chill, Obama and First Lady Michelle, along with their daughters Malia and Sasha, landed Thursday in the warmer climes of his home state, where the president aims to decompress following a grueling battle over health care.
Hours earlier, he lauded the "historic" bill passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve, describing it as "legislation that brings us toward the end of a nearly century-long struggle to reform America's health care system."
Obama had worked mightily over the past six months on health care reform, which he has described as his top domestic priority, and delayed his departure to Hawaii in order to be present in Washington during the Senate vote.
But the health care battle fell rigidly along party lines -- Obama's Democrats needed all 60 votes in its caucus to avoid delay tactics thrown up by a unified Republican opposition -- laying bare the political polarization in Washington as Obama heads into a new calendar year.
On his return he will face a sharply divided Congress as the Senate and House of Representatives negotiate a reconciliation of the two health care bills passed by each chamber.
Democratic leaders in Congress hope to send the compromise bill to the White House before Obama's State of the Union speech, which traditionally takes place in late January.
Following health care reform, the president will need to muster his skills of persuasion to convince US senators on another issue close to his heart: the fight against global warming.
A bill has already passed in the House, but its success seems far from assured in the Senate, where some Republicans are staunchly opposed to passing what they see as costly anti-pollution regulations.
Obama headed to Copenhagen last week for the UN climate summit which ended with a non-binding agreement, and severe international criticism that the pact was hijacked by Washington and Beijing, the world's two largest polluters, and will do little to curtail global warming.
Washington has already said it will not budge on its offer of curbing US carbon emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 -- less than EU offers but as much as the US political climate will bear.
The political divide looks set to deepen, with 2010 marked by congressional mid-term elections in November and Republicans aiming to wrest control of one, if not both, chambers from the Democrats.
The coming year will be fraught with military challenges for Obama as well, as he navigates enhancing the US troop presence in Afghanistan along with a gradual drawdown in Iraq.
Before departing the White House on Christmas Eve, Obama called 10 US troops fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to wish them happy holidays.
The first family will spend Christmas and the New Year in the 50th US state, including some time on the beach. Leaving the snow-covered capital in sub-freezing temperatures, the Obamas are to spend 10 days in and around the Hawaiian capital Honolulu, where they can expect some warmer weather.
White House deputy spokesman Bill Burton told reporters aboard Air Force One the next few days were expected to be 81 (27 degrees Celsius), "so I think that the weather ought to lend itself to some outdoor activity."
Christmas vacation in Hawaii is a tradition for the Obama family. The president was born there in 1961 and lived in Hawaii until he was 18, except for a stint in Indonesia from the age of six to 10.
In late 2008, president-elect Obama vacationed in Hawaii with his family. He hit the beach and played golf, but also took time to visit a US Marine base.
According to the Honolulu Advertiser, the Obamas will stay at a five-room beachfront house in the village of Kailua, 19 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Honolulu, where security measures such as concrete barriers have been visible for days.
No public events are listed for the president during his stay.
"He'll just try to enjoy Christmas the way his family has traditionally enjoyed it," Burton said.
"This is an opportunity for the president to recharge his batteries, knowing that as president you never really get to power off all the way."
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