Baller-in-Chief

(From KITV ABC Online)

Obama spent about two hours at Punahou School playing basketball with former classmates and other friends Tuesday morning. He took nearly 10 minutes greeting a couple of hundred Punahou students, parents, teachers and staff outside the gym.

Crowds Wowed At Chance To See President-Elect

HONOLULU — President-elect Barack Obama spent a fairly busy day on Oahu as his Hawaii vacation winds to a close with visits to his alma mater, the zoo and his grandmother’s Makiki apartment.

Obama spent about two hours at Punahou School playing basketball with former classmates and other friends Tuesday morning. He took nearly 10 minutes greeting a couple of hundred Punahou students, parents, teachers and staff outside the gym.”He came and saw all of us, took his time as he came down through and said hi to all of us. It was really nice,” Punahou teacher and alumna Malia Chong said.

Duncan DiMauro got to shake Obama’s hand.

“It was very exciting. I got to see president-elect Obama and I got to shake his hand. I worked on his campaign, so it was very exciting for me to come down and see him,” DiMauro’s mother, Anita, said.Then, Obama and his motorcade made their way off the Punahou campus and onto their next destination: the Honolulu Zoo, where he met up with his daughters and some friends. Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann greeted the president-elect there.Hundreds of zoo-goers cheered for Obama as he walked through the grounds for about two hours, with Secret Service keeping the public back and redirecting them away from the Obama party when people got close to try to take photos.”We just came to the zoo with our family and were expecting to see some animals, and we got the biggest thrill of all — seeing the president-elect,” Steve Ellenberg said.Obama and his entourage spent a lot of time at the Sumatran tiger exhibit, which includes three new tiger cubs. The cubs were born there this fall. Zoo officials took the Obama entourage behind-the-scenes to the back of the exhibit to get a closer look at the tiger cubs and their mother.After leaving the zoo, Obama went to visit his grandmother’s old apartment in Makiki.People at Punahou School and Honolulu Zoo said they were surprised when security crews began using electronic wands to search them for firearms and also checked the contents of purses and bags. Only later did those people realize the next president was visiting close by.

(From the Honolulu Advertiser Online)

As he did during his August vacation here, President-elect Barack Obama met up with former Punahou School teammates yesterday morning for some pickup basketball at the campus’ auxiliary gym.

“His game is still good,” said Alan Lum, who played on Punahou’s 1979 state championship team with Obama and played against him in yesterday’s four pickup games (first team to 21 points wins). “He’s a nice guy, he was so cordial, talking to everybody.”

The group met at Punahou at 10 a.m., playing in the school’s smaller gym rather than spacious Hemmeter Fieldhouse for security reasons.

On one team was Obama; a former teammate, Greg Orme; another Punahou schoolmate, Mike Ramos; and two members of Obama’s traveling party. On the other team were former Punahou teammates Lum, Dan Hale, John Kamana, Larry Tavares and Rex Santos.

“We won the first two, and they won the next two,” Lum said. “They were good games.”

Lum, who had just returned from a family vacation at Disneyland, said he was afraid he had missed the chance to play basketball again with the next president. “Then I got the call saying, ‘It’s on,’ ” Lum said. “So I was like, all right!”

(From KGMB 9 News Online)

The president-elect broke away from his morning work out routine to play basketball at his alma mater. Obama’s people tried to keep it hush hush, but word got out that he was coming. Mr. Obama played basketball for about an hour and a half.

A couple hundred students, parents and school officials were waiting outside for him with signs and cameras. He said “hi” and shook hands with many of them. The last time Mr. Obama played basketball at his old high school was during his August visit.

“He still has pretty good hops. Last time they came, he played every single game. He’s in great shape Still got a good move to the basket. Got a great three point shot,” said Tom Holden, Punahou Athletic Director.

After basketball, the president elect headed to the Honolulu Zoo. That’s where he met up with his daughters and many kids of the families who are vacationing with the obamas. After the zoo, Mr. Obama stopped by his late grandmother’s apartment in the Punahou area.

(From the Morning Sun Online)

First Lt. Nick Smith recently played basketball with Barack Obama while stationed in Hawaii

OAHU, HAWAII —

If Barack Obama can handle the nation’s problems as well as he does a basketball, then better times are on the way.

First Lt. Nick Smith, stationed at the Marine Corps Base at Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, saw the future president’s skills first hand Dec. 24 at a gym near Obama’s vacation home.

“He and Mrs. Obama have been working out about two hours every day while they’ve been here,” said Smith, son of Chuck and Beth Smith, Pittsburg, and a former St. Mary’s-Colgan High School football star. “I was pretty impressed by how hard they work out.”

He said that he and his buddies often go to that gym, which is near their base and had a feeling that Obama would be coming in.

“We got lucky,” he said.

The future president and first lady were guarded by Secret Service personnel, and one of Smith’s friends approached them.

“They brought Obama in, and he played a round of basketball with us,” Smith said. “He’s really fit, and a great outside shooter. You can tell he’s played some basketball before.”

He added that Obama seemed very friendly and down-to-earth.

“He was pretty relaxed, but you could tell he’s excited about what he’s going to do for the next four to eight years,” Smith said. “His mother’s family was from Kansas and I’m from Kansas, so that was something we had in common.”

The Marine has been in Hawaii for two years, but will be going to California for additional training in January. “Sometime around early spring we may be deployed to Iraq,” Smith said.

Later on, he’s thinking of going to law school.

“That’s something else I have in common with Obama,” Smith said. “He’s a lawyer, too.”

There may be one more similarity between the Marine and the president-elect — Smith just might consider going into politics.

“I might run for governor of Kansas some day,” he said. “But I don’t think I’d want to be president.”

(From the Honolulu Star Bulletin Online)

President-elect Barack Obama hit Oahu’s North Shore yesterday as he continued his island holiday.

Obama and his family, along with Chicago friends Eric Whitaker and Marty Nesbitt, traveled by sport utility vehicle to the home of Bobby Titcomb, a high school friend of Obama’s, near Dillingham Airfield in Mokuleia.

The pool reporter with the party, John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune, said he could see a couple of personal watercraft moving around in the ocean near the private residence at about 4 p.m. but could not tell who was on them. He said there appeared to be a group of people watching from shore.

Later, he said he heard an “eclectic mix” of music from inside the house, including a partial soundtrack from “The Big Chill.” Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said there were 20 to 30 people at the party, including Obama’s Chicago friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett.

The party ended shortly before 7:30 p.m., and Obama headed back to Kailua.

As has become typical, Obama started his day with a workout at the Semper Fit health center at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe, not far from his Kailua vacation rental.

Linda Gray, a real estate agent who lives near the base, said she has seen Obama two or three times at the fitness center since he started working out there on Dec. 21. Her husband is retired military, and she works out at the center at roughly the same time as Obama.

“I think we are all proud to have him born and raised in Hawaii,” she said.

Gray said Obama was doing a cardio workout this morning and also playing some basketball. She said he had a slip of paper in his hand that she suspects was his workout plan.

Obama was joined by Whitaker and Nesbitt at the gym, then left at about 8:23 a.m., wearing a gray T-shirt and black warm-up pants.

On his way out, he greeted several dozen Marines and others waiting to see him and snap photos.

“Hey, guys,” Obama said. “How’s everybody doing?”

He returned to his vacation compound, then left again just before 10:30 a.m., wearing a white shirt, dark shorts, shades and sandals.

His motorcade drove up the Windward side, past the Polynesian Cultural Center, and made a pit stop at the Turtle Bay Resort en route to the Titcomb house, surrounded by a tall fence with thick vegetation.