President playing golf at Hickam this afternoon
President Barack Obama played golf this afternoon at the Mamala Bay golf course at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
The president’s motorcade left the base at 6:05 p.m. He returned to the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa at 6:33 p.m.
The president’s foursome includes White House trip director Marvin Nicolson, White House advance man Pete Selfridge, his longtime friend Robert "Bobby" Titcomb, an Oahu resident who was arrested and pleaded no contest in May to soliciting a prostitute in Honolulu. A court agreement allowed the charge to be stricken from Titcomb’s record last month because he stayed out of trouble for six months.
Titcomb attended Punahou School in Honolulu with Obama in the 1970s. The two have often played golf and basketball and headed to the beach together when the president has been back in the islands on vacation.
White House press secretary Jay Carney says they have been friends since childhood and the president remains loyal to Titcomb as he confronts difficult challenges in his personal life.
The president’s motorcade got underway at about 12:20 p.m. after the president spoke at a brunch fundraiser at the new Disney Aulani Resort. The motorcade drove along Farrington Highway to the H-1 Freeway to get to the base.
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At the White House briefing this morning at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider hotel, a press aide said he suspects the president will likely relax a bit this afternoon after a busy three days of diplomacy at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
First Lady Michelle Obama is also at the base today, meeting with military members and their families at a job fair sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at the Hickam Officers Club.
The president, who is on the first-leg of a nine-day trip, departs for Australia on Tuesday morning. He also was to visit Indonesia before a Nov. 20 return to Washington.
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Media pool reports and the Associated Press contributed to this report.