President Barack Obama kept a relatively low profile on the final day of his annual Christmas vacation in Hawaii, venturing out of his rented getaway mansion in Kailua just once for dinner with family and friends before heading back to Washington, D.C.
Air Force One left Joint Base Pearl-Harbor Hickam about 9:40 p.m. Saturday after the first family had dinner at Buzz’s Original Steakhouse in Kailua.
It was an eventful holiday for the president, who between rounds of golf and bites of shave ice jetted back to the nation’s capital to help break the impasse between Democrats and Republicans over a plan to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.
After dining at Nobu in Waikiki the previous evening, the first family spent Saturday at the vacation home, apparently oblivious to the small group of demonstrators on Kalaheo Avenue who held signs reading: "No Drone Warfare" and "Is it really OK if Obama does it?"
Around 6:30 p.m., the presidential motorcade left the residence and headed for Buzz’s in Kailua, where the Obamas joined a group of friends for dinner. They left the restaurant about two hours later.
The Obamas arrived in Honolulu on Dec. 22, two days after U.S. House Speaker John Boehner was forced to abandon his "Plan B" for averting the fiscal cliff amid resistance from a hard-line faction of his fellow Republicans, leaving it to the Democrat-controlled Senate to come up with a viable proposal.
With Congress on abbreviated holiday break, Obama joined Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other leaders at a memorial service Dec. 23 for U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who died on Dec. 17, at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.
Obama flew back to Washington the day after Christmas to help broker a deal that would avert about $536 billion in tax increases for most Americans over the next decade and approximately $110 billion in spending cuts, all set to take effect with the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts on Jan. 1.
Lawmakers ultimately agreed on a deal that raises taxes on the wealthiest Americans and delays the across-the-board spending cuts by two months.
Assumed economic calamity averted, Obama returned to Honolulu on Wednesday. He reportedly dined with friends and family at Alan Wong’s shortly after signing off on the deal and giving his approval to a $633 billion defense bill for 2013.
According to pool reports, the president and family spent the past few days bowling at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, golfing at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course, working out and slurping shave ice from Island Snow.
The president will have little time to unpack once he returns to Washington. Republicans have stated publicly that they will demand significant spending cuts during the impending debt ceiling negotiations, the National Rifle Association and other Second-Amendment activists are expected to oppose potentially sweeping gun-control reforms being considered by the White House, and confirmations of key Cabinet positions — including secretary of state, treasury secretary and secretary of defense — promise to be as contentious as ever.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.