Posted at 9:16 a.m., Wednesday, December 19, 2007
It's Christmas in Iowa, not Hawaii, for the Obamas
By JOHN McCORMICK
Chicago Tribune
"When I told my 9-year-old that we would be in Iowa, she cried," Michelle Obama confessed.
The new holiday headquarters, like those of many political families, will be in Des Moines — comfortable place, but not typically called a "paradise" like Hawai'i. Michelle Obama explains:
"I have a plan for this. Has Barack thought about it? No. The truth of Hawai'i is that it's more family and friends than anything. And everybody who was there will be in Iowa. ... The goal is that the kids will be (stationary). We've got friends, family who will be there. They're going to have a whole set of activities that are kid-focused.
"Our view is that, this isn't their life, and if they have a choice between sitting in a hold room at a speech, or going ice skating, they'd rather go ice skating. ... There are museums in Des Moines. We've been scouting this stuff out forever. We'll have a gaggle of kids. ... We'll be dispatched out and come back in the evenings. There may be some nights during that week where we will have overnights that we can't get back in. ... They will have their family and friends around them, with a Christmas tree in a hotel room. We will have had Christmas, and it will be fun, fun, fun."
