For Obama and Family, a Personal Transition

[DogPoundPup]

Source: NYT

CHICAGO — A couple of weeks ago, Barack Obama headed to the Hyde Park Hair Salon for a trim. He greeted the staff and other customers and plopped down in the same chair in front of the same barber who has cut his hair for the last 14 years.

But when he wanted a trim this week, the Secret Service took one look at the shop’s large plate-glass windows and the gawking tourists eager for a glimpse of the president-elect and the plan quickly changed. If Mr. Obama could no longer come to the barber, the barber would come to him and cut his hair at a friend’s apartment.

Life for the newly chosen president and his family has changed forever. Even the constraints and security of the campaign trail do not compare to the bubble that has enveloped him in the 10 days since his election. Renegade, as the Secret Service calls him, now lives within the strict limits that come with the most powerful office on the planet.

He has chosen to spend this interval before his Jan. 20 inauguration at his home in Hyde Park, which has in some ways been transformed into a secure fortress for his protection. After two years of daily speeches and rallies, he has retreated into an almost hermitlike seclusion, largely hidden from public view and spotted only when he drops his two daughters off for school or goes for a workout at the gymnasium in a friend’s apartment building.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/us/politics/14obama.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

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More from article:

Mr. Obama is putting off the change as much as he can by remaining in Chicago during the transition. “I am not going to be spending too much time in Washington over the next several weeks,” he told someone in a telephone conversation overheard by reporters on his chartered plane heading back to Chicago after a White House visit on Monday.

Indeed, he was on the ground in Washington less than four hours for his tour and talk with President Bush. Mr. Obama has yet to take a vacation since the election, as he works on selecting a White House staff, building a cabinet and formulating policies. But friends and aides said he was also using this time to concentrate on his family before moving to the most famous address in the nation.

[burrowowl]

1. I feel for the girls

It won't be eay, but I think Michelle has a handle on this and they will come out of it like Chelsie and Amy, great people.

[But....]

2. And unfortunately the bubble will be smaller...

then it's very been.

[FedUpWithIt All]

3. I am sorry that it is closing in for them but i am glad the the Secret Service is on the ball. n/t

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. Wow, it's not easy getting used to living with protection, when you've been an ordinary citizen

On the other hand, if he's going to run our country he has to be totally protected.

[bluestateguy]

5. I feel for the people who live in his neigborhood

How long before their patience runs out at having to live in a fortress for a neighborhood? Don't get wrong, all the security is justified, but might it be best for the people in the neighborhhod if the Obama family were to sell the house and buy a "Western White House" in a rural location somewhere?