Much to His Chagrin, 'Plain Old Barack Is Gone'

[Fuzz]

This has GOT to be tough for someone like Obama.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/23/AR2008112302505.html

Obama nourished his soul on a life of routine in Chicago, friends say. Now they hope he can find comfort in a city he has never embraced.

A familiar number showed up on Terry Link's cellphone last week, the one that belonged to the friend he tutored in politics, dominated in golf and sometimes referred to playfully as "Ears." At least once each week for almost a decade, the Illinois state senator had talked on the phone to Barack Obama, but now the number seemed to belong to somebody else.

"This time I answered, 'Hello, Mr. President,' " Link said. "When he called, it used to just be 'Hey, Barack. What's going on?' But plain old Barack is gone."

Obama's home in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood has become a compound guarded ever more closely by bomb-sniffing dogs and Secret Service agents who peer through binoculars at neighboring rooftops. When he travels around the city, it is in an armored limousine and 20-car motorcade, so he has mainly stayed bunkered at home or a downtown transition office. Last week, Obama told one friend that he felt "a little boxed in."

This is only the beginning of the transformation that awaits the president-elect and his family. In two months, they will move into a sterile house in a unfamiliar city where they have never felt particularly comfortable. Friends say Obama is savoring these final weeks in Chicago and spending as much time as possible with his family before he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.

During his political rise, Obama safeguarded times of normalcy and credited them for keeping him sane. A run on the treadmill in the early morning. An evening meander through 57th Street Books. Date night with his wife, Michelle, at one of their favorite restaurants. Pickup basketball at a gym downtown.

Obama already has learned that his mundane routine will be difficult to replicate as president, but his friends say that establishing some kind of similar comfort zone is critical to his success in Washington. They consider it one of the most pressing -- and most challenging -- issues of Obama's transition: How can he create a life as president that keeps him happy?

"Look, there are just certain things that he can't do anymore, or he can't do as easily, and that's going to be hard," said Marty Nesbitt, Obama's closest friend in Chicago. "The objective is to just make sure that things stay as similar to the way they used to be as they can. The same routines, the same conversations -- that's what he wants."

More at link

[pinto]

1. The Obamas will bring a certain sense of "normalcy", for lack of a better word, to the White House.

It's an under-sung theme for the new administration.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I hope he can make that basketball court

he wants in the White House, or near the grounds.

[bigtree]

3. He'll be fine in D.C.

plenty to see and do; bookstores, restaurants . . .

[rvablue]

4. Remember, President Obama, Camp David is only a short copter ride away!

I know I would start feeling "boxed in too."

I think it's cool they have the presidential retreat not too far away so that he can enjoy some time in the outdoors with his family and try to have some sense of normalcy.