Honolulu - United States President Barack Obama grabbed a few last hours of peace on a surprisingly calm Hawaii holiday on Monday before he returns to the political fray and looming battles with Republicans.
Obama spent Christmas and New Year filling his days with golf, family time, beach visits and private reading, and was unusually absent from the spotlight, as he conducted official business behind closed doors.
The peaceful sojourn in his home state was markedly less fraught than last Christmas when his vacation was interrupted by the “underwear bomber”, an alleged attempt by al-Qaeda to blow up a US jetliner heading for Detroit.
Before Obama left Washington on December 22, US officials had repeatedly stressed the national security establishment was doing everything it could to prevent any kind of terror attack over the high-risk holiday period.
Officials also stressed that Obama had the kind of secure communications at his vacation rental that would allow him to deal with any incidents instantly, after his initial response to last year's crisis was criticised.
On his final morning in Hawaii on Monday, the president rose at his habitual early hour and travelled in a motorcade from the vacation rental home he was sharing with family and close friends to a US Marines base to work out.
The president, who was boosted by a string of late-year political victories before heading on vacation, was due to leave Hawaii on Monday night, and to arrive in Washington in the middle of the day on Tuesday.
Obama appeared in public only a few times during the vacation, with a single visit to a favourite restaurant in Hawaii, a trip to church and an excursion to sample shave ice, a chilly local delicacy.
During his energetic vacation, Obama took his family bowling and indulged his passion for golf, culminating in a round with friends in the lush splendour of the Luana Hills Country Club.
As he contemplates a political strategy of reaching out to Republicans, he also read a biography of conservative hero and former president Ronald Reagan, and the latest thriller by John le Carre Our Kind Of Traitor.
On Saturday, in his weekly Internet and radio address, Obama vowed to keep the economy growing and reminded Republicans taking over the House of Representatives of their “shared responsibility” to move the country forward.
“It’s time to make some serious decisions about how to keep our economy strong, growing, and competitive in the long run,” he said.
Republicans will formally assume power in the House this week following their mid-term congressional elections victory over Obama's Democrats in November. The party will also trim the Democratic majority in the Senate.
Rows are already brewing over the need to raise the US government's debt ceiling, measures to cut the budget deficit and symbolic Republican attempts to repeal Obama's signature health care reform law.
Christmas vacation in Hawaii is a tradition for the Obama family. The president was born there in 1961 and lived in Hawaii until he was 18, except for a period in Indonesia from the age of six to 10. - Sapa-AFP