Obama ditches press, goes to sea park

HONOLULU, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama was able to evade the media glare long enough to take his daughters on an excursion to a Hawaii marine park, observers said.

Obama, who has been trailed by a designated pool of reporters whenever he appears in public during his Hawaiian vacation, broke away from them Friday to spend some private time at Sea Life Park on the windward coast of Oahu with his daughters Malia and Sasha, and family friends, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Obama was not trailed by the reporter pool because they had been told by officials the president-elect was probably home for the day, and so were brought back to a Honolulu hotel. The newspaper said it may be one of the last times Obama will be able to even briefly break away since such moves are considerably more difficult once in the White House.

"The president-elect decided to take the girls to a water park and we assembled the pool as quickly as possible," Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said.