They were staying with friends and family on Oahu, where his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and 85-year-old grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, live. Obama's grandmother helped raise him, but Obama has said osteoporosis keeps her from traveling and instead she follows campaign coverage closely on CNN.
He told reporters Thursday that time with the family was worth ceding the campaign spotlight to Republican rival John McCain. The vacation was timed for the start of the Olympics when the country's attention would likely be diverted from politics anyway.
"I am going to see my grandma, who I haven't seen in almost 18, 19 months, and who's getting to the age that I want to make sure I am spending time with her on a consistent basis and so she can see her great-grandchildren," he said. "And I want to spend some time with those children as well.
"We had a very long primary, we had the longest primary in history, and so I can imagine folks need a break from politics," he said. "I think that the majority of people had been fed a constant stream of political chattere he can relax with his family out of the public eye, and they are trying to avoid the pictures of him in his bathing suit that appeared in celebrity magazines after his last visit in December 2006.
The time away will also give Obama a chance for reflection on his running mate selection. He will return from vacation with just nine days until the convention, a short window to announce his pick. He told reporters he will be working on his convention speech while he is in Hawaii.
Obama was born in Hawaii. His Kansas-born mother and Kenyan father met as students at the University of Hawaii.
His father left when he was a toddler, and his mother later remarried an Indonesian who moved the family to his home country when Obama was in elementary school. Obama returned to Hawaii without his mother after four years, lived with his grandparents in a modest apartment and got a scholarship to attend a prestigious private high school.
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On the Net:
McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com
Obama: http://www.barackobama.com
