Obama wraps up peaceful Hawaii trip

HONOLULU: US President Barack Obama grabbed a few last hours of peace on a surprisingly calm Hawaii holiday Monday before he returns to the political fray and looming battles with Republicans.

Obama spent the 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 criticized.

On his final morning in Hawaii Monday, the president rose at his habitual early hour and traveled 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 favorite 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 splendor of the Luana Hills Country Club.