Blair House snub to Obamas? Not really

Posted: Friday, December 12, 2008 4:33 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: White House, John Yang

From NBC's John Yang
Moving from one city to another with school-aged children can be complicated. And when you're about to be President of the United States, it's really complicated.

President-elect and Michelle Obama raised the possibility of moving into Blair House, the presidential guest house across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, in time for their daughters, Sasha and Malia, to start school on time when classes resume at Sidwell Friends on Jan. 5.

Schedulers checked and found that there were events and guests that could not be displaced in Blair House before Jan. 15--the date presidents-elect are traditionally invited to move in and which has been on the Blair House schedule for sometime now, according to White House officials.

A snub from the current President to the President-elect?

Not really, according to Obama transition officials.

"The Bushes have been extremely accommodating to the Obama family's needs and the entire process has been smooth and friendly," one told NBC News, speaking anonymously because the discussions about the family's transition are considered private. Said another: "It's just the way things happen. We understand -- it's no big deal."

So what are the Obama's plans? They're being worked out, the officials said. They won't comment on the timetable for the move from Chicago to Washington in order to preserve Sasha and Malia's privacy.

EMAIL THIS

Comments

I'm confused by the claim that it's some kind of "tradition" for Presidents-elect to not have access until the 15th. As I recall, both Reagan and Clinton had access to Blair House starting the 1st (Clinton even stayed there in November right after the election for a few days.)
In addition, the facility has more rooms than the White House itself (119 rooms, 70,000 square feet); so why can't the Current Resident find a few rooms for the newcomers?
And, for those who asked, no, President-elect Obama does not have a home in the DC area the family can use. He rented a small one bedroom apartment while he was a Senator. It is not big enough for the family and can't be made secure enough by the Secret Service.

Marit, Bethesda MD (Sent Saturday, December 13, 2008 12:55 AM)

No other PE ever had school-age children? How ridiculous. Aren't all those Secret Service guys hanging around disruptive enough to family life? If you're worried about your kids being inconvenienced, traumatized, whatever - don't run for president.

Jersey Grrrl (Sent Saturday, December 13, 2008 1:15 AM)

Guido Nance in Boston: Clearly you're the "trash". I'll make sure the Secret Service is fully aware of your comments. And Mollyanna (and anyone else who posts disrespectful comments),take a cue from the Bushes and Obamas and SHOW SOME CLASS AND RESPECT. I guess you missed this part of the posting: President-elect and Michelle Obama raised the possibility of moving into Blair House in time for their daughters to start school on time when classes resume Jan. 5. "The Bushes have been extremely accommodating to the Obama family's needs and the entire process has been smooth and friendly," "It's just the way things happen. We understand -- it's no big deal."

Denise (Sent Saturday, December 13, 2008 1:59 AM)

<< Previous

SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

Your name, city and state (John Doe, Seattle, Wash.):

Your e-mail address (jdoe@msnbc.com):

Your website (it's okay if you don't have one):

Remember me? (We'll keep it private) Remember me?

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=1713397