Cookies, talk of marriage -- a night on Barack Obama's campaign plane
It’s been a good week for Barack Obama. Along with polls trending in his favor, there were big wins for his favorite team, the Chicago White Sox, that got the club into the baseball playoffs.
The team's clinching victory meant Obama won a bet with one of his foreign policy advisors, Dennis McDonough, a fan of the team the ChiSox defeated, the Minnesota Twins.
On a late night flight Wednesday to Grand Rapids, Mich., from Washington, where Obama cast a vote for the economic rescue plan that passed the chamber, the presidential aspirant ventured into the back of his plane with his winnings -- a Tupperware container full of chocolate cookies made by...
...McDonough’s wife. He offered the goodies to Secret Service agents and members of the traveling media. And he also bantered with reporters about domestic policy -- of the most personal kind.
Obama was hazed recently by MSNBC host Keith Olbermann for saying his 15th wedding anniversary was coming up this week -- when it’s actually his 16th. When a reporter inquired about his plans for the big day, this Friday, he said he was thinking about taking his wife, Michelle, to one of their favorite Italian restaurants in Chicago for “some quiet time.”
On the way back to the front cabin, he took note of a newly-engaged reporter; she, in turn, jokingly asked for his advice on marriage.
“What’s the secret?” he said, pausing between the cabins. “A sense of humor, listening. ... Never get so mad that you forget why you love them -- so you don’t say something that it’s hard to take back.”
Obama revealed he hadn’t settled on a gift for Michelle, but added, “It will be big. After this year, it better be big.”
-- Maeve Reston
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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Happy Anniversary and good luck to your home team.
McCain offers LIP SERVICE to working Americans, while he offers more tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.
Posted by: Tom G | October 02, 2008 at 03:36 AM
After his intelligence, his deliberative nature, and his drive to serve, this stuff is what I like best about Obama.
Elitists don't share cookies.
Posted by: Jerry/Orlando | October 02, 2008 at 03:42 AM