Obama children check in at new school

Without fanfare or even a wave to the waiting crowd, at precisely 7.10 am yesterday, president elect Barack Obama's two children and their mother Michelle were whisked by Secret Service motorcade from the exclusive Hay-Adams Hotel to their new school in Washington DC.

Mr Obama made his own "no drama" arrival to the US capital the night before, helping to ensure his children, Sasha and Malia's smooth transition to their new Quaker school, Sidwell Friends. His solitary departure from the family home in Chicago brought out the loneliness of the challenges ahead as the soon-to-be "leader of the free world".

He admitted that he "choked up" as he left his now empty house, when one of his daughters friends presented him with an album she made showing their pre-school years together. He then headed for Washington on an Air Force plane normally used to transport the Vice President or the First Lady. Once on board he met Colonel Scott Turner who will be piloting him around the world on Air Force One, as well as Reggie Dickson his chief flight attendant for the next four years.

For his first meal on a presidential plane he ordered a cheeseburger with fries and a glass of water. George Bush, by contrast usually has a low-fat hot dog.

There was no official welcome by the predominantly black city for the first black president elect. Residents are in a state of high excitement about the new first family, however. Some were so keen to get a glimpse that they booked an expensive $65-a-head brunch at the Hay-Adams hotel, where the Obamas are staying for the next week.

The inauguration of the 44th president is over two weeks away and a mountain of problems await Mr Obama's attention, not least the humanitarian and political crisis in Gaza. But sticking to his mantra that "there is only one president at a time" especially on matters of foreign affairs, Mr Obama has refrained from commenting on the 10-day Israeli assault or Hamas rockets.

Mr Obama's biggest headache is trying to sort out America's rapidly worsening economic situation. He spent much of yesterday with Congressional leaders, Republican and Democratic as well as his own economic team seeking bipartisan support for a "stimulus" package to breathe life into the near moribund US economy. To win the support of Republicans and so-called "yellow-dog" Democrats opposed to government spending programme, the new plan calls for about $300 billion in tax cuts for individuals and businesses.

The president elect's advisers say there is almost "no-chance" that a new stimulus package will be agreed by Congress before inauguration day on 20 January, ready for the new president's signature. They now say it will be mid-February before it becomes law. By splitting the money between the sort of programmes Democrats like - $150 billion in tax cuts for working Americans - and those favoured by Republicans - $100 billion in job creation subsidies for business, they hope to win rapid approval.