Already tiring of the constraints of Washington life, President Obama is making a jailbreak of sorts — getting away from the White House as often possible and returning to campaign-style audiences.
After a pair of town hall meetings in Indiana and Florida visibly lifted the president’s energy level, another quick trip was added to his schedule on Wednesday, for a stop in suburban Virginia.
Obama today is off to Springfield, Ill., for an event marking the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. He and his family will spend the weekend, including Valentine’s Day, at home in Chicago. That’s a solid week with at least a daily trip away from Washington.
Asked if Obama is already feeling cooped up in the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs said, “Safe to say.”
“He’s a bit of a restless soul,” Gibbs said.
Past presidents have frequently soured on life inside the White House, a museum that is also a center of government, a well-patrolled and securely fenced bunker, a busy office, and also a home.
“I don’t know whether it’s the finest public housing in America or the crown jewel of the American penal system,” former President Bill Clinton once said of the White House.
Last week when the debate over the stimulus bill was bogged down in partisan bickering, Obama made an unscheduled departure from the White House, joining first lady Michelle Obama to visit a second-grade class at Capital City Public Charter School.
“We wanted to get out of the White House,” Obama told the students.
He followed that up with a weekend at Camp David — a favored presidential retreat that he later said his family enjoyed. Among other things, it’s away from Washington, with a more relaxed atmosphere and slightly more privacy than 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
“It was beautiful,” Obama said. “The girls had a great time. They had a lot of fun. You can see that during the summer it’s going to be a nice place to spend a lot of time. Hit a few golf balls, played a little basketball.”
But his most high-profile ventures have been trips promoting the stimulus package. Bob Stein, Rice University political scientist and pollster, said it’s not surprising Obama is having wanderlust, since campaigning has made up such a big part of his political career.
“He is more familiar with the politics of being the president than the policymaking,” Stein said. “Not that he isn’t eager and capable — he can sit in a hours-long meeting, he was a college professor. But for a guy who was running that long and hard for the presidency, he might simply find this a more familiar place.”
It’s unclear whether Obama’s out-of-town campaigning is moving support for the stimulus in Congress or among popular opinion. A recent CNN/Opinion Research poll found 76 percent approve of the job Obama is doing, and 54 percent said they support the stimulus bill.
Even when the crowd isn’t entirely with him, the president still appears invigorated by the encounters. In Indiana, one town hall attendee took issue with his nominees’ tax problems and told Obama he needed to have a beer with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
“Now, with respect to Sean Hannity, I didn’t know that he had invited me for a beer,” Obama said. “But I will take that under advisement.”
