Barack and Michelle Have Valentine's Day Dinner at Table 52
Barack and Michelle Obama had a quiet Valentine's Day dinner together in Chicago at Table 52 last night. Well, as quiet as these things can be with an entire complement of secret service agents and a traveling press pack. Although strangely, somehow the traveling press corp got "accidentally" left behind when they went to dinner, leaving the first couple without press coverage of their every move for almost an hour.
The Obamas are spending a long weekend in Chicago for their first real break since he became president on Jan. 20. Aides say they have no public events.
The couple left their Hyde Park home on Chicago's south side Saturday evening for a quiet dinner at Table 52, a restaurant owned by Oprah Winfrey's former chef, Art Smith. The menu features traditional Southern fare such as grits and sausage and catfish jambalaya.
The trip came with a minor hiccup: Obama's motorcade left without the small group of reporters who travel everywhere with the president. The motorcade pulled out of the neighborhood and left the president without media coverage for about 45 minutes, unusual for the news organizations covering Obama and the White House.
Earlier in the day, Obama began his weekend with a familiar trip to a gym in a friend's apartment building. Between his election and inauguration, Obama made the daily trip to his friend's gym. Obama didn't speak with reporters.
An entire 45 minutes without press coverage of the Obamas? Absolutely shocking.
