Obama Celebrates Christmas In Hawaii
CHO: The Hawaiian version of "Over the Rainbow." I like that. Good morning. That's because, you know, the occupants of the White House are not occupying the White House at this particular moment. They are in Hawaii where it is much warmer than it is in Washington, mostly cloudy and 44, partly cloudy with a high of 47 a little bit later on.</s>VELSHI: President Obama is celebrating Christmas in Hawaii, sort of, with the first family after winning that bruising battle in Washington about the payroll tax cut, the extension of it. CNN's White House correspondent, Brianna Keilar, drew the short straw for CNN and is traveling with the president in Hawaii.</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aloha to you, Ali and Alina. President Obama left Washington on Friday shortly after signing that payroll tax cut extension into law and because this is the biggest part of his jobs plan, he came here to Hawaii with a political victory very much under his belt, and now is expected to spend his time here resting and relaxing not far from where he grew up. On Christmas Eve he did something he frequently does, loves to do, he played a round of golf. Then he made phone calls to servicemen and women serving overseas and had dinner with his family. Then on Christmas the first family went to church on a Marine base not far from the house they're staying at. All of the Obama women donning sleeveless dresses because the weather here is just beautiful. And then the first family also greeted military men and women there at that marine base later on Christmas. Now at this point there's no public events on the president's schedule. We're expecting him to do a number of other kind of typical Hawaiian vacation activities with his family, maybe some more golf. But he will, of course, be receiving his daily national security briefing, as he always does, because this is always a working vacation for President Obama. Ali and Alina?</s>ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Brianna. That's Brianna and the Brianna Keilar band while she was talking as an accompaniment whenever she goes anywhere.</s>ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Not the Hawaiian version of "Over the Rainbow." You just watched the president greeting members of the military and their families on Christmas Day. I'm guessing you probably didn't see this. Take a look. After taking an earful from House leaders for weeks, that's the commander in chief getting a mouthful courtesy of the son of a marine captain Greg Wagner. CNN has not been able to verify whether the little guy is a Republican or Democrat.</s>VELSHI: All right, our funny animal video of the day, because we can. Remember the Taco Bell Chihuahua? This one doesn't speak, but it dances.</s>VELSHI: That's Stewart, the salsa dancing dog. He's a YouTube sensation with nearly 1.2 million views. He's dancing a meringue, not the salsa. The dog is on a leash. It's not a tight leash. It's connected to that chair behind him so he doesn't run away. And he seems to dancing of his own volition. I can't dance like that. I can't dance like nothing. Don't get me started. We're going to lose viewers if I get out there and dance.</s>CHO: Your top stories are next, plus counting down to 2012. What can we look forward to in the entertainment world? We'll talk about what you should be watching out for. That's coming up. It's 48 minutes after the hour.