Big Choices for Obamas: Chef, Church

White House social secretary brings marketing savvy to the role

(NEWSER) - The White House is the jewel in the crown of the Obama brand and it’s her job to promote it, White House social secretary Desirée Rogers tells Amy Chozick of the Wall Street Journal. Rogers has taken the event-organizing role to a new level, Chozick writes, and unlike her predecessors, has made herself a powerful presence in the West Wing as well as the East. More»

It's a labradoodle or Portuguese water hound for Sasha, Malia

(NEWSER) - As their father prepares to take office next week, future first daughters Malia and Sasha Obama have only one question: When do they get their puppy? The girls have narrowed the choices down to two, Obama tells George Stephanopoulos—a labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound. All that remains, the president-elect says, is to wait for the right dog to appear at a shelter. More»

(NEWSER) - It's no secret that Barack Obama is an avid hoopster and that his presidency could usher in an era of basketball diplomacy, but a New York Times feature on the politics of presidential sports notes a potential hurdle for the president-elect: He's inheriting a cruddy basketball court. Little-used since Bush the elder installed it outside in 1991, the court is small, suffers a weathered and cracked surface, and has but one hoop. More»

First family to settle into Hay Adams this weekend so girls can start school Monday

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama, who has mostly avoided the capital since the election, will move his family into a hotel suite this weekend, aides tell the New York Times. The girls will start school Monday and Obama will begin working with the new Congress on his stimulus package. While the Times didn't disclose the mystery hotel, MSNBC reports that it's the Hay Adams, which advertises itself as "as close as you can get to staying at the White House without a personal invitation from the president." More»

President-elect told he can't move into official guest house early

(NEWSER) - Washington's hotels are booked solid for January and the Obamas have joined those struggling to find a place to stay, the New York Times reports. The president-elect and his wife had hoped to move into Blair House, the official White House guest house, in time for the girls to start their new school Jan. 5. But the Bush administration has told them it won't be available until January 15—just 5 days before the inauguration. More»