Michelle and I send warm wishes to all those celebrate Kwanzaa this holiday season. This is a happy time of year when African Americans and all Americans come together to celebrate our blessings and the richness of our cultural traditions. This is also a time of reflection and renewal as we come to the finish of one year and the beginning of another. The Kwanzaa message tells us that we must recall the lessons of the past even as we seize the promise of tomorrow.

The seven principles of Kwanzaa - Unity, Self Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Purpose, Cooperative Economics, Creativity, and Faith - express the values that have enthused us as individuals and families; communities and country. These same principles have continued us as a nation during our darkest hours and provided hope for better days to come. Michelle and I know the challenges facing many African American families and families in all communities at this time, but we also know the courage of perseverance and hope that is ever-present in the community. It is in this spirit that our family extends our prayers and best wishes during this occasion and for the New Year to come.

President Obama is the man Americans admired most in 2009, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, while Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin are almost tied as the most-admired woman.

The close finish by Clinton, named by 16% in the open-ended survey, and Palin, named by 15%, reflects the nation's partisan split. Clinton was cited by almost 3 in 10 Democrats but only 6% of Republicans, Palin by a third of Republicans but less than 1% of Democrats.

First lady Michelle Obama ranks as the fourth most-admired woman, at the back Oprah Winfrey.The poll of 1,025 adults, taken Dec. 11-13, has a edge of error of +/–4 percentage points.

President and Michelle Obama sent their "warm wishes to all those celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season," calling it a occasion when "all Americans come together to celebrate our blessings and the richness of our cultural traditions.”

The principles of Kwanzaa, Barack Obama said,

... Express the values that have enthused us as individuals and families; communities and country. These same principles have sustained us as a nation during our darkest hours and provided hope for good days to come. Michelle and I know the challenges facing many African American families and families in all communities at this time, but we also know the spirit of insistence and hope that is ever present in the community.

But among all the prayers and best wishes - similar to those offered for Christmas, Hanukkah and Eid -- there's no sign of whether they'll be observing Kwanzaa customs at the Hawaii "White House" this week.

With just days to go before the great holiday, White House officials say President Barack Obama is "very close" to a decision on what to get First Lady Michelle for Christmas this year. The president is expected to proclaim his decision within "several hours" today.

"The president has been meeting daily with his top advisors and they have provided him with the good options available at this time," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. "In around one hour, he will present his choice to a hand-picked task force, who will then approve or reject the choice."

The US President, Mr Barack Obama, and First Lady Michelle have received their swine flu shot.
Their daughters Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, got their shot in October when the vaccine first became available.

In an interview to the American Urban Radio Network, Mr Obama said the girls have been now fine and have yet to get sick this flu season.

“That’s the most significant population because this flu, unlike seasonal flu, excessively affects children and young people - healthy children and young people as well as people with underlying conditions like asthma or neurological diseases,” Mr obama said.

The President also encouraged everyone to get vaccinated against the H1N1 strain of flu now that the vaccine is available to the common public. The vaccine has been restricted to high-risk groups such as children.

Andy Stern, the labor union chief who was one of the most frequent White House visitors this year, criticize President Obama for not fighting for more sweeping changes in health-care legislation.

“We need his personal involvement,” Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, one of the nation’s main labor unions, said yesterday in a conference call with reporters. “We are encouraging him to really step in here now” and “use all the powers of persuasion that he has.”

Stern, whose union spent $85 million last year to help elect President Obama to the White House and Democrats to Congress, adds to growing discontent among Democratic allies over compromises made in the bill to overhaul the nation’s health insurance system. The Senate has loosened necessities in legislation designed to curb medical expenses and provide health care for 31 million uninsured Americans.

White House officials say U.S. President Obama has ordered the federal government to purchase a state prison in Illinois to house about 100 suspected terrorists now being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The prison is situated in Thomson, a rural town about 240 kilometers west of Chicago. The 1,600 cell correction center there was built in 2001 to house maximum security inmates, but is nearly-empty. An official announcement on the contract is planned for Tuesday.

The president signed as an order days after taking office in January to close Guantanamo within a year.

But the administration's plan has been met with fierce resistance by a few congressional lawmakers who oppose bringing alleged terrorists into the United States.

Mr. Obama admitted newly that his administration will not be able to close Guantanamo by its self-imposed deadline.