Obama’s Friends Form Strategy to Stay Close

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT, pg1: Obama’s Friends Form Strategy to Stay Close
By JODI KANTOR
Published: December 13, 2008

....In the presidential campaign, the Obamas had a “no new friends” rule, surrounding themselves with a coterie of familiar faces. Even if the Obamas lift that rule in Washington, newcomers are unlikely to replicate the intensity of this group’s ties, formed over more than a decade by births and deaths, Scrabble games, barbecues and vacations, but also by shared beliefs about race, success and responsibility.

Back when the Obamas were hardly the most prominent members of the group, the doctors, lawyers and businessmen from Chicago became not just one another’s friends but also one another’s supporters, forming a network that eventually helped the politician among them on his way to a Senate seat and then the presidency. Their bonds grew only tighter in the long slog of the campaign....

Soon they will no longer be the best friends of a newly successful politician but of the most powerful man in the world. Though Mr. Obama’s friends vow their friendships will not change, they all sound a bit worried: that others will try to take advantage, that they will no longer be regarded on their own terms but in relation to Mr. Obama, or that they will say something that will reflect badly on him. For all of their immense pride in the Obamas, for all the dazzle of the campaign and the White House, being a first friend “is not all fun and games,” Dr. (Eric) Whitaker said.

The Obama social universe is large, multiracial and far-flung, spanning law school buddies, political allies and friends who kept Mrs. Obama company during her husband’s long absences. But the Obamas’ closest friends are the tight bunch from the South Side of Chicago, who never expected to find themselves in this situation.

Like Mrs. Obama, whose father worked for the city water department, most are from modest backgrounds....Like Mr. Obama, they attended private schools on scholarship. When they arrived at elite universities, they often found they were among the only blacks in their classrooms....Before they became involved in national politics, they became involved in school politics....

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Being Mr. Obama’s close friend has other effects: a sudden crush of new friends eager for inauguration tickets or other favors; uncertainty about when it is appropriate to phone the next leader of the free world simply to catch up....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/us/politics/14friends.html?ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=all