welcome back, everybody. it is officially day one of president obama s warm and sunny vacation in hawaii. he arrived early this morning after a score of wins on capitol hill. nbc s athena jones is with the president. and she joins me now so. athena, explain to all of us, how are the president s spirits as he arrived there in hawaii? i know it was kind of late, right? reporter: yes, good afternoon, thomas. well, you ve probably seen the pictures by now of the president arriving here late last night. this was, of course, after a very long day that began with the signing of this don t ask, don t tell repeal. you saw him arrive here late, almost around midnight. he finally dressed down, gotten out of his suit and put on some slacks and was greet eed with a lei, all part of the island spirit. happy to be joining his wife and daughters who arrived here on saturday. give us a breakdown of what s on the president s agenda. while he ll be with the family and celebrating the holidays, there
weeks has been the needed fuel for the obama presidency? yeah. you know, i think that the last two weeks in particular were just such good weeks for the prnlg president, for the white house, when you consider where they were six weeks ago in the aftermath of the mid-term elections, having lost the majority in the house of representatives and so many seats in the u.s. senate and to come back six weeks later to win on the s.t.a.r.t. treaty, win ratification of the s.t.a.r.t. treaty and to win on don t ask, don t tell and to win on the 9/11 responders bill as well, these were big wins for the president, and i do think it gives him some momentum going into the new year and the new congressional session. all right. now i m going to take us half glass full to half glass empty. immigration reform didn t get done and the dream act failed. to move ahead, is this something he ll pick up in 2011 or is this dead come the next two years? i think he s going to pick this up in 2012? i don t thi