Obama Arrives in Style

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Obama Family on the Move

President-elect Barack Obama's family has moved to Washington, D.C. The Obamas will stay at the historic Hay-Adams Hotel until the Blair House, a guest house where presidents-elect traditionally stay before the inauguration, is vacant. Following the family's move, President-elect Obama visited Congressional leadership to discuss plans for an upcoming economic stimulus package.

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"I come here every couple months," Mason said. "I've never seen so many fellow African Americans up there before. He's already shaking things up, you know what I mean?"

A few tables away, one local family said they were so desperate for a glimpse of the future first family that the father had reserved a table for the brunch. So, decked out in their Sunday best, Jabreel Hampton and his wife and children slowly sipped their drinks, snapped photos and prayed that Michelle Obama or one of her daughters would somehow see their table and join in their mid-morning meal.

"I was thinking, 'They got to eat,' " said Hampton, of Damascus.

But instead, his family spent most of brunch nervously working out -- in vain, it turns out -- what they would say to the famous family.

"We love you," his wife suggested.

"We're glad that you're the president," his 8-year-old daughter offered.

It's not clear how close the Hamptons and other supporters will get to the Obama family in coming days and weeks, nor how much the Obamas will see of their newly adopted city.

By last night, when Obama's black limo pulled up to the hotel about 7:30 p.m., his new home had been transformed into a secured fortress. Steel barricades lined the sidewalks. Dual layers of concrete barriers cut off all paths to the hotel. All weekend, the hotel wouldn't even confirm that the Obamas would be guests. The most a spokesman would say was that its suites offered "an especially good view in the wintertime of the White House."

When the motorcade finally passed by, some in the crowd claimed that they spotted the president-elect, clad in a navy suit and blue tie, through the limo's windows. Others, including protesters busy demanding a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, missed it entirely.

Regardless of what they saw, many said they would be telling their children and grandchildren for years to come of this day, when the man who became president spent his first night with his family in the city they would now call home.

Staff writers Matt Zapotosky, Philip Rucker, Kristen Mack, Hamil R. Harris and Elissa Silverman and staff researchers Meg Smith and Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.