WASHINGTON » President Barack Obama has returned to the White House he never really escaped.

Obama and his family took an overnight flight from Hawaii Sunday, capping an 11-day holiday vacation sure to be remembered more for the botched attempt to blow up a Christmas Day flight than the hours spent on golf courses or at the beach. The failed terror attack refocused the president's trip from R&R to a river of memos from homeland security aides.

Obama arrived back at the White House at midday yesterday with nothing on his public schedule—but much on his plate.

Privately, the president was to hear from the CIA about the attempted attack on the Northwest Airlines flight and meet with John Brennan, his top counterterrorism adviser, who is leading the review into what went wrong. The president has summoned Homeland Security officials for a broader meeting today in the White House Situation Room.

Even without those reviews, Obama has a full agenda for the new year.

Lawmakers from the House and Senate must resolve differences on a health care overhaul nearing passage. Financial regulations are on the verge of winning their own version of an overhaul. A State of the Union address to Congress is due during the first weeks of 2010. And the escalating war in Afghanistan is not going to run itself.

On the way to Hawaii, deputy press secretary Bill Burton deadpanned that reporters should expect a quiet few days. “;I asked the president if he had any special message for you guys. He would like for you to relax and to not anticipate any public announcements or news-making events.”;

It echoed almost exactly what Burton told reporters as they headed toward Obama's summer vacation off the coast of Massachusetts. That trip was interrupted with the renomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

This week should not have come as a surprise, really. Presidents do not truly get to leave behind 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

One aide traveled back and forth between a makeshift White House—at a hotel on Waikiki—to Obama's rented residence with secure memos. And officials—sometimes in sandals or gym clothes—visited reporters in the hotel ballroom they used for a workspace.

“;We reserve the right to screw up your day at a moment's notice,”; a smiling Burton casually told reporters seeking the president's schedule.

Even though Obama took a break on New Year's Day to accompany his daughters to the film “;Avatar,”; that BlackBerry on his belt was not for fashion. For a wartime president, it is just one reminder he is always commander in chief. Even when ordering popcorn.