44, Day 79: Quiet Time

An ongoing log of the daily activities of the 44th president of the United States during his first 100 days:

-After spending eight days away from Washington on a trip through western Europe, into Turkey, and finally stopping in Iraq, President Obama stayed out of the public's (and the press's) site site today. And his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, didn't hold his regular daily briefing. So what did the 44th president do on his first day back in town? According to Politico, "Playing catch-up, aides say. One White House aide says Obama is spending the day in closed-door meetings with staffers. His main topic, of course, is the economy."

-On the plane ride home, Obama called the coach of the North Carolina Tarheels and congratulated him on winning the NCAA basketball tournament. A huge b-ball fan, the president had picked North Carolina to be in the finals (it was the only one of his top four teams to make it to the final games). With his choice and the rest of his bracket, Obama himself ranked in the top 20 percent of more than one million brackets filed online at ESPN, the sports network's website said.

-Another in a series of slideshows on WhiteHouse.gov, this one chronicling Obama's stopover in Iraq on Tuesday.

by J. Jennings Moss

Sources: The White House, Politico, and the Washington Post.