Before Trip Home, Obama To Hold News Conference (UPDATED)

By Marcus Gilmer in News on May 27, 2010 2:20PM

President Obama has a busy working holiday weekend coming up. Besides a trip home to Chicago later today with the First Family, he's got a trip down to the Gulf Coast tomorrow afternoon to assess the current situation in the Gulf. Speaking of, early word this morning from Louisiana is that BP's "top kill" procedure is working and that the gush of oil into the Gulf has stopped. Good, that took long enough. But before Obama goes anywhere, he's addressing reporters at his first press conference in 10 months (since July 22, 2009) right around lunch time in Chicago (11:45 a.m.).

It's been a rough spell for the Windy City White House. Besides the Gulf oil spill, Obama has been dealing with the upcoming mid-term elections, those pesky Tea Party folks, and the ongoing (and growing) immigration debate in the wake of the state of Arizona's new controversial law. Speaking to donors at a fundraiser earlier this week, Obama said, "I know it's been 18 tough months. And I know I've got more gray hair. I know some folks say, 'Well, you know, he's not as cool as he was.' When they had all the posters around and everything. Now I've got a Hitler mustache on the posters. That's quite a change."

As for the trip home, according to the President's schedule, the First Family will depart Washington D.C. at 6 p.m. Chicago time, arriving at O'Hare airport at approximately 7:15 p.m. tonight.

We've placed the video for the news conference after the jump.