Obama uses autopen to sign fiscal cliff deal into law - after playing a round of golf in Hawaii

By ASSOCIATED PRESS and DAILY MAIL REPORTER

It's a highly-anticipated deal that keeps his nation from teetering over the edge of the fiscal cliff - yet President Obama has not even shown up to sign the new bill into law.

Instead, Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, has signed the bill using an autopen, a mechanical device that copies his signature - allowing him to accept the deal after playing a round of golf.

While he's the only president in history to turn to the gadget to sign a bill into law, it is not the first time President Obama has used it.

In May 2011, he used the pen to sign the Patriot Act - extending anti-terrorism measures enacted in the wake of 9/11 - while he was 3,725 miles and six time zones away in France at a G8 meeting.

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Back in Hawaii: President Obama boarded Air Force One to return to the Aloha State yesterday - moments after he addressed the nation following the House's approval of the fiscal cliff deal

Rise of the machines: Obama is the first president in history to use an autopen, like the one seen here, to sign a bill into law

In that instance, Mr Obama was awoken at 5.45am in his hotel room in Deauville, France, so that he could review and approve the bill with only minutes to spare before the deadline passed in the U.S.

He also used the device in November 2011 while he was holding talks with Asian/Pacific leaders in Bali in Indonesia; he signed an appropriations bill to fund government departments in his absence.

The fiscal cliff bill was approved on a sunny day in Honolulu during which the president played a round of golf at a Marine Corps base in nearby Kaneohe.

In between the round of golf, working out at the local gum and dining with his wife and friends, Obama reviewed a copy of the legislation and ordered that the original be signed by autopen in D.C.

Smirk: Obama winks at photographers as he arrives in the briefing room to make remarks after the House passed legislation intended to avoid the fiscal cliff

After months of wrangling, the deal was finally reached after Obama cut his family vacation short last week, returning to Washington D.C. on December 26 for the negotiations.

But after addressing the nation following the House's passage of the fiscal cliff deal, Obama jetted back to the Aloha State late on Tuesday night.

He arrived in Honolulu before 5am local time yesterday and immediately rejoined the First Family in their rented beachside vacation home in Kailua, a picturesque suburb on the east side of Oahu.

After Obama used the autopen to sign the Patriot Act in 2011, critics claimed using the mechanical device to write his signature was unconstitutional.

Article 1, Section 7 of the constitution states that if a bill is passed by both the House and Senate, it shall be presented to the president. 'If he approve(s) he shall sign it,' states the Constitution.