Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know

[Omniyoji]

Here's article and a Copy Pasta

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics

• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball

• His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili

• His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini

• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father

• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed

• He has read every Harry Potter book

• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali

• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream

• His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars

• He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia

• He can speak Spanish

• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead

• His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea

• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn't

• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia

• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs

• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name

• His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

• He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister's fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived

• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy

• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books

• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

• He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck

• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.

• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees

• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date

• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker

• He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol

• He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician

• As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine

• His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)

• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside

• He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal

• His house in Chicago has four fire places

• Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita

• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry

• He uses an Apple Mac laptop

• He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300

• He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits

• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes

• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13)

• His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The Wire

• He was given the code name "Renegade" by his Secret Service handlers

• He was nicknamed "Bar" by his late grandmother

• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds

• His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso

• His speciality as a cook is chilli

• He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street urchins"

• He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life

• His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government

Some cool stuff

[kuronosan]

In before Swampdonkey or Demo post...


That's a pretty neat list.

[Kuya]

He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits

Thought you could hide it from us, did ya Barry?

[_chuchu]

My mom had no clue Obama spoke good spanish till I told her to listen to one of the ads. All the McCain ads were in english on the spanish channels. Cool facts

[Kuya]

Good spanish? LOL

[_chuchu]

In before Swampdonkey or Demo post...


That's a pretty neat list.

Don't forget Remy ohwait..

[_chuchu]

Good spanish? LOL

It wasn't flawless, but I will say its good imo

[Kohan]

At first I thought this would be that awful list that was posted here (and locked) recently, and I was pleasantly surprised instead. This was a fun read.

[kuronosan]

Yea, I was going to write out Remy's name... but then my memory came back.

Good spanish... that's a funny one...

[Deftscythe]

• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball.

This is PROOF, people!

[archibaldcrane]

Are we laughing at "good Spanish" because his spanish sucks, or because the proper English way to say that is "he speaks Spanish well"?

Also:

• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs

Fuck yeah I can bench 35 more lbs. than the president!

[Jaybar]

Didn't know he smoked, was that well known? I knew he did drugs, though ;x

Very comprehensive list, wonder how quickly it will be nitpicked (I also chuckled at the Marx suits :3 ).

I thought it was because Spanish and good can never appear in the same sentence let alone together?

[Demosthenes11]

Did not know he smokes
Basketball court at the white house = awesome
and I was a manager at a baskin robbins when I was a teenager, I'm on the path to the white house!

[melbufrauma]

• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs dunno why thats on there 200 pounds is easy money lol

[Kuya]

I'm laughing because everytime his ads showed up during the primaries we couldn't help but laugh at his Spanish. It was pure lol. We appreciated the sentiment though.

"Yo soy Barack Obama y yo apruebo este mensaje." Good times.

[Churchill]

So negative lists get locked and positive are left open

[Obev]

Are we laughing at "good Spanish" because his spanish sucks, or because the proper English way to say that is "he speaks Spanish well"?

Also:
Fuck yeah I can bench 35 more lbs. than the president!

Are you a bad enough dude to bench-press the president?

Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees

The world is in safe trumpet-folk-fugue-rap hands.

[Kohan]

So negative lists get locked and positive are left open

Mostly because the "negative list" was a bunch of lies, which was successfully and thoroughly debunked.

snopes.com: Obama's 50 Lies / Obama Not Exactly

Obviously there have been plenty of intelligent conversations concerning delicate subjects (just look at the feminist thread), but a retarded troll list doesn't deserve a topic.

[Mrcloudz]

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics

• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees

• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds

Fuck yeah!!

[Maxxthepenguin]

I THINK he quit smoking during the campaign, but I'm not sure.

But yeah, it's been somewhat well known that he's been a smoker for some time

EDIT: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...yndication=rss