did you know that in addition to being a
two-term commander-in-chief barack obama
is also a grammy and emmy award winner
want to learn more about america's 44th
president keep your eyes glued to the
screen
would you have taken barack obama for a
spider-man stand he made his love for
the web slinger public in a 2015 email
to grassroots organizers writing i grew
up loving comic books back in the day i
was pretty into conan the barbarian and
spider-man on paper at least obama got
to meet his childhood hero presidents
are often written into comic books and
obama appeared in multiple during his
time in office from archie to amazing
spider-man in amazing spider-man 583
obama encountered the chameleon who
appeared with villainous intentions as
an obama doppelganger at his 2009
inauguration and according to bleeding
cool obama also inadvertently wrote a
batman comic book the comic features the
story of sal junta a medal of honor
recipient in a scene describing junta
receiving the medal for his duties in
afghanistan the words are relayed almost
word for word from obama's real-life
speech during the ceremony i'm going to
go off script here for a second
and just say i really like this guy
given his affinity for superheroes obama
has had a lot of time to figure out what
power he'd wish for and the answer is
actually fittingly nerdy the 44th
president told 93.3 kob fm it's kind of
a weird superpower but if i had
something that i could immediately wish
for i would love to be able to speak any
language
though he was born in hawaii barack
obama's family spans the globe his
mother ann dunham was a white woman born
in kansas while attending the university
of hawaii she met and married barack
obama senior a student from kenya his
parents divorced and his father returned
to kenya where obama eventually had
seven half-siblings from his father's
other marriages and relationships dunham
also married again this time to another
university of hawaii student lolo sotoro
sotoro was from indonesia where obama's
half-sister maya was born when obama
married his global family finally came
together in one room his sister maya
recalled in life magazine i remember his
wedding and there were everything from
the very fair kansas complexion you know
the scots irish thing to the blue black
canyon and we looked like the rainbow
tribe and me in between i'm indonesian
the united colors never a dull moment
right
we all have to get our start somewhere
and for teenage barack obama it was the
home of the 31 flavors in an old
linkedin post obama wrote rows and rows
of rock hard ice cream can be brutal on
the wrist as a teenager working behind
the counter at baskin robbins in
honolulu i was less interested in what
the job meant for my future and more
concerned about what it meant for my
jump shot obama's story about his first
job helped promote an initiative called
the summer opportunity project a program
that aimed to help teenagers enter the
workforce obama said the job wasn't
glamorous but it taught him
responsibility and hard work lessons he
hoped other teens would learn early in
the workforce
despite having an aura of cool and calm
there's one thing that sets barack obama
on edge nicotine per reuters the former
president began smoking as a teenager
and ever since obama's undergone a
constant struggle as he committed to
quitting look i've said before that
as a former smoker i constantly struggle
with it obama told reuters have i fallen
off the wagon sometimes yes am i a daily
smoker a constant smoker no he also
noted that he didn't smoke in front of
his children obama has joked that he
first promised to quit out of fear of
his wife michelle as usa today reported
but the stress of the presidency often
caused him to relapse in his 2020 memoir
a promised land he admitted to puffing
up to half a pack per day often ducking
out to a discreet spot to grab a smoke
in the end another obama girl helped him
overcome his vice he claims he quit when
his daughter malia obama made a face at
him after smelling a cigarette on his
breath that's when he began chewing
nicotine gum like crazy he wrote in a
promised land michelle obama said in a
2012 interview with ivillage that being
a true role model to his daughters was
key in helping him kick the habit i
think that he didn't want to look his
girls in the eye and tell them that they
shouldn't do something that he was still
doing so they played an important role
in him finally saying i gotta get this
done
barack and michelle obama's love story
is so epic that their first date was
made into an entire movie south side
with you watching the pair together
inspires major relationship goals which
makes it hard to believe there was ever
a time when michelle was just not having
it after her first year working at the
law firm sidley and austin michelle
obama was assigned to mentor a summer
associate by the name of barack obama
she remembers not being particularly
impressed when she looked him up in
becoming she wrote i checked out his
photo in the summer edition of our staff
directory a less than flattering poorly
lit headshot of a guy with a big smile
and a whiff of geekiness and remained
unmoved obama was immediately taken with
his advisor and asked her out several
times but being his mentor michelle
wanted to keep the relationship
professional as he wrote for oprah.com
finally when he said he'd happily quit
if she'd let him take her out she agreed
though he had come a long way from
working at baskin robbins obama took
michelle there on their first date where
they sat curbside eating ice cream and
the rest was history it was a cool date
actually we spent the whole day together
barack obama notoriously loves
basketball along with being photographed
on the sidelines and via kiss cams at
nba games he's welcomed numerous
championship nba wnba and ncaa teams to
the white house over the years but he
wasn't the first baller in chief
according to the white house museum
george h.w bush installed a small court
in 1991 that was used for shooting hoops
when obama came to town he raised the
ante by painting lines on the white
house tennis court so it could
accommodate both tennis and a full-court
basketball game obama's court became
famous for the pickup games that
attracted basketball stars and members
of congress alike the games also
garnered media attention giving obama a
runway to introduce policy initiatives
like the affordable care act or my
brother's keeper in a casual setting the
new yorker reported one of the more
storied events includes the time obama
received 12 stitches from an injury
while playing but obama's 50th birthday
celebration pickup game and barbecue
when basketball greats like magic
johnson came out of retirement to
participate as reported by sports
illustrated probably takes the cake
one undeniable perk that comes with the
presidency is access and barack obama
used a hefty amount of leverage to take
wife michelle on a dream date early in
his first term obama said in a statement
i am taking my wife to new york city
because i promised her during the
campaign that i would take her to a
broadway show after it was all finished
michelle wrote in her memoir becoming
that the couple had a weekly standing
date night before obama became president
but it wasn't until may 2009 that he
could fulfill his promise the pair flew
to the city and ate an upscale
farm-to-table eatery in greenwich
village before taking in the august
wilson play joe turner's come and gone
with guilt over the hassle their date
caused the couple knew they had to make
the night worth it michelle wrote in
becoming that evening in new york we ate
drank and conversed in the candlelight
reveling in the feeling however illusory
that we'd stolen away but the following
day obama's critics had a field day over
the new york trip criticism over the
cost of the date ensued time noted and
pundits tagged the obamas as out of
touch the republican national committee
said in a statement have a great
saturday evening even if you're not
jetting off somewhere at taxpayer
expense
barack obama started out as an avid
reader and he later became an avid
writer craig furman writer of author in
chief revealed that obama considered
going the literary route after college
as a student he was most interested in
fiction that melded compelling
empathetic stories with ideology tony
morrison's song of solomon became an
early favorite and he later cited it as
the book that shaped him most obama
moved to chicago after graduation where
he was a member of a book co-op where he
regularly shopped he ended up landing
his first book deal as he entered
politics and wrote with great difficulty
the literary memoir dreams from my
father which performed modestly but
after giving an impactful speech at john
kerry's 2004 convention his book came
out of prince and he had another deal
lined up he next published the audacity
of hope followed by the picture book of
the i sing and his post-presidential
memoir a promised land next up was
renegades born in the usa a book he
co-wrote with singer bruce springsteen
over the years barack obama has earned
plenty of honors he could stack on the
shelf next to his nobel peace prize but
one of his more surprising awards not
one but two grammys after gaining
notoriety from his speech at the 2004
dnc obama's publishers came back to him
to narrate an audiobook of his 1995
memoir dreams from my father according
to history as noted on the grammy
website his narration took home the
award for best spoken word or
non-musical album in 2005. obama's next
memoir the audacity of hope won the
category again in 2007.
yes barack obama is now a podcaster and
his co-host is probably someone you've
heard of before rock icon bruce
springsteen so what brought this
particular pair of voices together per
insider obama met the boss during a
campaign concert where he remembers
thinking springsteen was super shy over
time they rubbed elbows at functions but
it wasn't until a white house dinner
much later that they began to bond over
show tunes while springsteen played
piano they belted out broadway and
motown songs obama recalled there were
libations involved and then i said well
he's not as shy as i thought but he just
has to loosen up a little bit as their
friendship deepened so did their
conversations about race politics
manhood and music in a partnership with
spotify they decided to let others in on
the chat in a podcast renegades born in
the usa critics are not so into that
title slate called the duo charming but
not exactly rebellious they're super
famous really rich guys whose
conversations incidentally don't sound
all that difficult they appear to agree
on everything
eight years in the white house provides
a podium like no other but barack obama
still has plenty more to share lucky for
him netflix is happy to help make that
happen in 2018 the streaming giant
announced a multi-year deal with barack
and michelle obama's production company
higher ground to produce scripted and
unscripted series documentaries and
films obama said we hope to cultivate
and curate the talented inspiring
creative voices who are able to promote
greater empathy and understanding
between peoples and help them share
their stories with the entire world
though the deal's dollar amount was not
revealed variety reported that
partnerships with the obamas come with a
hefty price tag with penguin random
house reportedly forking over 65 million
dollars for their upcoming memoirs so
far netflix has aired the obama's
documentary's camp and the oscar
winner american factory the streaming
giant has also aired the couple's
children's series waffles and mochi and
we the people higher grounds ada twist
scientist an animated version of the
children's book of the same name has
also aired with those grammys and emmy
and a higher ground oscar under his belt
now all he needs is a tony to be the
first egot winning president
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