25 things you still don't know about Barack Obama
After witnessing his two terms in the White House, we’re all trivia buffs of sorts when it comes to President Barack Obama. We know he likes to play golf, shoot hoops and wear dad jeans.
Still, for fun, we’ve dug up 25 Obama factoids that may have escaped your attention — until now.
He's left-handed.
He follows in the footsteps, so to speak, of lefties Bill Clinton and George W. Bush; he’s the eighth left-handed U.S. president (that we know of).
He's quite capable of being his own anger translator.
Though known for his reserve and cool, Obama reportedly snapped at David Axelrod when the adviser offered some suggestions during a debate-prep session in 2012.
“M-----------’s never happy,” Obama grumbled before walking off, Axelrod wrote in his memoir.
He eats (but does not ration) almonds.
Obama says a 2016 newspaper profile mistook a joke for fact in claiming that he snacked on precisely seven almonds each night.
That clarification aside, Obama does “strongly recommend” nuts as a snack.
He's a binge-watcher.
“House of Cards,” “Homeland” and “Game of Thrones” are all shows Obama has said he’s worked his way through.
He's a big iPad guy.
Apple’s Steve Jobs got him hooked back in the day. At last check, per ZDNet, Obama had upgraded to an iPad 3.
He's a prospective Chevy Volt owner.
The supporter of the Paris climate agreement has vowed to buy the American-made electric car once he’s a private citizen. Prior to moving into the White House, he drove a Ford Escape Hybrid.
He's the 11th president to be raised without a father.
That’s 25 percent of our chief executives, Divorce magazine has found.
Obama’s parents divorced when the future president was a toddler, and he only saw his father only once after that, when Obama was 10. Barack Obama Sr. died in a car crash in 1982.
He's "pretty terrible" at March Madness brackets.
Despite being a big college basketball fan, President Obama has fired up mostly air balls when he’s tried to predict the winner of the men’s NCAA tournament.
His favorite song of 2015 was Kendrick Lamar's "How Much a Dollar Cost."
And in case you were wondering, first lady Michelle Obama’s pick to click was Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk.”
He read Harry Potter books with his eldest daughter.
The proud father read aloud all seven volumes to daughter Malia.
He's probably the biggest "Star Trek" fan in White House history.
While other presidents have been fans of Trek movies, Obama separately welcomed original Enterprise crew members Nichelle Nichols and George Takei (twice) to the White House, and declared his “love” of Spock after the death of Leonard Nimoy.
He's got more Grammys than Tupac, Biggie and The Who combined.
Obama has two statuettes, both in the Spoken Word Album category. The late rappers and the classic rock band all have zero.
He saw "Hamilton" in previews.
He took daughters Sasha and Malia to a matinee performance of the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical a few weeks in advance of its formal Broadway opening.
As of his 55th birthday, his net worth was a reported $12.2 million.
Money magazine says a “big chunk” of his nest egg came via book advances and royalties for his three best-sellers, including “Dreams From My Father.”
His favorite movies are "The Godfather" and "The Godfather: Part II."
He often refers to the 1972 and 1974 Best Picture winners as a singular thing: i.e., “that saga--I love that movie.” As for The Godfather: Part III?
Eh, “not so much,” Obama says.
He reveres the original GOP standard-bearer.
“I want to assure you, I’m really not that partisan of a guy,” he told a Texas audience in 2014. “My favorite president is the first Republican president, a guy named Abraham Lincoln.”
He signed up for an Obamacare plan.
In 2013, he made a point of participating in the health care system that bears his name. As noted at the time, he didn’t really need the coverage: Presidents get free health care courtesy all of us.
He's practically Mike Pence's next-door neighbor.
The Obama family plans on staying in Washington, D.C. at least until younger daughter Sasha completes high school. Their new home will be a nine-bedroom, nine-bath house that’s a three-minute drive from the vice president’s official residence and office at the U.S. Naval Observatory.
His favorite place to hang in the White House is the Truman Balcony.
It has nothing to do with the Easter Bunny, and everything to do with the fact that, as he told Vanity Fair, “it’s the closest you can get to feeling outside. To feeling outside the bubble.”
His all-time favorite all-American invention is the lightbulb.
He said so in 2016 in the place where we all share such revelations: on Facebook.
He's a II, as in "Jaws II."
Obama’s given name, per his birth certificate, is Barack Hussein Obama II.
His family's No. 1 charity serves vets and their families.
According to their 2015 tax returns, the Obamas donated $9,066 to the Fisher House Foundation.
He is a Christian who was born in the United States.
These oft-repeated facts have been nonetheless lost on many an American.
His old apartment in Pasadena, Calif., is something of a landmark.
In December 2016, officials in the Los Angeles-area community installed a plaque in front of the building that Obama called home during his 1980-1981 stint at Occidental College.
He writes a lot of letters.
As president, he says he has tended to respond to “as many as” 10 letters nightly from his fellow Americans, according to an NPR interview.