We, The Women: August 5th Edition

Young millennial women are always on the go, and sometimes we just don’t have the time to keep up on everything going on in Washington. Introducing We, The Women, your one-stop shop for all things politics. Keep up with the latest news that’s affecting our government while keeping up with your busy schedule!

Yesterday, President Barack Obama turned 52 years old. To celebrate, he spent some time on Sunday with family and friends at Camp David, the President’s country residence in Maryland.  Michelle Obama tweeted out a sweet message and accompanying photo to wish her husband a happy birthday.

In honor of the Commander-in-chiefs new age, we bring you a special edition of We, The Women where we bring you 52 Things To Know About Barack Obama!

1. His name is Swahili for “one who is blessed”
2. He is the first President to have a Blackberry
3. He has read every Harry Potter book, and has often read them to his two daughters, Malia and Sasha
4. His favorite childhood book is “Where The Wild Things Are”
5. He can speak English, Spanish and Indonesian
6. His favorite president is Abraham Lincoln
7. He is left handed, a trait found only in about 10% of the world’s population
8. His father, whom he only met a few times, grew up herding goats
9. He is the only person besides Bill Cosby that can get free food from D.C.’s historic restaurant Ben’s Chili Bowl
10. He owns a pair of boxing gloves signed by legendary boxer Muhammad Ali
11. He doesn’t like ice cream, which stems from his teenage job at Baskin-Robbins
12. If he did not become a politician, he would have liked to become an architect
13. He enjoys playing poker
14. He has tried dog meat, snake meat and roasted grasshopper, all while he lived in Indonesia as a young child
15. He also had a pet ape named Tata while he lived in Indonesia
16. His favorite meal is his wife’s shrimp linguini
17. His favorite meal to make is chili
18. He wears Hart Schaffner Marx suits
19. He is the first African-American to be president of the the Harvard Law Review, a student-run organization of Harvard Law School
20. He took his wife Michelle to see the movie “Do The Right Thing” on their first date
21. In 2006, he won a Grammy for his audio book “Dreams From My Father”
22. In 2009, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
23. In 2012, he became the first U.S. president to openly support same-sex marriage
24. A big fan of basketball, he was nicknamed “O’Bomber” in high school for his skills on the basketball team
25. Some of his heroes include Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi
26. He is distantly related to former Vice President Dick Cheney and actor Brad Pitt
27. In 2010, Obama gave up smoking cigarettes for good, a promise he made to his wife before he ran for president in 2008
28. It wasn’t until he went off to college that “Barry” asked to be called Barack. He did this in an effort to establish his identity
29. He is not a fan of low hanging pants, a trend that some of today’s young men seem to prefer
30. He makes a bracket for the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, a bracket that has been openly shared every year since he has taken office
31. He is 6 feet and 1.5 inches tall
32. He is the first President to appear on a late night talk show
33. His brother-in-law, Craig Robinson, is the head coach of the Oregon State University Beavers
34. He has no full brothers or sisters, but has 8 half-siblings
35. He didn’t finish repaying his student loans until he was 43 years old, right after he signed his first book deal
36. His favorite artist is Pablo Picasso
37. Before becoming president, he drove a Ford Escape Hybrid. He bought this car after getting rid of his Chrysler 300 sedan
38. One of his favorite TV shows is “The Wire,” a TV series about the drug and law enforcement culture in Baltimore that aired in the early 2000s
39. He has a beer named after him in Kenya
40. Despite the above fact, Obama rarely drinks alcohol
41. He collects Spiderman and Conan the Barbarian comics
42. He majored in Political Science at Columbia University before going onto Harvard Law School to receive his law degree
43. A big fan of music, he has both Jay Z and Ludacris on his iPod, and also enjoys show tunes, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan
44. He is also a fan of Beyoncé and enjoys the song “Single Ladies”
45. Some of his favorite films include Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
46. Some of his maternal ancestors were slave owners
47. While in the Senate, his office desk belonged to Robert Kennedy. On it, he kept a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol for the fragility of life
48. He likes snacking on chocolate-peanut protein bars
49. He is not very good at bowling
50. His code name amongst Secret Service personnel is “Renegade”
51. He can do a pretty impressive impression of Marlon Brando in “The Godfather”
52. He is the first African-American President of the United States