Barack Hussein Obama Jr. is the 44t President of the United States, and the first African American to hold the position in office. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, serving as president of the Harvard Law Review as well. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School between 1992-2004. He also served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004 as well.
Here are ten odd facts about President Obama that you may or may not know. If you were surprised once about these facts, comment on our forum section. If you were surprised twice, share our blog on your Facebook wall. If you were surprised three times or more, write an email blast to 5 friends promoting this article. Your feedback and satisfaction is important to us. If you weren’t surprised at all, just send us your revisions for this article.
10. He has a Jewish half brother:
President Obama’s father was married four times. Twice he was married to white American women, the Christian mother of Barak Obama, Ann Duham, and the Jewish Mother of Mark Obama, Ruth Baker. Ruth was born to a Jewish family that immigrated to the United States from Lithuania. She married Obama Sr. in 1964 and moved with him to Kenya. Ruth divorced Barack Sr. after seven years of marriage, citing spousal abuse. Though by no means religious, Mark Obama is proud of his Jewish identity. The two brothers hardly talk, but there are pictures floating around on the internet of them. Mark married Liu Xuehua and has been living in China for the last 12 years.
9. He’s left-handed:
He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed. Other Presidents who were/are left-handed include Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. James Garfield was the first U.S. President to be left handed.
8. He has a poor track record with managing the economy and creating jobs:
As the 44th president of the United States, President Obama signed into law to revamp the national healthcare system and authorized the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, but struggles to revive the economy and create jobs. He’s failed to keep his promise to lower unemployment rates and to improve the economy. It took him 5 years to lower the unemployment rate. In December 2013, he proudly announced that the jobless rate dropped to 6.7 percent.
7. He used to work at Baskin Robbins:
But Obama has worked for plenty of private companies, from Baskin-Robbins to Business International Corporation. He worked at law firms. He was a telemarketer. He worked construction. Oh and who can forget about him selling island trinkets in Hawaii. Now, he cannot stand Ice Cream and refuses to eat it. What an experience for a teenage Obama. The ice cream parlor is a definitive training ground for at least one presidential skill: dealing with the media.
6. His father was a radical Muslim:
Obama’s father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was a radical Muslim who migrated from Kenya to Jakarta, Indonesia. He met Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham – a white atheist from Wichita, Kansas – at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and they got married. They divorced when Barack Jr. was two. He adopted Dunham’s religion when the two married and became an Atheist as well. Barack Jr. was a devout Christian, but that’s a discussion for a later article.
Obama’s family history, early childhood, and education differ markedly from those of any other African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s. Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is “black enough”, Obama told the National Association of Black Journalists that “we’re still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong”.
5. Collection:
He collects Spiderman and Conan the Barbarian comics. I wonder if he watched all of the Spiderman movies and if his daughters share his sentiments and collections.
4. He recently quit smoking:
He recently quit smoking and chews nicotine gum to quell his cravings. He has bigger fish to fry. Obama’s physical exam recently revealed that his total cholesterol has climbed into the borderline high range, since his last exam in 2007. Too much beer drinking for this President, I guess. In 2010, he had a cholesterol of 209.
3. He is a Leo:
His star sign is Leo and he was born in the Chinese year of the Ox.
2. His heroines are:
His heroes are Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and Cesar Chavez. All three were peaceful leaders who tried to bring about change to their countries Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader of the civil rights movement in the 1960s in the United States. Mahatma Gandhi was a peaceful leader who lead India to its independence from Great Britain. Cesar Chavez an American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers union, UFW). But, your probably knew that already.
1. He did some bizarre things when he lived in Indonesia:
On the menu of things he eaten are dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper. He ate all these things while living in Indonesia. is mother married Lolo Soetoro — a Muslim — moving to Jakarta with Obama when he was six years old. Within six months he had learned to speak the Indonesian language. I am sure animal activists were not very happy to hear about him eating dog meat.