Nov 10

2008

Fifty things you might not know about Barack Obama

Filed Under (Fun, Lifestyle, Politics) by Sheern Tami on 10-11-2008 

• 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 favorite 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 favorite 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 favorite 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 favorite 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 favorite 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 favorite fictional television program are Mash and The Wire

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

• He was nicknamed “Bear” by his late grandmother

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

• His favorite 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

Courtesy Telegraph UK

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President Obama

This has always been one of our greatest fears. So we pray for the health and safety of our Brother President Obama and his family.

Life really does imitate art.

 Dan Quale must really appreciate this.

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MSNBC Video

The political right are complaining about Mr. Obama's choose for Chief of Staff. Are for real? The COF is the gatekeeper to the White House. Emanual will be like Luca Borsie in the God Father. He cannot be weak. He most hard nosed

  Actually, I look at the Electorial College as a safeguard built into our Constitution. The thing that I have never trusted is the Cult of Personality and the media's power to minipulate the peoples opinion.

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Vote 101: The Electoral College


Americans often think they vote for a president, but the electoral college does the real voting.

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MSN covers the 2008 presidential election

By Heidi Schuessler, User Education Producer, MSN.com

With the presidential election just around the corner, many of you have written to MSN with your thoughts about the campaigns, candidates and our political coverage during this unprecedented election season. This week I had a chance to sit down with Don Sena, MSN’s managing editor, to talk about how MSN covers the election news.

Some background: Here at MSN the pace and volume of election coverage started in 2007 as candidates first entered the race. In early summer 2007, MSN launched Your Vote ’08, a robust election guide with comprehensive political analysis, daily polls, videos and more.

News and analysis come from MSN’s primary election content partner, MSNBC, as well as Slate.com, Newsweek, The Root.com and MSN Video. MSN’s many channels also cover politics. For example, MSN Money recently published stories about where the candidates stand on pocketbook issues such as health care bills and energy costs. And MSN City Guides recently ran a story on which American cities are most red or blue.

Issues, issues, issues

The primary goal of MSN’s political coverage is to give you a broad range of accurate, fair and timely news and analysis about the election and candidates. Some people want to know about the “horse race”; others are following their local races or are only interested in specific issues. MSN covers all these topics, said Sena, but “we want to allow users to filter out the rhetoric and focus on the issues.”

Sena also said a talented team of editors has been guiding the MSN election coverage, led by Dave Herman, lead election editor.

If you’ve clicked around on Your Vote ’08, you may have seen the section called Where They Stand that compares McCain and Obama on everything from abortion and taxes to how each candidate would deal with Iran. Another popular feature is The Podium, where you can compare candidates and issues side by side using an interactive mash-up of Live Search and Silverlight.

Balance and fairness

MSN constantly works to achieve balanced coverage of the candidates and the parties. “Fairness is always top of mind and influences how we choose stories and how we place photos,” said Sena.

Many readers write in with feedback about what they view as a liberal or conservative slant to the coverage, and Sena and his election team monitor these comments. “When I see reader feedback slamming us from both sides, I know we’re probably getting it right,” said Sena. (Send your feedback about the Election Guide.)

Cool features

Did you know that MSN can help you find out where the polling places are in your town? Many voters have also taken advantage of our register to vote page.

“I find it interesting that some of our competitors have just recently added a ‘register to vote’ feature,” said Sena, who says MSN has long emphasized service tools. “We’ve had that feature live since before the primaries.”

Innovation is key to MSN’s election coverage, and the Web makes features like The Podium possible – and allows MSN the freedom to present political news in ways that you won’t see or hear on TV, radio or in newspapers. (More of this is coming on election night – see below).

For a global perspective, MSN International sites also have been programming innovative election content to capture interest abroad. (Who would those abroad elect as the new leader of the free world? Check out this interesting feature from our international teams.) MSN Latino presents a version of the MSN Election Guide, as well.

Looking forward to Nov. 4

On election night, you can expect special coverage and features that will closely follow national and state results, as well as new layouts, a new design on the homepage, and new interactive features. Most of all, said Sena, count on MSN’s election coverage on Nov. 4 to be accurate and fast.

We want to hear from you!

As always, thanks for your feedback and keep it coming. Tell us what you think about this blog by clicking the “send message” link below. Or, share your thoughts about other articles you’ve read on MSN.com by sending Letters to the Editor.