‘Niaje’, ‘Hawayuni’ 20 facts that bring out the light side of President Obama

 President Obama watches on as President Uhuru gives a speech at the GES2015 opening in Nairobi, Kenya            Photo: Courtesy

He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside. In 2008, on the campaign trail, Barack Obama told MTV; “Brothers should pull up their pants, that doesn’t mean you have to pass a law ... And, you know, some people might not want to see your underwear — I’m one of them.” He dedicates eight hours to learning and growing by reading something new (not related to his job), and rarely watches television. His first girlfriend was Alex McNear, whom he met at Occidental College in California in 1981 at the age of 20. Their relationship ended when Obama transferred to Columbia to finish his studies. He loves to listen to music by Rolling Stones, Jay Z, Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees. He adores art by Pablo Picasso. As a teenager he worked at an ice cream store named Baskin-Robbins, where he scooped ice cream. Having eaten too much of it, he no longer likes ice cream. He once visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister’s fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived. He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali. Rather embarrassingly, Obama applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while he was studying at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee. They probably regret this now. He has read every Harry Potter book. First lady Michelle Obama revealed that the president is a huge Harry Potter fan and that with his daughters, he has read all seven books about the young wizard’s adventures. He is a night owl and likes to work late: Turns out some — like President Obama and writer Michael Lewis — are night owls, preferring to work while the rest of the world sleeps. He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – but he was unfortunately unable to kick the habit. He did reportedly quit in 2010. Genevieve Cook was Obamas second love before meeting Michelle, a Harvard Law School graduate, who supervised him while he was working as a summer associate in a Chicago law firm. On their first date Obama took her to see the Spike Lee movie, Do The Right Thing. Obama would have been an architect. “There was a time when I thought I could be an architect,” he said. “I expected to be more creative than I turned out, so I went into politics instead.” His worst habits include not putting his worn socks in with the dirty clothes. “He’s worse than a five-year-old at making the bed. And after he eats, he doesn’t put away the butter,” his wife Michelle Obama once told a roaring crowd at a Chicago fundraiser for women backing her husband’s campaign. He can speak Indonesian, some Spanish, and a tinge of Luo and Swahili. While living in Indonesia he ate dog meat, snake meat, roasted grasshopper and kept a pet ape called Tata. His best meal is wife Michelle’s shrimp linguini (seafood). His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. His first car had “so much rust that there was a rusted hole in the passenger door”. He won Best Spoken Word Album Grammy Awards for abridged audiobook versions of Dreams from My Father in February 2006 and for The Audacity of Hope in February 2008.