50 Coolest Facts about President-Elect BARACK "O' BOMBER"

I imagine so many jaded Americans must be feeling in 2008
exactly what we Pinoys felt like during those halcyon days of 1986
when People Power's glow was like a halo around our nation.

One thing's for sure; the coolest cat to ever become
POTUS certainly has got game!!!

1. He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball

2. His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili

3. His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini

4. He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir,
Dreams From My Father



5. He is left-handed

6. He has read every Harry Potter book

7. He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali



8. He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager
and now can't stand ice cream

9. His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars

10.He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics



11. He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper
while living in Indonesia

12. He can speak Spanish

13. While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN
and had sports channels on instead

14. His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea

15. He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president
– he didn't

16. He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia



17. He can bench press an impressive 200lbs

18. He was known as Barry until college
when he asked to be addressed by his full name

19. His favourite book is Moby Dick by Herman Melville

20. He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996
or the stag party of his half-sister's fiancé,
but left when a stripper arrived

21. His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy



22. He and Michelle made $4.2 million last year,
with much coming from sales of his books

23. His favourite films are Casablanca and
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

24. He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue
and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck

25. He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard
but was rejected by the all-female committee.

26. His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach
and The Fugees

27. He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing
on their first date



28. He enjoys playing Scrabble and Poker

29. He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol

30. He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician

31. As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine



32. His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before
becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)

33. He hates the youth trend of low-rider jeans

34. He repaid his student loan only four years ago
after signing his book deal

35. His house in Chicago has four fireplaces

36. Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita

37. He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry

38. He uses an Apple Mac laptop



39. He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid,
having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300

40. He wears $1,500 Hart Schaffner Marx suits

41. He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes

42. He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber,
Zariff, who charges $21

43. His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso



44. He was given the code name "Renegade"
by his Secret Service handlers

45. He was nicknamed "Bar" by his late grandmother

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

47. His favourite TV shows are M*A*S*H and The Wire

48. His speciality as a cook is chili



49. He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street urchins"

50. His late father was a senior economist
for the Kenyan government

list from:

www.telegraph.co.uk