Who2 Editorial Blog
Notes and Commentary from the Editors
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Images: The Obamas Go to Europe
Wonderful images from last week's Obama family trip to Egypt and Europe. All are official White House photos taken by Pete Souza.
The family watches as Sasha Obama lights a candle at Notre Dame Cathedral on 6 June 2009.
President Obama points out a landmark to daughter Malia while touring the Pompidou Centre modern art museum in Paris on 7 June 2009. 
President Obama tours Egypt's Great Sphinx of Giza (left) and the Pyramid of Khafre on 4 June 2009. To state the obvious: It looks like an amazing trip.
Labels: Barack Obama, Malia Obama, Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 9:03 AM 
Share on Facebook 1 comments
Happy 8th Birthday, Sasha Obama
First daughter Sasha Obama turns eight today. (She's exactly 80 years younger than Britain's Prince Philip.)Last year we analyzed the mystery of Sasha's exact birthday.
Labels: Prince Philip, Sasha Obama
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 6:47 AM Share on Facebook 0 comments
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The New First Dog is a Puppy Named Bo
He's named Bo.The identity of the first puppy -- the one that the Washington press corps has been yelping about for months, the one President Obama has seemed to delight in dropping hints about -- leaked out Saturday.Breaking news from The Washington Post.
The little guy is a six-month-old Portuguese water dog given to the Obama girls as a gift by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Malia and Sasha named it Bo.
Bo is six months old. His markings include a "white chest, white paws and a white goatee." He met the First Family in a top-secret meeting at the White House a few weeks ago.
The only unfortunate part of the whole affair is the tendency of breed owners to call the dogs "Porties." But ah, well.
Says The Post:
Malia and Sasha chose the name, because their cousins have a cat named Bo and because first lady Michelle Obama's father was nicknamed Diddley, a source said. (Get it? Bo ... Diddley?)
Labels: Barack Obama, Bo Diddley, Malia Obama, Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama, Ted Kennedy, The First Dog
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 5:17 AM Share on Facebook 0 comments
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
A Swingset for the White House
The 100 percent cedar and North American Redwood structure has four swings, including a tire swing, a slide, a fort, a climbing wall and climbing ropes. There's also a picnic table with brass plates etched with the names of all 44 presidents.Malia and Sasha Obama now have their own swingset.
The AP has photos.
Labels: Malia Obama, Sasha Obama
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 6:02 PM Share on Facebook 0 comments
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Doll Trouble at the White House
First Lady Michelle Obama is not fond of the weird new dolls loosely based on first daughters Sasha and Malia. It's not clear how she feels about the new Barack Obama action figure.
Labels: Barack Obama, Malia Obama, Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 2:23 PM Share on Facebook 1 comments
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Behind the Scenes at the Obama Inauguration
Time has some fascinating shots of the man himself and of the First Daughters.Labels: Barack Obama, Malia Obama, Sasha Obama
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 8:25 AM Share on Facebook 0 comments
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Obama Arrives for Haunted Honeymoon
The Obamas are now staying at the historic Hay-Adams Hotel. Supposedly it's haunted:"Staff housekeepers have reported someone unseen calling their names and the sensation of invisible arms around them. Locked doors fling themselves open and the scent of Mimosa mysteriously fills the air on certain floors at night."Maybe they wanted a trial run for meeting the ghost of Abe Lincoln in the White House.
The First Daughters start school on Monday.
Labels: Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Malia Obama, Sasha Obama
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 10:09 AM Share on Facebook 0 comments
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
President Barack Obama By the Numbers
Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. Here's a by-the-numbers look ahead at this historic event.{ 1 } Obama will be the first president born in Hawaii. (Small surprise: Hawaii didn't become a state until 1959. Obama was born in 1961.)
{ 77 } Days until Obama's inauguration on 20 January 2009.
{ 47-5-16 } Obama's age in years, months and days when he takes office in January.
He'll be the fifth-youngest American president ever. Theodore Roosevelt is still the champ at age 42, followed by John Kennedy (43), Bill Clinton (46 years, 5 months), and Ulysses Grant (46 years, 11 months). Obama will bump Grover Cleveland (47 years, 11 months) from the top five.
{ 8 } Presidents, including Obama, schooled at Harvard.
Of those eight, he is the second to attend Harvard Law School. Rutherford B. Hayes was the first; he graduated in 1845, 146 years before Obama.
{ 24 } Years Michelle Obama will be older than the youngest first lady.
Michelle Obama will turn 45 on January 17th, three days before her husband takes office. Frances Folsom married Grover Cleveland at the White House in 1886, when she was only 21. There have been many youngish First Ladies; most recently, Jackie Kennedy was 31 when JFK took office in 1961.
{ 2 } Michelle Obama will be the second First Lady with a law degree. Hillary Clinton was the first.
{ 7 } and { 10 } Ages of Obama's daughters Sasha and Malia when he takes office.
Jenna and Barbara Bush were 19 when George W. Bush was inaugurated. Chelsea Clinton was 12 at the start of her father's term in 1993. Amy Carter was nine when Jimmy Carter took office in 1977.
{ 1 } Obama will be the first Columbia University undergraduate to become president. (Dwight Eisenhower was president of Columbia when he was elected U.S. president in 1952.)
{ 4 } Presidents, including Obama, with strong ties to Illinois.
Abraham Lincoln remains the state's favorite son (though he was actually born in Kentucky). Ulysses Grant was a clerk in Galena, Illinois when the Civil War broke out; he was living there again in 1868 when he received word he had been elected president. And Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico in 1911.
{ 44 } Obama will be the 44th U.S. president. (Grover Cleveland -- him again! -- is counted as both the 22nd and 24th presidents, having served non-consecutive terms.)
{ 55 } Obama's age on leaving office in 2017, if he serves two terms. That's one year older than George W. Bush was when he took office in 2001. In the year 2017, Michelle Obama will be 53. Sasha and Malia will be 15 and 18.
{ 1 } Barack Obama will be the first African-American president. It has been 138 years since the 15th Amendment guaranteed African-Americans the right to vote.
Labels: Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Chelsea Clinton, Dwight Eisenhower, George W. Bush, Malia Obama, Michelle Obama, Ronald Reagan, Sasha Obama, Teddy Roosevelt, Ulysses Grant
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 9:25 PM Share on Facebook 10 comments
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Tricky Birthdays of the Obama Girls
We've posted new profiles of Sasha and Malia Obama, the daughters of presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.Both girls gave us a bit of trouble with their birthdays.
Many reputable sources say Malia's birth year is 1999. For instance, see these timelines from The New York Times and George Washington University and fact sheets from CNN and The Daily Telegraph.
Obama's Senate biography is silent on the topic. His campaign bio, however, says his daughters are "Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7."
Assuming the Obama website wouldn't 1) be mistaken or 2) lie about his own daughter's birth, the age of 10 firmly nixes a 1999 birth. The year 1998 would seem to be confirmed by the many news reports from this past July which mentioned Malia's "10th birthday."
The clincher, to us, comes from his family interview with the TV show Access Hollywood from July 2008. Not only does Malia receive birthday wishes, but Obama himself mentions her birth "10 years ago."
You can hear the comment at the 1:22 mark here:
Given this sturdy evidence, we've listed 1998 as Malia's year of birth.
Obama himself is also the source for Sasha's birth date. There's no dispute about her birth year of 2001, but we found the dates June 7 and June 8 online, among others. Most sources list no month or day at all.
But this blog post by Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post, has Obama visiting a hospital on 10 June 2008 and telling a patient's mother that it is his daughter's 7th birthday.
It's not quite as certain as Malia's birth year, but it is solid enough for us to go with June 10th as her official date of birth.
So it's June 10th, 2001 for Sasha Obama and July 4th, 1998 for her sister Malia.
Labels: Barack Obama, Howard Kurtz, Malia Obama, Michele Obama, Sasha Obama
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 7:57 PM Share on Facebook 0 comments
