US President Barack Obama has his birthday celebrated at the white house. Obama turns 50 on thursday.
The day will be an entire celebration of Mr Obama, rendering it indistinguishible from how he celebrates every other day. Nevertheless, today he actually is entitled to be king for a day.
Millions of people — but only six sitting U.S. presidents — have done it. Today, Barack Obama becomes the seventh.
Obama turns 50 years old
Obama joked about his advancing age during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, telling reporters, “I’m going to get advice from some around the table about how to handle this milestone.””And it’s true that I turn 50 tomorrow,” the president said, “which means that by the time I wake up I’ll have an email from AARP asking me to call President Obama and tell him to protect Medicare.”
The president received good wishes throughout the day, from the far reaches of Eastern Europe to political donors in his hometown of Chicago.
Obama seemed delighted to be out of Washington, where he was hunkered down for the last few weeks haggling with Republican leaders over an agreement to raise the nation’s debt ceiling to ensure that the Treasury has enough money to pay the bills.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called to wish Obama a happy birthday, the White House announced, as well as to discuss Russian plans to join the World Trade Organization.
Happy birthday mr President of US
On Wednesday night, Obama was feted by about 2,000 political friends at a pair of campaign fundraisers in the Windy City.
At one, a crowd of 1,500 paid $50 each to hear Jennifer Hudson, Herbie Hancock and OK Go serenade the president.
A second, smaller fundraiser featured 100 backers paying $35,800 each.
In addition, Obama supporters and field organizers held more than 1,100 birthday-themed house parties across the country. The president planned to host a video teleconference that connected all of those gatherings.
In a recent interview with NPR, he said, “I feel real good about 5-0.”
“Obviously, I’ve gotten a little grayer since I took this job, but otherwise I feel pretty good,” the president said. “And Michelle, you know, says that she still thinks I’m cute — and I guess that’s all that matters, isn’t it?”
Obama is among the youngest of presidents. Only six others have turned 50 on the job: James Polk, Franklin Pierce, Ulysses Grant, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Bill Clinton.
(A seventh, Millard Fillmore, turned 50 while serving as vice president, six months before ascending upon the death of Zachary Taylor.)
Two other young sitting presidents never got the chance to turn 50 in office: James Garfield and John Kennedy, both slain by assassins.
Obama, only the second president in the past century to turn 50 in office, has lived through a remarkable half-century.
In 1961, the year the nation’s first African-American president was born, thugs beat up “Freedom Riders” who rode buses to protest segregation in the South.
Two days after Obama’s 4th birthday, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, eliminating barriers designed to disenfranchise African Americans.
Obama turned 30 the year of the United States’ first war with Iraq and the demise of the Soviet Union.
Based on his recent NPR interview, Obama has already received one birthday gift.
“You know, what I really want right now is to get a debt-ceiling deal for my birthday,” Obama said. “That’s kind of sad, I know.”
“Maybe I’ll have a good hamburger on my birthday as well,” he added.
Barack Obama is the first US president with Afro-American origins. His presidency was a welcomed and promising event in the eyes of many people, since his policies were regarded as more peaceful and humanitarian.
Mr Obama, we, nationalTurk staff wish you a very happy 50th birthday.
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