Opinion

Top 10 Obama ties to history

Jamie Weinstein Senior Writer
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Earlier this week it was discovered that on the White House website, President Barack Obama had been inserted into each and every presidential biography dating back to Calvin Coolidge with the curious exception of Gerald Ford.

For instance, the White House biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt notes, “On August 14, 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act. Today the Obama administration continues to protect seniors and ensure Social Security will be there for future generations.”

The Daily Caller has since discovered other historical sketches the president has been written into. Here are the 10 best:

10.) In 1941, Standard & Poor came into being after H.V. and H.W. Poor Co. and the Standard Statistics Bureau merged. In 2011, Barack Obama became the very first president in American history to preside over the down-grade of America’s credit rating when S&P changed its rating of America’s creditworthiness from AAA to AA+.

9.) After warning of the Nazi menace during 1930s, Winston Churchill became prime minister of Great Britain in 1940. Perhaps no single person was as valuable as Churchill in winning World War II and saving Western Civilization. Upon taking office in 2009, Barack Obama returned a bust of Winston Churchill that sat in the Oval Office to the British Embassy, even though the British government offered to allow the president to keep it through his administration.

8.) On his desk in the Oval Office, President Harry Truman had a sign that read, “The Buck Stops Here.” After three years in the White House, President Obama’s 2012 campaign has internalized a similar motto: “The Buck Stops with George W. Bush.”

7.) Coca-Cola was first sold at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Ga., in 1886. One of the two main ingredients in the original recipe was cocaine. In 1929, Coca-Cola became completely cocaine-free. During the 1980s, it is unclear if Barack Obama was totally Coca-Cola-free, but unlike Coca-Cola, he definitely wasn’t cocaine-free.

6.) In 1905 Theodore Roosevelt became the first sitting president to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He earned the prestigious award for helping end the Russo-Japanese war. In 2009, President Obama became the third sitting president — and the fourth president overall — to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He won the award for not being George W. Bush.

5.) President George P. Bush welcomed Nova Scotia into the union as America’s 60th state and 58th contiguous state on March 14, 2052. Seeing into the future during the 2008 presidential campaign, then-Sen. Barack Obama already recognized that America would soon have 60 states — he said he had visited 57 of them during the campaign.

4.) During concerts by the British rock group The Beatles in the 1960s, women were known to faint due to the excitement and hysteria they generated. When President Obama speaks, journalists are known to get tingles up their legs. Or at least one journalist. (I’m looking at you, Chris Matthews.)
3.) The late dictator of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov — better known as Turkmenbashi — created an extensive cult of personality. Among other things, he had a gold-plated 50-foot statue of him built that revolved so it would always face the sun. He also named the month of January after himself, as well as several cities. In 2012, President Obama’s administration decided to write the president into every chapter of American history.

2.) In 1940, the novel “Lassie Come Home” was published. In 1943, the story about a fictional pup was made into a film. In 1954, “Lassie” became a TV series. As a child in Indonesia in the 1960s, Barack Obama ate a dog.

1.) At the beginning of time, God created the heavens and the Earth. In May 2011, Barack Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

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