President Obama Dreams of Opening a T-Shirt Shop in Hawaii

President Barack Obama would like to open a very particular t-shirt shop in Hawaii once he's out of office.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

When you've got what's probably the world's most stressful job, it's only natural to fantasize about having a way more chill lifestyle. President Barack Obama isn't immune to this kind of daydreaming, according to a fascinating New York Times story about what the leader of the free world does in the evening hours when he hangs out in the White House's Treaty Room after having dinner with the fam. 

Among the many interesting/weird anecdotes about the president's post-dinner life is one that came from former White House Chief of Staff and current Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, who remembered that time he and the president imagined running a t-shirt stand in Hawaii. The idea was that the shirt store would only sell size medium shirts in the color white, because their dream was that "they would no longer have to make decisions."

During difficult White House meetings when no good decision seemed possible, Mr. Emanuel would sometimes turn to Mr. Obama and say, "White." Mr. Obama would in turn say, "Medium."

The other big revelation from the Times story: while Obama is in the treaty room writing, watching ESPN, skimming the New York Times and Washington Post, and playing Words With Friends on his iPad, he likes to eat exactly seven lightly salted almonds as a snack, Sam Kass, the Obamas' personal chef told the Times.  He won't eat six, or eight, Kass stressed. It has to be seven.

As for what Obama will really do when his presidency ends in six months, he joked about the subject at a White House prayer breakfast earlier this year, saying, "I am going to take three, four months where I just sleep and I hope y'all don't mind that." Then maybe he'll get around to owning that NBA team.

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