Barack Obama

President Barack Obama's pot-smoking past is detailed in Barack Obama: The Story, a new biography of the Commander-in-Chief by David Maraniss, who had previously revealed Obama's early girlfriends (including Genevieve Cook) in Vanity Fair.

The President himself has been remarkably and refreshingly candid about his past drug use, but new details of Obama smoking marijuana with his buddies at Hawaii's Punahou School are still setting the web ablaze (sorry).

Maraniss writes, "When a joint was making the rounds, [Obama] often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted 'Intercepted!' and took an extra hit."

Yeah. Let's all take a moment and let that image sink in.

"But Obama's buddies, who called themselves the "Choom Gang," didn't mind him messing up the rotation," he continues. "After all, this was Hawaii."

Indeed. That's not all. Maraniss writes that Obama was known for starting a trend called "TA," short for "total absorption." Use your imagination.

"When you were with 'Barry' and pals, if you exhaled precious pakalolo (Hawaiian slang for marijuana, meaning "numbing tobacco") instead of absorbing it fully into your lungs, you were assessed a penalty," writes the author.

"Your turn was skipped the next time the joint came around."

When you're the most powerful and famous person on Earth, every photo gives way to the next in a matter of hours if not minutes. Except this one.

By popular demand, it's remained on display at his office since 2009.

An "aw"-inducing photo hangs in the White House's West Wing showing President Obama leaning over to allow a 5-year-old boy to touch his hair.

The New York Times reveals the back story that led to the picture:

The boy in the picture is Jacob Philadelphia of Columbia, Md.

Three years ago this month, his father, Carlton, a former Marine, was leaving the White House staff after a two-year stint on the National Security Council.

As departing staff members often do, Mr. Philadelphia asked for a family photograph with the Commander-in-Chief, who happily obliged.

When the pictures were taken and the family was about to leave, Mr. Philadelphia told Mr. Obama that his sons each had a question ...

Glee star Jane Lynch narrates a new documentary about LGBT rights in America, featuring a candid interview with President Obama and doubling as a de facto campaign ad for the reelection-seeking Commander-in-Chief in 2012.

The documentary-style commercial highlights Obama's achievements over the past three years, most notably ending the military's Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy and most recently coming out with full support for same-sex marriage.

The Prez even name-checks Lady Gaga. Check it out below:

President Obama and the Fight for LGBT Rights Ad

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN Wednesday that he had "no problem" with gay marriage, but after a week of talk show appearances he's made it clear he's still not ready to endorse its latest champion, Barack Obama.

The Republican famously, and somewhat surprisingly, backed him in 2008.

Supporting gay marriage is also a change for Powell, who had officially been opposed to it for years. But he made it clear while, promoting his new book, It Worked For Me, that he's supportive of the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Obama's historic backing of same-sex marriage prompted Newsweek to dub him the first gay president, and has stirred both praise and criticism nationally.

His lack of endorsement of Obama is not necessarily a boon to his likely GOP opponent, however. Powell has yet to throw his support to Mitt Romney either.

The Los Angeles Times said Powell may still be "putting his thumb on the scale in the president's favor" as he criticized Romney's foreign policy blunders.

Word to the wise: Do not do this, even in jest.

Joaquin Amador Serrapio Jr., a Miami college student, plans to plead guilty in federal court to threatening President Barack Obama on Facebook.

His attorney says he intends to plead guilty to one count of threatening to kill or harm the president. Just a figure of speech, you're thinking?

Not really. He threatened to "put a bullet in the president's head." And asked if any of his friends "wanted to help" in a presidential assassination.

Serrapio, 20, faces a maximum five-year prison sentence, but is not likely to receive that. He attends Miami-Dade College ... for now anyway.

There's no indication that Serrapio intended to act on the threats, but still. One can see how his word choice might have indicated otherwise.

When Ted Nugent looks tame compared to you, it might be time to tone it down.

"Some complain on Twitter about Obama."

So began Alec Baldwin in a Tuesday Twitter rant about the 2012 presidential election, in which it's safe to say he will not be voting for Mitt Romney.

Baldwin referred to Romney, President Obama's likely opponent, as "a corporate puppet" whose election would mean a return to "lying thieves in the White House who make war under false pretenses in order to make $ for their friends."

Alec asked, "You wanna go back? To Bush? Cheney? Paulson? Rumsfeld? Unfunded wars? Death of US soldiers and innocent civilians for oil?"

Baldwin criticized Mitt Romney's pro-business positions and said that the GOP will only "squander more US natural resources, revenue and perhaps lives."

Though he allowed that "America is competitive" and "there are winners and losers every day," he maintained that this alone doesn't solve problems.

"The America I love believes that all deserve some modicum of care and security," he said, ending his missive with a simple "Obama 2012."

If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?

While promoting Men in Black III, Will Smith touched upon a more realistic character he would love to play in a movie someday: Barack Obama.

"It's definitely something I would consider," he said, noting that he feels he's "the most natural choice" to play the President of the United States.

Why? Because ...

"It's about the ears! That's the thing. You know, people see the ears. Barack and I both have the ears. Clearly I'm the most natural choice."

Smith, 43, related that he joked to Obama that while he would consider playing him on-screen, it was up to the president "to write the ending."

Will and Barack don't just have their ears in common - they've both got an abundance of wit and charm, and were born in Kenya. Just kidding!

No, seriously, can you see the movie star as our President?

You tell us: Would Will Smith make a good Obama?

A year after he put "birther" rumors to rest by releasing his birth certificate, President Obama's background is back in the news again ... with a twist.

An old bio of Obama from his former literary agent says he was born in Kenya, renewing debate over the authenticity of his own account(s) of his past.

You could essentially call this "reverse birtherism."

In 2011, Obama proved he was born in the U.S., but did he lie in the past about being Kenyan-born to craft a more exotic, interesting-sounding background?

According to a booklet produced by Acton & Dystel, to showcase its roster of writers, Obama was "born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii."

Obama's former literary agency says they merely misidentified his birthplace as Kenya while trying to promote the then-Harvard Law grad in 1991.

Miriam Goderich edited the text of the bio; she is now a partner at the Dystel & Goderich agency, which lists Obama as one of its current clients.

"This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me - an agency assistant at the time," Goderich wrote in an emailed statement to Yahoo News.

"There was never any information given to us by Obama suggesting he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii ... [it was] a simple mistake and nothing more."

Breitbart.com, the site founded by the late Andrew Breitbart, broke this story as part of "The Vetting," its ongoing series about Obama's past.

The controversial new biography of President Barack Obama claims that his wife, Michelle Obama, planned to leave the future president in 2000.

Is the divorce story real? Is anything in the book?

The unauthorized biography, which Klein claims is based on nearly 200 interviews, has been dismissed by presidential spokesperson Eric Schultz.

"Ed Klein has a proven history of reckless fabrication in order to sell books," he said. "Nobody in their right mind would believe the nonsense in this one."

Nevertheless, the Obama divorce story is the latest revelation in the book - which also discusses his ex Genevieve Cook - to generate major buzz.

In The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House, out this week, Klein claims the divorce nearly happened eight years into the Obamas' marriage.

After Obama failed to listen to his wife's warnings in challenging Bobby Rush for his U.S. House seat in 2000 and got creamed, their relationship cooled.

“During the dark days that followed his defeat, he turned to Michelle for comfort. But she was in no mood for sympathy," Klein reportedly writes.

President Barack Obama's ties to Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his controversial former pastor, may be the subject of a new ad campaign by a conservative political action committee intent on ousting him in this November's election.

A conservative super PAC is considering an advertising plan to "do what John McCain would not let us do" during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Obama's ties to Jeremiah Wright and his inflammatory rhetoric nearly derailed his bid for the presidency during the Democratic primary, but Obama cut ties with his one-time spiritual adviser, hung on against Hillary Clinton, then defeated McCain.

McCain, honorably, demanded the Wright-Obama angle not be used in any campaign ads during the election. This time around? All bets are off.

With campaign finance reform all but eliminated by the Supreme Court, super PACs can spend whatever they want to run whatever they want.

To that end, Chicago Cubs owner Joe Ricketts commissioned a $10 million plan, known as "The Defeat of Barack Hussein Obama: The Ricketts Plan to End His Spending for Good," to help ensure the President's defeat.

According to a copy of the plan obtained by the New York Times, the group is looking to expose ties between President Obama - who is referred to as a "metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln" - and Rev. Wright's "black liberation theology."