A New York Times story on how President Barack Obama spends his nighttime hours lit up Twitter when it was published last month.
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In a NY Times article titled “Obama After Dark” that ran in early July, they reported that the president enjoys an evening snack of exactly seven almonds.
“A lot of people were interested to learn that you have a late-night snack every night of exactly seven almonds”, Savannah Guthrie said to Obama.
But although it is true that Obama spent almost three weeks writing six different drafts of the address, he told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie in an interview aired on Thursday that he was running on more than just a handful of heart-healthy tree nuts.
“This is an example of the weird way that the press works”, Mr. Obama said, chuckling.
“And this is when Michelle said, ‘And he just has seven almonds, that’s it”‘.
Obama said that one night, Michelle Obama and Kass were teasing him about his diet discipline trying to “drive home the point that I needed to loosen up a little bit”. Obama still loves almonds, he just doesn’t count out how many he eats each day.
In the interview with Ms. Guthrie, Mr. Obama acknowledged the point that Mr. Kass made during our interview: that what impressed him about the president’s nighttime habits was the discipline he has in getting through hours of hard work without unhealthy snacks.
Kass then relayed that joke to The New York Times, making it seem like Obama is obsessively counting out almonds every night.
“All my friends were calling up and they’re saying, ‘You know, this seems a little anal”.
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When his presidency is all wrapped up, Obama will be free to splurge on 10 and perhaps even 11 almonds in one night. “I had to explain to them ― no, this was a joke”.
