Happy Birthday, Mr. President! A B-Day Photo from Every Year Obama Was in Office — and After!

Happy Birthday, Mr. President! A B-Day Photo from Every Year Obama Was in Office — and After!

By Diana Pearl
August 04, 2017 05:30 PM

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2004

Credit: David Katz

Though this birthday photo was taken before Obama's time in the White House — it was snapped in 2004, the year he won his seat in the United States Senate — it's too cute not to include. Michelle shared the throwback photo of the family (including daughters Sasha and Malia) blowing out his birthday cake candles to mark his 56th birthday, his first since leaving the White House.

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2004

Credit: David Katz

And it was such a sweet moment, she just had to share two angles of the family shot.

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2015

Credit: Susan Walsh/AP

President Obama rarely relaxes – even on his birthday. For his 54th, he met with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the Oval Office (ahead of his address to the U.N. General Assembly the next month). It wasn't all business, however: He's gotten a round of birthday greetings, from both a talking teddy bear at a White House technology demonstration, and on Twitter, too. The most notable included one from the First Lady ("Happy birthday to a loving husband, wonderful father and my favorite dance partner. 54 looks good on you, @POTUS!") and another from former President Bill Clinton ("Happy birthday, @POTUS! Hopefully when @FLOTUS isn't looking you can have some cake.") Obama's big day even got his own hashtag: #44turns54.

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2014

Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty

Just like he did this year, in 2014, Obama celebrated the big 5-3 with a heavy workload. Here, at his desk in the Oval Office, he signed the H.R.Res.76 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Resolution, which gave the okay to provide the funds for the Israeli Iron Dome defense.

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2013

Credit: Dennis Brack-Pool/Getty

The year before, on his 52nd birthday, POTUS got a bit more of a break. He spent the morning at Camp David, where had he enjoyed a few rounds of golf with friends from Chicago and before returning to the White House later that day. He celebrated the occasion on Instagram, reminding the American public that even though he was a year older, he's "still got it."

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2012

Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Just months before the 2012 presidential election, Obama celebrated his 51st birthday as he did in 2013: with an escape to Camp David and a game of golf. In the midst of the campaign craze, a few hours for birthday relaxation were surely savored.

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2011

Credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP

The president brought in the big 5-0 at home in Chicago during the day, returning to Washington, D.C., that night to a rendition of "Happy Birthday" on the tarmac as Air Force One landed.

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2010

Credit: Win McNamee/Getty

President Obama spent his 49th birthday with one of his own – a fellow Chicagoan, that is! The president awarded Lisa Nigro, a Chicago resident who created a restaurant to feed the city's homeless, with the 2010 Citizen's Medal, the second-highest honor available to an American civilian.

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2009

Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

In his first year as president, Obama shared the birthday spotlight with Helen Thomas, a veteran White House reporter with the same birthday as the Commander in Chief. To mark the occasion, the two shared a plate of cupcakes in the White House press briefing room. In the interest of fire safety, they stuck to a single candle instead of one for each of their 137 combined years (48 for POTUS, 89 for Thomas).

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2004

Credit: Tim Boyle/Getty

Bonus! Way back before his presidential days, State Senator Obama (then a candidate for the U.S. Senate) blew out his birthday candles with Michelle and itty-bitty Malia and Sasha. We hope POTUS is celebrating in a similar fashion today!

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By Diana Pearl