- Daily Photo: Obama Jokes Around at G-20
- Blackwater gets replaced in Iraq
- Daily Photo: U.S. Marines Look Out for Taliban in Afghanistan
- Hillary Clinton the Tomboy and Her "Ah-Ha" Moment
- Obama Administration Sudan Envoy Headed to Region
- Daily Photo: Potential Flashpoint in Iraq
- Clinton Says New Afghanistan-Pakistan Plan Depends on Diplomacy
- Exclusive: Three Israeli Airstrikes Against Sudan
- Additional 4,000 Troops to Be Ordered to Afghanistan
- Daily Photo: Navy Submarine Trains in the Arctic
- Alarm Over North Korea Missile Prep
- Anti-Terror Stimulus? US Offers Rewards for Top Terrorists
- Daily Photo: Pakistani Women in Refugee Camp
- Condoleezza Rice Appears on "The Tonight Show"
- Diplomat and Aid Group Sound the Alarm on Darfur Camp Situation
- auto industry rescue
- Ballotwatch
- Biden, Joe
- Bush, George W.
- Clinton, Bill
- Clinton, Hillary
- Dodd, Chris
- Edwards, John
- Giuliani, Rudy
- Gravel, Mike
- Huckabee, Mike
- Hunter, Duncan
- Inauguration
- Iraq
- Kucinich, Dennis
- McCain, John
- Obama, Barack
- Palin, Sarah
- Paul, Ron
- Romney, Mitt
- Tancredo, Tom
- Thompson, Fred
- Veepstakes
- Vote 2008: Democrats
- Vote 2008: Republicans
- Washington
- White House
« Previous | Main | Next »
Obama Gets Carded Before He Pumps Some Iron at the Gym
Email
ShareJune 27, 2008 5:07 PM
ABC News' Karen Travers Reports: Sen. Barack Obama’s face graces the cover of the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Turn on cable news at any point during the day and he is bound to show up before the next commercial break. He travels with a security entourage and a press corps following his every movement.
But that does not mean he can sneak past the front desk at the gym without showing ID.
This morning around 7:35 AM, Obama tried to slip into the Washington Sports Club in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington D.C for a quick workout, as first reported by The Hill. The senator had a 9:30 AM flight to New Hampshire for his event with Sen. Hillary Clinton
Obama came in with a few Secret Service agents and walked past the front desk, but he did not get far. Obama was stopped by Washington Sports Club employee Takehia Wheeler, who did what she would do to any member coming into the gym: She asked him for ID.
Wheeler then asked his last name in order to look up his membership, according to Washington Sports Club General Manager Gonzalo Perez. “He said ‘Obama’ and she said, ‘And your first name is…?”
When he said “Barack,” Wheeler looked up, realized who it was and quickly apologized, Perez told ABC News.
Perez noted that all of his employees are trained to ask for ID or a first and last name in order to look up club members in their computer database, so Wheeler was just doing her job. He said the front desk employee was distracted with people coming into the club and did not recognize Obama in his workout clothes.
Obama was okay with the request for ID and said it was not a problem, Perez said.
This was Obama’s first time at this particular Washington D.C. gym, which has only been open for about a month. When he is in town, he usually goes to the Washington Sports Club on Capitol Hill.
The presumptive Democratic nominee’s workout lasted only about 20 minutes, Perez said. He put in some time on the treadmill and did some arm curls with weights before heading to Washington's Reagan National Airport.
June 27, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (18)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
SadStateOfAffairs:
Is bitter butter better?
Posted by: Snarkson | Jun 27, 2008 5:44:35 PM
and you guys are ignorant! So behind the times. Ask McCain for his birth certificate I'm sure he'll remember where he last saw it.
Posted by: Pen | Jun 27, 2008 6:36:49 PM
It's about time this scrawny wimp picked up a weight.
Posted by: Lars | Jun 27, 2008 6:43:48 PM
slow news day?
Posted by: slownewsday | Jun 27, 2008 7:50:43 PM
so..umm...what's the point of this article?? Why are they people blogging here??
McCain 2008
Posted by: hannah | Jun 27, 2008 8:55:38 PM
My son was born in Hawaii in 1962 and his birth certificate looks different. The info was typed on an IBM typewriter. The info on Obama's looks computer generated and there were no computers in 1961.
Posted by: Mai | Jun 27, 2008 9:13:46 PM
Why won't McCain sign Standard Form 180 and release his military records to the American people? Why has he sealed his record from us? What is he trying to hide? Why doesn't the media demand that he do what John Kerry did and release all of his military records?
Posted by: Loyal American | Jun 27, 2008 10:51:29 PM
In addition to Obama's real birth certificate, it would be good to see his school and college grades along with the listing of his activities while a IL state senator. This would include who he talked to personnally and on the phone, the subject matter and correspondence. Senator Clinton had to release such info, why not Obama?
There is a rumor that he destroyed all such records from his state senate days and I find that unusual and ask why. I worked for a State office and records were kept almost forever.
Posted by: Mary | Jun 28, 2008 12:33:50 AM
The more I read comments such as these, the more i am becoming ashamed of the People in this country. You are talking negative about a man because of where he was born.. It is such nonsense. If you don't like him, that is fine. Don't riducule anyone because of their birthplace. Everyone knows Obama is a citizen. Plain and simple... If he were not, Hilary would have ended his presidential bid a long time ago.These idiotic comments only farther extend hatred of Americans by other people in the world because "they think" that "we think" we are better. And you know what...that is very sad.
Posted by: Sean | Jun 28, 2008 1:03:37 AM
The young lady was simply doing her job. I think Obama just found the situation amusing.
Posted by: Beto | Jun 28, 2008 6:41:44 AM
Very slow newsday..........
Posted by: nocrossnocrown | Jun 28, 2008 4:04:17 PM
Hawaiian birth certificate might look "computer generated" if it were typed on an IBM Selectric with the "golf ball printing element, as there were several typefaces available.
McCain's birth certificate shows that he is not exactly a "natural born" citizen, as he was not birthed on American soil.
The point of the article is that Obama is not arrogant, as Karl Rove and others are trying to paint him. That makes the incident newsworthy; it counters the rumors spread by an increasingly desparate disloyal opposition.
Posted by: rlpete2 | Jun 28, 2008 5:15:44 PM
That girl did the right thing. No one should be above following the rules anywhere unless they are the "presumptuous" nominee. I want to know if that is an authenticated birth certificate, too.
Posted by: JKR | Jun 28, 2008 6:38:05 PM
We have allowed our politicians to dumb us down so far, that we really think that this type of story matters. Obama should be carded at the gym and every other place that requires it. Why should he get a pass? They card us regular citizen's don't they? "Obama was okay with the request" the reporter writes. What should he have done...reached across the counter and slapoed her. Maybe have her shipped to gitmo...no that's what Bush or McCain would have done.
Posted by: joceeco | Jun 29, 2008 6:46:06 AM
He was carded because they thought he was a terrorist...still do.
Posted by: jeep395 | Jun 29, 2008 5:28:09 PM
Explain to me please how Obama got a U.S.Passport (which he does, indeed, have) without an original copy of his birth certificate? If you've ever applied for one, you know you must show an authenticated Birth certificate to prove your U,S.citizeship.
It is so ridiculous to pretend Obama isn't a citizen and spread your silly lies. If you think the FBI hasn't veted all the candidates who ran in the primaries for U.S. citizenship, you are not only ridiculous, but just plain dumb.
Posted by: synapse369 | Jun 29, 2008 11:37:49 PM
Obama is conning everyone.
He is laughing up his sleeve.
Everyone is buying into his rhetoric.
African Americans are voting African Americans.
This campaign is a disgrace.
Posted by: Rick from Pa | Jul 1, 2008 7:26:32 AM
Im shocked by some of the comments, im a Kenyan by birth and I dont think where one was born is significant in general, I never knew that some Americans are this petty and stupid, if you guys think you are smart, why didnt you get a better person than Mc Cain TO give Obama a real competition ... my dear friends we are in the 21st century ... wake up ...
Posted by: adam | Nov 6, 2008 11:01:17 AM
Post a comment
