Today is Barack Obama‘s 48th birthday. It’s Tuesday, so he’s working, but we don’t feel too bad because he celebrated over the weekend by taking a trip to Camp David and brushing up on his bowling skills. He bowled a 144—pretty darn good for a dude who claimed a few months ago that his skills in the alley were on par with the Special Olympian. [Washington Post]

So, would you wanna bowl with Barack or kick it with a past prez on his big day? See how Barack’s birthday plans stack up.

Orly Taitz, the attorney for the birthers movement—those, uh, determined peeps who believe Obama is not a U.S.-born citizen—appeared on MSNBC yesterday and she was a whole lot of crazy. I really don’t know what she’s talked about, but it has something to do with the “real” Obama birth certificate being leaked (which all reputable news organizations have determined as false). MSNBC’s David Shuster and Tamron Hall can’t help but shake their heads in wonderment, but I, for one, want to know when American lawyers are going to start dressing like 1950’s rollerskating waitresses.

During his concert in Philly on Saturday, Elton John dedicated a song to Reese Witherspoon, who was there with her BF, Jake Gyllenhal. Before he started playing “Tiny Dancer,” Elton said, “Reese, this one’s for you.” We think it was pretty random of the singer to shout out Reese, but musicians are always busting out weird dedications. After the jump, check out a few more. [NY Daily News]

The whole nation got pretty excited yesterday for Obama’s beer summit with Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Harvard scholar, and Sgt. James Crowley, the Cambridge police officer who arrested him. But I couldn’t help but wonder if it had been women involved instead of two men, if the nicey-nice photo op and beer summit chat would have ever happened.

I’m not asking if Hillary had been elected president would the beer summit still have happened. (Although I doubt it, just because beer doesn’t seem her style.) I’m referring to the idea of a beer summit among women—sitting around a table, disagreeing, drinking beers, shooting the breeze, talking things over, walking away from both the initial ugly confrontation and the ensuing awkwardness possibly as friends.

The video of the screaming lady above is not from your local PTA meeting. Nope. It’s a video of a Delaware Town Hall meeting where a middle-aged woman couldn’t control her pride in being an American citizen or the feedback coming from her microphone. This lady has become a key figure for the “Birther” movement, a group of conspiracy theorists who believe that President Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. and is instead a Kenyan citizen who tricked us all into voting for him. Despite the fact that FactCheck.org sent staffers to examine, photograph, and inspect Obama’s birth certificate and, upon returning, posted all of their photographs and findings––which proved that the document is indeed legitimate and Obama is 100 percent American-born—the “Birthers” have not gone away. To top that off, other media sources have even tracked down the local Hawaii newspapers from 1961, which published Barack Obama’s birth announcement.

President Barack Obama was criticized by some (ourselves included) for wearing “mom jeans.” Why would such a handsome and important man put on such unflattering pants? Meredith Vieira got to the bottom of this matter in a “Today” interview. Hear Obama’s answer in the above clip.

Foreign victims of domestic violence may finally be able to escape their abuse; the Obama administration has instated a new policy that may grant some of these victims asylum in the United States. The policy would reverse a Bush administration stance that did not allow foreign abuse victims entry into the U.S.

Yesterday, President Obama announced his pick for Surgeon General—Regina Benjamin, a primary care physician from Alabama whose resume would dazzle almost anyone in the medical community. Now that it’s been 24 hours, it’s becoming clear how the conversation about Benjamin will be framed. And, very sadly, the discussion seems to be about one thing: her body.

When I saw the headline, “Is Regina Benjamin too fat to be surgeon general?” over at Salon this morning, I choked on my iced coffee. Luckily, writer Frances Kissling says the answer is a big, resounding “no!” But others around the interwebs are coming to a different conclusion.

Sarah Palin must have pulled some serious strings to get her op-ed published in today’s Washington Post. Usually the respected paper only prints actual news, but, hey, free speech? You’d probably assume that given the past two weeks of her life, Sarah would be writing about her abrupt resignation. Nope. In an effort to show off her brain power, Alaska’s soon-to-be-former governor offered her “insight” into President Obama’s cap-and-trade energy plan. Too bad Palin’s op-ed piece reads like a simplistic version of Martin Feldstein’s op-ed analysis of the energy plan the Post ran over a month ago, except Martin goes into much more detail.

Barack Obama has nominated yet another woman for a super important post in his administration. This time around, Dr. Regina Benjamin is his pick to be the next Surgeon General. She’s a 52-year-old, African American family practice doctor who serves a poor community and often treats patients with no means of paying the bills. She has a father who died from diabetes, a mother who passed away from lung cancer due to smoking, and a brother who died from HIV-related complications. In other words, she’s got serious motivation to fight preventable illnesses that take lots of lives in the U.S. every year.

The Obamas are in Europe this week for the G-8 summit, and while in Italy, the president met Pope Benedict for the first time. As is custom for visiting world leaders, the Pope and the American prez exchanged presents.

This reminds us of the time that Obama brought presents when he and the First Lady met the Queen of England. That got us wondering: were the gifts Obama gave the head of the Catholic Church better than the gifts he gave the head of the British monarchy?

Let’s find out!

Obama is looking at that Brazilian’s booty like she’s the answer to the economic crisis. Hardly! Click here to read why this pic is totes misleading—not that we would blame him for lookin’.

In the popularity contest that is D.C. politics, Barack Obama bested John McCain back in November. But recent polls have shown that if Barack were stacked up against his wife, Michelle, in a Great Big High School Cafeteria, he’d be sweating it out at the dork table.

In a recent Harris poll, 68 percent of Americans said they view the First Lady favorably, while a different Harris poll also recent showed Barack’s favorability rating is 54 percent.

That means Michelle’s got, like, almost three out of the four Plastics from “Mean Girls” behind her. And of course Michelle is more popular—her husband is the one regulating your cigarettes. But with great power comes great responsibility! She can’t pass legislation, but she can turn our attention to worthy causes while we drool over her J.Crew.

Here’s our spank bank wish list of how Michelle can use her Cool Kid Status for good, not evil…

Lots of people have, understandably, been scrutinizing President Obama and his various decisions and policy moves since becoming President. But one GOP group in Maryland has taken it a little too far. Joyce Thoman, president of the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County posted a letter on the group’s website stating that Obama and Hitler have a lot in common. Yes, Hitler. Last time I checked, comparing anyone to a guy who orchestrated the genocide of 6 million Jews is just not kosher.

Here are other choice pieces from her letter.

Obama may puff on a cigarette every now and then, but that doesn’t mean he thinks it’s okay for you to do it. On Monday, he signed a bill that will seriously regulate cancer sticks. Under this bill, the Food and Drug Administration gets to rule over tobacco companies with an iron fist. By January, cigarette companies will have to register with the FDA and offer up a list of the ingredients in everything they’re making. The president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids called this “the strongest action the federal government has ever taken to reduce tobacco use.” [USA Today]

Sasha and Malia Obama must be two of the only girls on in the country who aren’t embarrassed by their father. Sure, he makes a corny joke every now and then, but come on—in addition to the whole being president thing, he dresses well, plays a mean game of basketball, and got them the puppy they’d been begging for all year. Not to mention that, about a week before being inaugurated, he wrote an open letter to them in Parade Magazine. “I know that you’ve both had a lot of fun these last two years on the campaign trail, going to picnics and parades and state fairs, eating all sorts of junk food your mother and I probably shouldn’t have let you have. But I also know that it hasn’t always been easy for you,” he wrote. “When I was a young man, I thought life was all about me—about how I’d make my way in the world, become successful, and get the things I want. But then the two of you came into my world with all your curiosity and mischief and those smiles that never fail to fill my heart and light up my day. And suddenly, all my big plans for myself didn’t seem so important anymore. I soon found that the greatest joy in my life was the joy I saw in yours.”

Yeah, that made me a little teary, too. Barack Obama takes being a father very seriously. Which makes sense considering that his own dad—a Kenyan man who fell in love with a white midwestern woman while studying at the University of Hawaii—left when Barack was two.

When I watched this, I was pretty impressed with Obama’s fast hands and ninja-like focus. When a fly buzzes around my head there’s usually nothing I can do, but Obama smacked that little sucker dead. PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, however, were not pleased. This crazy organization said they wished he had not killed the bug. They’re sending him a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, which allows people to trap a bug inside and release it later. Puhleeeze! PETA needs to realize that if they continue to get upset about things like killing flies NO ONE is going to take them seriously. Wait, too late. [AP]