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Over the past few weeks, Barack Obama’s often-elusive past has elicited renewed public interest after twice becoming fodder for major national news stories.

First, a close inspection of Obama’s 1995 memoir, “Dreams From my Father,”  revealed that the president – whose associates have widely mocked former Massachusetts Governor (and presumptive Republican presidential nominee) Mitt Romney for having strapped his family’s Irish Setter to the roof of their station wagon during a 1983 family vacation – had himself eaten dog as a child in Indonesia.

Next, a Vanity Fair story profiling two of Obama’s early girlfriends showed inconsistencies with the narrative of the book, a fact Obama explained by noting that the characters in “Dreams,” were actually fictionalized “composites” of real individuals.

With interest in Obama’s personal and political background at an all-time high, we at CFIF have led an exhaustive research effort to unearth further revelations previously unknown to the public. Below are the top 10 surprising facts uncovered by our analysis:

1. While examinations of Obama’s early years have noted his admission of cocaine and marijuana use, it generally goes unremarked upon that he also had a $500-a-day Pez habit.

2. The deciding factor in the future president’s determination that he identified more as an African-American than a Caucasian was his unmitigated hatred for the music of Neil Diamond.

3. Obama only hired Rahm Emanuel as his White House Chief of Staff in the hopes that the contents of the West Wing’s “swear jar” could help pay down the deficit.

4. Though it’s been over three years, Obama is still not confident that Joe Biden understands the parameters of his job. This belief owes in part to the fact the president has spotted Biden watering the flowers on the South Lawn on multiple occasions.

5. At the White House, the president has quietly begun referring to his first term as “the Old Testament.”

6. Well-known fact: Obama allowed Jay-Z and Beyonce to visit the Situation Room during their visit to the White House. Lesser-known fact: While there, Jay-Z authorized the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

7. Michelle Obama is herself a “composite character” in that she is part human, part liquid metal shape-shifter, like the T-1000 in “Terminator 2.”

8. 2008’s “Hope and Change” slogan was actually generated using magnetic poetry. Rejected alternatives included "nature revolt," "nervous duality," and “bursting society.”

9. Noting growing public apathy towards his speeches, Obama has now begun inserting excerpts from the “Twilight” novels halfway through, just to see if anyone is listening.

10. A key part of Obama’s efforts to restore America’s image abroad has been personally calling foreign leaders to let them know that they can get copies of his books at wholesale if they buy in bulk.