President Obama refused to help name the unborn daughter of YouTube star John Green, but in a Skpye interview with the best-selling author Obama did the next best thing — gave a shout out to Green’s trademark phrase.
Obama met with John Green on Thursday during a video chat on Google Plus . Green decided to use the occasion to announce that he and his wife were expecting their second child, and asked the leader of the free world if he would pick the name — either Alice or Eleanor.
As The Huffington Post noted, Obama refused to take the bait. Instead he told Green that if he gave a preference and they decided the other name, the child would always grow up knowing that the president didn’t like her name. Then Obama earned some internet points by dropping Green’s catchphrase, saying that no matter what name they picked they should remind Eleanor or Alice “don’t forget to be awesome.”
That wasn’t the entirety of their interaction. Green, a New York Times bestselling author, also seemed to stump the president when he asked why the United States still had the penny when other nations had dropped the low level of currency, the Los Angeles Times noted.
“It’s one of those things where I think people get attached emotionally to the way things have been,” Obama told Green. “We remember our piggy banks and counting out all the pennies and then taking them and getting a dollar bill or a couple of dollars.”
But the highlight of the interview, and the moment that helped it go viral, was when Obama told John Green’s unborn child “don’t forget to be awesome.” Green even captured it in GIF form on his Tumblr page.
