Barack Obama’s never too far from a pack of Nicorettes and a protein bar.
In a recent 17.000-word profile, the president opened up to New Yorker magazine editor David Remnick on a range of heady topics. We now know the leader of the free world’s stance on football, drones, marijuana, Edward Snowden, Syria — and Honest Tea flavors.
Obama’s trip director, Marvin Nicholson, who Remnick describes as the “most curious character on the plane,” is in charge of “the Leviathan” (aka the name given to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ bag on ”Veep.”) As the president’s ubiquitous “body man” Nicholson is a 3-D version of the lovable Gary (also of “Veep”), ever ready with a squeeze of Purell or a pen.
“Nicholson is the guy who is always around, who carries the bag and the jacket,” writes Remnick, “…he is the one who has the pens, the briefing books, the Nicorette, the Sharpies, the Advil, the throat lozenges, the iPad, the iPod, the protein bars, the bottle of Black Forest Berry Honest Tea.”
It looks like Obama’s tastes haven’t changed much since first arriving to the White House. In 2008, Reggie Love, then briefcase-carrier-in-chief, told the New York Times he kept MET-Rx chocolate roasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a Black Forest Berry Honest Tea on hand at all times.