Nobody said leading the Free World is easy, but it does come with its fair share of perks. Besides living in the White House and traversing the world on Air Force One, President Obama is the recipient of an astounding amount of gifts from foreign officials.
On Friday, the State Department released a list of every gift given to federal employees by foreign government sources during the 2011 Fiscal Year. Employees of the Executive Branch are required by statute to declare tangible gifts of "more than minimal value" received from foreign sources. Befitting such a legally charged document, the list goes into painstaking detail, even specifying the bags and boxes in which the gifts were received.
The list justified President Obama's acceptance of the gifts by stating that "non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to [the] donor and U.S. Government." However, POTUS doesn't retain the vast majority of the presents, instead handing them over to the National Archives.
In fact, the president only kept one present personally: a copy of "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World,” by Jack Weatherford, given by Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj.
Check out some of the most interesting presents President Obama received in 2011 in the slideshow below:
