Obama celebrates 48th birthday, wants health-care bill

WASHINGTON -- You say it's your birthday.

It's my birthday, too.

And so it went at the White House on Tuesday.

On the day he turned 48, President Obama decided to splash a little celebration on someone with whom he shares the birthday: White House correspondent Helen Thomas, now a columnist with Hearst Newspapers. She turned 89 on Tuesday.

Obama emerged unannounced in the White House briefing room where Thomas sat in the front-row seat reserved in her name. He led the roomful of reporters in singing "Happy Birthday to You," gave a plate full of cupcakes to Thomas, watched her blow out one lit candle and sat down next to her to share a photo.

Obama had just spent lunch with almost the entire Democratic Senate caucus. Leaders emerged promising to deliver the health-care bill Obama wants.

"We're ready to take on the world," Sen. Harry Reid said, offering a glowing assessment of Obama's pep talk.

The president was born in 1961 in Hawaii. The White House said Obama did much of his birthday celebrating over the weekend, spending time with friends and family at Camp David.

But that didn't stop some schoolkids on a tour of the White House from trying to get Obama's attention on the actual birthday itself.

From the steps of the North Portico, they broke out in their own version of "Happy Birthday to You" for the president, and were heard all the way to Pennsylvania Avenue.