Schoolboy interviews Obama about school lunches and basketball

11-year-old Damon Weaver gets US president to admit he can no longer dunk a basketball

Damon Weaver interviews the US president Link to this video

He may not have cleared up the "birther" conspiracy theories about where exactly the White House's present occupant was born, or asked him point blank whether he is plotting a socialist revolution in the land of the free.

But Damon Weaver, a cub reporter at the grand age of 11, did manage to pull off the kind of coup that Gordon Brown and David Cameron can only dream of by getting the most powerful man on earth to agree to be his homeboy.

Weaver, arguably the most famous boy journalist since Tintin, landed the one-to-one spot with Barack Obama after becoming an internet star last year following his interview with Joe Biden, now the US vice-president.

In the latest interview, filmed at the White House and posted on YouTube, Weaver presses the president on everything from his education policy to his basketball prowess.

Close to the top of the agenda, though, was the matter of school lunches and what could be done to improve them.

"I remember when I used to get school lunches, sometimes they didn't taste so good, I've got to admit," Obama said. "We are actually seeing if we can work to at least make school lunches healthier. Because a lot of school lunches, there's a lot of French fries, pizzas, tater tots. All kinds of stuff that isn't a well-balanced meal."

The president's admission prompted a moment of reckless brainstorming from Weaver that hinted he may be better suited to reporting than menu-planning.

"I suggest that we have French fries and mangos everyday for lunch," he said.

Weaver told the president that he appeared to get "bullied a lot" and asked how Obama dealt with the barbs.

"I think that when you're president, you're responsible for a lot of things," Obama said. "A lot of people are having a tough time and they're hurting out there. And the main thing I just try to do is stay focused on trying to do a good job, and try to be understanding that sometimes people are going to be mad about things."

Weaver, who has also interviewed the basketball player Dwyane Wade, told Obama the star Miami Heat guard had promised to play a one-on-one game with the commander in chief if Obama sat for his questions.

"Would you be willing to play him on a one-on-one basketball game?" Weaver asked.

"I would play Dwyane Wade … I've got to admit, though, Dwyane Wade's a little bit better at basketball than I am," Obama said.

Obama told his inquisitor that he used to be able to dunk but no longer could.

Weaver, who wrapped up his interview with Biden by quipping "Senator Biden is now my homeboy", couldn't resist doing so again.

Luckily for him, Obama said he would "absolutely" be his homeboy.

Walking away from a tete-a-tete that any journalist on the planet would sell his grubby soul for, what were Weaver's impressions of the Potus?

"He's very tall and nice. He's a very good man."