On February 14, 2013, President Obama invited several people to publicly ask him questions as part of a live "fireside chat" hosted by Google. John Green was one of the selected participants, and asked Obama about:

• Whether the United States should get rid of the penny, and why it hasn't already
• How to get past ideologies in order to deal with environmental issues in politics
• Whether Obama prefers the name "Alice" or "Eleanor"

The last question doubled as John's public announcement that his wife, Sarah, was pregnant with their second child. At the time, he mentioned that they had a boy name picked out, but wanted the President's input on a name if the baby is a girl. Obama declined to answer, saying instead that he didn't want his personal choice to follow the child throughout his or her life. He then surprised John (and the nerdfigher audience) by telling their unborn child to not forget to be awesome.