You have to admit, President Chuck has a nice ring to it. For a good five seconds in 2003, Charles Barkley even considered it. Like any presidential hopeful, he had some big dreams too. Looking back on it now, thanks to the hard-working crew of CNN’s King Charles, gave Barkley mixed feelings. While discussing politics and the current presidential race with illustrious journalist John King, they pulled up Chuck’s 2003 C-SPAN interview.

That was when Barkley was toying with the idea of running for Alabama’s top office. He said he “can do more” than perhaps those in office in the town hall interview. When he was asked what he’d do if he was president of the country, he said, “The first thing I’d do, I’d change the name. I can’t live in a place called the White House.”

Barkley looked flushed with embarrassment at his 40-year-old self. His co-anchor, Gayle King, said that if things were different they could’ve been talking about presidential candidate Charles Barkley on the show. He made it seem like one of those 3 a.m. memories that keep you up at night when he said, “If I had known in 2003 when I did that interview it was going to be crazy as hell in 2024…” He didn’t complete that thought but maybe he thought he’d never have said that.

‘Governor Charles Barkley’ was a buzzword in the early ’00s when he was aspiring to enter politics after retiring from the NBA. He’s since sworn off politics and has no political aspirations, presidential or otherwise. But he has gone to the White House for a completely unexpected reason.

Charles Barkley’s rare visit to the White House

Charles Barkley never had the opportunity to visit the White House as an NBA champion. However, he ended up in the Oval Office in 2014 to interview then-president Barack Obama for the NBA All-Star pre-game coverage. This was a subject he discussed with Gayle King too, including his admiration for Barack Obama, even though he thrashed the former POTUS’ March Madness bracket a few days ago.

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Nonetheless, that was a successful and unconventional interview. And the picture of Chuck and Obama in the Oval Office is one of those pop culture moments. Barkley added that he even fibbed to the POTUS’ face. “He [Obama] says to me, ‘Chuck, you’ve ever been to the Oval Office?’ And I said, ‘Oh, I’ve been there many times.’ Which I had never been, obviously.” 

Chuck and politics are undeniably an interesting mix. But he’s aspiring to stay far away from that and only visit the White House as an NBA veteran.

READ MORE: Charles Barkley Hilariously Ridicules Barack Obama for Cheating Over March Madness Bracket