Press Secretary Robert Gibbs quipped that the White House meeting is set because "it's the president's birthday and Chuck E. Cheese was booked."
Obama celebrated his own birthday by leading the White House press corps in singing Happy Birthday to veteran reporter Helen Thomas.Thomas and Obama share a birthday on Tuesday, with the president turning 48 and the reporter turning 89.
Obama carried cupcakes into the room where reporters were gathered to quiz Gibbs at the daily briefing.
Thomas is a columnist with Hearst Newspapers.
Obama told her: "I will leave it up to you, Helen, how you want to distribute the cupcakes."
Obama sat beside Thomas for a picture after she blew out one candle and said she told him her birthday wishes were "world peace and a real health care reform bill."
Obama and Grover Cleveland, who served two, inconsecutive terms, were both inaugurated at the age of 47. The youngest presidents were Theodore Roosevelt, 42, and John F. Kennedy, 43. Bill Clinton and Ulyssess Grant were both 46 at inauguration.
U.S. Presidents, age at inauguration1. George Washington, 57
2. John Adams, 61
3. Thomas Jefferson, 57
4. James Madison, 57
5 James Monroe, 58
6. John Quincy Adams, 57
7. Andrew Jackson, 61
8. Martin Van Buren, 54
9. William Henry Harrison, 68
10. John Tyler, 51
11. James Polk, 49
12. Zachary Taylor, 64
13. Millard Fillmore, 50
14. Franklin Pierce, 48
15. James Buchanan, 65
16. Abraham Lincoln, 52
17. Andrew Johnson, 56
18. Ulysses S. Grant, 46
19. Rutherford B. Hayes, 54
20. James A. Garfield, 49
21. Chester A. Arthur, 51
22. Grover Cleveland, 47
23. Benjamin Harris, 55
24. Grover Cleveland, 47
25. William McKinley, 54
26. Theodore Roosevelt, 42
27. William Taft, 51
28. Woodrow Wilson, 56
29. Warren Harding, 55
30. Calvin Coolidge, 51
31. Herbert Hoover, 54
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 51
33. Harry S. Truman, 60
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 62
35. John F. Kennedy, 43
36. Lyndon B. Johnson, 55
37. Richard Nixon, 56
38. Gerald Ford, 56
39. Jimmy Carter, 52
40. Ronald Reagan, 69
41. George H. W. Bush, 64
42. Bill Clinton, 46
43. George W. Bush, 54
44. Barack Obama, 47
Other Aug. 4 Birthdays:
Journalist Helen Thomas is 89.
Singer Frankie Ford is 70.
Actress Tina Cole ("My Three Sons") is 66.
Actor-comedian Richard Belzer ("Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," "Homicide") is 65.
Actor Billy Bob Thornton is 54.
Actress Kym Karath ("The Sound of Music") is 51.
Actress Lauren Tom ("Joy Luck Club," "Men In Trees") is 50.
Producer Michael Gelman ("Live with Regis and Kelly") is 48.
Drummer Rob Cieka of Boo Radleys is 41.
Actor Daniel Dae Kim ("Lost") is 41.
Rapper Yo-Yo ("Miss Rap Supreme") is 38.
Singer-actor Marques Houston of Immature is 28.
Actors Dylan and Cole Sprouse ("Big Daddy," "Grace Under Fire") are 17.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
