ATHENS, GA—Local barista Benjamin Shields, 31, expressed both shock and remorse Monday when, during a routine perusal of his 2009 calendar, it suddenly occurred to him that he had never bothered to find out the date of President Barack Obama's birth. "Mostly, I'm just really embarrassed," Shields said. "The first black president in U.S. history, a person I myself voted for, and I don't even know what month he was born? God, I'd be mortified if he ever found out." Shields said he would console himself by making sure to purchase a card well in advance of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's Dec. 12 birthday.