In an apparent effort to defuse cross-party political tension, Mr Obama temporarily removed all mention of his marriage to First Lady Michelle Obama, allowing his new relationship status to show up in the news feeds of approximately 28 million Facebook users.
"It was just a harmless goof," said Mr Obama in a press conference this afternoon. "The best part was reading all of the comments on my timeline right after I did it. It was freaking hilarious."
"Everyone was, like, "shouldn't you have waited until after the election to announce this sort of thing?" Damn, that shit was funny."
The edit is reported to have garnered upward of 1.3 million likes, with a high percentage of these appearing to come from users who subscribe to Obama's presidential rival Mitt Romney.
It is believed, however, that Obama's prank may not have resonated with his wife Michelle, who is thought to have taken "the whole thing to heart."
"Needless to say, I am extremely disappointed with Barack," said Mrs Obama in a short statement. "How would he like it if I removed The Audacity of Hope from my "favorite books" or, better yet, stopped liking his Fan Page?"
"I'll let him think about those things for a day or two."