It's obvious that the interview with Obama that resulted in the posted New York "Slimes" article was choreographed by Obama and/or friends of his.
It isn't unusual for a personal profile type of piece to include the subject's place of birth (or, in this case, his own alleged place of birth). The "Who's Who" reference books, for example, almost always include a listee's place of birth as provided by the listee or his (her) operatives, among other pieces of biographical data supplied by him (her). Of course, the data in "Who's Who" is not necessarily accurate, as some have a tendency to falsify at least some of the information asked for.
In Obama's case, in view of subsequent events, I can understand why you consider the inclusion of his alleged Hawaii birthplace in the article as "curious."
Maybe someone with access to Lexus/Nexus could do a search.
ML/NJ (in Jerusalem)