Don't forget that nobody likes a know-it all.
Who cares if you don't know much about politics? I personally gave up closely following that years ago and while I do have a bare-skeleton knowledge of what's going on, I'm perfectly content to remain basically ignorant. I'll leave it to the people who actually care. Of course it's good to know basic things like the name of the Vice President
...but I wouldn't torture yourself learning intricacies of politics if you don't really care. (I typically find political conversation to be on the same level as idle gossip).
Also try to remember that people usually won't dislike you for knowing less than them, in fact it will probably make them feel good about themselves if they know more. Surveys show that men prefer to be more intelligent than their partners. Now I'm not saying that's a good thing, but men typically aren't going to be threatened by someone who knows LESS than they do, usually it's a problem if a woman knows more (I'm speaking generally and of course various levels of insecurity play into this).
That said it's great that you want to improve your knowledge-base. My knowledge of history was practically non-existant until I took a European History course-- now it feels great to know what people are talking about when they mention 1917. So I'm not knocking self-education. Take in what interests you, and what sticks, sticks, what doesn't, doesn't-- and at least those things you do remember will be things that you didn't know before. Good luck!