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Barack Obama
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Obama" redirects here. For other uses, see Obama (disambiguation).
Barack Obama
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Junior Senator
from Illinois
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 2, 2005
Serving with Richard Durbin
Preceded by Peter Fitzgerald
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Member of the Illinois State Senate
from the 13th district
In office
1997 – 2004
Succeeded by Kwame Raoul
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Born August 4, 1961 (1961-08-04) (age 46)
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Nationality American
Political party Democratic
Spouse Michelle Obama (1992–present)
Alma mater Columbia University,
Harvard Law School
Religion Christian (United Church of Christ)
Signature
Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.[1][2] (pronounced /bəˈɹɑːk huˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/;
[3] born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from
Illinois and a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination in the
2008 U.S. presidential election.[4][5]
Born to a black Kenyan father and a white American mother, he spent
most of his childhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. From ages six to ten, he
lived in Jakarta with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. A graduate
of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a
community organizer, university lecturer, and civil rights lawyer
before running for public office and serving in the Illinois Senate
from 1997 to 2004. After an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S.
House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for U.S.
Senate in 2003.
The following year, while still an Illinois state legislator, Obama
delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National
Convention.[6] He was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2004 with
70% of the vote.[7] As a member of the Democratic minority in the
109th Congress, he co-sponsored bipartisan legislation for controlling
conventional weapons and for promoting greater public accountability
in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In the current 110th Congress, he
has sponsored legislation on lobbying and electoral fraud, climate
change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military
personnel.
Since announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama has
emphasized ending the Iraq War while maintaining a strong defense
abroad, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health
care as major priorities.[8] He married in 1992 and has two daughters.
He has written two bestselling books: a memoir of his youth titled
Dreams from My Father, and The Audacity of Hope, a personal commentary
on U.S. politics.[9]
Contents [hide]
1 Early life and career
2 State legislature
3 Keynote address at 2004 Democratic National Convention
4 Senate campaign
5 Senate career
5.1 109th Congress
5.2 110th Congress
6 Presidential campaign
7 Political advocacy
8 Personal life
9 Books
10 Cultural and political image
11 Recognition and honors
12 References
13 Cited works
14 Further reading
15 External links
Early life and career
See also: Dreams from My Father
Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama,
Sr. (born in Nyanza Province, Kenya, of Luo ethnicity) and Ann Dunham
(born in Wichita, Kansas).[10] Throughout his early years, he was
commonly known at home and school as "Barry".[11] Obama's parents met
while both were attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his
father was enrolled as a foreign student.[12] They separated when he
was two years old and later divorced.[13] His father went to Harvard
University to pursue Ph.D. studies, then returned to Kenya, where he
died in an auto accident in 1982.[14] His mother married another
foreign student, Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro's home
country of Indonesia in 1967.[15] Obama attended local schools in
Jakarta from ages 6 to 10,[16] where classes were taught in Indonesian.
[17][18] When he was in third grade he wrote an essay saying that he
wanted to become president. His teacher later told the Chicago Tribune
that she was not sure what country he wanted to become president of
but that he wrote that his reason was that he wanted to make everybody
happy.[19] He then returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal
grandparents while attending Punahou School from the fifth grade until
his graduation in 1979.[20] Obama's mother died of ovarian cancer a
few months after the publication of his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My
Father.[21]
In the memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his
mother's American middle class family. His knowledge about his African
father, who returned once for a brief visit in 1971, came mainly
through family stories and photographs.[14] Of his early childhood,
Obama writes: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—
that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered
in my mind."[22] The book describes his struggles as a young adult to
reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.[23] He wrote
that he used alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years
to "push questions of who I was out of my mind".[24]
After high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at
Occidental College for two years.[25] He then transferred to Columbia
University in New York City, where he majored in political science
with a specialization in international relations.[26] Obama received
his B.A. degree in 1983, then worked at Business International
Corporation and NYPIRG before moving to Chicago to take a job as a
community organizer.[27] As Director of the Developing Communities
Project, he worked with low-income residents in Chicago's Roseland
community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development.[28] He
entered Harvard Law School in 1988.[29] In 1990, The New York Times
reported his election as the Harvard Law Review's "first black
president in its 104-year history".[30] He completed his J.D. degree
magna cum laude in 1991.[31] On returning to Chicago, Obama directed a
voter registration drive.[31] As an associate attorney with Miner,
Barnhill & Galland from 1993 to 1996, he represented community
organizers, discrimination claims, and voting rights cases.[32] He was
a lecturer of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law
School from 1993 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004.[33]
State legislature
Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 from the
state's 13th District spanning the south-side Chicago neighborhoods of
Hyde Park, South Shore, and Englewood.[34] In 2000, he made an
unsuccessful Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of
Representatives seat held by four-term incumbent candidate Bobby Rush.
[35] He was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998 and 2002,
officially resigning in November 2004 following his election to the
U.S. Senate.[36] As a state legislator, Obama gained bipartisan
support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws.[37] He
sponsored a law enhancing tax credits for low-income workers,
negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for
childcare.[38] Obama also led the passage of legislation mandating
videotaping of homicide interrogations, and a law to monitor racial
profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they
stopped.[38] During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S.
Senate, he won the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of
Police, whose president credited Obama for his active engagement with
police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.[39] He was
criticized by rival pro-choice candidates in the Democratic primary
and by his Republican pro-life opponent in the general election for a
series of "present" or "no" votes on late-term abortion and parental
notification issues.[40]
Keynote address at 2004 Democratic National Convention
........................................................
So much for factual information from the Wik......
love
hank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Obama" redirects here. For other uses, see Obama (disambiguation).
Barack Obama
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Junior Senator
from Illinois
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 2, 2005
Serving with Richard Durbin
Preceded by Peter Fitzgerald
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Member of the Illinois State Senate
from the 13th district
In office
1997 – 2004
Succeeded by Kwame Raoul
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Born August 4, 1961 (1961-08-04) (age 46)
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Nationality American
Political party Democratic
Spouse Michelle Obama (1992–present)
Alma mater Columbia University,
Harvard Law School
Religion Christian (United Church of Christ)
Signature
Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.[1][2] (pronounced /bəˈɹɑːk huˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/;
[3] born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from
Illinois and a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination in the
2008 U.S. presidential election.[4][5]
Born to a black Kenyan father and a white American mother, he spent
most of his childhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. From ages six to ten, he
lived in Jakarta with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. A graduate
of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a
community organizer, university lecturer, and civil rights lawyer
before running for public office and serving in the Illinois Senate
from 1997 to 2004. After an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S.
House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for U.S.
Senate in 2003.
The following year, while still an Illinois state legislator, Obama
delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National
Convention.[6] He was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2004 with
70% of the vote.[7] As a member of the Democratic minority in the
109th Congress, he co-sponsored bipartisan legislation for controlling
conventional weapons and for promoting greater public accountability
in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In the current 110th Congress, he
has sponsored legislation on lobbying and electoral fraud, climate
change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military
personnel.
Since announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama has
emphasized ending the Iraq War while maintaining a strong defense
abroad, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health
care as major priorities.[8] He married in 1992 and has two daughters.
He has written two bestselling books: a memoir of his youth titled
Dreams from My Father, and The Audacity of Hope, a personal commentary
on U.S. politics.[9]
Contents [hide]
1 Early life and career
2 State legislature
3 Keynote address at 2004 Democratic National Convention
4 Senate campaign
5 Senate career
5.1 109th Congress
5.2 110th Congress
6 Presidential campaign
7 Political advocacy
8 Personal life
9 Books
10 Cultural and political image
11 Recognition and honors
12 References
13 Cited works
14 Further reading
15 External links
Early life and career
See also: Dreams from My Father
Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama,
Sr. (born in Nyanza Province, Kenya, of Luo ethnicity) and Ann Dunham
(born in Wichita, Kansas).[10] Throughout his early years, he was
commonly known at home and school as "Barry".[11] Obama's parents met
while both were attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his
father was enrolled as a foreign student.[12] They separated when he
was two years old and later divorced.[13] His father went to Harvard
University to pursue Ph.D. studies, then returned to Kenya, where he
died in an auto accident in 1982.[14] His mother married another
foreign student, Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro's home
country of Indonesia in 1967.[15] Obama attended local schools in
Jakarta from ages 6 to 10,[16] where classes were taught in Indonesian.
[17][18] When he was in third grade he wrote an essay saying that he
wanted to become president. His teacher later told the Chicago Tribune
that she was not sure what country he wanted to become president of
but that he wrote that his reason was that he wanted to make everybody
happy.[19] He then returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal
grandparents while attending Punahou School from the fifth grade until
his graduation in 1979.[20] Obama's mother died of ovarian cancer a
few months after the publication of his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My
Father.[21]
In the memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his
mother's American middle class family. His knowledge about his African
father, who returned once for a brief visit in 1971, came mainly
through family stories and photographs.[14] Of his early childhood,
Obama writes: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—
that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered
in my mind."[22] The book describes his struggles as a young adult to
reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.[23] He wrote
that he used alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years
to "push questions of who I was out of my mind".[24]
After high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at
Occidental College for two years.[25] He then transferred to Columbia
University in New York City, where he majored in political science
with a specialization in international relations.[26] Obama received
his B.A. degree in 1983, then worked at Business International
Corporation and NYPIRG before moving to Chicago to take a job as a
community organizer.[27] As Director of the Developing Communities
Project, he worked with low-income residents in Chicago's Roseland
community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development.[28] He
entered Harvard Law School in 1988.[29] In 1990, The New York Times
reported his election as the Harvard Law Review's "first black
president in its 104-year history".[30] He completed his J.D. degree
magna cum laude in 1991.[31] On returning to Chicago, Obama directed a
voter registration drive.[31] As an associate attorney with Miner,
Barnhill & Galland from 1993 to 1996, he represented community
organizers, discrimination claims, and voting rights cases.[32] He was
a lecturer of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law
School from 1993 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004.[33]
State legislature
Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 from the
state's 13th District spanning the south-side Chicago neighborhoods of
Hyde Park, South Shore, and Englewood.[34] In 2000, he made an
unsuccessful Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of
Representatives seat held by four-term incumbent candidate Bobby Rush.
[35] He was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998 and 2002,
officially resigning in November 2004 following his election to the
U.S. Senate.[36] As a state legislator, Obama gained bipartisan
support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws.[37] He
sponsored a law enhancing tax credits for low-income workers,
negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for
childcare.[38] Obama also led the passage of legislation mandating
videotaping of homicide interrogations, and a law to monitor racial
profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they
stopped.[38] During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S.
Senate, he won the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of
Police, whose president credited Obama for his active engagement with
police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.[39] He was
criticized by rival pro-choice candidates in the Democratic primary
and by his Republican pro-life opponent in the general election for a
series of "present" or "no" votes on late-term abortion and parental
notification issues.[40]
Keynote address at 2004 Democratic National Convention
........................................................
So much for factual information from the Wik......
love
hank
