Barack Obama

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. (born in Nyanza Province, Kenya) and Ann Dunham (born in Wichita, Kansas). Barack Hussein Obama (born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party.

Obama grew up in culturally diverse surroundings. He spent most of his childhood in the majority-minority U.S. state of Hawaii and lived for four years in Indonesia. Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention while still an Illinois state legislator. Since announcing his candidacy in February 2007, Obama has emphasized ending the Iraq War and implementing universal health care as campaign themes.

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, Obama co-sponsored the enactment of conventional weapons control and transparency legislation, and made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Obama's parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced. His father went to Harvard University to pursue Ph.D. studies, then returned to Kenya, where he died in an auto accident when the younger Obama was twenty-one years old.

When We Wrote Letters

When I read in Sunday's New York Times that Hillary Clinton's college-era letters to a high school friend had been miraculously preserved for posterity -- ("Since Xmas vacation, I've gone through three and a half metamorphoses") -- I braced myself for the inevitable parodies. There were so many possibilities! Surely my Post colleague Ruth Marcus would now imagine Hillary Clinton's elementary school-era letters to a playground friend ("I do hope you'll join the committee I've created to ensure equal sandbox time for all"). Surely Maureen Dowd would do a snarky version of George Bush Jr.'s college-era letters to George Bush Sr. ("Dad, can you lend me some money to buy a term paper?"). Surely someone would spoof Hillary's old letters to Bill, Dick's letters to Lynne, George's to Laura. And then I thought: Letters?

Anne Applebaum Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073001272.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
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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. Obama later added three amendments to S. 2611, the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act," sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). During his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, Obama won the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, whose officials cited his "longtime support of gun control measures and his willingness to negotiate compromises," despite his support for some bills the police union had opposed.

On the first day of the Democratic-controlled 110th Congress, in a column published in the Washington Post, Obama called for an end to "any and all practices that would lead a reasonable person to believe that a public servant has become indebted to a lobbyist. Obama sponsored 152 bills and resolutions brought before the 109th Congress in 2005 and 2006, and cosponsored another 427. The Rasmussen polling organization reported in May 2007 that 49% of Americans consider it "somewhat likely" or "very likely" that Obama will be elected. Senator Paul Simon; the support of Simon's daughter; and political endorsements by the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. On the first day of the Democratic-controlled 110th Congress, in a column published in the Washington Post, Obama called for an end to "any and all practices that would lead a reasonable person to believe that a public servant has become indebted to a lobbyist. Obama plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.

But the big telephone and cable companies want to change the Internet as we know it.