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.

Today's Editorials: In Defense of Longer Airport Security Lines

WaPo ... notes that airports are preparing to begin collecting biometric data from foreigners leaving the country, and predicts that security lines are about to get longer because of the change. "The hassle, we are sorry to say, is unavoidable," the editors argue. "Without collecting information from departing foreigners, there's...

washingtonpost.com Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:41:02 EDT

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/07/31/BL2007073100614.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
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Speculation intensified in October 2006 when Obama first said he had "thought about the possibility" of running for president, departing from earlier statements that he intended to serve out his six-year Senate term through 2010. " The book describes his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. In the November 2004 general election, Obama received 70% of the vote to Keyes's 27%. A long-time resident of Maryland, Keyes established legal residency in Illinois with the nomination. Obama's campaign reported raising US$25.8 million between January 1 and March 31 of 2007. Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 from the state's 13th District in the south-side Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park.

The donations came from 104,000 individual donors, with US$6.9 million raised through the Internet from 50,000 of the donors. In March 2007, speaking before AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby, he said that while the U.S. "should take no option, including military action, off the table, sustained and aggressive diplomacy combined with tough sanctions should be our primary means to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons. His opponent in the general election was expected to be Republican primary winner Jack Ryan.

He received his B.A. degree in 1983, then worked for one year at Business International Corporation. Asked to name a "hidden talent," Obama answered: "I'm a pretty good poker player. Former presidential candidate Gary Hart describes the book as Obama's "thesis submission" for the U.S. presidency: "It presents a man of relative youth yet maturity, a wise observer of the human condition, a figure who possesses perseverance and writing skills that have flashes of grandeur. The speech touched off a public debate among rival leaders, some formally challenging Obama's remarks as unfair and improper, others defending his positions.

In February 2007, standing before the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois, Obama announced his candidacy for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. His knowledge about his absent Luo father came mainly through family stories and photographs.

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. In his preface to the 2004 revised edition, Obama explains that he had hoped the story of his family "might speak in some way to the fissures of race that have characterized the American experience, as well as the fluid state of identity—the leaps through time, the collision of cultures—that mark our modern life. "I've never been a heavy smoker," Obama told the Chicago Tribune.