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.

Heeeeere's Valerie

The big blog herewith announces that Post writer Valerie Strauss, no stranger to these electrons, will once again take on substitute Raw duties, starting Monday, presenting her pearls of wisdom and provoking all manner of debate and discussion in these parts. Valerie is an education writer here in the Newsroom of the Future, but she has done it all--working the Foreign Desk, covering everything under the sun here and on the wires, where she served as congressional correspondent, national security editor and in various other capacities. Valerie has been a substitute columnist over in Bob Levey's Washington and she's bailed me out here on the Raw board at least a couple of times. I know you'll be kind to her and get into whatever comes our way. I'll be back in a couple o' weeks.

washingtonpost.com Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:41:02 EDT

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/08/03/BL2007080301619.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
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He married in 1992 and has two daughters. His second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, was published in October 2006, three weeks before the 2006 midterm election. " He describes his Kenyan father as "raised a Muslim," but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his Indonesian step-father as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful. " At the Save Darfur rally in April 2006, he called for more assertive action to oppose genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Enthusiastic crowds greeted Obama's public appearances. " Before the conference, 18 pro-life groups published an open letter stating, in reference to Obama's support for legal abortion: "In the strongest possible terms, we oppose Rick Warren's decision to ignore Senator Obama's clear pro-death stance and invite him to Saddleback Church anyway. 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's candidacy was boosted by an advertising campaign featuring images of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and the late U.S. Obama, who defines himself in The Audacity of Hope as "a Democrat, after all," has been criticized for his political actions by self-described progressive commentator David Sirota, and complimented for his "Can't we all just get along?" manner by conservative columnist George Will. Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. (born in Nyanza Province, Kenya) and Ann Dunham (born in Wichita, Kansas). Finally, he spoke for national unity: The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats.

Obama's fundraising prowess was affirmed again in the second quarter of 2007, when his campaign raised an additional $32.5 million, the most ever raised by a Democratic Presidential candidate in a single quarter. The Chicago Tribune credits the large crowds that gathered at book signings with influencing Obama's decision to run for president. 55 million for candidates he supports and his own 2010 re-election fund.