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
--
To unsubscribe from this feed, click here
To manage other subscriptions, click here
~
Powered by RssFwd, a service of Blue Sky Factory, Inc

I'm opposed to dumb wars. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. Speaking to an elderly Jewish audience during his 2004 campaign for U.S. Senate, Obama linked the linguistic roots of his East African first name Barack to the Hebrew word baruch, meaning "blessed.

In early May 2007, the U.S. Secret Service announced that Obama had been placed under their protection. Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention while still an Illinois state legislator. In the November 2004 general election, Obama received 70% of the vote to Keyes's 27%.

" In December 2006, Obama joined Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) at the "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church" organized by church leaders Kay and Rick Warren.

"I've quit periodically over the last several years. Questioning the Bush administration's management of the Iraq War, Obama spoke of an enlisted Marine, Corporal Seamus Ahern from East Moline, Illinois, asking, "Are we serving Seamus as well as he is serving us?" He continued: When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never, ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.

The donations came from 104,000 individual donors, with US$6.9 million raised through the Internet from 50,000 of the donors. " Reviewing Obama's career in the Illinois Senate, a February 2007 article in the Washington Post noted his work with both Democrats and Republicans in drafting bipartisan legislation on ethics and health care reform. " Time magazine's Joe Klein wrote that the book "may be the best-written memoir ever produced by an American politician. The bill did not progress beyond committee and was never voted on by the Senate. He spent most of his childhood in the majority-minority U.S. state of Hawaii and lived for four years in Indonesia.