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.

[1]GAO Faults Smithsonian On Upkeep and Security

Deteriorating facilities and cuts in security have threatened collections, and backlogs in work projects have ballooned to $2.5B.

link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/09/28/ST2007092802098.html?nav=rss_email/components

[1] <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/09/28/ST2007092802098.html?nav=rss_email/components>

Obama's candidacy was boosted by an advertising campaign featuring images of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and the late U.S. I've got an ironclad demand from my wife that in the stresses of the campaign I don't succumb. " He joined with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) in strengthening restrictions on travel in corporate jets to S.1, the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007, which passed the Senate with a 96-2 majority. Obama joined Charles Schumer (D-NY) in sponsoring S. 453, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections, including fraudulent flyers and automated phone calls, as witnessed in the 2006 midterm elections.

But in a December 2006 Wall Street Journal editorial headlined "The Man from Nowhere," former Ronald Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan advised Will and other "establishment" commentators to get "down from your tippy toes" and avoid becoming too quickly excited about Obama's still early political career.

" During his first two and a half years in the Senate, Obama received Honorary Doctorates of Law from Knox College, University of Massachusetts Boston, Northwestern University, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Southern New Hampshire University. After graduating from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, university lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before entering politics.

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. " Time magazine's Joe Klein wrote that the book "may be the best-written memoir ever produced by an American politician. President Bush signs the "Coburn-Obama" Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. " Obama writes: "It was because of these newfound understandings—that religious commitment did not require me to suspend critical thinking, disengage from the battle for economic and social justice, or otherwise retreat from the world that I knew and loved—that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized. After the visits, Obama traveled to Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. He has responded to and personally participated in online discussions hosted on politically-oriented blog sites. An October 2005 article in the British journal New Statesman listed Obama as one of "10 people who could change the world. However, Hull's popularity declined following allegations of domestic abuse.

Enthusiastic crowds greeted Obama's public appearances. In it he recalls his childhood in Honolulu and Jakarta, college years in Los Angeles and New York City, and his employment as a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s. "I've quit periodically over the last several years. presidential candidate has attracted conflicting analyses among commentators challenged to align him with traditional social categories.