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]U.S. Guns Behind Cartel Killings

As many as 2,000 U.S. guns enter Mexico each day, feeding an expanding drug cartel arms race.

link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/28/AR2007102801654.html?nav=rss_email/components

[1] <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/28/AR2007102801654.html?nav=rss_email/components>

The family moved to Jakarta in 1967, where Obama attended local schools from ages 6 to 10. In 1985, Obama moved to Chicago to direct a non-profit project assisting local churches to organize job training programs. We've got it all. Describing his working life in Illinois, and symbolically linking his presidential campaign to Abraham Lincoln's 1858 House Divided speech, Obama said: "That is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a house divided to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America. Together with Warren and Brownback, Obama took an HIV test, as he had done in Kenya less than four months earlier.

The bill did not progress beyond committee and was never voted on by the Senate. 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. However, Hull's popularity declined following allegations of domestic abuse. He served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, launching his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2003. On the role of government in economic affairs, Obama has written: "we should be asking ourselves what mix of policies will lead to a dynamic free market and widespread economic security, entrepreneurial innovation and upward mobility Z...Z we should be guided by what works. The speech was Obama's introduction to most of America.