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]Mukasey Faces Criticism As Vote Nears

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Leahy says confirmation vote on attorney general pick will be held Tuesday.

link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/31/AR2007103101601.html?nav=rss_email/components

[1] <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/31/AR2007103101601.html?nav=rss_email/components>

Among his major accomplishments as a state legislator, Obama's U.S. Senate web site lists: "creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit"; "an expansion of early childhood education"; and "legislation requiring the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

In Ukraine, they toured a disease control and prevention facility and witnessed the signing of a bilateral pact to secure biological pathogens and combat risks of infectious disease outbreaks from natural causes or bioterrorism. In January 2006, Obama joined a Congressional delegation for meetings with U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq. "He was an early opponent of Bush administration policies on Iraq. " 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. He is a member of the Senate committees on Foreign Relations; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; and Veterans' Affairs; and the Congressional Black Caucus. Obama's parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced. President Bush signs the "Coburn-Obama" Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. It was an immediate bestseller and remains on the New York Times Best Seller List. In 2003, Obama began his run for the U.S. Senate open seat vacated by Peter Fitzgerald. Through the fall of 2006, Obama had spoken at political events across the country in support of Democratic candidates for the midterm elections. 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. In the memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his mother's American middle class family. In early opinion polls leading up to the Democratic primary, Obama trailed multimillionaire businessman Blair Hull and Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes. It was an immediate bestseller and remains on the New York Times Best Seller List. He is among the Democratic Party's leading candidates for nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. We've got it all. " 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. 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. In a nationally televised speech at the University of Nairobi, he spoke forcefully on the influence of ethnic rivalries and corruption in Kenya. He has responded to and personally participated in online discussions hosted on politically-oriented blog sites. We've got it all.