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.

Friday, November 30, 2007

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
Iraqis' Quality of Life Marked By Slow Gains, Many Setbacks
BAGHDAD, Nov. 29 -- This war-battered city, according to U.S. statistics, now receives an average of 11.9 hours of electricity a day, far more than earlier this year. But don't tell that to Ghaida al-Banna.
(By Amit R. Paley and Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post)

Fed Chief Offers Hint of Rate Cut
Bernanke Predicts 'Headwinds' For Consumers
(By Neil Irwin, The Washington Post)

The Candidate's 'Catch Me if You Can'
Reporters Following Hillary Clinton on the Campaign Trail Are Covered in Dust
(By Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post)

Strutting Toward Another World
Contestants in Southern Sudan's First Beauty Pageant Grew Up Dodging War
(By Stephanie McCrummen, The Washington Post)

Thomas Jefferson Put at Top of Class
(By Maria Glod, The Washington Post)

More Today's Highlights

POLITICS
FBI's Gun Ban Listing Swells
Since the Virginia Tech shootings last spring, the FBI has more than doubled the number of people nationwide who are prohibited from buying guns because of mental health problems, the Justice Department said yesterday.
(By Dan Eggen, The Washington Post)

U.S. Special Counsel Says He Won't Provide Files
Official Calls Personal Records Not Relevant to OPM Probe
(By Elizabeth Williamson, The Washington Post)

Bush Urges Emergency War Funds to Avoid Defense Layoffs
(By William Branigin, The Washington Post)

Very Little War in Republicans' Words
For GOP Presidential Candidates, the Less Said About Iraq the Better
(By Perry Bacon Jr., The Washington Post)

CNN Admits Holes in Screening of Questioners
(By Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post)

More Politics

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NATION
A Mixed Blessing for Aspiring Lawyers
For months, Beirne Roose-Snyder has struggled with what she will do after graduating from Georgetown University Law Center. Should she accept the $145,000-a-year offer from a Chicago firm? Or should she gamble and look for a potentially more satisfying public interest job? She and her husband are...
(By Ian Shapira, The Washington Post)

150 Global Firms Seek Mandatory Cuts in Greenhouse Gas Emissions
(By Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post)

FBI's Gun Ban Listing Swells
Thousands Added To File Marked 'Mental Defective'
(By Dan Eggen, The Washington Post)

U.S. Special Counsel Says He Won't Provide Files
Official Calls Personal Records Not Relevant to OPM Probe
(By Elizabeth Williamson, The Washington Post)

Explosives Suspect Denied Separate Trial
(The Washington Post)

More Nation

WORLD
Globally, Deaths From Measles Drop Sharply
Worldwide deaths from measles have fallen by two-thirds since 2000, the result of stepped-up immunization efforts and the distribution of vitamin A capsules in developing countries, a partnership of five health organizations said yesterday.
(By David Brown, The Washington Post)

Party Led By Putin Steamrolls Opponents
Intimidation Cited As Elections Loom
(By Peter Finn, The Washington Post)

Strutting Toward Another World
Contestants in Southern Sudan's First Beauty Pageant Grew Up Dodging War
(By Stephanie McCrummen, The Washington Post)

Iraqis' Quality of Life Marked By Slow Gains, Many Setbacks
Worries Abound That Government Isn't Up to Task of Providing Services
(By Amit R. Paley and Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post)

Very Little War in Republicans' Words
For GOP Presidential Candidates, the Less Said About Iraq the Better
(By Perry Bacon Jr., The Washington Post)

More World

METRO
Protest, Forums To Mark AIDS Day
Vigils, curbside HIV screening, public forums with District teens and a demonstration across from the White House are planned for today and this weekend to mark World AIDS Day in the city with the worst rate of infection in the United States.
(By Susan Levine, The Washington Post)

City to Boost Anti-Gang Efforts After Spike in Violence
(By Allison Klein, The Washington Post)

Del. Lawton Dies After Speech at Symposium
County's Cable Administrator Had Heart Condition
(By Ann E. Marimow and Lisa Rein, The Washington Post)

Parts of Sterling May Be Target Of Stiffer Zoning Enforcement
(By Sandhya Somashekhar, The Washington Post)

A Mixed Blessing for Aspiring Lawyers
High Tuition and Debt Lure Graduates Toward High Pay, Away from Public Service Jobs
(By Ian Shapira, The Washington Post)

More Metro

BUSINESS
Whose Music in Silver Spring?
It wasn't too many years ago that even street musicians would refuse to perform in downtown Silver Spring. Now things are so hopping that you've got Live Nation, the country's biggest live music outfit, and Seth Hurwitz, owner of the District's 9:30 Club and operator of the Merriweather Post...
(By Steven Pearlstein, The Washington Post)

Real Estate Live
(Maryann Haggerty and Elizabeth Razzi, washingtonpost.com)

Fed Chief Offers Hint of Rate Cut
Bernanke Predicts 'Headwinds' For Consumers
(By Neil Irwin, The Washington Post)

A Mixed Blessing for Aspiring Lawyers
High Tuition and Debt Lure Graduates Toward High Pay, Away from Public Service Jobs
(By Ian Shapira, The Washington Post)

Iraqis' Quality of Life Marked By Slow Gains, Many Setbacks
Worries Abound That Government Isn't Up to Task of Providing Services
(By Amit R. Paley and Karen DeYoung, The Washington Post)

More Business

TECHNOLOGY
Publishers Seeking Web Controls
The desire for greater control over how search engines index and display Web sites is driving an effort launched yesterday by leading news organizations and other publishers to revise a 13-year-old technology for restricting access.
(By Anick Jesdanun, The Washington Post)

Feeling Betrayed, Facebook Users Force Site to Honor Their Privacy
(By Ellen Nakashima, The Washington Post)

E-Trade Gets Cash Infusion, Shifts Its Top Leadership
(By Cecilia Kang, The Washington Post)

U.S. Special Counsel Says He Won't Provide Files
Official Calls Personal Records Not Relevant to OPM Probe
(By Elizabeth Williamson, The Washington Post)

More Technology

SPORTS
Speculation and Secrecy Cloud Taylor Investigation
Family and friends of Redskins safety Sean Taylor struggle Thursday with competing theories about the motives behind the attack but have few tangible clues.
(By Amy Shipley and Peter Whoriskey, The Washington Post)

School Ties
(By Mike Wise, The Washington Post)

Va. Tech's Foster May Be Ready to Leave Home
(By Adam Kilgore, The Washington Post)

Cowboys Stay a Step Ahead of It All
With Favre Sidelined, Dallas Improves to NFC-Best 11-1 : Cowboys 37, Packers 27
(By Mark Maske, The Washington Post)

Patriots Start CAA Play With Impressive Victory
(By Steven Goff, The Washington Post)

More Sports

STYLE
End of the Roadhouse
The exact whereabouts are like secret knowledge, passed around by people who grew up in places like Mount Rainier, or Bladensburg -- when they were hard-living blue-collar white-complexion neighborhoods just over the city line, before they got "art districts," brew pubs and Salvadoran restaurants...
(By David Montgomery, The Washington Post)

Beauty and the Bling
(By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts, The Washington Post)

The Candidate's 'Catch Me if You Can'
Reporters Following Hillary Clinton on the Campaign Trail Are Covered in Dust
(By Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post)

Maazel, Fit to Beat the Bland
(By Robert Battey, The Washington Post)

'The Life of Reilly': Full, Funny Portrait
(By Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post)

More Style

LIVE DISCUSSIONS
The Washington Capitals
Washington Post staff writer Tarik El-Bashir will be online to take your questions about the Caps and the NHL.
(Tarik El-Bashir, washingtonpost.com)

On TV
Reality, Non-Reality and Everything In-Between
(Lisa de Moraes, washingtonpost.com)

Real Estate Live
(Maryann Haggerty and Elizabeth Razzi, washingtonpost.com)

At the Movies With Ann Hornaday
(Ann Hornaday, washingtonpost.com)

College Football and Basketball
(Eric Prisbell and Marc Carig, washingtonpost.com)

More Live Discussions

EDITORIALS
The Newest Nativists
THE CANDIDATES in the Republican debate Wednesday night made a great deal of sense about immigration -- when they were discussing measures they'd implemented as leaders forced to deal with reality. At least two of them turned to ugly nonsense as soon as they weren't defending their own records.
(The Washington Post)

Sharing the Pain
To bridge a budget gap in Montgomery, look to county workers' pay.
(The Washington Post)

In the Works
The District is ready to hit the ground running on needle-exchange programs
(The Washington Post)

More Editorials

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