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.



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today's papers Safety in Numbers By Daniel Politi Posted Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008, at 5:45 AM ET The Wall Street Journal leads its world-wide newsbox with, and everyone fronts, the killing of Imad Mughniyah, a Hezbollah leader who had long been sought by authorities for his role in a variety of attacks over the last 25 years, including the 1983 U.S. embassy bombing in Beirut, the hijacking of a TWA flight in 1985, and the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, among others. The New York Times leads with a look at how Sen. Barack Obama's lead in delegates has changed the landscape of the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. He currently leads by more than 100 delegates, a number that his campaign contends will make it almost impossible for Sen. Hillary Clinton to catch up. Clinton's campaign acknowledges the difficulty but insists she could still get ahead and vowed to continue pushing to make the votes in Florida and Michigan count. The Washington Post also leads with the Democratic contest, but focuses on how Obama released an economic plan yesterday. The move was partly meant as an answer to claims that he's all talk and no action, and was also a clear attempt to gain support from lower-income voters. USA Today leads with a data analysis that shows the cost of providing government benefits to senior citizens was $27,289 per senior in 2007. The figure signifies a 24 percent increase above the inflation rate since 2000, mostly due to medical costs. The trend is particularly worrisome considering that the real "senior boom" isn't scheduled to begin in earnest until 2011. The Los Angeles Times leads locally but off-leads a look at how the health insurance industry is coming under fire from government investigators over what are widely regarded as unfair practices. New York's attorney general said he believes there was an "industrywide scheme" to purposefully underestimate the price of physician visits so patients would have to pay more out of their own pockets. In Los Angeles, investigators are looking into several industry practices, including the way insurers choose to cancel policies. To continue reading, click here. Daniel Politi writes "Today's Papers" for Slate. He can be reached at todayspapers@slate.com. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Sports Clemens' Incredibly Unpersuasive Testimony to Congress News & Politics How the Chinese Burned Rupert Murdoch Health & Science A Valentine's Day Celebration of Sperm	Advertisement
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