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 The Show Must Go On By Daniel Politi Posted Wednesday, April 23, 2008, at 6:25 AM ET All the papers lead with Sen. Hillary Clinton's decisive win in the Pennsylvania primary. With nearly all the votes counted, Clinton led Sen. Barack Obama by 10 percentage points. There seems to be a consensus that this margin of victory is exactly within the range of what Clinton needed to stay in the race, but fell short of a landslide that could have really changed the shape of the contest. The Los Angeles Times reports that out of the 158 delegates that could be won yesterday, Clinton got at least 66, Obama gained 57, and the rest still have to be awarded. After weeks of intense campaigning, it's clear that interest in the race remains high, and the Washington Post points out more than 2 million Democrats voted yesterday, which is "nearly triple the number who turned out in the past two presidential primaries in the state." Even though it seems nearly impossible for Clinton to catch up to Obama as far as the pledged delegates are concerned, her victory "does reinforce questions she has raised about whether the Illinois senator can appeal to white working-class voters and carry the big industrial states," says USA Today. The New York Times points out that Clinton "used the words 'fight,' 'fighter' and 'fighting' repeatedly" in her victory speech "to convey that she had the resolve and confidence to stay in the race." But there's already been plenty of fighting, and if there's one conclusion everyone can agree on is that the long campaign in Pennsylvania, "left both candidates bloody," as the Wall Street Journal puts it. 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 News & Politics Iran's Devilishly Clever Iraq Strategy Health & Science Meat Grown in a Lab = Yum! Arts & Life What Bull Durham Can Teach Us About Baseball's Steroid Era	Advertisement
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