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 Are We There Yet? By Daniel Politi Posted Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at 6:26 AM ET Most of the papers lead with Sen. Barack Obama claiming a majority of pledged delegates after yesterday's primaries. Everything went pretty much according to predictions as Obama easily won in Oregon but was trounced by Clinton in Kentucky, where the former first lady won by 35 percentage points. Obama celebrated his victory with a rally in Iowa and told supporters that "you have put us within reach of the Democratic nomination." The Washington Post points out that claiming the majority of delegates was Obama's way of sending "a not-so-subtle message to the remaining uncommitted superdelegates that if they now endorse Clinton, they will be going against the will of Democratic voters nationwide." But there seems to be little risk of that as Democratic leaders continue to flock to Obama. The Wall Street Journal points out that despite Obama's huge loss in West Virginia last week, he has gained support from 22 more superdelegates since then, compared with four who went Clinton's way. Even as Obama all but declared victory yesterday, the New York Times and USA Today highlight that exit polls from Kentucky emphasize the problems Obama will face as a general election candidate. Only one-third of Clinton voters in Kentucky said they would support Obama in November. The Los Angeles Times leads with a more forward-looking analysis and says that with his three-day trip to Florida that begins today, "Obama begins his efforts to organize his way to victory in November." And there's no state that will provide a more "daunting" challenge than Florida, a crucial swing state that hasn't had much direct exposure to the senator from Illinois. Obama must now work overtime in Florida "to build his campaign machinery almost from scratch." The WSJ leads its world-wide newsbox with, and everyone fronts, news that Sen. Edward Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Kennedy's doctors said that tests performed after the senator from Massachusetts suffered a seizure on Saturday revealed that he has a malignant glioma on the left side of his brain. 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 Who Should Be the Next Editor of the Washington Post? News & Politics Man, I Wish Politicians Would Stop Talking About Nazis Health & Science We All Root for Amputees-- Until They Win Medals	Advertisement
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