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 A Helping Hand By Daniel Politi Posted Monday, May 19, 2008, at 6:37 AM ET The New York Times leads with word that Sen. John McCain is likely to rely on the Republican National Committee "to an unprecedented degree" to fund his campaign. The presumptive Republican nominee hasn't been able to keep up with the Democratic contenders in terms of fundraising so he will be looking to get help from the party, which has higher contribution limits. And even as McCain continues to try to distance himself from President Bush, Republican officials have made it clear they plan to use the president's fundraising powers to help the senator from Arizona. The Washington Post leads with news that McCain's fundraising efforts suffered another setback this weekend when Tom Loeffler, the campaign's national finance co-chairman, resigned. Loeffler became the fifth casualty of a policy instituted last week that requires all campaign staff to either cut ties with lobbyists and outside groups or resign. The Los Angeles Times also mentions Loeffler in its lead story but focuses on looking at how Sen. Barack Obama has stepped up his rhetoric against McCain in recent days while pretty much ignoring Sen. Hillary Clinton. USA Today leads with an analysis that says the federal government's "long-term financial obligations" increased by $2.5 trillion last year. In order to cover the benefits of everyone who is eligible for government programs, including Medicare and Social Security, "taxpayers are on the hook for a record $57.3 trillion," a figure that translates into almost $500,000 per household. The number is much higher than the $162 billion the government reported as last year's deficit because it doesn't follow accounting standards that are the norm in the corporate world and fails to count future financial obligations. The Wall Street Journal leads its world-wide newsbox with the Chinese government announcing three days of national mourning as the official death toll from last week's earthquake surpassed the 32,000 mark. The government asked China's 1.3 billion people to observe three minutes of silence starting at 2:28 p.m., exactly one week since the earthquake hit, and announced the Olympic torch relay will be suspended during the three days. 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 Arts & Life The Thrillingly Weird Art of Philip Guston Business & Tech Why Smokers Are Happier When Cigarettes Are Expensive Arts & Life How a Formidable Bach Piece Became a Classical- Music Sensation	Advertisement
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