Barack Obama
Barack Obama
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 End of the Beginning Posted Wednesday, June 4, 2008, at 6:21 AM ET All the papers lead with Sen. Barack Obama claiming the Democratic nomination yesterday. Everyone goes high with, either in the headline or the lead sentence, the historic nature of the news as Obama has now become the first black candidate to lead a major party ticket in a presidential contest. After what the New York Times characterizes as an "epic battle" with Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Los Angeles Times says it seemed only "fitting" that the last two primaries of the five-month contest ended in a split. Obama won Montana, and Clinton came out ahead in South Dakota. But by the time the polls closed, the loss in South Dakota didn't really matter because so many superdelegates had flocked to Obama throughout the day that he easily passed the magic number of 2,118 delegates needed to secure the nomination. "Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States of America," Obama told a boisterous crowd of 17,000 supporters at a rally in Minnesota. Obama's victory was important, not just due to his unique background as the son of a Kenyan farmer and a white mother from Kansas but also because a "first-term Illinois senator defeated what had once been the most powerful machine in the party," notes the Wall Street Journal. The Washington Post echoes the sentiment and notes that "Clinton's defeat seemed almost inconceivable a year ago as the race was beginning to unfold." Clinton spoke at a rally in New York, where she praised her opponent but didn't drop out of the race. "This has been a long campaign, and I will be making no decisions tonight," she said. With those words, and increased speculation during the day that she might be interested in becoming Obama's running mate, Clinton put herself squarely "at the top of the list of issues Obama must handle as the presumptive Democratic nominee," says USA Today. 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 Business & Tech Which Stocks Will Go Up If Obama Wins? No One Knows. Arts & Life The Sad Fate of Lindsay Lohan's Little Sister News & Politics Lift the Gag Order on Frank Rich | Advertisement  |
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