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.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS
Rising Prices, Falling Dollar Stoke Memories of the '70s
Prices have been soaring long enough and fast enough, economists say, that the nation is at risk of a self-reinforcing cycle of inflation like that experienced in the 1970s.
(By Neil Irwin, The Washington Post)

Lawyers Fear for Marri's Sanity
U.S. Defends Conditions of Detainee's Solitary Confinement
(By Josh White, The Washington Post)

The Hummer's Dead End?
As Gas Hits $4 and Sales Tank, GM Considers Selling Brand
(By Frank Ahrens, The Washington Post)

Accelerated Math Adds Up To a Division Over Merits
(By Daniel de Vise, The Washington Post)

More Today's Highlights

POLITICS
Obama Claims Nomination
With a split decision in the final two primaries and a flurry of superdelegate endorsements, Sen. Barack Obama sealed the Democratic presidential nomination last night after a grueling and history-making campaign against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that will make him the first African American to...
(By Dan Balz and Anne E. Kornblut, The Washington Post)

McCain Mounts Immediate Attack on Obama's Record
(By Michael D. Shear and Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post)

On the Fence and in the Spotlight
(By Philip Rucker, The Washington Post)

In Defeat, Clinton Graciously Pretends to Win
(By Dana Milbank, The Washington Post)

Extension of Benefits For Jobless Is at Risk
House Democrats Modify War Funding Bill
(By Paul Kane, The Washington Post)

More Politics

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NATION
Lawyers Fear for Marri's Sanity
Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri is obsessed with the noise variations in an industrial fan, the buzzing of fluorescent lights overhead and the preparation of his dinners. He has stuffed his air vents with food to prevent what he believes are noxious fumes from streaming into his cell, and he worries at...
(By Josh White, The Washington Post)

Study Praises Mass. Health-Care Program
Number of Uninsured Dropped by Half
(By Shankar Vedantam, The Washington Post)

U.S. to Make Foreign Visitors Register Online
E.U. Questions Program, Which Applies to Travelers Who Don't Need Visas
(By Spencer S. Hsu and Sholnn Freeman, The Washington Post)

Extension of Benefits For Jobless Is at Risk
House Democrats Modify War Funding Bill
(By Paul Kane, The Washington Post)

Clinton Ends Primary Season With Questions, Not Answer
(By Anne E. Kornblut, The Washington Post)

More Nation

WORLD
In S. Korea, a Reversal on U.S. Beef Imports
SEOUL, June 3 -- With his approval ratings hit hard by mass anxiety about American beef, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak backed away Tuesday from a wildly unpopular agreement to resume U.S. beef imports. He had personally approved the deal less than two months ago.
(By Blaine Harden, The Washington Post)

'Sand in an Oyster,' a Dancer for the Disabled
(By Manuel Roig-Franzia, The Washington Post)

The Pain of Dyslexia, As Told by Bollywood
Film on Disability Raises Awareness About Touchy Issue
(By Rama Lakshmi, The Washington Post)

U.S. Opens Site For Processing Iraqi Refugees
Baghdad Office to Aid Those Seeking to Settle in America
(By Amit R. Paley and Walter Pincus, The Washington Post)

China Shuts Out 2 Lawyers Over Tibetans' Cases
Activists Had Offered to Defend Those Arrested After Crackdown
(By Edward Cody, The Washington Post)

More World

METRO
Pr. William Broadens Citizenship Checks
Everyone arrested in Prince William County will have his or her name run through a federal database to determine citizenship status, even if the person is not suspected of being in the country illegally, according to a draft of the county's revised illegal-immigration policy.
(By Kristen Mack, The Washington Post)

Employee and Boyfriend Charged in Another Refund Scam
(By Del Quentin Wilber and David Nakamura, The Washington Post)

On the Fence and in the Spotlight
(By Philip Rucker, The Washington Post)

Spy Museum to Make Exhibits Accessible
Blind Visitor's Complaint Spurs Agreement With Justice Dept.
(By Jacqueline Trescott, The Washington Post)

Storms Pound Area; Man Slips Off Boat, Dies
(By Martin Weil and Clarence Williams, The Washington Post)

More Metro

BUSINESS
The Hummer's Dead End?
Reacting to growing consumer sentiment, General Motors chief executive G. Richard Wagoner Jr. said yesterday that the world's biggest automaker will consider revamping or selling off some of the world's biggest passenger vehicles -- the Hummer line.
(By Frank Ahrens, The Washington Post)

Pearlstein: Competitive Market "Arms Races"
(Steven Pearlstein, washingtonpost.com)

Rising Prices, Falling Dollar Stoke Memories of the '70s
(By Neil Irwin, The Washington Post)

Consumer Group Seeks Ban on Some Food Dyes
(By Kevin Freking, The Washington Post)

Lockheed Faulted for Failure to Control Costs
(By Dana Hedgpeth, The Washington Post)

More Business

TECHNOLOGY
Universities Join to Reinvigorate Local Tech Scene
Five D.C., Maryland and Virginia universities yesterday announced a partnership aimed at helping the Washington area turn the research and innovations of its scientists and scholars into patents, products and businesses.
(By Anita Huslin, The Washington Post)

Heavy Internet Users Targeted
Providers to Test Charges, Delays
(By Cecilia Kang, The Washington Post)

For Clinton, A Following Of 'Marshans'
(By Krissah Williams, The Washington Post)

U.S. to Make Foreign Visitors Register Online
E.U. Questions Program, Which Applies to Travelers Who Don't Need Visas
(By Spencer S. Hsu and Sholnn Freeman, The Washington Post)

More Technology

SPORTS
Cardinals Pour It On Before Rain
The Nats could only hope a downpour could wash away a brutal start Tuesday but it only lengthened their despair in a 6-1 loss to the Cardinals.
(By Adam Kilgore, The Washington Post)

Gamble in Goal Has Yet to Pay Off
Wells, Carvallo Have Been a Big Part of United's Slow Start
(By Steven Goff, The Washington Post)

Broken Records
(By Michael Wilbon, The Washington Post)

An Intriguing Matchup, Every Step of the Way
Looking to Go Out on Top, Sorenstam Faces Major Obstacle in Ochoa
(By Leonard Shapiro, The Washington Post)

Mystics Fall Despite Beard's 33 Points
Mercury 98, Mystics 93
(The Washington Post)

More Sports

STYLE
THE JUNGLE OF A LIFE
He was a smoothie and a cad, walking and swaying up and down U Street as if he owned the town. Young women swooned over Herman Perry in those pre-World War II days. He liked silk suits and white shirts, soul food and dancing at night. The war, as it had done to so many others, caught him in...
(By Wil Haygood, The Washington Post)

The Reliable Source
(By The Reliable Source, The Washington Post)

Two Words With a Ring Of Possibility
(By DeNeen L. Brown, The Washington Post)

Expletive Stage Right: Richard Nixon's Best Act
(By Nelson Pressley, The Washington Post)

For Clinton, A Following Of 'Marshans'
(By Krissah Williams, The Washington Post)

More Style

LIVE DISCUSSIONS
Washington Nationals
Washington Post writer Chico Harlan takes your questions and comments about the Washington Nationals.
(Chico Harlan, washingtonpost.com)

Dirda on Books
(Michael Dirda, washingtonpost.com)

White House Watch
(Dan Froomkin, washingtonpost.com)

Free Range on Food
Dish With the Experts
(The Food Section, washingtonpost.com)

Books: 'The Uprising'
(David Sirota, washingtonpost.com)

More Live Discussions

A Recipe for Weakness
THANKS TO the nation's dysfunctional immigration system and the dysfunctional Congress that keeps it that way, tens of thousands of promising, intelligent, ambitious and highly skilled foreign professionals, including thousands receiving advanced degrees from American universities this month, wil...
(The Washington Post)

Railroading Georgia
In the absence of serious Western resistance, Russia keeps provoking its democratic neighbor.
(The Washington Post)

Transracial Adoptions
Race should not be a determining factor in finding loving homes for children who need them.
(The Washington Post)

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