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.



Now playing: *Slate V, a video-only site from the world's leading online magazine. Visit Slate V* at www.slateV.com.
today's papers A Drop in the Bucket By David Sessions Posted Sunday, July 27, 2008, at 4:32 AM ET The Washington Post leads with economists' doubts that the "sprawling" housing bill currently headed for President Bush's desk will do much to soften the crunch. The bill makes the front page in all three papers, but the Middle East also gets plenty of face time: the New York Times leads with the "profound weakening" of the Mahdi Army, Iraq's Shiite milita, "in an important, if tentative, milestone for stability in Iraq." The Los Angeles Times turns the spotlight on the war on terror in Pakistan, leading with a grim portrait of "a counter-terrorism campaign in Pakistan that has lost momentum and is beset by frustration." The Democrat-sponsored housing bill received 72-13 Senate approval in a rare Saturday session, giving the Treasury Department sweeping authority to prop up the country's two largest mortgage finance companies and potentially costing the government billions of dollars. "The bill raises the national debt ceiling to $10.6 trillion ... the first time that the limit on the government's credit card has grown to 14 digits," the NYT reports. Sen. Jim DeMint (R, S.C.), mentioned in both stories, told the WP that that the Treasury's new authority "crosses the line into socialism"; John McCain and Barack Obama both support the bill. The Post's economist sources say that the end of crunch won't come near as fast as the bill's passing. In fact, one says, the 400,000 households the bill hopes to assist are "a drop in the bucket." To continue reading, click here. David Sessions is a former Slate* intern.* Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Arts & Life If Only Aliens Would Abduct the New X-Files Movie Arts & Life A Great Horror Film About Paper Bags Arts & Life Brideshead Revisited Is Literature's Finest Schlock	Advertisement
Ideas on how to make something better? Send an e-mail to newsletters@slate.com. Manage your newsletters on Slate Unsubscribe \| Newsletter Center \| Advertising Information Please do not reply to this message since this is an unmonitored e-mail address. If you have questions about newsletters, please go here. Copyright 2008 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC \| Privacy Policy Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive \| c/o E-mail Customer Care \|1515 N. Courthouse Rd. \| Arlington, VA 22201