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 From Maliki, With Love By Ryan Grim Posted Sunday, July 20, 2008, at 6:08 AM ET The Washington Post and L.A. Times lead with, and the New York Times off-leads, Barack Obama's stop-off in Afghanistan. The L.A. Times heads and the Post sub-heads news that the Iraqi Prime Minister endorsed his 16-month timetable for U.S. troops withdrawals. The NYT leads with a long piece that is part explanatory, part takedown, focused on the financial industry and the way it buried consumers in debt--burying itself and the American economy along the way. Obama toured "war-torn Afghanistan" via helicopter and was briefed by military leaders before dining with troops in Kabul. The third paragraph of both the Post's and the New York Times' write-up of the trip holds what could be an Iraq game-changer: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki specifically endorsed Obama's 16-month timeline for withdrawal in an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel. His interview was published just a day after the White House announced it had agreed to a "time horizon" for troop withdrawals, a major concession. To continue reading, click here. . Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Arts & Life Mamma Mia! Is Defiantly Dorky. Go See It! Arts & Life Stop Calling Jimmy Breslin the Greatest Mafia Writer in America News & Politics Victoria's Secret's Vaguely Dire Worldview	Advertisement
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