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 Getting Closer By Ben Whitford Posted Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008, at 5:14 AM ET With everyone still waiting--and waiting, and waiting--for veep announcements, the Wall Street Journal tops its online newsbox with a new poll that puts U.S. presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain in a statistical dead heat. The Washington Post leads with a report on Obama's efforts to break the tie by appealing to voters' pocketbooks; the Democratic nominee lamented U.S. job losses while on the stump in southern Virginia yesterday. The Los Angeles Times leads with a look at the candidates' tax proposals; economists say that both candidates' plans would likely add trillions to the national debt. The New York Times leads with word that a confidential government report undermines recent claims by Medicare officials that they had slashed fraud and saved the agency billions of dollars in false payouts. According to a leaked draft of the report, senior Medicare officials told auditors not to bother comparing sales invoices with doctors' records; that meant that the audit failed to pick up on at least $2.8 billion in improper spending. USA Today leads with a report on a jet crash at a Madrid airport that killed 153 people, littering nearby woodlands with bodies and charred wreckage. To continue reading, click here. Ben Whitford writes for the Guardian, Mother Jones and Newsweek. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Business & Technology The Best and Worst Commercials From the Olympics News & Politics How Much Education Goes on at a Chinese Re-Education Camp? News & Politics The Housing Debate Gets Nasty	Advertisement
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