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 Settling Dust By Posted Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, at 5:44 AM ET The New York Times leads with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, which officials say could be the worst since Hurricane Alicia 25 years ago. The Los Angeles Times leads with the aftermath of a giant train wreck, which has so far killed 25 people due to an engineer who ignored a traffic signal and the lack of recommended safety equipment that would have provided some insurance against human error. The Washington Post leads with the slightly more remote aftermath of the Cheney vice presidency with another installment in its award-winning series, this time laying out the high-level play-by-play around the presidential wiretapping program. A picture emerges of lawyers in the office of the general council attempting to bring the program in line with the law and loop in the attorney general's office, each time to be thwarted by the vice president's top lawyers. The story ends with a cliffhanger, to be resolved in tomorrow's paper. While not as bad as federal officials feared, Ike has done a serious number on the Gulf Coast--so serious, in fact, that Barack Obama canceled an appearance of Saturday Night Live out of fears that it might seem inappropriate, and a game between the Texans and Baltimore Ravens might have to be postponed, since the storm has torn large chunks of steel off Reliant stadium. The NYT has the stories of those who hunkered down and rode out the storm rather than fleeing for Texas' tranquil interior--fully 140,000 ignored evacuation orders, frustrating state officials--while the Post surveys the resulting bump in gas prices around the country. The LAT's later deadline picks up three deaths as being storm-related, and documents rescue efforts slowed by highways that have been blocked by the wreckage of boats tossed ashore by a "wall of water." 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 News & Politics Daniel Gross: Why Lehman Brothers Is Having Trouble Getting a Bailout Arts & Life What To Do When Your Kid's Best Friend Moves Away News & Politics How the World's Nicest Country Turned Mean	Advertisement
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President Bush signed the Secure Fence Act into law in October 2006, calling it "an important step toward immigration reform. "After graduating from Punahou, Obama studied at Occidental College for two years, then transferred to Columbia University, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations. In the fall of 2002, during an anti-war rally at Chicago's Federal Plaza, Obama said: I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda. In 2003, Obama began his run for the U.S. Senate open seat vacated by Peter Fitzgerald.

Addressing the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in November 2006, Obama called for a phased withdrawal of troops and an opening of diplomatic dialogue with Iraq's neighbors, Syria and Iran. He is a member of the Senate committees on Foreign Relations; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; and Veterans' Affairs; and the Congressional Black Caucus.

Obama's mother died of ovarian cancer a few months after the publication of his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father. Obama's energy initiatives scored pluses and minuses with environmentalists, who welcomed his sponsorship with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) of a climate change bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds by 2050, but were skeptical of Obama's support for a bill promoting liquefied coal production. In February 2007, standing before the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois, Obama announced his candidacy for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Obama traveled to Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan in August 2005 with Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), then Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. " The chapter details how Obama, in his twenties, while working with local churches as a community organizer, came to understand "the power of the African American religious tradition to spur social change. Its enthusiastic reception at the convention and widespread coverage by national media gave him instant celebrity status.

Boosted by increased national standing, he went on to win election to the U.S. Senate in November 2004 with a landslide 70% of the vote in an election year marked by Republican gains. Obama's own self-narrative reinforces what a May 2004 New Yorker magazine article described as his "everyman" image. 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.

" At the Save Darfur rally in April 2006, he called for more assertive action to oppose genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. But the big telephone and cable companies want to change the Internet as we know it. Questioning the Bush administration's management of the Iraq War, Obama spoke of an enlisted Marine, Corporal Seamus Ahern from East Moline, Illinois, asking, "Are we serving Seamus as well as he is serving us?" He continued: When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never, ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world. Through the first two quarters of fundraising, Obama's campaign has received donations from a grand total of about 258,000 contributors, the most of any 2008 candidate.