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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Politics News & Analysis Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008

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Guantanamo Closure Called Obama Priority (By Peter Finn)

Top Two Officials In U.S. Intelligence Expect to Lose Jobs: Obama Silent Amid Conflicting Advice (By Walter Pincus and Karen DeYoung)

A Spokesman So Close, He's the 'Barack Whisperer' (By Howard Kurtz)

B-Rock Is in the House: Hip-Hop Artists Lay Down Their Love for the President-Elect (By Robin Shulman)

The Trail

• In Chicago, Obama Returns Calls from World Leaders
• Obama Lays Out Ethics Rules
• Handover or Hand-Me-Down?

The Fix by Chris Cillizza

• Chris Matthews for Senate?
• 1,000 Words: The Winners
• Obama Lays Out Ethics Rules

Capitol Briefing by Ben Pershing

• Byrd Surrenders Senate Approps Gavel
• Blunt Steps Down After Mixed Decade in Leadership
• Maneuvering Begins for House GOP Leaders

The Sleuth by Mary Ann Akers

• One GOP Political Aide Counts Herself Lucky
• Hillary Denied Bid to Take Charge of Health Care?
• 'Big John' Dingell Deploys Forces To Crush Waxman

More Political Headlines

Gunmen Kill American Aid Worker in NW Pakistan (By Candace Rondeaux and Haq Nawaz Khan)

Bush Marks Holiday On Carrier: President Helps Rededicate Museum (By Michael Abramowitz)

Senators Hurry to Keep Health Care in Forefront (By Ceci Connolly)

Best of the Web >

Today's top political news and commentary:

Obama Should Keep Gates (Michael Goodwin, New York Daily News)

To the Victor Goes the Advice (Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe)

Progress Doesn't Come from Washington (John Stossel, RealClearPolitics)

The GOP Looking Glass (Jonah Goldberg, Los Angeles Times)

Obama's Debt to Howard Dean (Mike Madden, Salon)

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Opinions

Stopping a Global Meltdown (By C. Fred Bergsten)

Stem Cell Solution (By Ronald M. Green)

Where Obama Can Be Bold (By Michael Gerson)

You Report, We Marginalize (By Harold Meyerson)

Ready, Fire, Aim (By Kathleen Parker)

Live Discussions

Wednesday Nov. 12 at 11 a.m. ET: Post Politics Hour (Dana Priest, Al Kamen)

Wednesday Nov. 12 at 11 a.m. ET: The Recession (Steven Pearlstein)

Wednesday Nov. 12 at 11 a.m. ET: Lee Atwater Documentary (Stefan Forbes)

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Asked to name a "hidden talent," Obama answered: "I'm a pretty good poker player. Speaking to an elderly Jewish audience during his 2004 campaign for U.S. Senate, Obama linked the linguistic roots of his East African first name Barack to the Hebrew word baruch, meaning "blessed. S. 2611 passed the Senate in May 2006, but failed to gain majority support in the U.S. House of Representatives. Of his early childhood, Obama writes: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind. Obama was sworn in as a Senator on January 4, 2005.

Through three televised debates, Obama and Keyes expressed opposing views on stem cell research, abortion, gun control, school vouchers, and tax cuts. Obama left for his third official trip in August 2006, traveling to South Africa and Kenya, and making stops in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Chad. His knowledge about his absent Luo father came mainly through family stories and photographs. President Bush signs the "Coburn-Obama" Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. While in Israel, Obama met with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. In a nationally televised speech at the University of Nairobi, he spoke forcefully on the influence of ethnic rivalries and corruption in Kenya. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. In Ukraine, they toured a disease control and prevention facility and witnessed the signing of a bilateral pact to secure biological pathogens and combat risks of infectious disease outbreaks from natural causes or bioterrorism.

I am not opposed to all wars. Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 from the state's 13th District in the south-side Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park.