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.

If you have any difficulty viewing this newsletter click here

Print This E-Mail

Feedback

Politics News & Analysis Monday, Nov. 24, 2008

Post Politics Podcast

» Every Monday and Friday Morning | Get the political news you need to know from The Washington Post on your iPod.

Subscribe Through iTunes | Today's Podcast

Obama's Transition

Much to His Chagrin, 'Plain Old Barack Is Gone' (By Lori Montgomery)

Obama Faces Fight to Keep Education Promises (By Maria Glod)

Summers to Assume Less-Public Role (By Glenn Kessler)

At APEC Summit, Anticipating Obama (By Dan Eggen)

Where There's Bureaucracy, There's Bureaucracy (By Al Kamen)

Friend of The Obamas To Be Social Secretary (By Lois Romano)

Officers Vie to Escort VIPs (By Michael E. Ruane)

The Trail

• Obama to Announce Economic Team Today
• Obama Picks White House Communications Team
• Obama Pledges to Create 2.5 Million Jobs

The Fix by Chris Cillizza

• Week in Preview: Turkey Week!
• Fix Pick: Brooks on the Transition
• Clinton To State?

Capitol Briefing by Ben Pershing

• Who Will Lead House Oversight and Government Reform?
• Waxman's Win Marks Seismic Shift in House
• Waxman Defeats Dingell

The Sleuth by Mary Ann Akers

• Ted Stevens: Farewell and 'To Hell With Politics'
• Rep. Linda Sanchez Expecting a Baby
• Ted Stevens Set to Deliver Swan Song

More Political Headlines

Democrats' Stimulus Plan May Reach $700 Billion (By Lori Montgomery)

As Bush's Term Ends, Some Big Names Seek Pardons (By Carrie Johnson)

Media Notes: For Dana Perino, A Bruising Year (By Howard Kurtz)

Best of the Web >

Today's top political news and commentary:

This Isn't Like 1929 (Daniel Gross, Newsweek)

No One Knows What to Do About Crisis (William Kristol, New York Times)

Dems, Obama Playing Politics on Auto Bailout (Kevin Hassett, Bloomberg)

Barack Obama, Honeymoon Killer? (Mike Madden, Salon)

Republicans Should Look to Mitch Daniels (Reihan Salam, Forbes)

Campaign 2008: The Presidential Field >

The Candidates

Bios and full Post coverage of the 2008 candidates.

Campaign Tracker

Track the candidates as they campaign across the country.

Campaign Issues

Track media coverage of the candidates talking about issues.

Opinions

Team Obama Rides In (By Sebastian Mallaby)

Wasting Drug War Resources (By Duncan Smith-Rohrberg Maru)

Live Discussions

Post Politics: Robert Barnes (11 a.m. ET)

Media BackTalk: Howard Kurtz (Noon ET)

There’s a better way to grow your small business. Email Marketing with Constant Contact is fast, effective, affordable. Start a 60-day free trial today!


	UNSUBSCRIBE \| Additional Newsletter Services \| Advertising \| Subscribe to the Paper \| Privacy Policy

© 2008 The Washington Post Company
Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive
c/o E-mail Customer Care
1515 N. Courthouse Road
Arlington, VA 22201

"Writing about Obama's political image in a March 2007 Washington Post opinion column, Eugene Robinson characterized him as "the personification of both-and," a messenger who rejects "either-or" political choices, and could "move the nation beyond the culture wars" of the 1960s. After graduating from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, university lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before entering politics. Following Obama's statement, opinion polling organizations added his name to surveyed lists of Democratic candidates. The first such poll, taken in November 2006, ranked Obama in second place with 17% support among Democrats after Sen. In 1985, Obama moved to Chicago to direct a non-profit project assisting local churches to organize job training programs. " In an October 2006 interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "Michelle will tell you that when we get together for Christmas or Thanksgiving, it's like a little mini-United Nations," he said.

The book's last chapters describe his first visit to Kenya, a journey to connect with his Luo family and heritage. Obama spoke out in June 2006 against making recent, temporary estate tax cuts permanent, calling the cuts a "Paris Hilton" tax break for "billionaire heirs and heiresses. Lugar and Obama inspected a Nunn-Lugar program-supported nuclear warhead destruction facility at Saratov, in southern European Russia. 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. Born to a Kenyan father and an American mother, Obama grew up in culturally diverse surroundings. " He describes his Kenyan father as "raised a Muslim," but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his Indonesian step-father as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful. Obama's mother died of ovarian cancer a few months after the publication of his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father. I've been chewing Nicorette strenuously. " He completed his J.D. degree magna cum laude in 1991.