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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Opinions Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008

Michael Kinsley
Let the Guy Smoke
Obama is probably fibbing about giving up cigarettes. That's okay.

David Ignatius
Bumpy Road Ahead for a Traveler
The reality of becoming president is hitting Barack Obama.

Anne Applebaum
A Cartoon War in the Caucasus
The war in Georgia has become an important propaganda tool in an ongoing transatlantic war of words.

Masha Lipman
Mercy That Eludes Medvedev
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's refusal to pardon a pregnant lawyer is causing waves.

Mohamed Eljahmi
Forgotten In Libya's Dungeons
The United States needs to help my father and other dissidents while it engages with Gaddafi.

Dan Froomkin's White House Watch
The Attorney General of Rollback
If President-elect Barack Obama is the anti-Bush , then Eric Holder, his apparent choice to serve as attorney general, is the anti-Gonzales.

Tom TOLES