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 Barack the Builder By David Sessions Posted Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008, at 4:23 AM ET The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times all lead with President-elect Barack Obama's announcement on Saturday of a sweeping stimulus plan designed to create 2.5 million jobs by spending billions on infrastructure, education, and alternative energy. The plan is more expansive than anything Obama proposed during his campaign, and eclipses the last stimulus proposal attempted by President Clinton in 1996. Front page and A-section stories also analyze Obama's relationship with Hillary Clinton, who is all but guaranteed to become his secretary of state. The LAT sees Obama's two-year job proposal as "the latest indication that the president-elect has decided to use the transition period to influence events at a time of crisis, when the current administration appears powerless to stop a slide." All three papers highlight the fact that Obama's new plan is more aggressive and expensive than the one he proposed during the campaign, though the WP notes that Obama's address was vague on specifics and price tags. (The Post also projects that the package will cost "well over" $200 billion, which would be "bold" compared to previous presidents' similar plans.) The NYT and WP both consider the possibility that Republicans could block such an ambitious deficit-spending measure. To continue reading, click here. David Sessions is a former Slate* intern. He is currently the editor of* Patrol. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Eric Holder Is the Right Man To Fix the Justice Department Why Do Movie Vampires Keep Changing All the Vampire Rules? 18 Million People Watch NCIS. Should You?	Advertisement
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