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 I Will Follow You By Daniel Politi Posted Monday, Nov. 10, 2008, at 6:51 AM ET The New York Times leads with word that a classified order issued in 2004 gave the U.S. military authority to carry out nearly a dozen of what the paper describes as "previously undisclosed attacks" against terrorist targets in Syria, Pakistan, and other countries. The order was signed by then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and it gave the military the authority to attack al-Qaida targets anywhere in the world, with a specific emphasis on "15 to 20 countries" that were believed to be the prime destinations for militants in hiding. The Washington Post leads with, and almost everyone else fronts, news that China announced a $586 billion stimulus package that aims to prop up the country's slowing economy. The huge package, which some are comparing to the New Deal, could also help fight the effects of a global recession. The Los Angeles Times leads with a new study that found statin drugs can cut in half the risk of seemingly healthy people suffering a heart attack. The findings are bound to be a boom for statins, which millions of people already take to manage their cholesterol, as experts say that if this new treatment were widely adopted it could help prevent 50,000 heart attacks, strokes, and deaths each year. USA Today leads with the Sunday interview tour of President-elect Barack Obama's key advisers who said that passing a new stimulus package is one of the Democrat's main priorities. The aides also made it clear that Obama plans to move full steam ahead with his plan to repeal President Bush's tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 while instituting new tax breaks that would save 95 percent of working Americans an average of $1,000 each. The Wall Street Journal also leads its world-wide newsbox with the president-elect's plans but focuses on how he is likely to quickly reverse some of Bush's executive orders, including the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. To continue reading, click here. Daniel Politi writes "Today's Papers" for Slate. He can be reached at todayspapers@slate.com. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE \| READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Does Religion Make You Nice? What Your Doctor Was Really Doing in Medical School Is It Sexist To Blame Palin for McCain's Loss?	Advertisement
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"A theme of Obama's keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and the title of his 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope, was inspired by his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's finish the fight with Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings. An October 2005 article in the British journal New Statesman listed Obama as one of "10 people who could change the world. Obama's candidacy was boosted by an advertising campaign featuring images of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and the late U.S. " But in an October 2006 article titled "Obama: Black Like Me," British columnist Gary Younge describes Obama as "a black man who does not scare white people. On returning to Chicago, Obama directed a voter registration drive. The first such poll, taken in November 2006, ranked Obama in second place with 17% support among Democrats after Sen. Obama began podcasting from his U.S. Senate web site in late 2005. In her January 2007 Salon article asserting that Obama "isn't black," columnist Debra Dickerson writes: "lumping us all together Zwith ObamaZ erases the significance of slavery and continuing racism while giving the appearance of progress. We've got it all.

After the visits, Obama traveled to Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. As an associate attorney with Miner, Barnhill & Galland from 1993 to 1996, he represented community organizers, discrimination claims, and voting rights cases. In a May 2006 letter to President Bush, he joined four other Midwest farming state Senators in calling for the preservation of a US$0.54 per gallon tariff on imported ethanol.