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 It's All in the Works By David Sessions Posted Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008, at 6:44 AM ET The Washington Post leads with the first look into Barack Obama's "massive public works program," the most expansive and ambitious since Dwight Eisenhower instigated the federal interstate highway project in the 1950s. The plan will attempt to pump money into highway renovation, school repairs, and expansion of broadband internet coverage. The New York Times leads with additional U.S. troops moving to Kabul, a move that signals the increasing delicacy of the situation near Afghanistan's capital. It also "underscores" the hard choices U.S. military officials face regarding how to best divide troops between Iraq and Afghanistan. The Los Angeles Times leads with its occasional series on Mexican drug trafficking. Today's installment tells the story of four people gunned down in a jewelry store near Monterrey, where the drug war has infiltrated what was previously one of Mexico's safest large cities. In an address delivered on radio and YouTube yesterday, Barack Obama divulged a few more details about the massive public works program he promised a few weeks ago. The president-elect responded to November's depressing unemployment numbers (we shed more jobs in the past month than we have since 1974), by reiterating the need to create 2.5 million new jobs, most of them to replace the 2 million we've lost since the recession began last year. Obama said explicitly that his plan would be massive and far-reaching, though the ultimate price tag remains among the classified details. The NYT calls it "government-directed industrial policy," which means the administration will pick between competing private contractors upon which to "rain money." 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 Cadillac Records: Maybe We Should Be a Lot Nicer to Biopics The Best Fictional Saddam Since Hot Shots! Part Deux. Can an Underwater Dam Save Venice?	Advertisement
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