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 Widespread Corruption Charges Shock Illinois By Daniel Politi Posted Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008, at 6:57 AM ET All the papers give top billing to news that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested yesterday on wide-ranging corruption charges, including an attempt to sell President-elect Barack Obama's recently vacated Senate seat to the highest bidder. Prairie State residents might be used to seeing their executives embroiled in criminal charges--the Los Angeles Times specifies that Blagojevich is the fifth Illinois governor to be charged with criminal conduct over the last 50 years--but the arrest yesterday revealed such brazen corruption schemes "that veteran investigators and prosecutors could barely contain their revulsion," notes USA Today. Prosecutors "portrayed Blagojevich as a brazen crook," says the LAT. "The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave," said U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. The Washington Post points out that by filing charges in the form of a criminal complaint, U.S. officials were able "to share more details about their investigation and the conversations they captured than would normally appear in a federal grand jury indictment." Federal authorities have been investigating Blagojevich for more than five years and have been listening on wiretaps for the past two months that leave little to the imagination. While the Illinois governor's alleged illegal activities are far-reaching, most of the papers naturally focus on the claims that he tried to profit from his authority to name a successor for Obama in the senate. "The allegations suggest a breathtaking degree of brazenness on the part of the Illinois governor," says the Wall Street Journal, which points out the governor continued to talk about his schemes by telephone even after the Chicago Tribune reported Friday that his phone lines had been tapped. And it seems his actions on Obama's Senate seat were par for the course. The conversations recorded by authorities "laid bare a 'pay for play' culture that, according to prosecutors, began shortly after he took office in 2002 and continued until before sunrise yesterday," when the governor and his chief of staff were arrested. The New York Times says that the charges "left many wondering who else might yet be implicated," particularly since it seems some were willing to go along with the governor's schemes to enrich himself. 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 Meet the World's Newest Oldest Mom. She's 70. What's the Greenest Way To Spend $100? The Greatest Literary Crackup of the '60s	Advertisement
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