Barack Obama
Barack Obama
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 Not Even One Posted Sunday, March 29, 2009, at 6:24 AM ET The Washington Post leads with government officials saying not a single major terrorist plot was thwarted using information obtained by waterboarding suspected terrorist mastermind Abu Zubaida. The national edition of the New York Times leads with a look at the challenges waiting for President Barack Obama during his trip to the G-20 summit in London. The Los Angeles Times leads with public health officials saying the decline in vaccination rates among California school children may put the state at risk for an epidemic. CIA officials initially believed Zubaida was an al Qaeda ringleader and that information he divulged after being waterboarded would prove crucial to preventing terrorist attacks. Both assumptions were wrong. Zubaida wasn't even an official member of al Qaeda. While he did possess some very useful information about al Qaeda's membership, most of it was obtained before he was waterboarded. The leads he provided later were almost all dead ends that wasted agents' valuable time and resources. The paper says that Zubaida may now prove to be a thorny legal issue for the White House. If he's brought to trial in the U.S. after being waterboarded, he could very well be set free and establish a dangerous precedent for other Guantanamo detainees. The administration is examining the possibility of transferring his custody to another country instead. To continue reading, click here. Jesse Stanchak is a writer living in Washington, D.C.Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Do You Understand Obama's Afghanistan Policy? Me Neither. What Is Good Design Now? A Conversation With Adam Gopnik, Jonathan Adler, and Others. Relax, It's OK If Your Kid Doesn't Make His Bed | Advertisement  |
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