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 Wall Street Wants Help, Democrats Want Taxes Posted Saturday, July 11, 2009, at 6:00 AM ET The Wall Street Journal leads with the preparations for bankruptcy filing at CIT Group after the company failed to obtain a government guarantee to help it borrow. CIT is desperately pressing its case to the government in the shadow of a $1 billion payment due in mid-August. The Los Angeles Times leads with General Motors' emergence on the other side of bankruptcy as a smaller company making promises to innovate and place a "steely" focus on its customers. The Washington Post leads with AIG's request for the government to bless the millions of dollars in bonuses it promised to pay its top executives by 2010. The insurance giant doesn't need federal approval, but is reluctant to deliver the long-promised bonuses without "political cover" from the Obama administration. The New York Times leads with a government review released yesterday that declares the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program inferior to other intelligence-gathering methods in effectiveness and timeliness. After failing to get a borrowing guarantee from the government, CIT Group, a major lender to almost a million small and midsize businesses, hired a law firm to begin bankruptcy preparations. As of March 31 the company had $68 billion in liabilities, meaning a bankruptcy would catastrophically affect thousands of borrowers. CIT is actively involved in a discussion with the FDIC, which oversees the government's debt guarantee program, and has not yet reached a decision on the lending giant's application. The agreement would allow CIT, which currently has a "junk" credit rating, to sell low-interest bonds. 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 The President's Facebook Newsfeed: Matt Drudge Tagged Barack Obama in a Photo The Best Movie About Gay Sex This Week Isn't Bruno--It's Humpday Five Reasons Why Google's New Operating System Is Doomed | Advertisement  |
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