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.
The Slate Dozen - Morning Edition
Morning Edition
Despite Chinese Objections, Obama Will Meet Dalai Lama The Tibetan spiritual leader arrived in the United States yesterday and plans to meet with both President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton today to ask for help finding "a solution in resolving the Tibet issue that would be mutually beneficial to the Tibetan and Chinese people." Read original story in AFP | Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
Facebook Becomes Second Most Visited Site in U.S. Yahoo was the U.S.'s most visited site for years, but the one-time go-to search engine has slipped to third, behind Google and now, Facebook. Read original story in Mashable | Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
Mentally Ill Man Breaches Olympic Security, Approaches Biden During the opening ceremony, a 48-year-old man who "had an infatuation with the U.S. Vice President" used fake credentials that he printed off the Internet to bypass several layers of security. Read original story in USA Today | Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
Casino Owners Banking on Harry Reid's Re-Election Republican leaders are hoping to keep the current Senate Majority Leader from winning another term, but Reid is calling in favors from the gambling industry, which is responsible for "nearly one in every three jobs" in Nevada. Read original story in The Associated Press | Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
Did Soros Double His Gold Investment Because the Dollar is About to Fail? U.S. billionaire George Soros quietly doubled his invesment in gold at the same time financial reporter Ken Kurson called it the only sound place to keep your money since the economy's bottom is about to fall out. Read original story in BBC | Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
School Administrators Allegedly Spied on Students With Webcams A new lawsuit claims that administrators from the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania issued laptops to high school students so they could covertly spy on them and their families with both audio and video. Read original story in Boing Boing | Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
Ugandan Pastor Shows Gay Porn to Increase Anti-Gay Support With legislation on the table that would make homosexuality punishable by death in his country, anti-gay Pastor Martin Ssemba told the BBC "we need to educate ourselves about what homosexuals do." Read original story in BBC | Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
Another Toyota Recall Coming? The U.S. will open an investigation into steering problems in half a million Toyota Corolla's later today following more than 150 complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Read original story in BBC | Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
For Sale: Tony Rezko's Suburban Chicago Mansion The seven-bedroom home where Tony Rezko, convicted of public corruption charges in 2008, held a Senate fundraiser for Barack Obama is on the market for just over $3.5 million. Read original story in Chicago Breaking News Center | Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
Nominated Songs Won't Be Performed at Oscars Instead of five individual performances, producers have opted for the "musical shortlist [to be] showcased with clips from the films they featured in" in an effort to save time. Read original story in BBC | Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
Britain Opens Up UFO Files to Public More than 6,000 pages of records -- and these just cover the years 1994 through 2000 -- document sighting after sighting of unidentified flying objects. Read original story in CNN | Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010
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He hired former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle's ex-chief of staff for the same position, and Karen Kornbluh, an economist who was deputy chief of staff to former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin, as his policy adviser.
Its enthusiastic reception at the convention and widespread coverage by national media gave him instant celebrity status.
" At the Save Darfur rally in April 2006, he called for more assertive action to oppose genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
" Speaking in November 2006 to members of Wake Up Wal-Mart, a union-backed campaign group, Obama said: "You gotta pay your workers enough that they can actually not only shop at Wal-Mart, but ultimately send their kids to college and save for retirement.
" Speaking before the National Press Club in April 2005, Obama defended the New Deal social welfare policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, associating Republican proposals to establish private accounts for Social Security with Social Darwinism.
He is a member of the Senate committees on Foreign Relations; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; and Veterans' Affairs; and the Congressional Black Caucus.
" The book describes his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.
"During his first year as a U.S. senator, in a move more typically taken after several years of holding high political office, Obama established a leadership political action committee, Hopefund, for channeling financial support to Democratic candidates.
Obama received over 52% of the vote in the March 2004 primary, emerging 29% ahead of his nearest Democratic rival.
In early May 2007, the U.S. Secret Service announced that Obama had been placed under their protection.
" An Italian translation was published in April 2007 with a preface by Walter Veltroni, Mayor of Rome, and a Spanish paperback edition was published in June 2007.
Obama, who defines himself in The Audacity of Hope as "a Democrat, after all," has been criticized for his political actions by self-described progressive commentator David Sirota, and complimented for his "Can't we all just get along?" manner by conservative columnist George Will.
Obama plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.
The New York Times described Obama as "the prize catch of the midterm campaign" because of his campaigning for fellow Democratic Party members running for election in the 2006 midterm elections.
After graduating from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, university lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before entering politics.
He has authored two bestselling books: a memoir of his youth entitled Dreams from My Father, and The Audacity of Hope, a personal commentary on U.S. politics.
" He joined with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) in strengthening restrictions on travel in corporate jets to S.1, the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007, which passed the Senate with a 96-2 majority. Obama joined Charles Schumer (D-NY) in sponsoring S. 453, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections, including fraudulent flyers and automated phone calls, as witnessed in the 2006 midterm elections.
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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" Reviewing Obama's career in the Illinois Senate, a February 2007 article in the Washington Post noted his work with both Democrats and Republicans in drafting bipartisan legislation on ethics and health care reform.
They were married in 1992 and have two daughters, Malia, born in 1999, and Natasha ("Sasha"), born in 2001.
He then returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents while attending Punahou School from 5th grade until his graduation in 1979.
On returning to Chicago, Obama directed a voter registration drive.
" In an October 2006 interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "Michelle will tell you that when we get together for Christmas or Thanksgiving, it's like a little mini-United Nations," he said.
Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. (born in Nyanza Province, Kenya) and Ann Dunham (born in Wichita, Kansas).
I've got an ironclad demand from my wife that in the stresses of the campaign I don't succumb.
A long-time resident of Maryland, Keyes established legal residency in Illinois with the nomination.
Questioning the Bush administration's management of the Iraq War, Obama spoke of an enlisted Marine, Corporal Seamus Ahern from East Moline, Illinois, asking, "Are we serving Seamus as well as he is serving us?" He continued: When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never, ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.
An October 2005 article in the British journal New Statesman listed Obama as one of "10 people who could change the world.
Enthusiastic crowds greeted Obama's public appearances.
" Expressing a similar view, New York Daily News columnist Stanley Crouch wrote: "When black Americans refer to Obama as 'one of us,' I do not know what they are talking about.
His opponent in the general election was expected to be Republican primary winner Jack Ryan.
