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.

The Slate Dozen - Morning Edition


	Morning Edition

Al-Qaida Launches English-Language Magazine
The editors hope that their new magazine, Inspire, will recruit English-speaking Muslims inside of the United States and European countries to carry out terrorist plots.
Read original story in The Atlantic | Thursday, July 1, 2010
Leading Republican Calls for Increase to Retirement Age
In an interview, the House minority leader said increasing the retirement age by five years is one way to fix the looming Social Security crisis.
Read original story in Newsweek | Thursday, July 1, 2010
Police Reopen Investigation Into Sexual Assault Charges Against Al Gore
A massage therapist who claims the former vice president made unwanted sexual advances said she called off the 2006 investigation because if she didn't, one friend told her, climate change would destroy the world.
Read original story in Talking Points Memo | Thursday, July 1, 2010
Taliban Refuse To Enter NATO Peace Talks
"We are certain that we are winning," the Taliban said in a statement. "Why should we talk if we have the upper hand?"
Read original story in The Daily Telegraph | Thursday, July 1, 2010
Apple, AT&T Slapped With Class-Action Lawsuit
The lawsuit claims several breaches of warranty, misrepresentation and fraud in the release of the new iPhone 4, which users have complained drops because of a faulty antenna design.
Read original story in Gizmodo | Thursday, July 1, 2010
NBA Teams Battle For LeBron James
For the next seven days, everyone, it seems, will meet with and try to court the basketball prodigy, hoping to lure him to their team.
Read original story in The New York Times | Thursday, July 1, 2010
Senate Confirms Petraeus 99-0
One of Gen. David Petraeus' first tasks when he takes over command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan will be considering whether to revise Gen. Stanley McChrystal's strict rules of engagement.
Read original story in The Associated Press | Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Lexus Drivers Complain of Faulty Engines
Toyota is considering another recall. About a quarter-million cars worldwide, the automaker said Thursday, may have faulty engines that stall while the vehicle is moving.
Read original story in The Associated Press | Thursday, July 1, 2010
Bob Bennett: Republicans Have Slogans, Not Ideas
The soon-to-be-former senator expects Republicans to take control of Congress in November, but that doesn't mean they'll have any idea what to do when they get there.
Read original story in Talking Points Memo | Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Is There a Woman in the Oval Office?
Kathleen Parker says Barack Obama is our first female president. It is not intended as a compliment.
Read original story in The Washington Post | Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Toronto Police Display "Weapons" Seized in G20 Protest
Police officers spent the week stripping protesters of their bicycle helmets, tennis balls, and bandanas, then collected all the gear (plus some stuff seized from nonprotesters) and presented it to journalists as proof of how dangerous the dissidents are.
Read original story in The Globe and Mail | Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Christopher Hitchens Cancels Book Tour
The author is undergoing treatment for esophogeal cancer.
Read original story in The Washington Post | Wednesday, June 30, 2010

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In the fall of 2002, during an anti-war rally at Chicago's Federal Plaza, Obama said: I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda. Finally, he spoke for national unity: The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. " Replying to an Associated Press survey of 2008 presidential candidates' personal tastes, he specified "architect" as his alternate career choice and "chili" as his favorite meal to cook. In it he recalls his childhood in Honolulu and Jakarta, college years in Los Angeles and New York City, and his employment as a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s.

Obama's fundraising prowess was affirmed again in the second quarter of 2007, when his campaign raised an additional $32.5 million, the most ever raised by a Democratic Presidential candidate in a single quarter.

In 2003, Obama began his run for the U.S. Senate open seat vacated by Peter Fitzgerald. In it he recalls his childhood in Honolulu and Jakarta, college years in Los Angeles and New York City, and his employment as a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s. The family moved from their Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a nearby US$1.6-million home in 2005. " 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. I've been chewing Nicorette strenuously. The U.S. Senate Historical Office lists him as the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history and the only African American currently serving in the U.S. Senate. Obama's own self-narrative reinforces what a May 2004 New Yorker magazine article described as his "everyman" image. "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.

Speculation intensified in October 2006 when Obama first said he had "thought about the possibility" of running for president, departing from earlier statements that he intended to serve out his six-year Senate term through 2010. In a May 2006 letter to President Bush, he joined four other Midwest farming state Senators in calling for the preservation of a US$0.54 per gallon tariff on imported ethanol. Obama later added three amendments to S. 2611, the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act," sponsored by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). Enthusiastic crowds greeted Obama's public appearances.