- NAME: Barack Obama
- OCCUPATION: Lawyer, U.S. President, U.S. Representative
- BIRTH DATE: August 04, 1961
- EDUCATION: Punahou Academy, Occidental College, Columbia University, Harvard Law School
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Honolulu, Hawaii
- FULL NAME: Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.
- AKA: Barack Obama
- ZODIAC SIGN: Leo
Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States —becoming the first African American to serve in that office —on January 20, 2009.
The son of a white American mother and a black Kenyan father, Obama grew up in Hawaii. Leaving the state to attend college, he earned degrees from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago, where he met and married Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in 1992. Their two daughters, Malia Ann and Natasha (Sasha) were born in 1998 and 2001, respectively. Obama was elected to the Illinois state senate in 1996 and served there for eight years. In 2004, he was elected by a record majority to the U.S. Senate from Illinois and, in February 2007, announced his candidacy for President. After winning a closely-fought contest against New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, Obama handily defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee for President, in the general election.
When President Obama took office, he faced very significant challenges. The economy was officially in a recession, and the outgoing administration of George W. Bush had begun to implement a controversial "bail-out" package to try to help struggling financial institutions. In foreign affairs, the United States still had troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and warfare had broken out between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, illustrating the ongoing instability of the Middle East.
During his first term, President Obama was able to work with Congress to improve the U.S. economy, pass health-care reform, and withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. Still the President spent significant time and political effort negotiating, for the most part unsuccessfully, with Congressional Republicans about taxes, budgets, and the deficit. After winning reelection in 2012, Obama began his second term focused on immigration reform and gun control. However, much of the Capital's attention was focused on "sequestration," the automatic spending cuts that went into effect on March 1, 2013. Although the initial impact of sequestration was limited, Obama warned about its long-term effects on the economy. Agreement between the President and Congressional Republicans to craft a budget plan to end sequestration seemed unlikely to materialize quickly.
Interesting facts about Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama is named after his father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (1936-1982). “Barack” means “blessing/blessed/to bless” in Swahili and Semitic languages, and “Hussein” is a Semitic word meaning “good” or “beautiful.”
Obama was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review in 1990. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1991.
Barack met his wife Michelle Robinson, a South Side Chicago native, while he was interning at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. She was his mentor and was not initially attracted to him--but after a two-year courtship, they were married in the fall of 1992
In 1995, Obama published his autobiography, Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. He won a Grammy award for the audio version of the book. His second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts of Reclaiming the American Dream, was endorsed by Oprah Winfrey and became a best seller. Its title was derived from a sermon by Obama’s former pastor and controversial figure, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in October, 2009 for the hope that he will improve the global community. He was the fourth U.S. President to receive one, and the third President to win the Nobel Peace Prize while still in office.
Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in October, 2009 for the hope that he will improve the global community. He was the fourth U.S. President to receive one, and the third President to win the Nobel Peace Prize while still in office.
Barack Obama Quotes
es we can!"
"There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America."
"Our goal is to have a country that's not divided by race."
"I don't want to pit Red America against Blue America. I want to be President of the United States of America."