Barack Obama
aka Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.
(1961–)
Quick Facts
* Born: August 4, 1961 (Hawaii)
* Lives in: Chicago, Illinois
* Zodiac Sign: Leo
* Height: 6′ 1″ (1.87m)
* Family: Married wife Michelle in 1992, 2 daughters Malia and Sasha
* Parents: Barack Obama, Sr. (from Kenya) and Ann Dunham (from Kansas)
* Religion: United Church of Christ
* Drives a: Ford Escape hybrid, Chrysler 300C
* Education:
– Graduated: Columbia University (1983) - Major: Political Science
– Law Degree from Harvard (1991) - Major: J.D. - Magna Cum Laude
– Attended: Occidental College
* Career:
–U.S. President - inaugurated January 20, 2009
–U.S. Senator from Illinois, 2005-2008
* Government Committees:
– Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
– Foreign Relations Committee
– Veterans Affairs Committee
– 2005 and 2006: served on the Environment and Public Works Committee
Related Works
* Books
* 1995 Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
* 2006 The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
* 2006 It Takes a Nation: How Strangers Became Family in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina
Barack Obama
Breaking News: President Barack Obama acted swiftly after his inauguration on Tuesday (January 20th, 2009), suspending all trials at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for 120 days, and freezing all last-minute legislation—known as "midnight legislation"—passed by former President George W. Bush. Obama also plans to meet with military and economic advisors today (January 21st, 2009) to discuss the $825 billion fiscal stimulus package as well as the Iraq war.
Obama's request on Guantanamo would stop the proceedings for 21 pending cases, including the death penalty case against the five prisoners accused of plotting the September 11th attacks. The president has made it known over the last few months that he intends to shut down the prison camp at Guantanamo, the detention center that was viewed globally as a gross violation of human rights. Plans are also in the works to have American troops withdraw from Iraq over a period of 16 months, and aides say Obama is also considering pulling all troops before the planned date of 2012.
The president's cabinet appointments are also in their last stages of approval through the U.S. Senate today. Officials are set to debate, and most likely approve, Sen. Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, in addition to Janet Napolitano for homeland security secretary; Steven Chu as energy secretary; and Timothy Geithner for treasury secretary.
Biography: Barack Hussein Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was born of Luo ethnicity in Nyanza Province, Kenya. He grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British. Although reared among Muslims, Obama, Sr., became an atheist at some point.
Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in Wichita, Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he signed up for service in World War II and marched across Europe in Patton’s army. Dunham’s mother went to work on a bomber assembly line. After the war, they studied on the G. I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved to Hawaii.
Meantime, Barack’s father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya pursue his dreams in Hawaii. At the time of his birth, Obama’s parents were students at the East–West Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Obama’s parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced. Obama’s father went to Harvard to pursue Ph. D. studies and then returned to Kenya.
His mother married Lolo Soetoro, another East–West Center student from Indonesia. In 1967, the family moved to Jakarta, where Obama’s half-sister Maya Soetoro–Ng was born. Obama attended schools in Jakarta, where classes were taught in the Indonesian language.
Four years later when Barack (commonly known throughout his early years as "Barry") was ten, he returned to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, and later his mother (who died of ovarian cancer in 1995).
He was enrolled in the fifth grade at the esteemed Punahou Academy, graduating with honors in 1979. He was only one of three black students at the school. This is where Obama first became conscious of racism and what it meant to be an African–American.
In his memoir, Obama described how he struggled to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. He saw his biological father (who died in a 1982 car accident) only once (in 1971) after his parents divorced. And he admitted using alcohol, marijuana and cocaine during his teenage years.
After high school, Obama studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York, graduating in 1983 with a degree in political science.
After working at Business International Corporation (a company that provided international business information to corporate clients) and NYPIRG, Obama moved to Chicago in 1985. There, he worked as a community organizer with low-income residents in Chicago’s Roseland community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development on the city’s South Side.
THE PHOTO GALLERY OF BARACK OBAMA
Obama's father was born in Kenya and his mother in Kansas.
Barack was born in Hawaii.
Obama Barack is the first African-American president of
the Harvard Law Review.
Pictured are Barack Obama, wife Michelle and daughters
Malia (R) and Sasha (L).
Barack and Michelle Obama and Joe and Jill Biden are
all smiles at Obama's victory party.
Pictured are Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and daughters
Sasha (in black dress) and Malia (in red dress) greet the
crowd at an election night rally in Chicago's Grand Park.
Obama has promised his daughters a new puppy when
the family moves into the White House.
Malia and Barack Obama share a congratulatory hug
after Barack's moving acceptance speech.
The Obama's at the US Presidential Ball
Washington DC, January 21 (ANI): The President of United States and his wife took centre stage at the 10 balls organized to mark Barack Obama's inauguration. The Obama couple started at "the Neighborhood Ball," which the president called one of the most important tonight. The United States' first African-American president and his wife Michelle did their first dance as a presidential couple to Beyonce's version of blues singer Etta James' "At Last".
The Obama's at the US Presidential Ball
Courtesy of www.biography.com
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