Monday, May 9, 2011

Who is Barack Obama?


Barack Hussein Obama II (Listeni /bəˈrɑːk hˈsn ˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his success in the 2008 presidential election.
A native of HonoluluHawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of theHarvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004.
Obama served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, he ran for United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Democratic primary and his keynote address at theDemocratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 general election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. In October 2009, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
In foreign policy, Obama gradually withdrew combat troops from Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed an arms control treaty with Russia, and ordered enforcement of the United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya in early 2011. On May 1, 2011, Obama announced that a small team of American military forces, acting on his direct order, killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.[4][5]
In April 2011, Obama announced his intention to seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election.[6]

Contents

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Incumbent
Assumed office 
January 20, 2009
Vice PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byGeorge W. Bush

In office
January 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008
Preceded byPeter Fitzgerald
Succeeded byRoland Burris

Member of the Illinois Senate
from the 13th district
In office
January 8, 1997 – November 4, 2004
Preceded byAlice Palmer
Succeeded byKwame Raoul

BornAugust 4, 1961 (age 49)[1]
HonoluluHawaii[2]
Political partyDemocratic Party
Spouse(s)Michelle Robinson Obama
ChildrenMalia, Sasha
ResidenceWhite House (official)
ChicagoIllinois (private)
Alma materOccidental College
Columbia University (B.A.)
Harvard Law School (J.D.)
ProfessionCommunity organizer
Lawyer
Constitutional law professor
Author
ReligionChristian[3]
SignatureBarack Obama
WebsiteThe White House
Barack Obama

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