Biography
Beginnings
Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama Sr. of Kenya, and Ann Dunham of Kansas. Barack has one step sister, born from her mother and step-father. After travelling to Jakarta with his mother and attending elementary school, Obama returned to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents. There, he attended a college prep school, and graduated from there in 1979. Shortly after, his father died in a car accident. About 15 years later in 1995, his mother then died of cancer. In his publication Dreams from My Father, Obama speaks about growing up in his middle class, multiracial family. He even expresses about his use of marijuana and cocaine to try to ease him from the stress of finding himself. From this we can grasp a very important concept, far from the plain folks propaganda we see today - Barack Obama is a very real person, with real experiences.After graduating high school, Obama studied at Occidental College for two years, and then transferred to the prestigious Columbia University. He majored in political science, more specifically international relations. After doing work for a couple of businesses, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School in 1988. It was there that he gained national recognition for being the first African American to be elected as the president of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated from Harvard in 1991, and from there returned to Chicago, where he spent most of his working career until he took office. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School up until the point of his election into the U.S. Senate in 2004.
Start of His Political Career
Obama started his serious political career in 1996, when he was elected to the Illinois State Senate. In 2003, he was named chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. Here, Obama accomplished many things including helping families that had financial problems, as well as raising money to fund AIDS prevention programs. Obama ran for Bobby Rush's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the year 2000, and was defeated by over a 2:1 favorite. Next comes one of the most critical times in Obama's life; his keynote address in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Hey first addressed the issues of low-income families, and equality in America. He said, "No, people don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all." He also challenged President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, and showed his concern for our troops that are being sent there.Rise to the Senate
After debating and going through a few candidates that eventually dropped out of the race, Barack Obama was sworn into the U.S. Senate on January 4, 2005. He had become the fifth African American member of the Senate in United States history, and was the only current African American member at the time. Obama quickly started to gain a lot of recognition. Before the 109th and 110th Congress, Obama sponsored over 150 bills and resolutions, and cosponsored over 450. He focused on things from border control, to electricity and ethics.Presidential Candidate in 2008?
The most current news going around the United States (and world), and what is possibly gaining Obama much popularity, is the notion to run for President of the United States in 2008. Despite Obama saying "I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years.", times have slowly changed, and now it looks as things will be swinging the other way. On January 14, 2007, Obama had official set up his Exploratory Committee for a Presidential campaign in 2008. In recent polls, he received the second most support from Democrats, behind Hilary Clinton. From the popularity he's getting, it sure does look like he does have a shot at the presidency. TIME magazine labeled him one of "the world's most influential people." Buzz is starting to increase about the changes to history and having the first African American president. On the other end of the spectrum, there is also buzz about changes in history in Hilary Clinton becoming the first female president in history. It's all a very interesting topic, and things will unfold more as time moves on.Other Information
Barack Obama is married to Michelle Robinson (married in 1992), and has two daughters, Malia (1999) and Sasha (2001). They live on the south side of Chicago, where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ. Obama has written two books, Dreams from My Father (1995), and The Audacity of Hope (2006); which has been at the top of the New York Times best seller list since it's release. He will be releasing 2 more books in which he signed a contract to write.References : Wikipedia and Obama.senate.gov