Barack Obama
President Obama Easily won the elections of 2008 and reelection of 2012
The Early Years
Obama was born on August 4, 1961) in Honolulu, Hawaii,[] His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas, His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a Luo from Nyang’oma Kogelo, Nyanza Province, Kenya. Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian class at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his father was a foreign student on scholarship The couple married on February 2, 1961] separated when Obama Sr. went to Harvard University on scholarship, and divorced in 1964.[ Obama Sr. remarried and returned to Kenya, visiting Barack in Hawaii only once, in 1971. He died in an automobile accident in 1982.
After her divorce, Dunham married Indonesian Lolo Soetoro, who was attending college in Hawaii. When Suharto, a military leader in Soetoro's home country, came to power in 1967, all Indonesian students studying abroad were recalled, and the family moved to the Menteng neighborhood of Jakarta From ages six to ten, Obama attended local schools in Jakarta, including Besuki Public School and St. Francis of Assisi School.[1
In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Armour Dunham, and attended Punahou School, a private college preparatory school, from fifth grade until his graduation from high school in 1979
Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to attend Occidental College. in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations ] and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1983.
Two years after graduating, Obama was hired in Chicago as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988
In late 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School. He was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year,[35] and president of the journal in his second year
After graduating] from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago
Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention. In mid-1995 Dreams from My Father was published.
He then taught at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years—as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004—teaching constitutional law.
Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding State Senator Alice Palmer as Senator from Illinois's 13th District, which at that time spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park – Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn.[ Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was reelected again in 2002. In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one
Obama announced his candidacy for US Senate in January 2003
In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide
In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention,[62] seen by 9.1 million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party
Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004 Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan.[ In the November 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote
Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005,[ He served in the Senate until elected President.
Accomplishments in Office
President Obam who was the first African American President came into office during the deepest financial crisis since the great depression. He took immediate action to stabilize the economy by passing an $800 billion stimulus package. In his first year in office, Obama succeeded in passing the Affordable Care Act, legislation that expanded those covered by medical insurance while introducing reforms in medical care. After the Democrats lost control of Congress Obama found it more difficult to pass legislation. However, Obama was able to introduce major reforms in the student loan program- decreasing the amount that poor students have to repay. In addition, Obama introduced many new environmental regulations. At the end of his term, Obama commuted over 1,700 prisoner sentences- the overwhelming number serving drug-related charges.
In Foreign Affairs Obama oversaw the final withdrawal of American troops from Iraq while approving a surge of troops in Afghanistan. Under his watch Osama Bin Ladin the mastermind behind the 9/11 bombing was killed. The US supported an allied effort to unseat Mohmad Qadaffi in Libya. Obama reached a nuclear accord with Iran after imposing strong sanctions, the Iranians agreed to halt their program for ten years. To many, the main stain on Obama's presidency was his unwillingness to intervene in Syria despite the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons. In the last two years of his Presidency, the US military spearheaded an air campaign against ISIS - a militantly Islamic group in parts of Iraq and Syria.
The First Family
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Father: Barack Obama, Sr
Mother:Ann Dunham
Wife: Michelle Obama Robinson
Daughters: Malia and Sasha
Cabinet
Department of State Secretary: Hillary Rodham Clinton
Department of the Treasury: Secretary Timothy F. Geithner
Department of Defense Secretary:Bill Gates, Leon E. Panetta
Department of Justice Attorney General: Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Department of the Interior Secretary: Kenneth L. Salazar
Department of Agriculture Secretary :Thomas J. Vilsack
Department of Commerce Secretary: John E. Bryson
Department of Labor Secretary: Hilda L. Solis
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary: Kathleen Sebelius
Department of Housing and Urban Development: Secretary Shaun L.S. Donovan
Department of Transportation Secretary: Ray LaHood
Department of Energy Secretary: Steven Chu
Department of Education Secretary: Arne Duncan
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary: Eric K. Shinseki
Department of Homeland Security Secretary: Janet A. Napolitano
Day to Day Story of the Presidency
First African American President
First President to have been born in Hawaii
First President to win a Grammy Award