Barack Obama

Barack Obama
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Barack Obama



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44th President of the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 20, 2009
Vice President Joe Biden
Preceded by George W. Bush

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United States Senator
from Illinois
In office
January 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008
Preceded by Peter Fitzgerald
Succeeded by Roland Burris

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

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Born August 4, 1961 (1961-08-04) (age 48)[1]
Honolulu, Hawaii[2]
Birth name Barack Hussein Obama II[2]
Nationality American
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Michelle Obama (m. 1992)
Children Malia Ann (b. 1998)
Natasha (Sasha) (b. 2001)
Residence The White House (official) Chicago, Illinois (private)
Alma mater Occidental College
Columbia University (B.A.)
Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Occupation Community organizer
Lawyer
Constitutional law Professor
Author
Religion Christian[3]
Signature
Website The White House
Barack Obama
This article is part of a series aboutBarack ObamaBackground · Illinois Senate · U.S. Senate · Political positions · Public image · Family · 2008 primaries · Obama–Biden campaign · Transition · Inauguration · Electoral history · Presidency (Timeline, First 100 days) · 2009 Nobel Peace Prize more...
Barack Hussein Obama II (/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/ ( listen); born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first president born in Hawaii. Obama previously served as the junior United States Senator from Illinois from January 2005 until he resigned after his election to the presidency in November 2008.

Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard 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 for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he ran for United States Senate in 2004. During the campaign, several events brought him to national attention, such as his victory in the March 2004 Democratic primary election for the United States Senator from Illinois as well as his prime-time televised keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in November 2004.

Obama began his run for the presidency in February 2007. After a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary 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. On October 9, 2009, he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize
Main article: 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
On October 9, 2009 the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples".[236] As specific examples of the work that led to the award, the Nobel Prize Committee highlighted his efforts to promote nuclear nonproliferation (particularly in Iran),[237] and the fostering of a "new climate" in international relations, especially in reaching out to the Muslim world.[238]

Obama is the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He is the third to become a Nobel laureate during his term in office, and the first to be recognized in the first year of his presidency.[239] Members of the Nobel Committee award stated that it could be seen as an early vote of confidence intended to build global support for the policies of his young administration.[240] The award was a surprise to many, including Obama himself.[241] The award drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures.[242][243] Members of the selection committee defended their choice against criticism that the award was premature.[244]

Cultural and political image

Cultural and political image

President George W. Bush invited then-President-elect Barack Obama and former Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter to a meeting in the Oval Office on January 7, 2009.Main article: Public image of Barack Obama
Obama's family history, early life and upbringing, and Ivy League education differ markedly from those of African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement.[215] Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is "black enough", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong."[216] Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation."[217]



Obama presents his first weekly address as President of the United States, discussing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.Obama is frequently referred to as an exceptional orator.[218] During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama has delivered a series of weekly Internet video addresses[219] similar to Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous fireside chats to explain his policies and actions.[220]

According to the Gallup Daily Poll, during his first 100 days in office as president, Obama received approval ratings ranging from 59% to 69%.[221] From late August through November 2009, his approval rating was around 53%[222], dropping below 50% for the first time on the Nov. 17-19 Gallup daily results.[223][224][225]

Obama's international appeal has been described as a defining factor for his public image.[226] Polls show strong support for Obama in other countries,[227] and he has met with prominent foreign figures including then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair,[228] Italy's Democratic Party leader and then Mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni,[229] and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.[230]

According to a May 2009 poll conducted by Harris Interactive for France 24 and the International Herald Tribune, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of this economic downturn.[231]

Obama won Best Spoken Word Album Grammy Awards for abridged audiobook versions of Dreams from My Father in February 2006 and for The Audacity of Hope in February 2008.[232] His "Yes We Can" speech, which artists independently set to music, was viewed by 10 million people on YouTube in the first month,[233] and received a Daytime Emmy Award.[234] In December 2008, Time magazine named Barack Obama as its Person of the Year for his historic candidacy and election, which it described as "the steady march of seemingly impossible accomplishments".[235]

Family and personal life

Family and personal life

Barack Obama together with his family, as they wave from the South Portico of the White House to guests attending the White House Easter Egg Roll.Main articles: Early life and career of Barack Obama and Family of Barack Obama
In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations", he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher."[188] Obama has seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living, and a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband.[189] Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham[190] until her death on November 2, 2008[191] just two days before his election to the Presidency. In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.[192] Obama's great-uncle served in the 89th Division that overran Ohrdruf,[193] the first Nazi camp liberated by U.S. troops during World War II.[194]

Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years.[195] Besides his native English, Obama speaks Indonesian at the conversational level, which he learned during his four childhood years in Jakarta.[196] He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.[197]


Obama playing basketball with U.S. military at Camp Lemonier, Djibouti in 2006[198]Obama is a well known supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator.[199] In 2009 he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the all star game wearing a White Sox jacket.[200]

In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin.[201] Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial requests to date.[202] They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.[203] The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998,[204] followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10, 2001.[205] The Obama daughters attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the private Sidwell Friends School.[206]

Applying the proceeds of a book deal, the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago.[207] The purchase of an adjacent lot and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.[208]

In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million.[209] Their 2007 tax return showed a household income of $4.2 million—up from about $1 million in 2006 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.[210]

Obama is a Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. In The Audacity of Hope, Obama writes that he "was not raised in a religious household". He describes his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists") to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known". He describes his father as "raised a Muslim", but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful". Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change".[211] He was baptized at the Trinity United Church of Christ in 1988 and was an active member there for two decades.[212] Obama resigned from Trinity during the Presidential campaign after controversial statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright became public.[213]

Obama has tried to quit smoking several times,[214] and said he will not smoke in the White House.

Political positions

Political positions
Main article: Political positions of Barack Obama
A method that some political scientists use for gauging ideology is to compare the annual ratings by the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) with the ratings by the American Conservative Union (ACU).[161] Based on his years in Congress, Obama has a lifetime average conservative rating of 7.67% from the ACU[162] and a lifetime average liberal rating of 90% from the ADA.[163]


Obama campaigning in Abington, Pennsylvania, October 2008In economic affairs, in April 2005, he defended the New Deal social welfare policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and opposed Republican proposals to establish private accounts for Social Security.[164] In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Obama spoke out against government indifference to growing economic class divisions, calling on both political parties to take action to restore the social safety net for the poor.[165] Shortly before announcing his presidential campaign, Obama said he supports universal health care in the United States.[166] He has proposed rewarding teachers for performance from traditional merit pay systems, assuring unions that changes would be pursued through the collective bargaining process.[167]

On taxation, his plan would eliminate taxes for senior citizens with incomes of less than $50,000 a year, raise income taxes for those making over $250,000, raise the capital gains and dividends taxes,[168] close corporate tax loopholes, lift the income cap on Social Security taxes, restrict offshore tax havens, and simplify filing of income tax returns by pre-filling wage and bank information already collected by the IRS.[169] In September 2007, he blamed special interests for distorting the U.S. tax code.[170]


Barack Obama giving a speech at the University of Southern California in support of a proposition to fund alternative energy researchAs an environmental initiative, Obama proposed a cap and trade auction system to restrict carbon emissions and a ten year program of investments in new energy sources to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil.[171] Obama proposed that all pollution credits must be auctioned, with no grandfathering of credits for oil and gas companies, and the spending of the revenue obtained on energy development and economic transition costs.[172]

In foreign affairs, Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's policies on Iraq.[173] On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War,[174] Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally,[175] and spoke out against the war.[176] He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd that "it's not too late" to stop the war.[177]

Although Obama had previously said he wanted all U.S. troops out of Iraq within 16 months of becoming president, after he won the primary, he said he might change or refine plans as further developments unfold.[178] In November 2006, he called for a "phased redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq" and an opening of diplomatic dialogue with Syria and Iran.[179] In a March 2007 speech to AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby, he said that the primary way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons is through talks and diplomacy, although he did not rule out military action.[180] Obama has indicated that he would engage in "direct presidential diplomacy" with Iran without preconditions.[181] In August 2007, Obama remarked that "it was a terrible mistake to fail to act" against a 2005 meeting of al-Qaeda leaders that U.S. intelligence had confirmed to be taking place in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. He said that as president, he would not miss a similar opportunity, even without the support of the Pakistani government.[182]

Obama stated that if elected he would enact budget cuts in the range of tens of billions of dollars, stop investing in "unproven" missile defense systems, not weaponize space, "slow development of Future Combat Systems", and work towards eliminating all nuclear weapons. Obama favors ending development of new nuclear weapons, reducing the current U.S. nuclear stockpile, enacting a global ban on production of fissile material, and seeking negotiations with Russia to reduce the pressure on both sides for intercontinental ballistic missiles to be on high-alert status.[183]

Obama has called for more assertive action to oppose genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.[184] He has divested $180,000 in personal holdings of Sudan-related stock, and has urged divestment from companies doing business in Iran.[185] In the July–August 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs, Obama called for an outward looking post-Iraq War foreign policy and, in his view, the renewal of American military, diplomatic, and moral leadership in the world. Saying that "we can neither retreat from the world nor try to bully it into submission", he called on Americans to "lead the world, by deed and by example".[186]

In his write-in response to a 1998 survey, Obama stated his abortion position as conforming with the Democratic platform: "Abortions should be legally available in accordance with Roe v. Wade."[187]

Health care reform

Health care reform
Main articles: Health care reform in the United States and Obama administration health care proposal
Obama has called for Congress to pass health care reform, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal. On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017 page plan for overhauling the US health care system, which Obama wants Congress to approve by the end of the year.[156] Obama has also stated that a public health insurance option is a main component to lowering costs and improving quality in the health care sector.[157]

After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over his administration's proposals.[158]

On November 7, 2009, the bill was passed in the House after the inclusion of an amendment written by Republican Joseph R. Pitts and Democrat Bart Stupak that would disallow insurance companies from covering abortion for women who pay their premiums with their own money if other people pay for the same plan with any government subsidies.[159][160]

Iraq war

Iraq war
Main article: Iraq War
During his presidential transition, President-elect Obama announced that he would retain the incumbent Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, in his Cabinet.[147]

Early in his presidency, Obama moved to change the perception of U.S. war strategy by planning to decrease troop levels in Iraq as was planned in the closing days of the Bush administration.[148] On February 27, Obama declared that combat operations would end in Iraq within 18 months. His remarks were made to a group of Marines preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. Obama said, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."[149]

War in Afghanistan
Main article: War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
Early in his presidency, Obama moved to change U.S. war strategy by increasing troop strength in Afghanistan.[148] On February 18, 2009, Obama announced that the U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan would be boosted by 17,000, asserting that the increase was necessary to "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan", an area he said had not received the "strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires".[150]

On May 11, Obama replaced his military commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan, with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, believing that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war.[151]

On December 1, Obama announced that he would deploy an additional 30,000 soldiers over a period of six months.[152] He also proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date.[153][154] The following day, Gen. McChrystal cautioned that the timeline was flexible and “is not an absolute”[155].