Barack Obama

Barack Obama
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Barack" and "Obama" redirect here. For other uses, see Barack (disambiguation) and Obama (disambiguation).
Barack Obama



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.