From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barack Obama (born 1961) is an Illinois senator and the president-elect of the United States.

Obama may also refer to:

Locations

• Obama, Fukui, a city in Japan
• Obama, Nagasaki, a former town in Japan
  • Obama Onsen, an onsen (hot spring) located in Obama, Nagasaki
• Obama Domain, a feudal domain in Edo-period Japan
• Obama Castle (Fukui), the castle from which the Obama Domain was governed
• Obama Castle (Mutsu), a mountain castle in the former Mutsu Province in Japan

Surnames

• Obama, an African (Luo) surname
• Obama (小浜), a Japanese surname meaning literally meaning “Little Beach”
• Obama clan (小浜氏), a samurai clan of feudal Japan

Transportation

• Obama Line, a railroad line operated by West Japan Railway Company
  • Obama Station, a train station on the Obama Line
  • Higashi-Obama Station, a train station on the Obama Line
• Obama Nishi Interchange, the terminus interchange on the Maizuru-Wakasa Expressway between Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture and Miki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

People

• Family of Barack Obama, an extended family of American, Kenyan, and Indonesian heritage
• Barack Obama, Sr. (1936–1982), Kenyan economist and father to Barack Obama
• Michelle Obama (born 1964), wife of Barack Obama, and Vice President for Community and External Affairs for the University of Chicago Hospitals
• Sarah Obama (born 1922), paternal step-grandmother of Barack Obama
• Ricardo Mangue Obama Nfubea (born 1961), Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea
• Santiago Obama Ndong, Equatorial Guinean politician
• Obama Girl, a persona created by Amber Lee Ettinger

Other

• Cable TV Wakasa Obama, a cable television provider in the Ōi, Obama, Takahama, Natasho, and Wakasa areas of Fukui Prefecture, Japan

See also

• Ohama and Kohama for the word written with the same kanji 小浜 in Japanese, but pronounced Ohama or Kohama

Home

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barack Obama (born 1961) is an Illinois senator and the president-elect of the United States.

Barack may also refer to:

• Barack (given name)
• Barack Obama, Sr., a Harvard-educated Kenyan economist, father of Barack Obama
• Barack (brandy), a Hungarian palinka brandy

See also

• Barak (disambiguation)
• Baraka (disambiguation)
• Baraq (disambiguation)
• Barrack (disambiguation)
• Baruch (disambiguation)

Announcement for secretary of state would come after Thanksgiving

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton talks with retiring Sen. John Warner on their way to a vote Thursday on Capitol Hill in Washington.

by Janice Burroughs

I was blessed with a twenty year marriage, successful career, and a beautiful daughter. Then the next 5 years brought divorce, the suicide of my ex-spouse, single parenting, the death of my father, health issues for me and my Mom, job loss, and astronomical private health premiums. And now? I am a small business owner in the midst of an economic recession!

In reality, it is unusual to have a lifetime of challenge compressed into so few years, and it compounds the consequences. Similarly, had the current confluence of issues facing the United States arisen singularly and separated by sufficient time, we may have managed without the avalanche effect of the past few weeks. The combination triggered a loop of fear and uncertainty, destabilizing our economy. It was not a pebble, but a boulder that crashed into the global pond.

Through the lens of my life, I see lessons on a larger scale for us as a nation. Losses that could have overwhelmed in fact awakened me. Had each experience been spread over, say 20 years, I would not have been so compelled to found a company to help people grow through their own transitions. My passion was ignited, and became a catalyst for Springboard™, so named to describe the power of using life’s lowest points as a launching point for creating a new, often better life.

This election will set the course for the next four years. Many worry that our golden days are behind us, but what if this low point initiated a period of innovation and growth? The fact that we are in debt, at war, and in housing and financial market crises may very well be sufficient incentive to park fear and dare to solve problems we have ignored, such as energy innovation, restoring our environment and rehabilitating social programs. We were inspired and emboldened to meet Kennedy’s challenge to land on the moon. Belief is half the battle, so what if we dared to believe? Isn’t that what our founding fathers did?

Let’s make our current crisis a new beginning to fuel collaboration and exceed expectations. A crisis transforms; without challenge to the status quo, there is no compelling reason to risk change, make transcendent leaps or fully challenge beliefs. Our untapped potential includes involving all Americans in caring and contributing to a rebirth. We strayed from the fundamentals that built our economic and world leadership strength. By tapping our full capacity of innovation and ingenuity, we can channel current fear and anxiety into shaping a richer future than we would have otherwise achieved.

It is said that people change when their fear of not changing is greater than their fear of change. In this election, people understand each voice matters, and they are mandating a complete redirection in leadership. Our new President must guide and compel, and it may be years before we declare this “mission fully accomplished”.

I believe we will reflect on this critical point in our nation’s course as a time when we accepted and exceeded the challenge. Unlike the era surrounding our nation’s birth, we have a diverse cultural compilation of human experience in endurance, plus technology and innovation which strengthens our chance for success. Let’s not settle for merely surviving our current crises. My hope is that we mine this opportunity to secure a sound legacy for our children, and in unleashing our true potential, create a future that is uniquely American.

About the Author

http://www.launchingnewlives.com Resources for divorce, estate planning/settlement,job loss, aging parents,career transitions. Network of professionals for Consulting/planning/training; Employee benefits,audioclasses,educ.tools. info@launchingnewlives.com

Leadership can take on many qualities and wear many different hats. We mainly think of leaders and leadership in the way of businesses, managers and supervisors. Think about what these positions have in common. They take charge. They take care of things. This being the case that means that you, as an individual, can be a great leader with or without a business. Yes, that’s right. Be a leader of yourself and your actions. Need an explanation? Read on.

Regardless as to what mountains you climb in life, you have the option of taking on the role of a leader or a follower. How you handle the situation dictates the type of person you are or will be in that particular incident. Want to be a leader? The following six steps outline how to turn being a follower into being a leader in everything you tackle in life and how to control a situation rather than the situation taking control of you.

1. Success Methods

There are proven methods used by highly successful people that help them achieve what they want in life. The most successful people—those who achieve the goals they set out to achieve and live fulfilling lives—demonstrate certain traits and actions. They are organized, disciplined, curious, open to learning and growing, fearless (or willing to act in spite of fear), positive-minded, and persistent. They take action, measure their results, and change course when necessary.

2. Setting goals

Setting goals outlines your intentions for what you plan to do and makes it real to you. Goals are not results! Many people are afraid to set goals because they are afraid of what happens if they “fail” to achieve them. They believe that it negatively affects their self-image. Nothing could be further from the truth. One of the most positive aspects of goals is what not achieving a goal teaches you. If you don’t achieve a goal, there can be any number of reasons why, some of which are beyond your control. However, examining why it was not achieved will yield valuable insights into your beliefs, attitudes and emotions.

3. Think creatively and don’t stop at the obvious

Think about options available to you and envision the possibilities of bigger and better ways to do things. Develop the skill of having multiple options instead of settling for the easiest or fastest answer. Explore different possibilities and ask ‘what if’ questions. Discover new solutions for the old problems – don’t take the easy way. When you think you have the answer, think of something else you can do to make it better.

4. Your word is your truth

Know that when you speak, you will fulfill your promise to others and others will know they can depend on you. Think before you speak. Under promise and over deliver. Always keep your promise, especially promises that you make to yourself.

5. Clarity brings accomplishment

One of the most important things you can do to effectively manage your day, week, month or year is to get clear on what it is you want to achieve. When you lose track of your goals or fail to plan appropriately, you end up spinning in circles and nothing gets accomplished. The clearer you are on your goals, the better results you will get. Make sure your goals are personal to you and not part of someone else’s expectations. You will be far more motivated to achieve success when you are working toward something that really matters to you.

6. Celebrate!

Sit still after an accomplishment and savor the feelings of success. We need to reward ourselves in nurturing ways and celebrate not only our results but our efforts. Just in moving toward your goals you are ahead of many people who simply write them out and then do nothing. Remember the rewards are in the journey as well as in the results. Enjoy the process and celebrate often.

Want more success in your life and/or business? Contact Cheryl Vallejos, Author, Motivational Speaker, Certified Business Coach and Consultant at Cheryl@PrimeLeaders.com or go to our website at http://www.primeleaders.com and sign up for the free “Monthly Leadership Tips” e-zine and the bonus FREE 37-page leadership guide eBook at Monthly Leadership Tips.

By ContentMart Editor

A Look Ahead to 2008 (Part II)

Hillary Clinton would seem to have the inside track to the Democratic nomination for 2008. However, she could be seen as a far too polarizing figure whose candidacy in the general election could bring out the evangelicals in droves for the Republicans as John Kerry’s did this year. She will probably have to moderate a bit over the next three years in order to prove that she could win a general election. If she can’t do this, the Democrats may seek a candidate with broader appeal. Right now, though, the nomination appears to be hers to lose.

After losing such a close election to George W. Bush in 2000, I believe Al Gore will make another run for the presidency. Those who would summarily dismiss him as no longer being a viable future presidential candidate are ignoring history. Richard Nixon was written off by almost everyone after losing to JFK in 1960 and then losing his California gubernatorial bid to Pat Brown in 1962. He came back six years later to win the presidency and then win re-election four years after that. However, Democrats are apparently less tolerant of their former losers than Republicans are. Democrats seem to be constantly looking for a fresh face. Gore would have to convince Democratic primary voters that he’s more ?electable? than their up and coming stars. That could ultimately prove to be a difficult task.

Bill Richardson served 15 years in the House of Representatives before becoming U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and subsequently Energy Secretary under Bill Clinton. Richardson is known as a moderate Democrat and is a member of that wing’s Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). Being the governor of western state could work to his advantage, although New Mexico switched from “blue” to “red” in the recent presidential election. He may take a hit politically because of that. Due to his previous ties to the Clinton Administration, he might be viewed as an acceptable alternative to Hillary, should her candidacy not catch on.

Many Democrats may see Evan Bayh as just the candidate they need in the wake of Kerry’s recent loss. He is a strong Democrat from a solidly “red” state, i.e., he was overwhelmingly elected to a second term as senator even as George W. Bush overwhelmingly carried his state in the presidential election (as all Republican candidates have in recent presidential elections). Bayh had previously served two terms as governor of Indiana. He is one of the leaders of the moderate Democrat movement. His father, Birch Bayh, was also a U.S. Senator and ran in the Democratic primaries for president in 1976, but was defeated by Jimmy Carter. Bayh is my dark horse pick to take the nomination. The only negative about him is that he seems to have a smirk on his face all the time and looks like he belongs on a TV show like Saturday Night Live!

In 1998, Tom Vilsack was elected Iowa’s first Democratic governor in over 30 years and was re-elected in 2002. He is one of the most well respected and influential governors in the U.S. He is one of the established, but relatively unknown, players in the Democratic Party. Vilsack may be one of the people whom Democrats will look to following Kerry’s loss. He refused to take sides prior to January’s Iowa Democratic Caucuses, although his endorsement was sought by all the leading candidates. His wife endorsed Kerry and that seemed to help propel him to victory there. As is the case with Bill Richardson in New Mexico, Vilsack might have to explain why Iowa went from “blue

By: Mark Memmott and Jill Lawrence

Lots of newspapers are speculating today about the impact of the new Obama administration. A few examples:

The Washington Post writes that President-elect Barack Obama may quickly reverse scores of President Bush’s actions and executive orders, including a limit on federal funds for stem-cell research and a “global gag order” that bars international family-planning groups that receive U.S. aid from telling women about abortion.

The New York Times analyzes which Obama campaign promises will get onto the fast track and which might be put off. On a related note, Sen. Edward Kennedy writes in the Post that health care reform cannot wait.

The Times also examines how Obama ended up winning white, working-class Levittown, Pa., and what’s become of the harsh campaign rhetoric opponents used against Obama until he won. The lead: “That whole anti-American, friend-to-the-terrorists thing about President-elect Barack Obama? Never mind.”

Politico says the Dec. 2 runoff in the Georgia Senate race is a test for Obama and wonders whether he will risk his political capital by campaigning for Democrat Jim Martin. Vanquished Republican nominee John McCain already has said he will campaign for incumbent Saxby Chambliss.

Looking further ahead to future presidential elections, The Los Angeles Times says Democrats are setting their sights on winning Texas. The key: a large untapped pool of black and Latino voters.

And an election update: Obama has moved toward a 7-percentage point lead over McCain as late returns are counted, 53%-46%. Missouri still has not been called for either candidate. The Alaska, Georgia and Minnesota Senate races also remain undecided.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barack” and “Obama” redirect here. For other uses, see Barack (disambiguation) and Obama (disambiguation).

Barack Hussein Obama II (pronounced /bəˈrɑːk hʊˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the President-elect of the United States of America and the junior United States Senator from Illinois.^[1][2][3] Obama is the first African American to be elected President of the United States.^[4]

He is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School where he was president of the Harvard Law Review.^[5] Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January 2003. After a primary victory in March 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He was elected to the Senate in November 2004 with 70 percent of the vote.

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he helped create legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel.

Obama announced his presidential campaign in February 2007, and was nominated at the 2008 Democratic National Convention with Senator Joe Biden of Delaware as his vice presidential running mate. In the 2008 presidential election, he won 53% of the popular vote and 365 electoral college votes against Senator John McCain’s 46% of the popular vote and 162 electoral college votes (Missouri [11 votes] is still being counted, as is one electoral vote in Nebraska).^[6]

Early life and career

Main article: Early life and career of Barack Obama

Right-to-left: Barack Obama and half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, with their mother Ann Dunham and grandfather Stanley Dunham, in Hawaii (early 1970s)

Barack Obama was born at the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu, Hawaii,^[7] to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a Luo from Nyang’oma Kogelo, Nyanza Province, Kenya, and Ann Dunham, a white American from Wichita, Kansas^[8] of mainly English, Irish and smaller amounts of German descent.^[9][10][11] His parents met in 1960 while attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was a foreign student.^[12][13] The couple married February 2, 1961;^[14] they separated when Obama was two years old and subsequently divorced in 1964.^[13] Obama’s father returned to Kenya and saw his son only once more before dying in an automobile accident in 1982.^[15]

After her divorce, Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro’s home country of Indonesia in 1967, where Obama attended local schools, such as Asisi, in Jakarta until he was ten years old. It was during this time that he learned about equaliy and unity and became involved in Scouting.^[16] He then returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, while attending Punahou School from the fifth grade in 1971 until his graduation from high school in 1979.^[17] Obama’s mother returned to Hawaii in 1972 for several years, and then in 1977 went back to Indonesia, where she worked as an anthropological field worker. She stayed there most of the rest of her life, returning to Hawaii in 1994. She died of ovarian cancer in 1995.^[18]

As an adult Obama admitted that during high school he used marijuana, cocaine and alcohol, which he described at the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency as his greatest moral failure.^[19][20]

Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years.^[21] He then transferred to Columbia College in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations.^[22] Obama graduated with a B.A. from Columbia in 1983, then at the start of the following year worked for a year at the Business International Corporation^[23][24] and then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.^[25][26]

After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago, where he was hired as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago’s far South Side, and worked there for three years from June 1985 to May 1988.^[25][27] During his three years as the DCP’s director, its staff grew from one to thirteen and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants’ rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.^[28] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.^[29] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time to Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his Kenyan relatives for the first time.^[30]

Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988. At the end of his first year, he was selected, based on his grades and a writing competition, as an editor of the Harvard Law Review.^[31] In February 1990, in his second year, he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the Law Review’s staff of eighty editors.^[32] Obama’s election as the first black president of the Law Review was widely reported and followed by several long, detailed profiles.^[32] During his summers, he returned to Chicago where he worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley & Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.^[33] After graduating with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) magna cum laude^[34][35] from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago.^[31]

The publicity from his election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations.^[36] In an effort to recruit him to their faculty, the University of Chicago Law School provided Obama with a fellowship and an office to work on his book.^[36] He originally planned to finish the book in one year, but it took much longer as the book evolved into a personal memoir. In order to work without interruptions, Obama and his wife, Michelle, traveled to Bali where he wrote for several months. The manuscript was finally published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father.^[36]

Obama directed Illinois’ Project Vote from April to October 1992, a voter registration drive with a staff of ten and seven hundred volunteers; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, and led to Crain’s Chicago Business naming Obama to its 1993 list of “40 under Forty” powers to be.^[37][38]

Beginning in 1992, Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, being first classified as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004.^[39]

He also, in 1993, joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a twelve-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002.^[25][40][41]

Obama was a founding member of the board of directors of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife, Michelle, became the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago in early 1993.^[25][42] He served from 1994 to 2002 on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project, and also from 1994 to 2002 on the board of directors of The Joyce Foundation.^[25] Obama served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.^[25] He also served on the board of directors of the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the Lugenia Burns Hope Center.^[25]

State legislator, 1997–2004

Main article: Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama

Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding State Senator Alice Palmer as Senator from Illinois’ 13th District, which then spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park-Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn.^[43] Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws.^[44] He sponsored a law increasing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.^[45] In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan’s payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.^[46]

Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, and again in 2002.^[47] 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.^[48][49]

In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.^[50] He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.^[45][51] During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.^[52] Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the US Senate.^[53]

2004 U.S. Senate campaign

See also: United States Senate election in Illinois, 2004

In mid-2002, Obama began considering a run for the U.S. Senate; he enlisted political strategist David Axelrod that fall and formally announced his candidacy in January 2003.^[54] Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun not to contest the race launched wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving fifteen candidates.^[55] Obama’s candidacy was boosted by Axelrod’s advertising campaign featuring images of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and an endorsement by the daughter of the late Paul Simon, former U.S. Senator for Illinois.^[56] He received over 52% of the vote in the March 2004 primary, emerging 29% ahead of his nearest Democratic rival.^[57]

Obama’s expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.^[58]

In August 2004, two months after Ryan’s withdrawal and less than three months before Election Day, Alan Keyes accepted the Illinois Republican Party’s nomination to replace Ryan.^[62] A long-time resident of Maryland, Keyes established legal residency in Illinois with the nomination.^[63] In the November 2004 general election, Obama received 70% of the vote to Keyes’s 27%, the largest victory margin for a statewide race in Illinois history.^[64]

U.S. Senator, from 2005

Main article: United States Senate career of Barack Obama

Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 4, 2005.^[65] Obama was the fifth African-American Senator in U.S. history, and the third to have been popularly elected.^[66] He is the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus.^[67] CQ Weekly, a nonpartisan publication, characterized him as a “loyal Democrat” based on analysis of all Senate votes in 2005–2007, and the National Journal ranked him as the “most liberal” senator based on an assessment of selected votes during 2007. In 2005 he was ranked sixteenth, and in 2006 he was ranked tenth.^[68][69] In 2008, he was ranked by Congress.org as the eleventh most powerful Senator.^[70]

Legislation

See also: List of bills sponsored by Barack Obama in the United States SenateObama voted in favor of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.^[72] In September 2006, Obama supported a related bill, the Secure Fence Act.^[73] Obama introduced two initiatives bearing his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons,^[74] and the Coburn–Obama Transparency Act, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending.^[75] On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama, along with Senators Thomas R. Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain, introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.^[76]Obama sponsored legislation that would have required nuclear plant owners to notify state and local authorities of radioactive leaks, but the bill failed to pass in the full Senate after being heavily modified in committee.^[77] In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.^[78] In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007.^[79] Obama also introduced Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections^[80] and the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007,^[81] neither of which have been signed into law.

Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act adding safeguards for

“]

Obama and Richard Lugar visit a Russian mobile launch missile dismantling facility.[82

Committees

Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans’ Affairs through December 2006.^[88] In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.^[89] He also became Chairman of the Senate’s subcommittee on European Affairs.^[90] As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before he became President of Palestine, and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi condemning corruption in the Kenyan government.^{[91][92][93][94]}

2008 presidential campaign

Main articles: Barack Obama presidential primary campaign, 2008 and Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008

On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois.^[95][96] The choice of the announcement site was symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic “House Divided” speech in 1858.^[97] Throughout the campaign, Obama emphasized the issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care, at one point identifying these as his top three priorities.^[98]

Obama on stage with his wife and two daughters just before announcing his presidential campaign in Springfield, Illinois

Obama’s campaign raised $58 million during the first half of 2007, of which donations of less than $200, classified as “small donations” by campaign laws, accounted for $16.4 million. The $58 million set the record for fundraising by a presidential campaign in the first six months of the calendar year before the election.^[99] The magnitude of the small donation portion was outstanding from both the absolute and relative perspectives.^[100] In January 2008, his campaign set another fundraising record with $36.8 million, the most ever raised in one month by a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries.^[101]

Among the January 2008 DNC-sanctioned state contests, Obama tied with Hillary Clinton for delegates in the New Hampshire primary and won more delegates than Clinton in the Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina elections and caucuses. On Super Tuesday, he emerged with 20 more delegates than Clinton.^[102] He again broke fundraising records in the first two months of 2008, raising over $90 million for his primary to Clinton’s $45 million.^[103] After Super Tuesday, Obama won the eleven remaining February primaries and caucuses.^[104] Obama and Clinton split delegates and states nearly equally in the March 4 contests of Vermont, Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island; Obama closed the month by winning Wyoming and Mississippi.^[105]

In March 2008, a controversy broke out concerning Obama’s former pastor of twenty years, Jeremiah Wright,^[106] after ABC News broadcast clips of his racially and politically charged sermons.^[106][107] Initially, Obama responded by defending Wright’s wider role in Chicago’s African-American community,^[108] but condemned his remarks and ended Wright’s relationship with the campaign.^[109] During the controversy, Obama delivered a speech entitled “A More Perfect Union”^[110] that addressed issues of race. Obama subsequently resigned from Trinity United Church of Christ “to avoid the impression that he endorsed the entire range of opinions expressed at that church.”^{[111][112][113]}

During April, May, and June, Obama won the North Carolina, Oregon, and Montana primaries and remained ahead in the count of pledged delegates, while Clinton won the Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Puerto Rico, and South Dakota primaries. During the period, Obama received endorsements from more superdelegates than did Clinton.^[114] On May 31, the Democratic National Committee agreed to seat all of the Michigan and Florida delegates at the national convention, each with a half-vote, narrowing Obama’s delegate lead while increasing the delegate count needed to win.^[115] On June 3, with all states counted, Obama passed the threshold to become the presumptive nominee.^[116][117] On that day, he gave a victory speech in St. Paul, Minnesota. Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed him on June 7.^[118] From that point on, he campaigned for the general election race against Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee.

On June 19, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976, reversing his earlier intention to accept it.^[119]

On August 23, 2008, Obama selected Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate.^[120] At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Obama’s former rival Hillary Clinton gave a speech strongly supporting Obama’s candidacy and later called for Obama to be nominated by acclamation as the Democratic presidential candidate.^[121][122] Then, on August 28, Obama delivered a speech to the 84,000 supporters in Denver. During the speech, which was viewed by over 38 million people worldwide, he accepted his party’s nomination and presented his policy goals.^[123][124]

Obama delivering his presidential acceptance speech

After McCain was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, polls indicated that he had closed the gap with Obama. There were three presidential debates between Obama and McCain in September and October 2008.^[125][126]

After the debates, Obama pulled ahead in national polls. On November 2, 2008, Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died from cancer at the age of 86. Obama learned of his grandmother’s death on November 3, one day before the election.^[127][128]

President-elect of the United States

See also: Presidential transition of Barack Obama

On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama defeated John McCain and became the first African American to be elected President of the United States.^{[129][130][131][132]} In his victory speech, delivered before a crowd of hundreds of thousands of his supporters in Chicago, Obama proclaimed that “change has come to America.”^[133] Obama is the first U.S. President born outside the continental United States.

President-elect Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009.

Obama held his first press conference as president-elect on Friday 2008 November 07, in which he discussed the economy, Iran, the ongoing transition, and his search for a family dog.^[134]

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).^[135] Based on his years in Congress, Obama has a lifetime average conservative rating of 7.67% from the ACU,^[136] and a lifetime average liberal rating of 90 percent from the ADA.^[137]

Obama was an early opponent of the Bush administration’s policies on Iraq.^[138] On October 2, 2002, the day President George W. Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War,^[139] Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally in Federal Plaza,^[140] speaking out against the war.^[141][142] On March 16, 2003, the day President Bush issued his 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq before the U.S. invasion of Iraq,^[143] Obama addressed the largest Chicago anti-Iraq War rally to date in Daley Plaza and told the crowd that “it’s not too late” to stop the war.^[144]

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 in order to take ICBMs off high alert status.^[145]

In November 2006, Obama called for a “phased redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq” and an opening of diplomatic dialogue with Syria and Iran.^[146] 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.^[147] Obama has indicated that he would engage in “direct presidential diplomacy” with Iran without preconditions.^{[148][149][150]} Detailing his strategy for fighting global terrorism in August 2007, Obama said “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.^[151]

In a December 2005, Washington Post opinion column, and at the Save Darfur rally in April 2006, Obama called for more assertive action to oppose genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.^[152] He has divested $180,000 in personal holdings of Sudan-related stock, and has urged divestment from companies doing business in Iran.^[153] In the July–August 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs, Obama called for an outward looking post-Iraq War foreign policy and the renewal of American military, diplomatic, and moral leadership in the world. Saying “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.”^[154]

In 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.^[155] 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.^[156] Shortly before announcing his presidential campaign, Obama said he supports universal health care in the United States.^[157] Obama proposes to reward teachers for performance from traditional merit pay systems, assuring unions that changes would be pursued through the collective bargaining process.^[158]

“]

Obama speaking at a rally in Conway, South Carolina[159

Obama has encouraged Democrats to reach out to evangelicals and other religious groups.^[165] In December 2006, he joined Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) at the “Global Summit on AIDS and the Church” organized by church leaders Kay and Rick Warren.^[166] Together with Warren and Brownback, Obama took an HIV test, as he had done in Kenya less than four months earlier.^[167] He encouraged “others in public life to do the same” and not be ashamed of it.^[168] Addressing over 8,000 United Church of Christ members in June 2007, Obama challenged “so-called leaders of the Christian Right” for being “all too eager to exploit what divides us.”^[169]

Family and personal life

Main article: Family of Barack Obama

Obama was known as “Barry” in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years.^[170]

Obama met his wife, Michelle Robinson, in June 1989 when he was employed as a summer associate at the

Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama

Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin.^[171] Assigned for three months as Obama’s adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial offers to date.^[172] They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.^[173] The couple’s first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998,^[174] followed by a second daughter, Natasha (“Sasha”), in 2001.^[175]

Applying the proceeds of a book deal,^[176] in 2005 the family moved from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to their current $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood.^[177] The purchase of an adjacent lot and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer and friend Tony Rezko attracted media attention because of Rezko’s indictment and subsequent conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.^[178][179]

In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family’s net worth at $1.3 million.^[180] 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.^[181]

“]

Obama playing basketball with U.S. military in Djibouti in 2006[182

Obama plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school’s varsity team.^[188] Before announcing his presidential candidacy, he began a well-publicized effort to quit smoking.^[189]

Obama is a Christian whose religious views have evolved 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.” In the book, Obama explains 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.”^[190][191] He was baptized at Trinity United Church of Christ in 1988.^[192][193]

Cultural and political image

Main article: Public image of Barack Obama

With his Kenyan father and white American mother, his upbringing in Honolulu and Jakarta, and his Ivy League education, Obama’s early life experiences differ markedly from those of African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement.^[194] Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is “black enough,” Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that the debate is not about his physical appearance or his record on issues of concern to black voters. Obama said that “we’re still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong.”^[195]

Echoing the inaugural address of John F. Kennedy, 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.”^[196]

Many commentators mentioned Obama’s international appeal as a defining factor for his public image.^[197] Not only did several polls show strong support for him in other countries,^[198] but Obama also established close relationships with prominent foreign politicians and elected officials even before his presidential candidacy, notably with then current British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom he met in London in 2005,^[199] with Italy’s Democratic Party leader Walter Veltroni, who visited Obama’s Senate office in 2005,^[200] and with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who also visited him in Washington in 2006.^[201]

Written works

• Obama, Barack (1995). Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0307383415.  Audio Book Grammy Award Winner: Spoken word^[202]
• Obama, Barack (October 17, 2006). The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. Crown Publishing Group / Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0307237699.  Audio Book Grammy Award Winner: Spoken word^[203][204]
• Obama, Barack (March 27, 2007). Barack Obama in His Own Words. PublicAffairs. ISBN 0786720573. 
• National Urban League (April 17, 2007). The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male, Foreword by Barack Obama, Beckham Publications Group. ISBN 0931761859. 
• Obama, Barack (July-August 2007). “Renewing American Leadership”. Foreign Affairs 86 (4). Retrieved on 2008-01-14. 
• Obama, Barack (March 1, 2008). Barack Obama: What He Believes In – From His Own Works. Arc Manor. ISBN 1604501170. 
• Obama, Barack; McCain, John (June 13, 2008). Barack Obama vs. John McCain – Side by Side Senate Voting Record for Easy Comparison. Arc Manor. ISBN 1604502495. 
• Obama, Barack (September 9, 2008). Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama’s Plan to Renew America’s Promise, Foreword by Barack Obama, Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0307460452. 

Home

You proved that change can happen. You built an unprecedented grassroots organization in all 50 states that brought a record number of people into the political process — many for the first time, many for the first time in a long time.

Our success required unprecedented resources, and the Democratic National Committee played a major role on the ground efforts that generated record turnout up and down the ticket.

Please make a donation to the DNC to help fund the efforts it undertook in 2008.

Buy Now!

‘Change has come to America,’ first African-American leader tells country

President-elect Barack Obama walks on stage at his victory celebration in Chicago with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha.

By Alex Johnson Reporter msnbc.com

updated 12:39 a.m. ET Nov. 5, 2008

Barack Obama, a 47-year-old first-term senator from Illinois, shattered more than 200 years of history Tuesday night by winning election as the first African-American president of the United States.

A crowd of 125,000 people jammed Grant Park in Chicago, where Obama addressed the nation for the first time as its president-elect at midnight ET. Hundreds of thousands more — Mayor Richard Daley said he would not be surprised if a million Chicagoans jammed the streets — watched on a large television screen outside the park.

“If there is anyone out there who doubts that America is a place where anything is possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” Obama declared.

“Young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans have sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of red states and blue states,” he said. “We have been and always will be the United States of America.

“It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America,” he said to a long roar.

McCain notes history in the making
Obama congratulated his opponent, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, for his “unimaginable” service to the United States, first as a prisoner of war for 5½ years in North Vietnam and then for nearly three decades in Congress.

McCain called Obama to offer his congratulations at 11 p.m. ET, Obama’s chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, told NBC News. Obama thanked McCain for his “class and honor” during the campaign and said he was eager to sit down and talk about how the two of them could work together.

Saying, “The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly,” McCain told supporters in Phoenix that he “recognized the special significance” Obama’s victory had for African-Americans.

“We both recognize that though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still have the power to wound,” McCain said.

“Let there be no reason for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth,” said McCain, who pledged his support and help for the new president.

President Bush called to congratulate Obama and promise a smooth transition of power on Jan. 20, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

“Mr. President-elect, congratulations to you. What an awesome night for you, your family and your supporters,” said Bush, who invited Obama and his family to visit the White House as soon as it was convenient.

The president also called McCain to say that he was proud of the senator’s efforts and that he was “sorry it didn’t work out.”

“You didn’t leave anything on the playing field,” Bush said.

A broad and deep victory
Campaigning as a technocratic agent of change in Washington and not a pathbreaking civil rights figure, Obama swept to victory over McCain, whose running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was seeking to become the nation’s first female vice president.

Obama’s election was a broad one. He won Florida, the scene of so much electoral chaos in recent elections. He won Ohio, a key to President Bush’s two election wins. He won Colorado, home of the religious right. And he won Virginia, reversing 40 years of Republican victories there.

Surveys of voters as they left polling places nationwide encapsulated the historic nature of the victory by Obama, the son of a Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas. As expected, he won overwhelmingly among African-American voters, but he also won a slim majority of white voters. He won among women and Latino voters, reversing a longstanding Republican trend. And he won by more than 2-to-1 among voters of all races 30 years old and younger.

That dynamic was telling in Ohio and in Pennsylvania, where McCain poured in millions of dollars of scarce resources. Obama won both, along with Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and New York, all states with hefty electoral vote hauls, NBC News projected.

McCain countered with Texas and numerous smaller states, primarily in the South and the Great Plains.

In interviews with NBC News, aides to McCain said they were proud that they had put up a good fight in “historically difficult times.”

A senior adviser said McCain himself was “fine” but that he felt “he let his staff and supporters down.”

Obama will have a strongly Democratic Congress on the other end of Capitol Hill. The Democrats won strong majorities in both the House and the Senate. NBC News projected that the party would fall just short of a procedurally important 60 percent “supermajority” in the Senate, however.

‘Transformation of America’
In the end, Florida, the scene of electoral chaos in recent elections, had little impact. Florida had been closely watched, but results there and in other closely contested states were delayed until after Obama clinched his victory as record numbers of voters flocked to polling stations, energized by an election in which they would select either the nation’s first black president or its first female vice president.

Americans voted in numbers unprecedented since women were given the franchise in 1920. Secretaries of state predicted turnouts approaching 90 percent in Virginia and Colorado and 80 percent or more in big states like Ohio, California, Texas, Virginia, Missouri and Maryland.

Voters were lured to the polls by the historic nature of an election that held the potential to yield an African-American president.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a living legend of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, said he was “overwhelmed” and had broken down in tears.

“I never imagined, I never even had any idea I would live to see an African-American president of the United States,” Lewis said in an interview on MSNBC.

“We have witnessed tonight in America a revolution of values, a revolution of ideals,” Lewis said. “There’s been a transformation of America, and it will have unbelievable influence on the world.”

Ellora Lyons, 81, of Peoria, Ill., recalled boarding a train to Oklahoma with her two oldest boys in 1948. Her brother had been killed in an accident, and they were going to his funeral.

“There was a sign on this train that said, ‘n—–s to the back,’” she said. “And we couldn’t drink out of the same water fountain.”

“I remember my mom and my dad talking about black folks being not able to vote,” Lyons said. “I never thought that I would see a black man [in the White House], but I was hoping that one day that a black man would run for president.”

All told, election experts predicted that as many as 140 million Americans would vote, many of them minority, immigrant and younger Americans who were casting their ballots for the first time.

Maria Reyes, who immigrated from El Salvador and was sworn in as a citizen in August, was one of them. She cast her ballot with help from her daughter, Elvia.

“It’s wonderful time for our country right now — Obama!” Reyes said as she waved a small American flag.

In the Little Saigon section of Los Angeles, Timothy Ngo, a Vietnamese immigrant, turned out to support McCain.

“I came here as a refugee, so Mr. McCain and I grew up and fought in the same war in Vietnam,” Ngo said.

Obama, McCain cast their ballots
Obama and his wife, Michelle, voted with their young daughters at their sides at Beulah Shoesmith Elementary School in Hyde Park, Ill. The family was ushered inside ahead of a line of their neighbors that wrapped around the block.

Fellow voters watched in silence and snapped cell-phone pictures. They cheered when Obama held up his validation slip with a smile and said, “I voted.”

“The journey ends, but voting with my daughters, that was a big deal,” he told reporters later.

Obama’s final days of campaigning were bittersweet: He was mourning the loss of his grandmother Madelyn Dunham, who helped raise him but died of cancer Sunday night and never got to see the results of the historic election.

In Delaware, Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, went to the polls with his elderly mother. Speaking to reporters on his plane, Biden said he had made a deal with his wife, Jill.

“If you get the vice presidency and get elected, you can get a dog,” Biden said his wife told him. “I know what kind I want, [but] I don’t know what kind I’m going to get yet. We’re not there yet. The deal’s not closed yet.”

McCain, meanwhile, cast his ballot early Tuesday at a church near his home in central Phoenix. A small crowd cheered “Go, John, go!” and “We love you!” as he stepped out of a sport utility vehicle with his wife, Cindy. One person carried a sign that read, “Use your brain, vote McCain!”

Palin returned to where her political career began to cast her vote in the snow-dusted, two-story Wasilla City Hall where she once presided as a small-town mayor.

Palin, accompanied by her husband, Todd, voted just after 7 a.m. Tuesday, pushing aside a red, white and blue curtain on a voting booth and handing her white paper ballot to a clerk.