Barack Obama was born in 1961 in Hawaii and was the first African American president of the United States. He had a diverse background, living in Indonesia as a child before attending Columbia University and Harvard Law School. As a lawyer and law professor, Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago and served in the Illinois State Senate from 1997 to 2004. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004 and gained national attention with his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Obama was elected president in 2008 running on a message of hope and change.

1. Barack Hussein Obama
Born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.
Barack H. Obama is the 44th
President of the United States.

2.  He was born on August 4, 1961 in
Honolulu, Hawaii.
 His father was a black man (also named Barack
Hussein Obama) born in Africa and his mother
was a white woman born in Kansas.
 Obama's father and his mother separated and
divorced when Obama was a young child. His
mother remarried in 1967 when Obama was 6
years old to a man named Lolo Soetoro.
 His family moved to Soetoro's home country
which was Indonesia. Obama lived there until he
was 10 years old when he returned to live in
Hawaii with his maternal grandparents who raised
him from then on.

3.  Obama moved to Los Angeles for college.
 After two years he transferred to Columbia
University in NYC. Obama graduated from
Columbia in 1983.
 Obama then moved to Chicago where he
worked as a community organizer for three
years until the age of 27 when he moved to
Massachusetts so that he could attend Harvard
Law School.
 In 1990, during his second year, he was
elected President of the Harvard Law Review.
 He was the first black person elected President
of the Harvard Law Review.

4.  This remarkable feat was widely reported upon. He
graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum
laude in 1991.
 He moved back to Chicago at that time and
married Michelle Robinson in 1992. They have had
two daughters, the first Malia Ann was born in
1998 and the second Natasha was born in 2001.
 Obama began teaching constitutional law at the
University of Chicago Law School in 1992 and
continued doing so for 12 years.

5.  During this time he also directed the Illnois' Project
Vote which registered 150,000 African Americans in the
state.
 In 1996 Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate.
While a State Senator Obama was able to gain support
for ethics reform and health care laws. Obama re-
elected twice and held the position until he was elected
as one of Illinois two US Senators in 2004.
 In 2000 Obama unsuccessfully ran for congress. He
lost in the primary to Bobby Rush who is an African
American Democrat who has been a congressman
since 1993.

6.  He is still in the House today. Despite being rivals in
2000, Rush has supported Obama in his campaign for
the Senate in 2004 and in his campaign for the
Presidency in 2008.
 In 2004 Obama easily defeated Republican Alan Keyes
to become a US Senator.
 In fact his 70 percent to 27 percent defeat of Keyes set the
all time record for margin of victory in a statewide election in
Illinois.

7.  The election between Obama & Keyes was also
noteworthy as it was the first Senatorial election in US
history in which the two major candidates were both
African Americans.
 During that 2004 campaign Obama was selected to be
the keynote speaker at the Democratic National
Convention and the speech is considered by most to
be responsible launching his national political career.
His speech was so well received that he was
immediately considered to be a rising star in the
Democratic party.
 On February 10, 2007 Obama announced his
candidacy for the 2008 Democratic nomination. At the
time Hillary Clinton was considered a huge favorite to
win the nomination.

8.  The race for the Democratic primary became a battle
between Obama & Clinton as the other challengers
quickly fell by the wayside.
 The battle continued on into June as Clinton would not
give in until the very end despite Obama's clear
mathematical advantage beginning in February.
 In the general election Obama selected Joe Biden as his
Vice Presidential running mate and they faced
Republican John McCain who made a huge mistake by
selecting the unqualified Sarah Palin as his running
mate.

9.  On November 4th Obama easily defeated McCain
became the first black person (biracial to be more
accurate) to be elected as President of the United
States.
 Barack Obama is scheduled to become the 44th
President of the United States on January
20, 2009.
 The most forward thinking American President in
generations.
 A uniter. A breath of fresh air after 8 years of
President Bush

10.  The smartest man to inhabit the White House.
 A socialist.
 An elitist, Harvard educated lawyer who is out
of touch with mainstream America.
 An inexperienced politician who lucked into
the right place at the right time.
 The biggest supporter of federal government
spending since Roosevelt.

11.  Legislative prowess
- Obama’s success rate in winning congressional
votes on issues was an unprecedented 96.7%
for his first year in office.
 Fiscal Responsibility
- he created the National Commission on Fiscal
Responsibility and Reform.

12.  Improving the Economy, Preventing Depression
- He created the Making Home Affordable home
refinancing plan.
 Wall Street Reforms and Consumer Protection
- Ordered 65 executives who took bailout money to
cut their own pay until they paid back all bailout
money.
 Civil Rights and Anti-Discrimination
-He extended benefits to same-sex partners of
federal employees.

13.  Fighting Poverty
- He provided a $20 billion increase for the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
 Improved Foreign Relations and American
Status Abroad
- He improved relations with Middle East
countries by appointing special envoys.
 Better Approach to “Defense”
- Created a comprehensive new strategy for
dealing with the international nuclear threat.

14.  Education
- He has repeatedly increased funding for
student financial aid, and at the same time cut
the banks completely out of the process.
 Greater Transparency and Better Government
- He signed an order banning gifts from
lobbyists to anyone in the Executive Branch.
 National Safety and Security
Has repeatedly beefed up border security

15.  Science, Technology and Health Care
- Opened up the process for fast-tracking patent
approval for green energy projects.
 Environment and Energy
- He fast-tracked regulations to allow states to
enact federal fuel efficiency standards.

16.  Transformational-charismatic
 New President Barack Obama has gotten the
attention of American's and foreigners alike
due to his charismatic nature. A charismatic
leader has an uncanny ability to draw others to
his side and move them to accomplish a cause
bigger than themselves. A charismatic
approach is transformational if it invokes a
permanent change in the people who embrace
the leader's vision.

17.  Cross-cultural Leadership
- Under the Bush Administration, America's image
lost much of its shine. This was mostly due to a
unilateral, ethnocentric foreign policy espoused by
Bush and Cheney. While not taking America's
safety needs for granted, Obama has formulated a
more cross-cultural approach to the
world, thinking not only of the US's interests but
also the interests of the other nations as well.
- In In the first six months on the job, Obama has
traveled abroad more than any other president at
this point of his administration and has paid
attention to cultural norms in the places where he
traveled.

18.  Contingency Leadership
- Not only has Obama been culturally sensitive
and transformational, he has been able to
respond to various situations using different
types of leadership models. When traveling
abroad Obama has been conciliatory, humble
and apt to listen before speaking.

19.  Obama began his presidency with a 68 percent
approval rating before gradually declining for
the rest of the year, and eventually bottoming
out at 41 percent in August 2010.
 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"

20.  Obama was rated as the most respected world
leader, as well as the most powerful.
 President Obama's years of public service are
based around his unwavering belief in the
ability to unite people around a politics of
purpose
 In the Illinois State Senate, he passed the first
major ethics reform in 25 years, cut taxes for
working families, and expanded health care for
children and their parents.

21.  he reached across the aisle to pass
groundbreaking lobbying reform, lock up the
world's most dangerous weapons, and bring
transparency to government by putting federal
spending online.
 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 the economic downturn.