Barack Obama

Barack Obama
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza · Public domain · source
Name	Barack Obama
Caption	Official portrait, 2012
Order	44th
Office	President of the United States
Term start	January 20, 2009
Term end	January 20, 2017
Vicepresident	Joe Biden
Predecessor	George W. Bush
Successor	Donald Trump
State1	Illinois
Term start1	January 3, 2005
Term end1	November 16, 2008
Predecessor1	Peter Fitzgerald
Successor1	Roland Burris
Office2	Member of the Illinois Senate from the 13th district
Term start2	January 8, 1997
Term end2	November 4, 2004
Predecessor2	Alice Palmer
Successor2	Kwame Raoul
Birth date	4 August 1961
Birth place	Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Michelle Obama, October 3, 1992
Children	Malia, Sasha
Education	Punahou School
Alma mater	Occidental College, Columbia University (BA), Harvard University (JD)
Signature alt	Cursive signature in ink

Barack Obama. He served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017, becoming the first African-American to hold the office. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a U.S. Senator from Illinois and as an Illinois State Senator. His presidency was defined by the passage of major legislation including the Affordable Care Act and the response to the Great Recession.

Early life and education

He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr. He spent part of his childhood in Jakarta, Indonesia, before returning to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. He attended Punahou School, a prestigious preparatory academy in Honolulu. For his undergraduate education, he first attended Occidental College in Los Angeles before transferring to Columbia University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science. He then moved to Chicago and worked as a community organizer before entering Harvard Law School. At Harvard University, he was elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review and graduated magna cum laude with a Juris Doctor in 1991.

Political career before the presidency

After law school, he returned to Chicago, where he directed Project Vote, a voter registration drive, and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. He was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, representing the 13th district on the South Side of Chicago. In the Illinois General Assembly, he helped pass ethics reform legislation and worked on issues like health care and tax credits for the working poor. His national profile rose following a keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Later that year, he was elected to the United States Senate, defeating Alan Keyes in the general election. In the U.S. Senate, he served on the Foreign Relations and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees, and co-sponsored legislation on issues like nuclear non-proliferation and electoral fraud.

Presidency (2009–2017)

He was inaugurated as president in January 2009, with Joe Biden as his Vice President, inheriting the Great Recession and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His administration's first major legislative achievement was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a stimulus package. In 2010, he signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (often called "Obamacare") and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. In foreign policy, he ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, oversaw the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and normalized relations with Cuba. He also ordered military intervention in Libya, endorsed the Paris Agreement on climate change, and championed the Iran nuclear deal. His second term saw executive actions on immigration, the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide following the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, and the opening of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Post-presidency

Since leaving the White House, he has remained active in public life through the Obama Foundation. He and his wife, Michelle Obama, produced content for Netflix under their Higher Ground Productions banner and signed a major book deal with Penguin Random House. He has occasionally campaigned for Democratic candidates, including for his former Vice President Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election. He has also spoken on issues like voting rights, climate change, and democratic norms, and published a presidential memoir, A Promised Land, in 2020.

Public image and legacy

He left office with high approval ratings and is often ranked by historians and political scientists in the upper tier of American presidents. His election was a historic milestone for African-American political achievement, and his presidency is associated with the recovery from the Great Recession, the expansion of health insurance coverage, and a shift in foreign policy toward diplomacy and multilateralism. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. His political style, characterized by his oratory and calls for unity, made him a globally recognized figure, though his tenure also faced significant partisan opposition from the Republican Party and criticism from both the left and right on issues like drone strikes, government surveillance, and immigration enforcement.

Category:Barack Obama Category:Presidents of the United States Category:American lawyers