Barack Obama biography
Barack Hussein Obama was born on 4th august 1964 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was born of a Kenyan father from Nyanza province and of Luo ethnicity. The father later left Kenya to pursue an education in Hawaii. His mother was from Wichita, Kansas. After spending his early life in Hawaii, he left the state to pursue an education at Columbia University, where upon graduation went on to pursue law at Harvard law school. Early in his career, Obama moved to Chicago to work for low-income residents; there, he worked as a community organizer. It was while he was working there that he met his wife Michelle, they got married in 1992 and later blessed with two daughters.
Obama joined politics in 1996, where he was elected to the state of Illinois senate where he served between 1996 and 2004. In 2004, he joined the US Senate after garnering the majority votes from Illinois State. As a senator, he served on different committees and was the chair of the European Affairs subcommittee. Obama sponsored legislation to provide support for victims of Hurricane Katrina, improving the safety of consumer products, and helping the victims of hurricane Katrina. It was when he was the Illinois senator that he became a rising star in the Democratic Party. In 2004 during the national democratic convention, Obama delivered a keynote address that caught the attention of many.
Obama decided to run for the US president’s office in February 2007, where he chose Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. He won the Democratic Party candidature, which was a very tight race against Hillary Clinton. Together with Biden, they a presidential campaign that was majorly based on change and hope. His two primary issues were reforms in the healthcare and the ending of the war with Iraq. His campaign was much supported by activists across the country and small donors who raised a record 750miliion us dollars. Obama won the presidency against John McCain, who run on a republican ticket, he was inaugurated on 20th February 2009. Obama became the first African American to get into the white house and the 44th president of the United States.
Obama took office when America was undergoing a global economic recession. During his first one hundred days in office, his administration took action on many fronts, which saw him awarded the Nobel prize in 2009 for his efforts. I the first two years of his presidency, Obama working with the congress, which was dominated by the Democrats, was able to pass healthcare reforms, improve the economy and withdraw the United States Army from Iraq. Other notable incidences during his first term were his ordering of military operation that resulted in the death of a renowned al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. He also instructed US military involvement in Libya, leading to the overthrow of Muamar Gadaffi. Obama was re-elected for the presidency in 2012 and was sworn into office in 2013 after defeating Republican candidate Mitt Romney. During his second term in office, he faced challenges passing legislation as the congress was controlled by the republicans who were the majority. It was in his second term that Obama championed for the rights of LGBT Americans. Obama also signed several executive orders meant to reduce gun violence in America.
Obama left office in 2017, aged fifty-five, and was succeeded by Donald Trump. He will be remembered as the agent of change and hope and as the first African American ever to become the president of the US. Obama’s presidency has been regarded favorably by political scientists, historians, and the general public.