Barrack Obama

Currently Running For
Office:
President
Party:
Democratic Party
Current Office
Office:
Senate
State:
Illinois
Party:
Democratic Party

Obama is the first African American to be nominated by a major political party for president. His acceptance speech was given on August 28, 2008 at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving 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% 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. After announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama emphasized withdrawing American troops from Iraq, energy independence, decreasing the influence of lobbyists, and promoting universal health care as top national priorities.

Senator Barack Obama today sent the following letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart, calling on them to address news reports that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEOs will receive millions of dollars in severance packages even as they are removed from their posts. When Congress originally approved the authority for the Treasury Department to step in and rescue these companies this summer, it explicitly included a provision that gave the new regulator the authority to block golden parachute payments to CEOs. As the Bush Administration now takes unprecedented steps to rescue these companies with taxpayer dollars, it would be highly inappropriate and a violation of the public trust to allow windfall CEO severance pay packages.

Gender:
Male
Relationship Status:
Married to
Michelle Obama
Birthday:
August 4, 1961
Religious Views:
Christian
Interests:
Basketball, writing, loafing w/ kids
Favorite Music:
Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder,
Johann Sebastian Bach (cello suites), and The Fugees
Favorite Movies:
Casablanca, Godfather I & II, Lawrence of Arabia and
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Favorite Books:
Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison), Moby Dick,
Shakespeare's Tragedies, Parting the Waters, Gilead (Robinson), Self-Reliance (Emerson), The Bible, Lincoln's Collected Writings
Favorite TV Shows:
Sportscenter
Favorite Quotes:
"The Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends
towards justice." (MLK)
Work Info

Employer:
United States Senate
Position:
Senator
Time Period:
January 2005 - Present
Education Info
Grad School:

* Harvard '91
* Law

Colleges:

* Columbia '83
* Political Science, with a concentration in International Relations

* Occidental '83
*

Contact Info
Phone:
8666752008