verybody know that he is the president of the United States. Everybody write about this special person good and bad thinks in several books and newspapers. We decide to make you just a short bio of him, and we try to put together the coolest pictures representing his personal and public life but also funny, and artistic. Sometimes, pictures give us a better idea than any text. Maybe we miss or wrong many thinks in our article. So we ask apologise for that to Mr. Obama ( even if we are sure he will never read our blog) if he find any mistake, error, or if the images we publish here are offensive. Just let us to know that and we are going to correct or remove it immediately. Born Barack Hussein Obama on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in Wichita, Kansas, where her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dunham’s father, Stanley, enlisted in the service and marched across Europe in Patton’s army. Dunham’s mother, Madelyn, went to work on a bomber assembly line
Barack Obama’s Biographical Timeline 1961 – 2009
1961-Barack Hussein Obama II is born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4 at the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Woman and Children.
1963-Ann Dunham and Obama Sr. separate, and divorce in 1964. Ann met Barack as a student at the University of Hawaii.
1967-1971 Obama moves to Jakarta, Indonesia with his mother Ann Dunham and his step-father Lolo Soetoro.
1971 Obama moves back to Hawaii and lives with maternal grandparents. Ann returns to Hawaii from 1972-1977.
1971-1979 Obama attends Punahou School in Honolulu from the fifth grade to his High School graduation in 1979.
1979-1981 Obama moves to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College. Obama transfers his studies two years later to Columbia in NY.
1981-1983 Obama studies Political Science and International Relations at Columbia University in NY where he received his BA in 1983.
1982 Obama Sr. dies in an auto accident in Kenya. The senior Obama met his son only once after returning to Kenya.
1984-1988 Obama leaves NY for Chicago in 1984, and from 1984-1988 is Director of DCP, a church-based community organization.
1988 Obama travels for first time to Europe and Kenya. Obama meets paternal grandparents and family for the first time.
1988-1991 Obama enters Harvard Law School in Cambridge, MA., and becomes the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.
1991 Obama returns to Chicago. Obama spent his Harvard summer breaks at several Chicago law firms.
1992 Obama marries Michelle Robinson on October 18th in Chicago. Later, Obama and Michelle travel to Bali to finish his book.
1992-2004 Obama teaches Law at the University of Chicago Law School, and works as counsel and an associate at Chicago law firms.
1995 Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham dies of ovarian cancer. Obama Publishes first book “Dreams From My Father.”
1996-2004 Obama is elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996. Obama serves three terms in the Illinois Senate as a state legislator.
1998-2001 In 1998 the Obama’s have their first child Malia Ann. Three years later, in 2001, they have their second daughter Sasha.
2004 Obama delivers the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July. In November he is elected to Senate.
2005-2008 Obama is the US Senator from Illinois. On November 18, 2008 Obama resigns his Senate seat after his Presidential victory.
2008 Obama defeats Democratic presidential hopefuls and Republican John McCain to become President-elect on November 4th.
2009 On January 20, 2009 Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th US President in Washington, DC.
After the war, the couple studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program and, after several moves, landed in Hawaii. Obama’s father, Barack Obama, Sr., was born of Luo ethnicity in Nyanza Province, Kenya. The elder Obama grew up herding goats in Africa, eventually earning a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams of college in Hawaii.
While studying at the University of Hawaii in Manoa, Obama, Sr. met fellow student, Ann Dunham. They married on February 2, 1961. Barack was born six months later. Obama’s parents separated when he was two years old, later divorcing. Obama, Sr. went on to Harvard to pursue Ph.D. studies, and then returned to Kenya in 1965. In 1966, Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, another East–West Center student from Indonesia. A year later, the family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, where Obama’s half-sister Maya Soetoro Ng was born.
Several incidents in Indonesia left Dunham afraid for her son’s safety and education so, at the age of 10, Barack was sent back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents. His mother and sister later joined them. While living with his grandparents, Obama enrolled in the esteemed Punahou Academy, excelling in basketball and graduating with academic honours in 1979. As one of only three black students at the school, Obama became conscious of racism and what it meant to be African-American. He later described how he struggled to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage with his own sense of self.
“I began to notice there was nobody like me in the Sears, Roebuck Christmas catalogue…and that Santa was a white man,” he said. “I went to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror with all my senses and limbs seemingly intact, looking the way I had always looked, and wondered if something was wrong with me.” Obama also struggled with the absence of his father, who he saw only once more after his parents divorced, in a brief 1971 visit. “[My father] had left paradise, and nothing that my mother or grandparents told me could obviate that single, unassailable fact,” he later reflected. “They couldn’t describe what it might have been like had he stayed.” Obama, Sr. eventually lost his legs in an automobile accident, also losing his job as a result. In 1982, he died in yet another car accident while travelling in Nairobi. Obama, Jr. was 22 years old when he received the news of his father’s passing.
“At the time of his death, my father remained a myth to me,” Obama said, “both more and less than a man.” After high school, Obama studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York, graduating in 1983 with a degree in political science. After working in the business sector for two years, Obama moved to Chicago in 1985. There, he worked on the South Side as a community organizer for low-income residents in the Roseland and the Altgeld Gardens communities. It was during this time that Obama, who said he “was not raised in a religious household,” joined the Trinity United Church of Christ. He also visited relatives in Kenya, which included an emotional visit to the graves of his biological father and paternal grandfather.
“For a long time I sat between the two graves and wept,” Obama said. “I saw that my life in America—the black life, the white life, the sense of abandonment I felt as a boy, the frustration and hope I’d witnessed in Chicago—all of it was connected with this small plot of earth an ocean away.” Obama returned from Kenya with a sense of renewal, entering Harvard Law School in 1988. The next year, he met Michelle Robinson, an associate at Sidley & Austin law firm in Chicago. She was assigned to be Obama’s adviser during a summer internship at the firm, and soon the couple began dating.
In February 1990, Obama was elected the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review, and he graduated magna cum laude in 1991. After law school, Obama returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer, joining the firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland. He also taught at the University of Chicago Law School, and helped organize voter registration drives during Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. On October 3, 1992, he and Michelle were married.
They moved to Kenwood, on Chicago’s South Side, and welcomed two daughters: Malia (born 1998) and Sasha (born 2001). Obama published his autobiography in 1995 Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. The work received high praise from literary figures such as Toni Morrison and has since been printed in 10 languages, including Chinese, Swedish and Hebrew. The book had a second printing in 2004, and is currently being adapted into a children’s version. The 2006 audio book version of Dreams, which was narrated by Obama, received a Grammy award for Best Spoken Word Album.
Obama’s advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate as a Democrat. He won election in 1996. During these years, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans in drafting legislation on ethics, expanded health care services, and early childhood education programs for the poor. He also created a state earned-income tax credit for the working poor. Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee as well, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, he worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases. In 2000, Obama made an unsuccessful Democratic primary run for the U. S. House of Representatives seat held by four-term incumbent candidate Bobby Rush. Undeterred, Obama created a campaign committee in 2002, and began raising funds to run in the 2004 U.S. Senate Race. With the help of political consultant David Axelrod, Obama began assessing his prospects of a Senate win. Following the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Obama was an early opponent of President George W. Bush’s push to war with Iraq.
Facts about Obama’s family:
Obama’s name means “one who is blessed” in Swahili. Obama’s desk in his Senate office belonged to Robert Kennedy. Obama can speak Spanish. He is the sixth post-war president to be left-handed. He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck. Obama would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician. He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life. Obama’s late father, Barack Obama Sr., was a senior economist for the Kenyan government. Obama visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister’s fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived. He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes. Obama says his worst habit is constantly checking BlackBerry. He wears $1,500 Hart Schaffner Marx suits and enjoys playing Scrabble and poker. He uses an Apple Mac laptop and he can bench press an impressive 200lbs. He has read every Harry Potter book. While on the campaign trail Obama refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead. Obama and Michelle made $4.2 million last year, with much from sales of his books. He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali. Michelle Obama shares Ali’s January birthday. Obama won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father. Obama plans to install a basketball court at the White House. Obama repaid his student loan in 2004, 4 years after book deal. His house in Chicago has four fire places and his favorite book is Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Obama drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300. Obama’s favorite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Obama’s specialty as a cook is chili. He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics. He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can’t stand ice cream. Obama’s favorite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees. His favorite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars and his favorite artist is Pablo Picasso. Obama’s favorite meal is wife Michelle’s shrimp linguini and his favorite fictional TV programs are Mash and The Wire. Obama hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside. Obama took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date. His favorite drink is black forest berry iced tea. Obama was nicknamed “Bar” by his late grandmother. Obama doesn’t drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol. He was known as “O’Bomber” at high school for his skills at basketball. Obama promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn’t. Obama was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name. As a teenager Obama took drugs including marijuana. Obama’s Secret Service code name is “Renegade”. He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21. He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia. Obama’s daughters’ ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing/dance (Sasha, 7). Obama’s father Barack Obama Sr. gave Obama his first basketball on a rare Hawaiian visit. Obama’s daughter Malia’s godmother is Jesse Jackson’s daughter. Obama said many friends in Indonesia were “street urchins”.
Obama was still a state senator when he spoke against a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq during a rally at Chicago’s Federal Plaza in October 2002. “I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars,” he said. “What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other arm-chair, weekend warriors in this Administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.” Despite his protests, the war with Iraq began in 2003. Obama, encouraged by poll numbers, decided to run for the U.S. Senate open seat vacated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald. In the 2004 Democratic primary, he won 52 percent of the vote, defeating multimillionaire businessman Blair Hull and Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes. That summer, he was invited to deliver the keynote speech in support of John Kerry at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Obama emphasized the importance of unity, and made veiled jabs at the Bush administration and the diversionary use of wedge issues. After the convention, Obama returned to his U.S. Senate bid in Illinois. His opponent in the general election was supposed to be Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, a wealthy former investment banker.
However, Ryan withdrew from the race in June 2004, following public disclosure of unsubstantiated sexual deviancy allegations by Ryan’s ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan. In August 2004, diplomat and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan. In three televised debates, Obama and Keyes expressed opposing views on stem cell research, abortion, gun control, school vouchers and tax cuts. In the November 2004 general election, Obama received 70 percent of the vote to Keyes’ 27 percent, the largest electoral victory in Illinois history. With his win, Barack Obama became only the third African-American elected to the U.S. Senate since the Reconstruction
.
Sworn into office January 4, 2005, Obama partnered with Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana on a bill that expanded efforts to destroy weapons of mass destruction in Eastern Europe and Russia. Then, with Republican Senator Tom Corburn of Oklahoma, he created a website that tracks all federal spending. Obama also spoke out for victims of Hurricane Katrina; pushed for alternative energy development; and championed improved veterans’ benefits. His second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, was published in October 2006.
The work discussed Obama’s visions for the future of America, many of which became talking points for his eventual presidential campaign. Shortly after its release, it hit No. 1 on both the New York Times and Amazon.com bestsellers lists. In February 2007, Obama made headlines when he announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He was locked in a tight battle with former first lady and then-U.S. Senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton. On June 3, 2008, however, Obama became the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party, and Senator Clinton delivered her full support to Obama for the duration of his campaign. On November 4th, 2008, Barack Obama defeated Republican presidential nominee John McCain for the position of U.S. President, 52.9 percent to 45.7 percent.
On January 20, 2009, Obama became the 44th president of the United States—and the first African-American to hold this office. When Obama took office, he inherited a global economic recession; two on-going foreign wars; and the lowest international favourability rating for the United States ever. He campaigned on an ambitious agenda of financial reform, alternative energy, and reinventing education and health care—all while bringing down the national debt. Because these issues were intertwined with the economic well-being of the nation, he believed all would have to be undertaken simultaneously. During his inauguration speech, Obama summarized the situation by saying, “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.” Between Inauguration Day and April 29, the Obama administration took to the field on many fronts.
Obama coaxed Congress to expand health care insurance for children and provide legal protection for women seeking equal pay. A $787 billion stimulus bill was passed to promote short-term economic growth. Housing and credit markets were put on life-support, with a market-based plan to buy U.S. banks’ toxic assets. Loans were made to the auto industry, and new regulations were proposed for Wall Street. He also cut taxes for working families, small businesses and first-time home buyers. The president also loosened the ban on embryonic stem cell research and moved ahead with a $3.5 trillion budget plan.
During his first 100 days, President Obama also undertook a complete overhaul of America’s foreign policy. He reached out to improve relations with Europe, China, Russia and open dialogue with Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba. He lobbied allies to support a global economic stimulus package. He committed an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan and set an August 2010 date for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. In more dramatic incidents, he took on pirates off the coast of Somalia and prepared the nation for an attack of the Swine Flu.
For his efforts, he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. On January 27, 2010, President Obama delivered his first State of the Union speech. During his oration, Obama addressed the challenges of the economy, proposing a fee for larger banks, announcing a possible freeze on government spending in 2010, and speaking against the Supreme Court’s reversal of a law capping campaign finance spending. He also challenged politicians to stop thinking of re-election and start making positive changes, criticizing Republicans for their refusal to support any legislation, and chastising Democrats for not pushing hard enough to get legislation passed.
He also insisted that, despite current obstacles, he was determined to help American citizens through the nation’s current domestic difficulties. “We don’t quit. I don’t quit,” he said. “Let’s size this moment to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and strengthen our union once more.” We continue this post with some of the coolest pictures of Mr. Obama private and public life and also some graphic artworks representing him. Seeing the president eating, drinking, smoking, dancing, sporting etc. we can feel how close to our lifestyle he is. A really different prospective of a political and power person. For sure he use the very best experts in terms of communication. He is a good communicator too. This is very clear. But sometimes we are able to read and understand from images thinks that are difficult to explain with words. And we love him how he is and we are all proud of him.. We put our hopes in his hands for that! Seems strange, but writing to Mr. Obama is not so difficult. Below the picture, you can find his official Postal and E-mail address.
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
E-mail: www.whitehouse.gov/contact
