Orchard of Europe which country. The most beautiful gardens in Europe. Markovsky Garden, Leningrad Region, Russia

Barack Hussein Obama Forty-fourth President of the United States, who took office at the end of 2008. In January 2017, he was replaced by Donald John Trump. Over the years of being in this position, Barack managed to attract the attention of almost all the people of the world, and now many are wondering how old Obama is?

The 44th president became the first African American to be nominated for such a position, and then the first in national history to receive it. Despite this, Barack Obama is a mulatto, that is, he comes from a combination of Caucasian and Negroid races. His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was a white American anthropologist.

Origin of Barack Obama

The first years of the life of the future president were inextricably linked with the Hawaiian Islands. There, while studying at Manoa, his parents met, and a little later, in Honolulu, Obama himself was born. However, during his election campaign, many tried to prove the fact that the potential president was born outside of America.

The sheriff from Arizona stated that many of Barack's documents are fiction, that he changed the data using a computer. In particular, this concerned his birth certificate and registration papers for military service. If this information was confirmed, Obama would not be able to apply for such a post.

Barak's father is a representative of the Luo Nilotic people, which now number about 3.5 million people. He came to Hawaii through the appointment of a missionary school. The connection with Ann Dunham added to Baraka, in addition to African, Scottish, German and Irish roots. It is believed that among the ancestors of Barack Obama was the Cherokee Indian people, also called the Cherokee.

Despite the parental prohibition, Ann and Obama got married, two years later Baraka was born, and about a year later they divorced. The reason for this was the meeting of his father with Ruth Nadesand during the period while he was leaving to continue his studies at Harvard. Not long remained alone and the mother of Obama. Three years later, she married an Indonesian and gave birth to a sister named Maya to the future president.

Youth and getting into the Senate

Barack Obama studied at a public school in Jakarta for four years. Then he returned to his hometown, where he got into the prestigious institution "Panahoe", which he graduated from. During this period, he did not disdain bad habits, such as smoking marijuana, consuming cocaine and drinking alcoholic beverages. Barack did not hide all this from the voters, calling those difficult times "a low moral decline."

Upon graduation, Obama went to Los Angeles College, but soon changed it to Columbia University, where he began to study international relations. This specialization allowed Barak to become part of a huge business corporation during his studies.

Two years after graduation, he moved to Chicago, where he became a community organizer. He later studied law at Harvard, where he was the first African American to land an editorial position at the Harvard Law Review.

Shortly thereafter, Barack Obama was elected to the Senate. He has worked with both Democrats and Republicans, focusing on the issue of low-income families, early childhood education and the control of various bodies. In this post, he made his first attempt to get into the US House of Representatives.

Development of political activity

After losing a seat in the House to Bobby Rush, Obama began to fight for a seat in the US Senate. He succeeded, and a year later the future president became the fifth African American to hold such a post. Around the same time, Barak visited Russia to study nuclear facilities. The trip ended unsuccessfully due to the inspection that the border guards wanted to arrange for the plane with diplomatic immunity.

Obama left his seat in the Senate a few years later, having managed to visit George W. Bush's White House before that time, to receive the title of "loyal Democrat" and "most liberal" senator. At the same time, Barack announced his candidacy for the presidency.

An interesting fact: for such a statement, Obama chose the place where Abraham Lincoln once delivered one of his most famous speeches - "A House Divided".

In his campaign, Barak focused on the imminent end of the Iraq war, energy and health issues. He became the only candidate who did not use state funding - all the money came from voluntary donations.

A huge role in the victory was played by the self-liquidation of candidate Hillary Clinton in favor of Barack, as well as the open support of Bill Clinton. Obama's position was somewhat shaky in states with few African Americans, but the majority of the population supported him. In a number of countries, especially in Africa and the Middle East, such an event led to a kind of "Obamamania".

First term

How many years did it take Barack Obama to become president? This number is close to fifty. Being already aged, the president put a huge amount of effort into a variety of political activities.

One of his first decisions was to close the prison for those accused of the events at the Guantanomo military base. After that, Barak created a plan to invest in various areas and create additional jobs.

Shortly after the signing of the anti-crisis plan, he flew to Moscow to create an agreement on the transit of military goods to Afghanistan. Subsequently, contrary to the opinion of the Republicans, he passed a law on health care reform. A year later, Obama became part of the military intervention in the civil war in Libya.

When he was elected for a second term, Barak began to say that Bush had mistakenly staged a war in Iraq, and that it was necessary to fight terrorism on the territory of Afghanistan. Although Obama had previously said he would end the Iraq war immediately after his inauguration, he did not do so in the coming years either.

As a result of such decisions, twice as many soldiers died in Barack's first year as president as in both terms of George W. Bush. Since there were no positive changes that the president promised, this made it somewhat difficult for him to reappoint him to the post.

Second term

If Barack Obama received his first appointment due to the enthusiasm of the voters, then the second, as he himself said, was the result of "the precise work of the electoral machine." Despite his victory, the decrease in support from the people was evident.

In the United States, there is a belief about a kind of "curse of the second term." Many believe that all re-elected presidents immediately begin to cope with their duties much worse. Obama's "curse" manifested itself immediately in a variety of negative situations. Among them:

A series of Muslim protests spread around the world because of the trailer for the film.
Significant problems with the start of health care reform and the operation of the entire healthcare system.
An uncertain position regarding the events of the Syrian war, in particular the chemical attacks in Ghouta.
Rumors of harassment of legal organizations.
Secret wiretapping of journalists' conversations.
Information obtained from former CIA officer Edward Joseph Snowden.

At the same time, other negative events also took place, which steadily lowered the rating of the 44th president. A few years later, more than half of Americans negatively perceived the work of Barack Obama. A little later, in one study, he was named the worst president, and in this rank he bypassed George W. Bush.

How old is Obama?

After the election of Donald Trump, former US President Obama had to decide what to devote his future life to. According to information from The New York Times, he can go into high technology.

Barack Obama is now 55 years old. He was born on August 4, so in a few months, in 2017, he will be 56 years old. Most likely, the future career of the former president will be directly related to Silicon Valley.

Barack Hussein Obama II (Barack Hussein Obama II) 44th President of the United States since January 20, 2009
Vice President: Joseph Biden
Predecessor: George W. Bush
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Senator from Illinois
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January 4, 2005 - November 16, 2008
Forerunner: Peter Fitzgerald
Successor: Roland Burris
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Illinois Senator from the 13th congressional district
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January 8, 1997 - November 4, 2004
Forerunner: Alice Palmer
Successor: Kwame Raoul

Religion: Methodism
Birth: 4 August 1961 (aged 54)
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Name at birth: English Barack Hussein Obama II
Father: Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (1936-1982)
Mother: Stanley Ann Dunham (1942-1995)
Spouse: Michelle Obama (since 1992, b. 1964)
Children: daughters: Malia Ann (b. 1998)
Natasha ("Sasha") (b. 2001)
Party: Democratic Party
Education: 1) Columbia University
2) Harvard University
Profession: Lawyer

Barack Hussein Obama II- current (since January 20, 2009) 44th President of the United States of America. Laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize (upfront) 2009. Before being elected president, he was a federal senator from Illinois. He was re-elected for a second term in 2012.

The first African American to be nominated for the presidency of the United States by one of the two largest parties, and the first black president in the national history of heads of state, as well as a president with an African surname and a middle name of Arabic etymological origin. Obama is a mulatto, but, unlike most black Americans, not a descendant of slaves, but the son of a student from Kenya and a white American (Stanley Ann Dunham).

A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was also the first ever African American editor of the university's Harvard Law Review. Obama has also worked as a community organizer and civil rights attorney. He taught constitutional law at the Chicago Law Institute from 1992 to 2004 and was simultaneously elected to the Illinois Senate three times between 1997 and 2004. After failing to run for the US House of Representatives in 2000, he ran for the US Senate in January 2003. After winning the March 2004 primary, Obama delivered the keynote speech at the July 2004 Democratic National Convention. He was elected to the Senate in November 2004 with 70% of the vote.

As a member of the 109th Democratic Minority in Congress, he helped create laws to regulate conventional weapons and increase transparency in the use of the state budget. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe (including Russia), the Middle East and Africa. While serving in the 110th Congress, he helped create laws related to election fraud, lobbying, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and demobilized US military personnel.

Obama announced his desire to run for president in February 2007, and in the 2008 presidential primaries at the Democratic National Convention, he was officially nominated by the Democratic Party as the presidential candidate along with the vice presidential candidate, Delaware Senator Joseph Biden. In the 2008 presidential election, Obama edged out Republican candidate John McCain with 52.9% of the popular vote and 365 votes in the Electoral College to McCain's 45.7% and 173.

October 9, 2009 received the Nobel Peace Prize with the wording "for extraordinary efforts in strengthening international diplomacy and cooperation between people."
In the 2012 presidential election, Obama edged out Republican candidate Mitt Romney with 51.1% of the popular vote and 332 votes in the Electoral College to Romney's 47.2% and 206.

Childhood, education, early career
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His parents met in 1960 while studying at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. At the same time, during the US election campaign, rumors circulated that Obama was born outside the US, which would deprive him of the right to be elected to the presidency. On March 1, 2012, Arizona Sheriff Joseph Arpaio announced that Barack Obama's birth certificate may be a computer generated forgery; he made a similar statement with respect to the military registration form filled out by the future president in 1980.

Father - Barack Hussein Obama - Sr. (1936-1982) - Kenyan, the son of a healer from the Luo people. The missionary school paid for his studies in Nairobi and sent him to study econometrics at the University of Hawaii, where he organized the Association of Foreign Students and became the best in his class. Mother - Stanley Ann Dunham (1942-1995) - was born at a military base in Kansas in a family of Christian Americans, but later became an agnostic. She is of mostly English, Scottish, Irish and German descent; On the side of her mother, Madeleine Lee Payne, Barack Obama also has Cherokee ancestors. The surname Dunham itself belongs to the American aristocracy and comes from the first settler Richard Singleterie and his son Jonathan (1639 / 40-1724), who, for reasons that are not entirely clear, changed his surname to Dunham (family legend traces him to the owners of Dunham Castle in Scotland, which is allegedly in relatives were criminally disinherited in infancy).

Stanley Ann was studying anthropology at the University of Hawaii when she met Obama Sr. Grandma Madeleine Lee raised Obama for a long time, they were very attached to each other. Obama interrupted his presidential campaign to visit her in the hospital; Madeleine Lee Payne Dunham passed away on November 2, 2008.

Obama Sr.'s father and Dunham's parents were against the marriage, but they married on February 2, 1961. Two years after Barack's birth, his father went to continue his studies at Harvard, but Dunham and Obama Jr. soon returned to Hawaii. Barack's parents divorced in January 1964.

While studying at Harvard University, Obama Sr. met the American teacher Ruth Nidesand, with whom, after graduating from his studies in the United States, he left for Kenya. This was his third marriage, which produced two children. Upon his return to Kenya, he worked for an oil company, and then received a position as an economist in the government apparatus. He saw his son for the last time when he was 10 years old. In Kenya, Obama Sr. was in a car accident, as a result of which he lost both legs, and later died in another car accident.

Soon after the divorce, the mother met another foreign student, the Indonesian Lolo Sutoro, married him, and in 1967 left with him and little Barak for Jakarta. From this marriage, Barak had a half-sister, Maya. Barak's mother died of ovarian cancer in 1995.

In Jakarta, Obama Jr. studied at a public school from the age of 6 to 10. After that, he returned to Honolulu, where he lived with his mother's parents until graduating in 1979 from the prestigious Panahow Private School.

He described his childhood memories in his book Dreams of My Father. As an adult, he admitted to smoking marijuana, taking cocaine and alcohol at school, which he told voters at the Presidential Campaign Civic Forum on August 16, 2008 and described as his lowest moral fall.

After high school, he attended Western College in Los Angeles for two years before transferring to Columbia University, where he majored in international relations. By the time he received his bachelor's degree in 1983, Obama had already worked at the International Business Corporation and the New York Research Center.

In 1985, after moving to Chicago, he began working as a community organizer in disadvantaged areas of the city. In 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School, where in 1990 he became the first-ever African-American editor of the university's Harvard Law Review.

Obama is left-handed.

Illinois State Senator
In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois State Senate.

He served as a senator from 1997 to 2004, represented the US Democratic Party: was re-elected twice: in 1998 and 2002. As a senator, he collaborated with both Democrats and Republicans: he worked with representatives of both parties on programs to support low-income families through tax cuts; acted as a supporter of the development of preschool education, supported measures to tighten control over the work of investigative bodies.

In 2000, he attempted to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, but lost the primary to incumbent black congressman Bobby Rush.

In 2004, he entered the fight for a nomination for one of the seats from the state of Illinois in the US Senate. He won a convincing victory over six opponents in the primaries.

Senate in Washington (2005-2008)
He was sworn in as a U.S. Senator on January 4, 2005, becoming the 5th African American U.S. Senator in the country's history.

At the end of August 2005, as part of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, he flew to Russia to inspect Russian nuclear facilities together with Republican Senator Richard Lugar; During the trip on August 28, an incident occurred during a departure at Perm's Bolshoye Savino airport: the senators were detained for three hours due to their refusal to "comply with the requirements of the border guards" to inspect the aircraft, which had diplomatic immunity. Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed regret "in connection with the misunderstanding that had arisen and the inconvenience caused to the senators." In his book, Obama referred to the incident as one of the moments during his journey "that were reminiscent of Cold War days."

As a senator, he repeatedly visited the White House at the invitation of President George W. Bush.

The non-partisan Congressional Quarterly described him as a "loyal Democrat" based on an analysis of all Senate votes from 2005-2007; The National Journal ranked him as the "most liberal" senator based on an assessment of select votes during 2007.

In 2008, Congress.org ranked him the 11th most powerful senator.

presidential race
Main article: United States presidential election (2008)
On February 10, 2007, in front of the old Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Obama announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States. The place had a symbolic character, since it was there that Abraham Lincoln delivered the historic speech "A House Divided" in 1858. Throughout the campaign, Obama advocated a quick end to the Iraq War, energy independence, and universal health care. His campaign slogans are "Change we can believe in" and "Yes we can!" (The song Yes We Can, recorded by a number of well-known artists using words from Obama's campaign speech, received great fame and a Webby Award).
During the first half of 2007, the Obama campaign raised $58 million. Small donations (less than $200) were 16.4 million of that amount. This number set a record for fundraising by a presidential campaign in the first six months of the calendar year leading up to the election. The size of the small part of the donation was also quite significant. In January 2008, the campaign set another record with $36.8 million, the most ever raised by a presidential candidate in a Democratic primary.
Obama is the first and, as of 2012, the only US presidential candidate to withdraw from public campaign funding.

The course of the election campaign
Barack Obama became the sole Democratic nominee after officially announcing her resignation from the pre-election race on June 7, 2008 and supporting Obama's candidacy. On June 25, 2008, the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, supported Obama for the first time, through spokesman Matt McCann, stating that he would do everything in his power to ensure that Barack Obama won the US presidential election in November 2008.

Preliminaries
Obama was a strong winner in states with a high urbanization and education level, but at the same time really hit hard by the 2008 crisis; The most difficult for Obama were the states in which the white population predominates, such as West Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and others less affected by the crisis. Obama also won victories in traditionally Republican states (such as Alaska and Mississippi, which have traditionally supported the Republicans since 1980), and at the same time, in traditionally liberal states such as Washington and Minnesota and in some shifter states.

On November 4, Obama secured the support of 338 out of 538 electors with the required 270 votes, which meant he came to power on January 20, 2009. At the same time, voter turnout reached a record - 64%.

Resonance in the US and elsewhere
Obama won the fewest votes in the US South; in Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, where up to 60% of those participating in the elections voted for McCain; and in one of those states, only one in ten white voters, according to exit polls, voted for Obama.
According to the Associated Press, cases of religious and racial intolerance have increased in the United States since the victory of Barack Obama in the presidential election; Director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Mark Potok said: "There are a large number of people who feel that they are losing their usual way of life, that they seem to have been stolen from the country that their ancestors built."

Obama's victory caused euphoria in a number of countries around the world - a phenomenon called "Obamamania", the symptoms of which began to appear even during the election campaign. Kenya and some other countries of Africa and the Middle East were especially strongly affected by it.

Russian-American political scientist Nikolai Zlobin wrote in Vedomosti on January 28, 2009 about the Kremlin's reaction to Obama's victory: was unprepared for Obama and very disappointed.”

Activities as president-elect
On November 10, 2008, he met with George W. Bush to discuss the state of affairs in the country and the world.

On November 11, 2008, together with his wife, he visited the White House, where he was received by President George W. Bush and his wife, which was presented by the US media as "the beginning of the transfer of power."

November 17, 2008 met with Republican Senator J. McCain; together with the latter issued a statement proclaiming the intention to "start a new era of reform" in Washington and "bring back prosperity" to American families.

On November 18, 2008, in a video address to an environmental conference in Los Angeles, he denounced the current administration for "refusing to lead" the United States in environmental conservation; pledged to spend $15 billion a year on energy-saving measures and to work to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 to 1990 levels. On the same day, the media reported unofficial information about his intention to appoint a black lawyer, Eric Holder, who was the US Deputy Attorney General under Clinton, to his future administration as Attorney General.

On November 24, 2008, he introduced several people from his “Economic Recovery Advisory Board” (The President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board), who in the future should take important positions and develop the policy of the future administration regarding the global economic crisis.

On November 26, he announced the leadership of his team of economic advisers by the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve (1979-1987) Paul Volcker.

December 1, 2008 in Chicago officially announced Senator Hillary Clinton as a candidate for the post of US Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates - for the post of Secretary of Defense.

Presidency
Main article: Presidency of Barack Obama
First presidential term
Inauguration
Main article: Inauguration of Barack Obama

Barack Obama takes the presidential oath
On January 20, 2009, during the inauguration ceremony near the Capitol building, he was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States at 12:05 EST (17:05 UTC); The ceremony attracted a record number of spectators - over a million people. The oath was taken on the Bible, on which Abraham Lincoln swore at the inauguration. The President's first swearing-in act was the issuance of a Proclamation declaring January 20, 2009, "National Day of Renewal and Accord."

In his speech, he called for a "new era of accountability".

According to CNN (January 21, 2009), the cost of Barack Obama's inauguration and inaugural celebrations is the highest in US history: the cost of holding it could exceed $160 million.

The next day, late in the evening, on the advice of constitutional lawyers, in the White House, as a precaution, he again took the oath of the head of state, due to the fact that the day before there was an error in reading the text of the oath established by the US Constitution: Chief Justice Roberts of the US Supreme Court erroneously put the word "honestly" ( faithfully) after the words "to act as President of the United States".

Activities in the first presidential term
On January 22, 2009, he signed an order to close the prison for terrorist suspects at the American military base in Guantanamo (Cuba) within a year.

On January 29, the US Congress supported the US President's stimulus plan. The plan calls for an $819 billion injection. On February 10, the US Senate approved Obama's $838 billion emergency bailout plan. When implementing the plan, up to 4 million new jobs should be created in 2 years. The plan also contains provisions on direct investment in the healthcare, energy, and education sectors.

Barack Obama signs American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17.jpg
On February 17, Barack Obama sent an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan, and also signed a $787 billion anti-crisis plan adopted by the US Congress in Denver (pictured).

On July 6-8, Barack Obama made an official working visit to Moscow. During the visit, bilateral agreements were signed, including on the transit of US military cargo to Afghanistan through Russia.

In 2010, Obama, despite opposition from Republicans, secured the passage of a health care reform bill.

In 2011, the US military, on the orders of Obama, participated in the NATO intervention in Libya.

On April 4, 2011, Barack Obama confirmed his desire to run for a second presidential term, began raising money for the election campaign and announced the start of the presidential race.

Nobel Peace Prize
October 9, 2009 received the Nobel Peace Prize. Members of the Nobel Committee considered Obama's efforts "in strengthening international diplomacy and cooperation between people" worthy of the award. Obama became the third US President, after Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize during his tenure (it was also awarded to former President Jimmy Carter).

According to Obama himself, he has not yet earned this award. According to many experts, Obama received the award in large part due to his pledge to reduce nuclear arsenals in early 2009.

Iraq and Afghanistan
See also: Iraqi War and War in Afghanistan (since 2001)
As a presidential candidate, Obama said that the war in Iraq was a mistake by the Bush administration and that Afghanistan should become the central front in the fight against terrorism, he stated that Afghanistan "is slipping into chaos and threatens to turn into a narco-terrorist state." In mid-2008, he advocated that by the summer of 2009 there would be no American combat units left in Iraq. (It was noted that even at the stage of the pre-election intra-party struggle for the nomination of the presidential candidate from the Democratic Party, supporters of the war in Iraq (she herself voted for her in the Senate) grouped around Clinton, and opponents around Obama.) He also said that on the first day after his inauguration, he will give the order to end the war in Iraq. Immediately after coming to power, he revised his views on the timing of the end of the war, saying in February 2009 that military operations there would be completed in 18 months.

During 2009, Obama twice reinforced the American contingent in Afghanistan. In February, 17,000 servicemen were sent there. In December, Obama announced the dispatch of another 30,000 troops, while emphasizing that the United States had no interest in occupying Afghanistan. At present, the American contingent in Afghanistan already has about 70 thousand troops, and after the arrival of reinforcements it will reach 100 thousand, which is comparable to the size of the Soviet contingent at the peak of the Soviet war in Afghanistan (about 109 thousand people).

The escalation of US participation in the hostilities in Afghanistan, as well as the stabilization of the situation in Iraq, led to the fact that if in 2008 American losses in Afghanistan were half those in Iraq, then in 2009 the situation changed in a mirror image - in a year, twofold died in Afghanistan. more soldiers than in Iraq. In general, 2009 was the bloodiest year for US forces in Afghanistan since the beginning of the counterterrorist operation. During the first year and a half of Obama's presidency, as many American soldiers died in Afghanistan as during both presidential terms of George W. Bush (from the beginning of the war in 2001 to the end of 2008). However, US losses still remain well below the annual losses of the Soviet contingent at the height of the 1979-1989 war.

Second presidential term
2012 presidential election
Main article: United States presidential election (2012)

Obama and Vladimir Putin, 39th G8 Summit, June 17, 2013.
Barack Obama announced his intention to run for a second term on April 4, 2011. Officially starting his campaign a year and a half before the election, Obama became the first candidate to run for the 2012 US presidential election. The early start gave him the opportunity to break the campaign fundraising record. According to The New York Times, Obama managed to raise 934 million dollars More than 200 million were spent on the maintenance of the campaign headquarters.

Obama was initially well placed to win the presidential race due to the lack of a clear leader among the Republicans. However, the "lack of real change, on the promise of which he came to power" played against him. According to Obama supporters, the main role in the 2012 elections was played by the “clear work of the voting machine”, and not by the enthusiasm of the voters, as was the case in 2008.

Obama's rival was Republican Mitt Romney. The intrigue of the elections persisted until the last moment. As a result, Obama received a noticeable advantage in electors (303 versus 206 for Romney), but in general he was supported by about half of the voters. Experts noted the loss of Obama's support of independent voters and the need to take into account the position of the Republicans on strategic issues.

Activity in the second presidential term
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Downgrading

cartoon: Obama and Edward Snowden
After the victory in the elections, instead of the expected lull, which made it possible to implement the tasks set by the president, negative events began to occur one after another, which led not only to a decrease in Barack Obama's rating, but also to the emergence of talk about the "curse of a second term", according to which "the majority American leaders elected for a second term, the second half of the board was much worse than the first. The situation around the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, problems with the launch of healthcare reform and the operation of the healthcare.gov website, hesitation in decision-making over the situation of the chemical attack in Syria, information that the tax authorities are allegedly harassing right-wing organizations, secret access to telephone conversations journalists, the scandal surrounding the revelations of Edward Snowden and other events led to a deterioration in the image of Barack Obama and a decrease in his popularity.

In 2013, Obama's approval rating steadily declined by 1-2 percentage points every month. The results of a November 2013 CNN / ORC International poll showed that the number of Obama supporters decreased by 12% in six months, and more than half of those polled answered that they did not see the president as a decisive and strong leader, and that he did not inspire confidence. In 2014, the situation worsened, in April and September the degree of approval of Obama's activities reached its minimum - 51% of Americans were negative about the presidential course. According to a survey conducted from June 24 to June 30, 2014 by Quinnipack University, 33% of survey participants considered Barack Obama the worst American president since World War II (28% called George W. Bush).

Political views and statements
In his book The Audacity of Hope (2006) he wrote: “From the very beginning of my work in the Senate, I have been a consistent and sometimes very harsh critic of the policies of the Bush administration. I consider tax breaks for wealthy citizens not only ill-conceived, but also very questionable from the point of view of morality.

Barack Obama was an early opponent of President George W. Bush's Iraq policy.

The International Herald Tribune on November 16, 2008 wrote about his political views as they were articulated by him during the election campaign: "Obama did not define himself in clear ideological terms, although his track record and program are left of the center."

Obama has spoken out in favor of allowing artificial termination of pregnancy, including late-term abortions. During the discussion in the United States about the law on the prohibition of abortion by the so-called. Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act wrote that if he were elected, he would tirelessly defend this method of abortion as a legitimate medical procedure. He has also been involved in developing programs to prevent teen pregnancy, including through the distribution of contraceptives and sex education programs for teens.

November 18, 2008 reaffirmed its commitment to work towards achieving significant goals to combat global climate change.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta, November 19, 2008, wrote: "It came as a surprise to many believers that a black Democrat, defender of women's right to abortion and supporter of stem cell research, won the majority of religious votes." The publication cited Pew Research Center statistics, according to which 53% of US believers voted for Barack Obama, 46% for John McCain; while four years ago John Kerry lost to George W. Bush for the vote of religious Americans: 48% to 51%.

Immediately after Obama's inauguration, political scientist Nikolai Zlobin noted: “The closer the day of the transfer of powers from Bush to the new president of the country, the more favorably and positively Barack Obama speaks of his predecessor. This is a stark change from Obama's highly critical anti-Bush rhetoric during the recent campaign. It seems that such a change in the public attitude of the new president towards his predecessor is largely due to the fact that as Obama gets deeper into things, gets acquainted with the real situation in which George W. Bush had to act and in which Obama himself will now have to act, the latter is increasingly began to understand that his predecessor pursued a fairly rational policy, taking into account all possible factors and restrictions.

Speaking at Georgetown University on April 14, 2009, Barack Obama made the following argument in defense of the consumer society and explained the reason for government intervention in the free market:

“If all families and all firms in America simultaneously cut their spending, then no one will spend money, the number of consumers will fall, which in turn will lead to new layoffs and the situation in the economy will worsen even more. That's why the government had to step in and temporarily increase spending to stimulate demand. That is what we are doing now,” the American president said.

- "Obama sees light at the end of the tunnel", Euronews TV channel
Mitt Romney accused Obama of supporting the idea of income redistribution. Romney calls Obama's voters "unable to provide for themselves and living at the expense of the state."

According to Obama, he is a supporter of the idea of a world without nuclear weapons.

In 2009, at a press conference in Japan, Obama twice evaded a direct question and refused to defend the wisdom of the United States atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Since at least 1996, he has been a supporter of the legalization of same-sex marriages in the United States. At the same time, same-sex marriages did not exist in any state of the world in the 1990s, although same-sex civil partnerships were already registered in a small number of jurisdictions.

In 2016, US President Barack Obama said he was not competing with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Syria. During his speech at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) US-country summit in California, he also called the Russian army "the second most powerful in the world."

Criticism
The influential British newspaper Times opines that President Obama is not paying enough attention to foreign policy, as a result of which not quite democratic states such as Russia, China and Iran seek to dominate the world. According to newspaper columnist Melanie Phillips, Obama's passive stance has a detrimental effect on countries where compromise is perceived as defeat:

“The exclusion of military intervention inspires those who see it as a sign of the West's readiness to endure everything. »
The blurring of the West's commitment to protecting democracy and national borders, according to Phillips, is clearly visible in the example of Russia and China. These countries believe they can fill the vacuum by expanding their spheres of influence to eventually rebuild their lost empires, with potentially disastrous consequences for freedom and democracy around the world.

Syria
Main article: Syrian Civil War
Former US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel accuses Obama of not having a clear political line on the regime of Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian opposition. So, according to Hagel, on August 30, 2013, Obama refused to order a missile attack on Damascus, despite the fact that Syrian troops used poison gas against the opposition [approx. 1], that is, they crossed the “red line” declared earlier by Obama himself. According to Hagel, the failure to act decisively at a critical moment dealt a crushing blow to the reputation of both President Obama and the United States as a whole.

List of works
In English
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. - Three Rivers Press, 1995. - ISBN 0307383415.
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. - Crown Publishing Group / Three Rivers Press, October 17, 2006. - ISBN 0307237699.
Barack Obama in His Own Words. - PublicAffairs, March 27, 2007. - ISBN 0786720573.
National Urban League. The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male / Foreword by Barack Obama. - Beckham Publications Group, April 17, 2007. - ISBN 0931761859.
Renewing American Leadership. - Foreign Affairs 86 (4), July-August 2007.
Barack Obama: What He Believes In - From His Own Works. - Arc Manor, March 1, 2008. - ISBN 1604501170.
Barack Obama, John McCain. Barack Obama vs. John McCain - Side by Side Senate Voting Record for Easy Comparison. - Arc Manor, June 13, 2008. - ISBN 1604502495.
Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise / Foreword by Barack Obama. - Three Rivers Press, September 9, 2008. - ISBN 0307460452.
In Russian
Obama, Barack. Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream = The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream / Per. T. Kamyshnikova, A. Mitrofanova. - SPb.: Azbuka-klassika, 2008. - 416 p. - 25,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-395-00209-9.
Family and personal life
Main article: Barack Obama family
Since 1992, Barack Obama has been married to Michelle Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964), a practicing lawyer. They have two daughters - Malia Ann (born in 1998), Natasha ("Sasha"; born in 2001).

Barack Hussein Obama II (Eng. Barack Hussein Obama II; born August 4, 1961), better known as Barack Obama, is the junior United States Senator from Illinois, the elected President of the United States of America. The inauguration of the new US president is to take place on January 20, 2009.

Obama is the first black person to be nominated for the presidency of the United States by one of the two major parties. A graduate of Columbia University and the Harvard Law Institute, where he was the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review, Obama has worked as a community organizer and civil rights attorney. He taught constitutional law at the Chicago Law Institute from 1992 to 2004 and was simultaneously elected to the Illinois Senate three times, from 1997 to 2004. After failing to run for the US House of Representatives in 2000, he ran for the US Senate in January 2003. After winning the March 2004 primary, Obama delivered the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He was elected to the Senate in November 2004 with a 70% majority.

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he helped create laws to regulate conventional weapons and increase transparency in the use of the state budget. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create laws regarding election fraud, lobbying, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and demobilized US military personnel. Obama announced his desire to run for president in February 2007, and was formally nominated at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, along with Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden, Delaware Senator.

Childhood, education, early career

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His parents met in 1960 while studying at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Father - Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (1936-1982), Kenyan, - the son of a healer from the Luo people. Raised in Islam, he later became an atheist. The missionary school paid for his studies in Nairobi and sent him to study econometrics at the University of Hawaii, where he organized the Association of Foreign Students and became the best in his class. Mother - Stanley Ann Dunham (1942-1995) - was born at a military base in Kansas in a family of Christian Americans, but later became an agnostic. She is of mostly English, Scottish, Irish and German descent; On the side of her mother, Madeleine Lee Payne, Barack Obama also has Cherokee ancestors. Stanley Ann was studying anthropology at the University of Hawaii when she met Obama Sr. Grandma Madeleine Lee raised Obama for a long time, they were very attached to each other. Obama interrupted his presidential campaign to visit her in the hospital; Madeleine Lee Payne Dunham passed away on November 2, 2008.

Obama Sr.'s father and Dunham's parents were against the marriage, but they married on February 2, 1961. Two years later, after Barack's birth, his father went to continue his studies at Harvard, but Dunham and Obama Jr. soon returned to Hawaii. Barack's parents divorced in January 1964.

While studying at Harvard University, Obama Sr. met the American teacher Ruth Nidesand, with whom, after completing his studies in the United States, he left for Kenya. This was his third marriage, which produced two children. Upon his return to Kenya, he worked for an oil company, and then received a position as an economist in the government apparatus. He only saw his son when he was 10 years old. In Kenya, Obama Sr. was in a car accident, as a result of which he lost both legs, and at the age of 46 (1982) he died in another car accident.

He described his childhood memories in his book Dreams of My Father. As an adult, he admitted that he smoked marijuana at school, took cocaine and alcohol, which he told voters about at the Civil Forum of the presidential company on August 16, 2008 and described it as his lowest moral fall.

In 1985, after moving to Chicago, he began working as a community organizer in disadvantaged areas of the city. In 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School, where in 1990 he became the first-ever black editor of the university edition of the Harvard Law Journal.

Since 1992, she has been married to Michelle Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964), a practicing lawyer. They have two daughters - Malia Ann (born 1998), Natasha ("Sasha"; born 2001).

Illinois State Senator

1996 was elected to the Illinois State Senate.

In 2000, he attempted to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, but lost the primary to incumbent black congressman Bobby Rush.

In 2004, he entered the fight for a nomination for one of the seats from the state of Illinois in the US Senate. He won a convincing victory over six opponents in the primaries.

Senate in Washington (2005-2008)

He was sworn in as a U.S. Senator on January 4, 2005, becoming the 5th African American U.S. Senator in the country's history.

At the end of August 2005, as part of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, he flew to Russia to inspect Russian nuclear facilities together with Republican Senator Richard Lugar; During the trip, on August 28, an incident occurred during a flight at Perm’s Bolshoye Savino airport: the senators were detained for three hours due to their refusal to “follow the requirements of the border guards” to inspect the aircraft, which had diplomatic immunity. Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed regret "in connection with the misunderstanding that had arisen and the inconvenience caused to the senators."

In 2008, Congress.org ranked him the 11th most powerful senator.

presidential race

On February 10, 2007, in front of the old Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Obama announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States. The place was symbolic, since it was there that Abraham Lincoln gave the historic "A House Divided" speech in 1858. Throughout the campaign, Obama advocated a quick end to the Iraq War, energy independence, and universal health care. His campaign slogans are "Change we can believe in" and "Yes we can!" (The song Yes We Can, recorded by a number of well-known artists using words from Obama's campaign speech, received great fame and a Webby Award).

During the first half of 2007, the Obama campaign raised $58 million. Small donations (less than $200) were 16.4 million of that amount. This number set a record for fundraising by a presidential campaign in the first six months of the calendar year leading up to the election. The size of the small part of the donation was also extraordinary. In January 2008, the campaign set another record with $36.8 million, the most ever raised by a Democratic presidential candidate.

Barack Obama's speech in New Hampshire.

Obama is the first (only) presidential candidate to withdraw from public campaign funding.

The course of the election campaign

Barack Obama became the sole Democratic nominee after Hillary Clinton officially announced her resignation from the pre-election race on June 7, 2008 and supported Obama's candidacy. On June 25, 2008, the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, supported Obama for the first time, through spokesman Matt McCann, stating that he would do everything in his power to ensure that Barack Obama won the US presidential election in November 2008.

Preliminaries

Obama won confidently in states with high urbanization and education levels; the most difficult for Obama were the states, which are dominated by the poor white rural population, such as West Virginia. Obama also won victories in traditionally Republican states (for example, in Alaska, where Republicans have traditionally been supported since 1980).

On November 4, Obama secured the support of 338 out of 538 electors with the required 270 votes, which means he came to power on January 20, 2009. At the same time, voter turnout reached a record - 64%.

Resonance in the US and elsewhere

According to the Associated Press, cases of religious and racial intolerance have increased in the United States since the victory of Barack Obama in the presidential election; Director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Mark Potok said: “There are a large number of people who feel that they are losing their usual way of life, that they seem to have been robbed of the country that their ancestors built.”

Obama's victory caused euphoria in a number of countries of the world - a phenomenon called "Obama mania", the symptoms of which began to appear during the election campaign; Kenya and some other countries in Africa and the Middle East were particularly affected.

Activities as president-elect

November 10, 2008 met with George W. Bush to discuss the state of affairs in the country and the world.

On November 24, 2008, he introduced several people of his "team of advisers on economic revival" (The President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board), who in the future should take important positions and develop a policy for the future administration regarding the global economic crisis. On November 26, he announced the leadership of his team of economic advisers by former US Federal Reserve Chairman (1979-1987) Paul Volcker.

Political views and statements

Marriage Obama was an early opponent of President George W. Bush's Iraq policy.

Barack Obama in Leesburg, Virginia.

November 18, 2008 reaffirmed its commitment to work towards achieving significant goals to combat global climate change.

In English

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. - Three Rivers Press, 1995. - ISBN 0307383415

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. - Crown Publishing Group / Three Rivers Press, October 17, 2006. - ISBN 0307237699

National Urban League The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male / Foreword by Barack Obama. - Beckham Publications Group, April 17, 2007. - ISBN 0931761859

Renewing American Leadership. - Foreign Affairs 86(4). Retrieved on 2008-01-14, July-August 2007.

Barack Obama: What He Believes In - From His Own Works. - Arc Manor, March 1, 2008. - ISBN 1604501170

Barack Obama, John McCain Barack Obama vs. John McCain - Side by Side Senate Voting Record for Easy Comparison. - Arc Manor, June 13, 2008. - ISBN 1604502495

Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise / Foreword by Barack Obama. - Three Rivers Press, September 9, 2008. - ISBN 0307460452

In Russian

Obama, Barack The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. - ABC Classics, October 2008. - ISBN 978-5-395-00209-9

Incidents

On August 28, 2005, the departure of a US military plane with senators Richard Lugar and Barack Obama on board was delayed for three hours at Bolshoye Savino Airport.

In October 2008, before the election, two white bonhead US citizens were arrested for preparing an assassination attempt on Obama.

Obama in cartoons

Barack Obama was portrayed in episode 12 of season 12 of South Park, which aired on Comedy Central on November 5, 2008.

Interesting Facts

Obama is regularly confused with terrorist number 1 Osama bin Laden.

Barack Obama's cousin Remigio Obama Nguema Nsang studies at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.

The authorities of the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, after the victory of Barack Obama in the US presidential election, proposed to rename their highest mountain in honor of Obama.

Barack Hussein Obama Jr. is the current (since January 20, 2009) 44th President of the United States of America. Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2009. Before being elected president, he was a U.S. Senator from Illinois.

First African American to be nominated for President of the United States by one of the two major parties; unlike most black Americans, Obama is not a descendant of slaves, but the son of a student from Kenya.

Born August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii. His parents met at the University of Hawaii. His father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr., a black Kenyan, came to the US to study economics. Mother, white American Stanley Ann Dunham (Stanley Ann Dunham) studied anthropology. When Barack was still a baby, his father went to continue his studies at Harvard, but due to financial difficulties he did not take his family with him. When his son was two years old, Obama Sr. left alone for Kenya, where he received a position as an economist in the government apparatus. He divorced his wife.

When Barack was six years old, Ann Dunham remarried, again to an international student, this time an Indonesian. Together with his mother, half-sister and stepfather Lolo Soetoro (Lolo Soetoro), the boy went to Indonesia, where he spent four years. He studied at one of the public schools in Jakarta. Then he returned to Hawaii, lived with his mother's parents.

In 1979, he graduated from Punahou School, a privileged private school in Honolulu. A school that is proud of its famous graduates - actors and athletes. During his high school years, Obama's big passion was basketball. As part of the Punahaou team, he won the state championship in 1979. In the same 1979, Barack Obama graduated from high school, and now honorably takes not the last place in the lists of famous graduates of this school. In a memoir published in 1995, Obama himself recalled that in high school he used marijuana and cocaine, and his academic performance declined.

In 1983, with a Bachelor's degree, Barack Obama began working for a large International Business Corporation as an editor in the financial information department. Obama will work there for a year, his first post-college job.

After that, in 1985 he settled in Chicago and worked in one of the church charity groups. As a "social organizer" he helped residents of disadvantaged areas of the city. It was his experience in philanthropy that made him realize that in order to improve people's lives, changes in legislation and policy are needed.

In 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School, where he became the first black editor of the university's Harvard Law Review in 1990. These were not all of Obama's successes at Harvard in 1990. The New York Times will write about the news that he has become the first black president of the Harvard Lawyers' Club in its hundred and four year history. In 1991, Obama graduated and returned to Chicago. Engaged in legal practice, mainly defended victims of various types of discrimination in court. In addition, Obama worked at the headquarters of the Democratic Party, taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School, worked on suffrage issues at the small law firm of Miner, Barnhill and Galand. Obama became known as a liberal, an opponent of the creation of NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Area (North American Free Trade Area), a fighter against racial discrimination, a supporter of the universal health insurance system.

In 1993, Barack Obama will begin teaching the course "Constitutional Law" at the University of Chicago Law School. Obama will work there until 2004. Until the year of his election to the US Senate.

In 1995, Obama will write and publish his first book, Dreams from a Father. A book that will bring glory to the future senator.

In 1996, Obama will win elections to the Illinois State Senate. And later, doing a political review of the work of the senator, the Washington Post article will note Obama's ability to unite the Democratic and Republican opposing parties in the work.

Obama's political career began in the Illinois State Senate, where he represented the Democratic Party for eight years, from 1997 to 2004.

In 2000, Obama attempted to run for the House of Representatives, but lost the primary to incumbent black Congressman Bobby Rush, a former member of the Black Panther movement. In the state Senate, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans: representatives of the two parties worked together on state programs to support low-income families through tax cuts. Obama acted as an active supporter of the development of preschool education. Supported measures to tighten control over the work of the investigating authorities. In 2002, Obama condemned the George W. Bush administration's plans to invade Iraq.

In 2004, Obama entered the race for the nomination for one of the Illinois seats in the US Senate. In the primaries, he managed to win a convincing victory over six opponents. Obama's chances of success increased when his Republican opponent Jack Ryan (Jack Ryan) was forced to withdraw his candidacy: the reason was the scandalous accusations against Ryan during the divorce proceedings.

On July 29, 2004, during the campaign, Obama delivered an address to the Democratic National Convention. His televised speech made Obama widely known in the United States. The senatorial candidate urged listeners to return to the roots of American society and re-establish the United States as a country of "open opportunity": he illustrated the ideal of open opportunity through his own biography and that of his father.

In the Senate elections, Obama won by a large margin (70% to 27%) Republican Alan Keyes (Alan Keyes). He took office on January 4, 2005 and became the fifth African-American senator in US history. Obama served on several committees: on environmental issues and public works, on veterans' affairs and on foreign relations.

As previously in the state Senate, Obama has worked with Republicans on a number of issues, including legislation on government transparency. In addition, together with the well-known Republican Senator Richard Lugar (Richard Lugar), Obama visited Russia: the trip was devoted to cooperation in the field of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In general, Obama voted in the Senate in accordance with the liberal line of the Democratic Party. He paid special attention to the idea of developing alternative energy sources.

Senator Obama managed to win the sympathy of the press unusually quickly and become one of the most visible figures in Washington. By the fall of 2006, observers already considered it quite possible for him to be nominated in the next presidential election. In early 2007, Obama was second only to Senator Hillary Clinton on the list of Democratic Party favorites. In January, Obama created an evaluation committee to prepare for running in the presidential election. As of early February 2007, 15 percent of Democrats were ready to support Obama, and 43 percent for Clinton. The data at the beginning of June 2007 surpassed the most optimistic forecasts of Obama's supporters - the gap was only 3 percent in favor of Hillary Clinton.

In January 2007, Obama faced controversial allegations. Information began to spread in the press that during his life in Indonesia, he allegedly studied at an Islamic school-madrasah, where representatives of the radical Muslim sect of Wahhabis preached. These accusations were denied, but left a significant negative imprint on the image of Obama.

On February 10, at a rally in Springfield, Illinois, Obama announced his entry into the presidential race. If he wins, he promised to withdraw American troops from Iraq by March 2009. Along with the Iraq campaign, he has criticized the Bush administration for its lack of progress in combating oil dependency and developing the education system. Soon, on February 13, at another rally in Iowa, Obama made a rash statement. Criticizing Bush's Iraqi policy, he said that the lives of US soldiers who died in Iraq were "wasted". He had to repeatedly apologize and explain that he unsuccessfully expressed his thought. Obama's position on Iraq and his plans to withdraw troops were critically received by Bush supporters not only in the US but also abroad. One of the president's allies, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, announced that Obama's plans play into the hands of terrorists.

In February 2007, Obama was supported by David Geffen (David Geffen), one of the founders of the film company DreamWorks, in the past - one of the prominent supporters of Bill Clinton. Geffin said that Hillary Clinton is too controversial a figure and will not be able to unite Americans in a difficult time for the country. Together with other Hollywood celebrities, Geffin organized a campaign to collect donations in favor of Obama - the collected amount reached $ 1.3 billion. Geffin's tough comments about Clinton have been linked to the narrowing of the gap between the former first lady and Obama: at the end of February, the difference was 12 percent. 36 percent of Democrats were ready to vote for Clinton, and 24 percent for Obama.

One of the vulnerabilities of Obama as a candidate was the question of his belonging to "African-Americans". As it turned out, some representatives of the black population, including the most influential representatives of this minority, were in no hurry to recognize their own in Obama. The fact is that, unlike the "real" American Negro, Obama is not a descendant of slaves brought to the American continent from West Africa. In addition, the senator did not have a chance to participate in the struggle for the rights of blacks - unlike most American African-American politicians. The situation worsened when, in early March 2007, the press reported that there were slave owners in the Obama family on the maternal side.

Obama has been married to lawyer Michelle Robinson Obama since 1992. They have two daughters: Malia (Malia) and Sasha (Sasha). Official biographies report that Obama and his wife are parishioners of one of the Christian churches in Chicago - Trinity United Church of Christ. Barack Obama is the author of two books: in 1995, he published the memoir Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, which we have already mentioned, and in 2006, the book The Courage of Hope ( The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream). The audio version of the first book in 2006 won the Grammy Award. Both of Obama's books have become bestsellers.

In the 2008 presidential election, Obama edged out Republican candidate John McCain with 52.7% of the popular vote and 365 votes in the Electoral College.

October 9, 2009 received the Nobel Peace Prize with the wording "for extraordinary efforts in strengthening international diplomacy and cooperation between people." Obama became the third US President, after Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize during his tenure (it was also awarded to former President Jimmy Carter).

Barack Hussein Obama II(English) Barack Hussein Obama II), better known as Barack Obama, was elected in November 2008 as President of the United States from the Democratic Party. He will take over as president of the country in January 2009, becoming the first black head of state in US history. Prior to his election to this post, Obama was a senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008. After 2004, he was one of the most popular Democratic politicians in the United States.

Biography

Barack Hussein Obama Jr. was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii. His parents met at the University of Hawaii. His father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr., a black Kenyan, came to the US to study economics. Mother, white American Stanley Ann Dunham (Stanley Ann Dunham) studied anthropology. When Barack was still a baby, his father went to continue his studies at Harvard, but due to financial difficulties he did not take his family with him. When his son was two years old, Obama Sr. left alone for Kenya, where he received a position as an economist in the government apparatus. He divorced his wife.

When Barak was six years old, Ann Dunham remarried, again to an international student, this time an Indonesian. Together with his mother, half-sister and stepfather Lolo Soetoro (Lolo Soetoro), the boy went to Indonesia, where he spent four years. He studied at one of the public schools in Jakarta. Then he returned to Hawaii, lived with his mother's parents. In 1979, he graduated from Punahou School, a privileged private school in Honolulu. A school that is proud of its famous graduates - actors and athletes. During his high school years, Obama's big passion was basketball. As part of the Punahaou team, he won the state championship in 1979. In the same 1979, Barack Obama graduated from high school, and now honorably takes not the last place in the lists of famous graduates of this school. In a memoir published in 1995, Obama himself recalled that in high school he used marijuana and cocaine, and his academic performance declined.

After high school, Obama studied at Western College (Occidental College) in Los Angeles, then transferred to Columbia University, graduating in 1983, where Obama began to emerge as a politician and public figure. With a bachelor's degree, Barack Obama began working for a large International Business Corporation as a financial information editor. Obama worked there for a year, his first post-college job.

After that, in 1985, he settled in Chicago and worked in one of the church charity groups. As a "social organizer" he helped residents of disadvantaged areas of the city.

In 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School, where in 1990 he became the first black editor of the university's Harvard Law Review.

After graduating, he returned to Chicago and worked for nine years for a civil liberties law firm. In addition, Obama worked at the headquarters of the Democratic Party, taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School, worked on suffrage issues at the small law firm of Miner, Barnhill and Galand. Obama became known as a liberal, an opponent of the creation of NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Area (North American Free Trade Area), a fighter against racial discrimination, a supporter of the universal health insurance system.

Obama's political career began in the Illinois State Senate, where he represented the Democratic Party for eight years, from 1997 to 2004.

In 2000, Obama attempted to run for the House of Representatives, but lost the primary to incumbent black Congressman Bobby Rush, a former member of the Black Panther movement.

In the state Senate, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans: representatives of the two parties worked together on state programs to support low-income families through tax cuts. Obama acted as an active supporter of the development of preschool education. Supported measures to tighten control over the work of the investigating authorities. In 2002, Obama condemned the George W. Bush administration's plans to invade Iraq.

In 2004, he ran for the vacant seat in the US Senate and won 70 percent of the vote. In the primaries, he managed to win a convincing victory over six opponents. Obama's chances of success increased when his Republican opponent, Jack Ryan, was forced to withdraw his candidacy after scandalous allegations made against Ryan during the divorce proceedings. Obama became the fifth black senator in US history.

US presidential election (2008)

On February 10, 2007, in front of the old Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Obama announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States. The place was symbolic, since it was there that Abraham Lincoln gave the historic "A House Divided" speech in 1858. Throughout the campaign, Obama advocated a quick end to the Iraq War, energy independence, and universal health care. His campaign slogans are "Change we can believe in" and "Yes we can!". Obama is the first (only) presidential candidate to withdraw from public campaign funding.

In the November 4 election, Obama secured 51 percent of the popular vote and received more than 300 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Turnout in the election was about 64 percent, the highest in the United States in over a hundred years. Obama announced his victory after the announcement of the results of voting in key states - Ohio and Pennsylvania. In his speech, the first black US president in history declared that "Change has come to America".

Personal life

Obama has been married to lawyer Michelle Robinson Obama since 1992. They met at Harvard Law School. They have two daughters: Malia Ann (Malia Ann, born in 1998) and Natasha (Natasha, born in 2001, in the press she is often called Sasha, Sasha).

Barack Obama is the author of two books: in 1995, he published a memoir, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, which was originally intended to be a work on Obama's legal practice. In 2006, Obama released his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. The audio version of the first book in 2006 won the Grammy Award. Both of Obama's books have become bestsellers.