Obama situation

Personal information

Full name: Barack Hussein Obama Jr. (translated as Obama in Taiwan)

Party: Democratic Party

Height: 186cm

Birthday: August 4, 1961

Birthplace: Honolulu, Hawaii

Residence: Chicago, Illinois

Public office: 44th President of the United States (56th, 43rd) (Term: January 20, 2009 - January 20, 2013)

Illinois State Senator (first elected in 2004)

Illinois State Senator (1997-2004) (January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2009)

Professional background: 1993-2004, attorney at Miner Barnhill & Galland Law Firm (Chicago, IL)

Educational background: Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University in 1983

Obtained a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1991

Marital status: Married in 1992, with two daughters (eldest daughter: Malia, born in 1999; younger daughter: Natasha, born in 2001)

Religion: United Church of Christ (Protestant)

Book: "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" )[2006];

"Dreams from my Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" [1995]

[edit This paragraph] Biography

Obama was born in Hawaii. His father is a black economist in Kenya and his mother is a white female teacher in the United States. His parents separated when Obama was two years old. Before hearing that his father died in a car accident in Kenya in 1982, Obama only met his father once. Obama grew up with his mother and grandparents.

His father, Barack Obama, is a Kenyan student studying in Hawaii. Mother Ann Dunham is a white man originally from Kansas. Dunham was just 18 when she married Obama Sr. This marriage was short-lived. Obama Sr. left home to study for a doctorate in economics at Harvard University, leaving behind his young wife and young son Obama (who was only two years old at the time). He had no money to take his wife and children with him. Go together. After graduation, he returned to Kenya with another American woman, Ruth, who became his third wife because he had already married a wife in his hometown.

His father left, and Obama grew up with his mother. Dunham later married Rolo Sutoro, a manager of an Indonesian oil company. Sutoro needed to go to Jakarta due to work, so Dunham took 6-year-old Obama to Indonesia. Obama spent four years of his childhood in Indonesia.

When he was 10 years old, his mother divorced his stepfather, and Obama returned to Hawaii, where he lived with his grandfather and grandmother most of the time. Dunham returned to Indonesia with her daughter Maya, whom she had with Sutoro. At that time, Dunham's life was very difficult. She was studying for a doctorate in anthropology and was frugally saving money to support her son's studies. When Obama was a child, the Obama family lived in a small apartment. Obama's maternal grandfather had several jobs, first as a furniture salesman and then as a failed insurance broker. My grandmother works in a bank. But Obama actually entered a private school in Puna, Hawaii. This shows that the little guy is very good at studying, but the family has a heavy burden.

The Puna Post Private School in Hawaii is the best private school in Hawaii and even in the United States. It has a century-old history and expensive tuition. Anyone with some wealth and status will have to send their children to it no matter what. Once inside, the parents' faces will be bright and the children will have a bright future.

When it comes to this matter, Dunham always thinks with half pride that Obama has inherited his father's wisdom and is following his father's successful path.

In July 2004, the Democratic Party held its national convention, and Obama was designated to give a "keynote speech" on the second day. The so-called "keynote speech" is when Democrats elaborate on the party's platform and policy declaration, usually delivered by the party's most promising political star. The person who gave the "keynote speech" in 1988 was Clinton, then governor of Arkansas. Obama lived up to expectations. He wrote his speech himself and delivered an impassioned speech. In his speech, he proposed to eliminate partisan differences and racial differences and realize the dream of "one America."

The 45-year-old Obama’s speech is very charming, and his bright smile has won the hearts of many people. Compared with previous black predecessors who intended to run for president, Obama is the first rising star to gain national support in pre-primary polls. He defeated Hillary Clinton, one of the popular candidates for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, and became the Democratic presidential candidate. .

In just over two years, Obama has caused a whirlwind in the political arena. Some people have even compared the "Obama phenomenon" with former President Kennedy's entry into the White House in 1960 with great popularity.

Chronicle of Obama

Born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1983;

Obtained a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1991;

Married in 1992 and had two daughters;

1993-2004, lawyer at Miner Barnhill & Galland Law Firm (Illinois) (Chicago, Chicago);

In 1996, he was first elected to the Illinois Senate;

In 2004, he was first elected to the Illinois Senate.

In February 2007, Obama officially announced his candidacy for president. On August 27, he won the presidential candidate nomination at the Democratic National Convention.

In 2008, he was elected as the 56th President of the United States and became the first black president in American history.

In January 2009, Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, was sworn in in Washington and became the new owner of the White House.

[Edit this paragraph] 2008 presidential election

1. Party primaries

Obama announced his candidacy

Barack Obama On January 16, 2007, he announced his intention to run for president in 2008. He has submitted relevant documents to the US federal election agency on the same day and established a committee to evaluate the feasibility of his participation in the presidential election.

Obama issued a statement on his website on the 16th, saying that he has been considering whether to participate in the 2008 presidential election for several months, but whether to participate will not depend on media publicity and personal ambitions. Over the past six years, decisions made by the federal government and problems ignored have put the United States in a very unsafe situation, and the United States has been plunged into an "unfortunate and costly" war that should never have been launched. While in Washington leaders are unable to cooperate in a practical way.

Hillary announced her candidacy

On January 20, former President Clinton’s wife Hillary announced her participation in the 2008 US presidential election on her personal website. Her campaign slogan is: I'm here to win.

The struggle between the two parties is fierce

Due to the large number of supporters of both parties within the party, a fierce vote-grabbing battle is essential, no less than the subsequent presidential election.

Obama focuses on reaching young voters, especially online.

In March 2007, Obama published a question on "Yahoo! Answers" (the American version of Yahoo! Knowledge) titled "How can we engage more people in the democratic process?" , with more than 17,000 responses. Later, he also opened an account on the social networking site Facebook, and the page became very popular.

Hillary’s biggest advantage is that her husband Clinton and herself are women, making it easy to attract the attention of female voters. When pollster Mark Melman asked 10 black women to choose their political hero, eight chose Hillary.

(For details, see the entry Hillary)

Obama won the primary election, Hillary withdrew from the election

After a series of canvassing, in June 2008 local time in the United States On March 3, US Democratic presidential candidate Obama announced that he had won the party's primary election and received the Democratic presidential nomination.

On June 7, Hillary officially announced that she would stop running, calling on her voters to instead support Obama, the winner of the party's primary, to become president.

2. Nominating the Vice President and accepting party nominations

On August 23, 2008, Obama announced that 65-year-old Delaware senior senator Joseph Biden (Joe Biden becomes the Democratic vice presidential candidate. The Obama campaign website said: "Biden brings a lot of foreign policy experience, an admirable record of cross-party cooperation, and a direct way of doing things." Analysts believe that Biden's diplomatic experience will help Obama govern, but he chooses the political arena Having a veteran as his running mate would undermine Obama's legitimacy in emphasizing change.

On August 28, Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at the Invesco Football Stadium in Denver, becoming the first black presidential candidate in the history of both parties in the United States. This day is also the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. In his speech, Obama outlined his governing blueprint, covering the challenges of the 21st century such as economy, diplomacy, terrorism, poverty, climate change and disease.

3. Enter the presidential election

After winning the party primary, Obama started his campaign. Especially for the Democratic Party's traditional state divisions and swing states (especially states with extremely large votes), such as Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Pennsylvania, etc. Achieved impressive results, with polls in multiple states showing that Obama overtook President Trump and party candidate McCain from a previous lag.

Faced with Obama taking the initiative to attack traditional "red states" and leading him in almost all subsequent polls, McCain fought against the odds. As the presidential election approached, he gradually closed in on Obama, but the gap was still 5~ Around 10.

4. Winning the presidential election

At 11pm Eastern Time on November 4, 2008, the vote count showed that Obama was elected as the United States with 349 votes, leading McCain by 163 votes. The 44th (56th, 43rd) President. He also became the first African-American president in U.S. history (Obama's father is a Kenyan citizen, and Obama's mother is a white American).

Afterwards, Obama delivered a victory speech titled "Change in America" ??at the campaign headquarters in Chicago, saying that the time for change in the United States has arrived. He talked about the meaning of winning, McCain, family, the death of his grandmother, bipartisanship, and the power of America.

Professor Paul Krugman, this year’s Nobel Prize winner in economics, supported Obama’s candidacy. After he was elected, Krugman published an article on November 7 expressing his disapproval of the fact that an African-American was elected to the United States for the first time. Presidential excitement and pride.

More importantly, he urged Obama not to listen to suggestions that he delay policy changes, analyzed the possibility and necessity of sticking to the radical reform agenda proposed during the campaign, and proposed the slogan of Obama's new New Deal. (See Krugman: The Obama Agenda).

Mother

Obama’s father, Obama Sr., is a Kenyan, and his mother, Ann Dunham, is a white female teacher in the United States. The marriage between the two did not last long, and they only gave birth to one child, Obama. Later, Obama lived in Indonesia with his mother and stepfather for 4 years.

Dunham was born in Wichita, Kansas, USA, and later moved to Hawaii with his parents. In Hawaii, Dunham met and married Kenyan student Barack Obama (Obama Sr.) and gave birth to a son named Barry, who is now Senator Obama. This marriage did not last long and ended when Obama Sr. left home to study at Harvard University.

Dunham later married Indonesian student Rolo Sutoro and came to Indonesia in 1967, bringing 6-year-old Barry with him.

A recent rumor about Obama is that he attended an extremist religious school while living in Indonesia. But the truth is, it was just an ordinary religious school. When hearing this rumor, the most surprised person was Julia Suryakusuma, Obama’s mother’s best friend during her lifetime.

Surya Kusuma, 53, is one of the most famous feminists in Indonesia and has published many works criticizing extreme religiousism. Suryakusuma said that Dunham is a liberal and humanitarian, can speak fluent Indonesian and loves Indonesian culture. Although he is interested in religion, he has not joined any religion.

On the coffee table of Suryakusu Mayagada residence, there is a photo album. The photo album records happy times, and in the photos, Dunham has lively curls, wears loose bohemian clothes, and always smiles.

Suryakusuma said: "You know, Ann (Dunham) is white, although she told me that she is of Cherokee (a branch of North American Indians) "According to Obama, a distant ancestor of his mother's family was a pure-bred Cherokee.

When Obama was 10 years old, he returned to Hawaii and lived with his maternal grandparents. Dunham returned to Indonesia with her daughter Maya, whom she had with Sutoro. Dunham was keen on the production of Indonesian women's folk handicrafts, such as weaving and basket weaving, and became an expert in them. Maia is now a professor at the University of Hawaii.

Suryakusuma recalled: "We were both mothers and we talked about how sad it was for a mother to be separated from her children, but she (Dunham) was more concerned about Barry. (Obama’s) education.”

Suryakusuma first met the future senator when Obama visited his mother in Indonesia as a young man. She said: "Dunham was so proud of him. I remember when Obama became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, Dunham was filled with pride."

Dunham in 1995 Died of ovarian cancer.

Father

After his parents separated, Obama only met his father once before hearing that he had died in a car accident in Kenya in 1982.

Although he did not get along with his father for a long time, the skin color inherited from his father became a flag in his political career. His memoir was first published in 1995 as "Dreams from My Father." After entering politics, Obama borrowed his father's name (Barack) and felt the imprint left by his father in the names he was given every day.

Obama Sr. was born in a poor small village in western Kenya and worked as a cowherd boy. Later, by chance, he went to the United States to study, met Dunham, and gave birth to Obama.

Obama’s grandmother and many relatives still live in that small village, and the elder Obama was buried in the village after his death in a car accident in 1982. In 1992, Obama visited his hometown for the first time and brought his fiancée in.

Obama Sr.’s life is relatively complicated.

He married his first wife, Kozia, while in Kenya, and they have two children, son Roy and daughter Oma.

According to Obama, his father never really left Kozia. But Dunham said that Obama Sr. did separate from Cozia, but "because the marriage was a country wedding, there was no documentation to prove the divorce."

Obama Sr. and Dunham's marriage in Hawaii may not have been properly documented. Obama said in his memoirs: "How and when this marriage began is still unclear. There are some details that I will never have the courage to clarify."

Obama Sr. left Dunham and his two-year-old son to After studying at Harvard, he later returned to Africa with another American woman, Ruth. Ruth became his third wife and bore him two sons in Kenya, one of whom died in a car accident.

However, Obama Sr. often visited Kozia. A relative explained that according to tradition, Kozia was still his wife. Obama Sr. also fathered a son with another Kenyan woman.

Dream

Obama had a complicated life experience and experienced ups and downs, but when he grew up, he organized charity in Chicago and gradually accumulated fame. While studying at Harvard Law School, he became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. This position is usually seen as a stepping stone for law students to enter the U.S. Supreme Court as a clerk and then advance upwards after graduation. However, after Obama graduated, he chose a small law firm in Chicago that specializes in civil rights litigation.

Obama later chose to enter politics and was re-elected as an Illinois state senator for three terms. In 2004, he stood out at the Democratic National Convention, expanding his popularity across the United States. That year, he won the Senate election and became the fifth black U.S. senator in U.S. history.

Suryakusuma said: "You know, having a white mother, a black father, and having been to Indonesia made him, like his mother, susceptible to identifying with all kinds of people. . ”

Some American groups see Obama as proof that integration can transcend race. William Galston, a public policy researcher at the Brookings Institution, said: "I think American voters are ready to support leaders who embody the American dream."

Larry Professor of Political Science at the University of Virginia ·Savato believes that Obama can attract voters by announcing his life experience, no matter what kind of controversy there is. "Americans love success stories," Savatto said.

Surya Kusuma said she could imagine Obama's mother's "enthusiastic performance" "if she knew Barry, her child How proud she would be to run for President of the United States."

Obama currently ranks second among Democrats who have announced their candidacy for president, behind former first lady and New York U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton.