Barack Obama

Barack Obama is the 44th United States president. He was born in Honololu, Hawaii to an American mother and a Kenyan father. He studied at Harvard law school, before serving three terms in the Illonois state senate from 1997-2004, and then the US senate from 2004. He won the presidential elections in 2008 and 2012.

Early Life and Career

Obama was born in 1961. His parents split shortly after his birth in late August 1961, and Obama rarely got to meet his dad. His last meeting with his dad was in 1971 before he died in a car accident in 1982 in Kenya.

Obama began his law career by enrolling into Harvard law school in 1988. The next year, while working as a summer associate at a law firm, he met Michelle Robinson, who’d go on to become his wife. After law school, Obama came to Chicago as a civil rights lawyer, and taught at the University of Chicago as a lecturer and then later as a professor.

Obama ran as a democrat for the Illinois state senate in 1996 and won the election. During his time he worked on expanding health care services and early childhood programmes for the poor.

In the summer of 2004 he delivered the keynote speech in support of John Kerry, which really gained him national recognition. The speech brought mainstream exposure for Obama and generated a lot of applause for his speech. He also won the US senate bid in Illinois.

Presidency

Obama ran for the US presidency elections in 2008 as a democrat, making his announcement in 2007. He defeated Hilary Clinton in the primaries, and defeated Republican John McCain in the general election and, in doing so, became the first African-American president of the United States. Obama was re-elected again in 2012, defeating Republican Mitt Romney.

Obama was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. He faced tough economic conditions, as the economy was still in turmoil, suffering from recession. Despite this he still tried his best to fix the economy, and has performed favourably in approval ratings.

He passed several laws such as Dodd-Frank in 2010 re-regulate the financial sector and their practices. Obama also ended the hugely controversial Iraq war in 2011, and all combat ended in Afghanistan in 2014, although raids continue against Islamists.

The affordable care act, dubbed ‘’obamacare’’ by many, is perhaps Obama’s biggest controversy in office. It covers 32 million uninsured Americans and seeks to cut the growth of health care costs. It has received a lot of criticism, especially from Republicans, due to its high costs for businesses.

The public, despite the tough conditions in which he inherited the economy and country, has seen Obama favourably. He has steered his party to two victories, on the back of a strong economic and domestic policy.