Munez santiago biography of barack obama

His mother and half-sister later joined them. Obama struggled with the absence of his father, whom he saw only once more after his parents divorced when Obama Sr. While living with his grandparents, Obama enrolled in the esteemed Punahou School. He excelled in basketball and graduated with academic honors in As one of only three Black students at the school, he became conscious of racism and what it meant to be African Munez santiago biography of barack obama.

He shares a mother with half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and has five paternal half-siblings. According to Oprah Dailyhe has maintained a warm and close relationship with half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng. The two grew up together and both graduated from the Punahou School. So he really ended up being the man of the house. Obama entered Occidental College in Los Angeles in After two years, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, graduating in with a degree in political science.

After his undergrad studies, Obama worked in the business sector for two years. He moved to Chicago inwhere he worked on the impoverished South Side as a community organizer for low-income residents in the Roseland and the Altgeld Gardens communities. He also visited relatives in Kenya and paid an emotional visit to the graves of his biological father, who died in a car accident in Novemberand his paternal grandfather.

The next year, he met with constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe. Their discussion so impressed Tribe that when Obama asked to join his team as a research assistant, the professor agreed. He graduated magna cum laude with his juris doctor from Harvard Law School in Inwhile still in law school, Obama joined the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin as a summer associate.

There, he met Michelle Robinson, a young lawyer who was assigned to be his adviser. Initially, Michelle refused to date Barack, believing that their work relationship would make the romance improper. However, she relented not long after, and the couple fell in love. On October 3,he and Michelle were married. Barack and Michelle welcomed two daughters several years later: Maliaborn inand Sashaborn in The couple has stated that their personal priority is their children.

During his years as a state senator, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans to draft legislation on ethics, as well as expand health care services and early childhood education programs for the poor. He also created a state earned-income tax credit for the working poor. InObama made an unsuccessful Democratic primary run for the U.

House of Representatives seat held by four-term incumbent candidate Bobby Rush. Undeterred, he created a campaign committee in and began raising funds to run for a seat in the U. Senate in With the help of political consultant David Axelrod, Obama began assessing his prospects for a Senate win. Encouraged by poll numbers, Obama decided to run for the open U.

Senate seat, vacated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald. In the Democratic primary, he defeated multimillionaire businessman Blair Hull and Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes with 52 percent of the vote. That summer, he was invited to deliver the keynote speech in support of John Kerry at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Obama emphasized the importance of unity and made veiled jabs at the George W.

Bush administration and the diversionary use of wedge issues. After the convention, Obama returned to his U. 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 following public disclosure of unsubstantiated sexual deviancy allegations by his ex-wife, actor Jeri Ryan.

That August, diplomat and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan. With his win, Obama became only the third African American elected to the U. Senate since Reconstruction. Sworn into office on January 3,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 Coburn of Oklahoma, he created a website to track all federal spending. In FebruaryObama made headlines when he announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Munez santiago biography of barack obama

He was locked in a tight battle with then-U. Obama also signed up to the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Despite a fractious political system, Obama was noted for retaining a dignified and calm demeanour, seeking to unite the country in the face of divisive issues. He is widely regarded as a charismatic speaker — frequently speaking on the ideals of hope and optimism.

Barack Obama was born 4 Aug in Hawaii. His father was a Kenyan intellectual and his mother a white teenager from Kansas. When Barack was still young, his father abandoned the family and Barack would only meet his father on a few future occasions. After a brief spell living in Indonesia, he moved back to Hawaii where he was raised by his grandparents.

Obama later produced two birth certificates to prove his nationality. After studying law at Harvard, he worked as a civil rights lawyer in Chicago. It was here in Chicago that he met his future wife, Michelle. They married in and had two children. Inhe gained his major political breakthrough serving in the Illinois State Senate. Inhe was elected to the US Senate where he gained a reputation as one of rising stars in the Democrat Party.

In the aftermath of the Iraq war, his reputation was enhanced by his previous opposition to the war. July Peter Baker had established himself as an excellent writer of political history. He puts situations in prospective and fleshes out the politics and motives. The acknowledgments section clearly states that this coffee-table, overly illustrated, oversized tome 5 lbs by weight was the creation of the New York Times as a show piece, and not the serious Obama biography that Baker might want to write.

Diana Batzel said:. December 20, at pm. I just wanted to thank you for sharing your knowledge and book ratings with the greater general public. I belong to a small group of readers that are also making our way through the presidential list. Your site has become an indispensable resource for us and is always our first reference. We have great discussions on many different topics but invariably come back to the discussion of what makes a great leader or president.

Do you have thoughts and time to share a few of your ideas on this topic? I am also wondering if you might be able to recommend a few good books that compare presidents and their leadership traits? Thanks again so very much. In the foreign policy arena, Obama opened up talks with Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela and set a withdrawal date for American troops in Iraq.

No Americans were lost in the operation, which gathered evidence about Al-Qaeda. Barack Obama was re-elected for a second term inbeating out Republican Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan. The midterm elections proved challenging, as Republicans gained a majority in both houses of Congress. His second term was marked by several international events.

InObama came out strongly against the use of chemical weapons on civilians by Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, avoiding a direct strike on Syria when al-Assad agreed to accept a Russian proposal that it relinquish its chemical weapons. Perhaps the defining moment of his international diplomacy was his work on the Iran Nuclear Dealwhich allowed inspectors into Iran to ensure it was under the pledged limit of enriched uranium in return for lifting economic sanctions.

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