Barack Obama
As I'm sure many of you know, Barack Obama, currently the Senator for Illinois, is planning on running as a Democrat in the upcoming American presidential election. I came across some interesting things on him, particularly a video of him adressing the public about his presidential plans: http://www.barackobama.com/video/ .
He's a really interesting candidate, very liberal, especially considering the current president. In the video, he speaks openly about his disapproval of the war in Iraq and talks about things like health care and schooling. I'm not sure if these things will be met with approval from Southern Republicans who are concerned with taxes and defense. I'm not sure how things will turn out, but it's nice to see some change, as in two of the candidates for the Democrats were Hilary Rodham Clinton (a woman) and Barack Obama (a Black man). Certainly an achievement for America.
Below is an excerpt from the above website with background information on Obama:
Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.
Barack’s mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton’s army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii. It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where Barack’s parents met. His mother was a student, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.
Barack’s father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.
“My mother was from Kansas, which is where I got my accent from."
Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.
“The best education I received was working with people in the community on a grassroots basis. Because what it taught me was that ordinary people, when they are working together can do extraordinary things."
The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, he needed the skills that only a more professional education could offer.
He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for seven years.
In 2003, Barack launched his improbable race for the United States Senate. Even with many primary contenders, an imported Republican challenger and a budget six times smaller than his opponent’s, Barack won a landslide victory. Even then, he stood out alone among the major candidates, opposing the war in Iraq.
As a US Senator, Barack has continued to work on the issues that represent the ideals and aspirations of so many. He’s helped pass major measures that combat the international trafficking of nuclear weapons, promote the use of alternative fuels, and open up the budget process to greater public scrutiny. In all of these efforts, he’s brought Democrats and Republicans together for the common good.
Above all his accomplishments and experiences, Barack is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 8, and Sasha, 5, live on Chicago’s South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.
He's a really interesting candidate, very liberal, especially considering the current president. In the video, he speaks openly about his disapproval of the war in Iraq and talks about things like health care and schooling. I'm not sure if these things will be met with approval from Southern Republicans who are concerned with taxes and defense. I'm not sure how things will turn out, but it's nice to see some change, as in two of the candidates for the Democrats were Hilary Rodham Clinton (a woman) and Barack Obama (a Black man). Certainly an achievement for America.
Below is an excerpt from the above website with background information on Obama:
Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.
Barack’s mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton’s army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii. It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where Barack’s parents met. His mother was a student, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.
Barack’s father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.
“My mother was from Kansas, which is where I got my accent from."
Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.
“The best education I received was working with people in the community on a grassroots basis. Because what it taught me was that ordinary people, when they are working together can do extraordinary things."
The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, he needed the skills that only a more professional education could offer.
He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for seven years.
In 2003, Barack launched his improbable race for the United States Senate. Even with many primary contenders, an imported Republican challenger and a budget six times smaller than his opponent’s, Barack won a landslide victory. Even then, he stood out alone among the major candidates, opposing the war in Iraq.
As a US Senator, Barack has continued to work on the issues that represent the ideals and aspirations of so many. He’s helped pass major measures that combat the international trafficking of nuclear weapons, promote the use of alternative fuels, and open up the budget process to greater public scrutiny. In all of these efforts, he’s brought Democrats and Republicans together for the common good.
Above all his accomplishments and experiences, Barack is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 8, and Sasha, 5, live on Chicago’s South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.
posted by Superman at 6:37 PM
3 Comments:
First I'd like to thank you for sharing this information! I think that our awareness of Mr. Obama here is limited and both the video, the website and your information really help to establish him in our minds.
The thing that really hit me, most particularly while watching the video, was that I didn't get the feeling that I was engaged with American politics. I think that for us, as Canadians, the concept of American politics has come down to Bush and the Iraq occupation and the occasional consideration of the economy, more specifically Softwood Lumber. To see an American talking about domestic politics, such as Health care, was very refreshing. I think that Mr. Obama could bring exactly what the American state needs, as far as International reputation is concerned: an image of human considerations and true dialogue on not only the domestic but on the international stage as well. Let us hope.
I feel that the issues of internal political issues in the U.S. has been dealth with, however, I would certainly point to concerns I myself have with International affairs.
Clearly Mr. Obama opposes the war, however, from my research he has no particular policy on its development. This seems fairly typical of the DEmocrats, and to my mind likely their largest challenge at this point.
On a broader scale, I also wonder how the international community will react to such a shift in their 'leaders' administration's approach. I beleive that the U.S., whether their actions have been favorable or unfavorable, have been leading the action in the world.
Obviously Mr. Obama is in the early stages of formulating his tactics, but personally I see that if he wants to run for President he will have to win over the International community as well as the American people. No small feat, to be sure! I look forward to seeing that side of his policy develop, and hope that endeavour will make him one of the key players in whatever shift we see in America's international position and specifically their position in Iraq.
If the democracts choose him or Hiliary than they have no chance of winning...they will lose every single red state and will probably have a hard time winning Ohio and Florida (which are swing States). The whole thing is rigged anyway...check out the 2004 electronic voting scam. The exit polls did not match the actual votes..plus other discrepancies.
I agree completely with the sentiments expressed in acceptancespeech's post. I think that if Obama could win he would entirely change the face of the U.S. as we know it. It is so amazing to hear that a man from such humble beginnings is actually being identified as a frontrunner in a race that is usually dominated by the white, anglo-saxon, founding families of America. Obama has that "IT" factor that other great leaders have had and I think that Clinton doesn't have that same draw.
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