Barack Obama was born to a white American mother, Ann Dunham, and a black Kenyan father, Barack Obama, Sr., who were both young college students at the University of Hawaii. When his father left for Harvard, she and Barack stayed behind, and his father ultimately returned alone to Kenya, where he worked as a government economist. Barack's mother remarried an Indonesian oil manager and moved to Jakarta when Barack was six. He later recounted Indonesia as simultaneously lush and a harrowing exposure to tropical poverty. He returned to Hawaii, where he was brought up largely by his grandparents. The family lived in a small apartment - his grandfather was a furniture salesman and an unsuccessful insurance agent and his grandmother worked in a bank - but Barack managed to get into Punahou School, Hawaii's top prep academy. His father wrote to him regularly but, though he traveled around the world on official business for Kenya, he visited only once, when Barack was ten.Obama attended Columbia University, but found New York's racial tension inescapable. He became a community organizer for a small Chicago church-based group for three years, helping poor South Side residents cope with a wave of plant closings. He then attended Harvard Law School, and in 1990 became the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review. He turned down a prestigious judicial clerkship, choosing instead to practice civil-rights law back in Chicago, representing victims of housing and employment discrimination and working on voting-rights legislation. He also began teaching at the University of Chicago Law School. Eventually he ran as a Democrat for the state senate seat from his district, which included both Hyde Park and some of the poorest ghettos on the South Side, and won.In 2004 Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat, representing Illinois, and gained national attention by giving a rousing and well-received keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. In 2008 he ran for president as a democrat and won. He is set to become the 44th president of the Unites States and the first African-American ever elected to that position.

His first name comes from the word that means "blessed by God" in Arabic.In the Kenyan town where his father was born, the long-brewed "Senator" brand of beer has been nicknamed "Obama."U.S. Senator from Illinois since 3 January 2005.Won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word for the CD version of his autobiography "Dreams From My Father" (2006).Lives in Hyde Park (Chicago).On "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1993), he revealed that President George W. Bush nicknamed him "Bama" and "Rock".The movie he saw on his first date with Michelle Obama was Do the Right Thing (1989).Related to Park Overall.Has two daughters, Malia Obama (born in 1998) and Sasha Obama (born in 2001).Candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 US presidential election.Several celebrities including; Halle Berry, George Clooney, Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan, Topher Grace, Macy Gray, Bruce Springsteen, Oprah Winfrey Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Hayden Panettiere, Zachary Quinto, Eddie Murphy and John Cleese support his 2008 presidential campaign. Robert De Niro gave his endorsement at the same rally where Barack was endorsed by Caroline and Ted Kennedy.Enjoys playing basketball and poker.At his wife's suggestion, he quit smoking before his campaign to win the Democratic nomination began.His paternal relatives still live in Kenya.Confessed teenage drug experiences in his memoirs "Dreams from My Father".One of his ancestors was Mareen Duvall, also an ancestor of actor Robert Duvall.Shares his surname with a small city in western Japan, which means "small shore" in Japanese.Plays basketball.Born to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (1936-1982) and Ann Dunham (1942-1995), married from 1960 to 1965.Named one of Time magazine's "100 most influential people in the world" list in 2005 and 2007.Chosen as one of "10 people would change the world" by New Statesman magazine (2005).Won his second Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for "The Audacity of Hope" (2008).On June 3, 2008 he won the Montana primary election giving him enough delegates to become the first Black American presidential candidate to win a major political party's presumptive nomination for the office of President of the United States.Is a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan.More than 215,000 people attended his speech in Berlin on 24 July 2008.Has one half-sister, Maya, born to his mother and stepfather in 1970.Has his look-alike puppet in the French show "Les guignols de l'info" (1988).Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham died Sunday November 2, 2008 in the early evening in Honolulu from cancer. She was 86.Is the first African-American man to be elected President of the United States (November 2008).When elected President, he won the battleground states of Florida, Virginia and Colorado - all of which had voted Republican in 2004.Is the first American president to be born in Hawaii.Was the 27th lawyer to be elected American president.Was elected to be the 44th president of the Unites States of America on 4 November, 2008.As a child growing up in Hawaii, his classmates knew him as Barry.Presidential campaign slogan: "Change we can believe in".Is primarily of Kenyan, Irish, and English ancestry.Favorite movies are Casablanca (1942), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), The Godfather (1972), and The Godfather: Part II (1974).Is a fan of "The Wire" (2002).First ever US President to address a Muslim community at an inaugural speech.Eighth left-handed US President after, James Garfield (R), Herbert Hoover (R), Harry S. Truman (D), Gerald Ford (R), Ronald Reagan (R), George Bush (R), Bill Clinton (D). His opponent during the 2008 election, John McCain, was also left handed.Shares the same birthday as long-time White House correspondent and journalism legend, Helen Thomas. On her 89th birthday (and his 48th), they celebrated by blowing birthday cupcakes together in front of the press corps.First United States Senator to be elected President since John F. Kennedy.October 2009, won the Nobel Peace Prize.Fourth US President to win a Nobel Peace Prize (2009) after Theodore Roosevelt (1906), Woodrow Wilson (1919) and Jimmy Carter (2002).Defended his decision not to issue a formal written statement on the death of controversial pop star Michael Jackson on 25 June 2009.