English Tips Self-Taught: Barack Obama

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1. Barack Hussein Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father, Barack Obama, was born in Kenya. Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in Wichita, Kansas.

2. Barack’s father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in Hawai. At the time of his birth, Obama’s parents were students at the East–West Center of the University of Hawai at Manoa.

3. Obama’s parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced. Obama’s father went to Harvard to pursue Ph. D. studies and then returned to Kenya.

4. When Barack was ten, he returned to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, and later his mother

5. He was enrolled at the Punahou Academy, graduating with honors in 1979. He was only one of three black students at the school. This is where Obama first became conscious of racism and what it meant to be an African–American.

6. He saw his biological father (who died in a 1982 car accident) only once (in 1971) after his parents divorced. And he admitted using alcohol, marijuana and cocaine during his teenage years.

7. After high school, Obama studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York, graduating in 1983 with a degree in political science.

8. Obama moved to Chicago in 1985. There, he worked as a community organizer with low-income residents It was during this time that Obama, who said he "was not raised in a religious household," joined the Trinity United Church of Christ.

9. He also visited relatives in Kenya, which included an emotional visit to the graves of his father and paternal grandfather.

10. Obama entered Harvard Law School in 1988. After law school, Obama returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer. He also taught at the University of Chicago Law School.

11. Obama met his wife, Michelle, in 1988. They were married in October 1992 and live in Kenwood on Chicago's South Side with their daughters, Malia (born 1998) and Sasha (born 2001

12. Obama published an autobiography in 1995 Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. And he won a Grammy for the audio version of the book.

13. Obama’s advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate as a Democrat. He was elected in 1996.

14. Following the 9/11 attacks, Obama was an opponent of the war with Iraq. Obama was still a state senator when he spoke against a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq in October 2002.

15. "I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars," he said. "He's a bad guy," Obama said, referring to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. "The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better without him. But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors.

16. "I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U. S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences," "I know that an invasion of Iraq will strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda."

17. The war with Iraq began in 2003 and Obama decided to run for the U.S. Senate. 18. In the November 2004 general election, Obama became the third African-American elected to the U.S. Senate.

18. Sworn into office January 4, 2005, Obama partnered with Republican Sen. Richard Lugar on a bill that expanded efforts to destroy weapons of mass destruction in Eastern Europe and Russia. Then with Republican Sen. Tom Corburn of Oklahoma, he created a website that tracks all federal spending.

19. Obama was also the first to raise the threat of avian flu on the Senate.

20. His second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, was published in October 2006.

21. In February 2007, Obama made headlines when he announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. On November 4th, 2008, Obama defeated Republican presidential nominee John McCain for the position of U.S. President. He is now the 44th president of the United States.

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