{"parse":{"title":"Barack Obama","pageid":534366,"text":{"*":"

For other uses, see Barack Obama (disambiguation).

\"Barack\" and \"Obama\" redirect here. For other uses, see Barack (disambiguation) and Obama (disambiguation).

\n\n\n

Barack Obama
$\"Obama$ Official portrait, 2012

44th President of the United States
In office January 20, 2009 \u2013 January 20, 2017
Vice President	Joe Biden
Preceded by	George W. Bush
Succeeded by	Donald Trump
United States Senator from Illinois
In office January 3, 2005 \u2013 November 16, 2008
Preceded by	Peter Fitzgerald
Succeeded by	Roland Burris
Member of the Illinois Senate from the 13th district
In office January 8, 1997 \u2013 November 4, 2004
Preceded by	Alice Palmer
Succeeded by	Kwame Raoul
\n
Personal details
Born	Barack Hussein Obama II (1961-08-04) August 4, 1961 (age 63) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	\n Michelle Robinson (m. 1992)
Children	\n Malia \n Sasha \n
Parents	\n Barack Obama Sr. \n Ann Dunham \n
Relatives	Obama family
Education	Punahou School
Alma mater	\n Columbia University (BA) \n Harvard University (JD) \n
Occupation	\n Politician \n lawyer \n author \n
Awards	Full list
Signature	$\"Cursive$
Website	\n Official website \n Obama Foundation \n White House Archives \n
\n \n \n Barack Obama's voice \n \n Obama on the death of Osama bin Laden Recorded May 2, 2011 \n

\n\n

Personal

Early life and career
Family
Honors
Public image
Publications\n
- Dreams from My Father
- The Audacity of Hope
- A Promised Land
Summer playlist
Non-profit organizations\n
- Obama Foundation
- One America Appeal

Illinois State Senator and U.S. Senator from Illinois

44th President of the United States

Tenure

Policies

Economy
Energy
Foreign policy\n
- Arctic
- Europe
- East Asia
- Middle East
- South Asia
- Obama Doctrine
Pardons
Marine
Native
Social
Space

Appointments

Cabinet
Judiciary\n
- Sotomayor
- Kagan
- Garland
- Supreme Court candidates

Presidential campaigns

2008\n
- election
- primaries
- convention
- debates
- Obama coalition
2012\n
- election
- primaries
- convention
- debates

\n $\"Seal$

Barack Hussein Obama II^[a] (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president in U.S. history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.\n

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and later worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. He became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. In 1996, Obama was elected to represent the 13th district in the Illinois Senate, a position he held until 2004, when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In the 2008 presidential election, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate and defeated Republican nominee John McCain.\n

Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for efforts in international diplomacy, a decision which drew both criticism and praise. During his first term, his administration responded to the 2007\u20132008 financial crisis with measures including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a major stimulus package to guide the economy in recovering from the Great Recession; a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts; legislation to reform health care; and the Dodd\u2013Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a major financial regulation reform bill. Obama also appointed Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, the former being the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. He oversaw the end of the Iraq War; and ordered Operation Neptune Spear, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the September 11 attacks. Obama downplayed Bush's counterinsurgency model, expanding air strikes and making extensive use of special forces, while encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. He also ordered the 2011 military intervention in Libya to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, contributing to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.\n

Obama defeated Republican opponent Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. In his second term, Obama advocated for gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, took steps to combat climate change, signing the Paris Agreement, a major international climate agreement, and an executive order to limit carbon emissions. Obama also presided over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed in his first term. He initiated sanctions against Russia following the invasion in Ukraine and again after Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, ordered military intervention in Iraq in response to gains made by ISIL following the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (a nuclear agreement with Iran), and normalized relations with Cuba. The number of American soldiers in Afghanistan decreased during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout the remainder of his presidency. Obama promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to publicly support same-sex marriage.\n

Obama left office in 2017 with high approval ratings both within the United States and among foreign advisories. He continues to reside in Washington D.C. and remains politically active, campaigning for candidates in various American elections, including in Biden's successful presidential bid in the 2020 presidential election. Outside of politics, Obama has published three books: Dreams from My Father (1995), The Audacity of Hope (2006), and A Promised Land (2020). His presidential library began construction in the South Side of Chicago in 2021. Historians and political scientists rank Obama among the upper tier in historical rankings of U.S. presidents.\n

\n\n

Early life and career

Education

Family and personal life

Religious views

Legal career

Legislative career

Illinois Senate (1997\u20132004)

2004 U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois

U.S. Senate (2005\u20132008)

Presidential campaigns

2008

2012

Presidency (2009\u20132017)

First 100 days

Domestic policy

Racial issues

LGBT rights

Same-sex marriage

Economic policy

Environmental policy

Health care reform

Foreign policy

War in Iraq

Afghanistan and Pakistan

Death of Osama bin Laden

Relations with Cuba

Israel

Libya

Syrian civil war

Iran nuclear talks

Russia

Cultural and political image

Job approval

Foreign perceptions

Thanks, Obama

Post-presidency (2017\u2013present)

Legacy and recognition

Presidential library

Awards and honors

Eponymy

Bibliography

Books

Audiobooks

Articles

See also

Politics

Other

Lists

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Official

Other

Barack Obama. Awards and Honors

Other Themed Timelines from this hub