Biography of Barack Obama | Lawyer and politician.

(Honolulu, Hawaii, 1961) Lawyer and American politician, 44th President of the United States since January 2009. Since the days of John Kennedy no other presidential relay had generated so much excitement and hope. But irrespective of what will be the bottom line of its mandate, Barack Obama will inevitably go down in the annals of U.S. politics as the first Black President.

Barack Obama

Son of Barack Obama Sr., Economist of Kenyan origin, and Shirley Ana Durham, Ph.d. in Anthropology from the University of Hawaii, Obama spent his childhood between Hawaii and Indonesia, the country where he met the conditions of poverty that affect millions of people in the so-called third world. There he completed his primary education.

Back to the United States, he spent two years at the Occidental College in Los Angeles. In 1983 he entered the University of Columbia (New York) to study political science, and specialized in international relations. After his first college he moved to Chicago, where he worked as a community organizer for the welfare of a group of Catholic parishes.

Obama political career began to take shape in 1990, when it made contact with Judson Miller, one of the advisers of Harold Washington, who in 1983 became the first black mayor of Chicago. With the passage of time, Miller would become one of the pillars of the Obama election campaign.

At this time the young lawyer got some props which would end up being decisive in his future nomination as democratic candidate for the Presidency of the United States, including both influential businessmen and many members of the African American Christian community in Chicago.

In 1991 he joined Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts) to extend his studies, and there he was elected first Black President of the Harvard Law Review, a student publication of this Centre. After graduating with honors, he returned to Chicago, where he worked for some time in a law office specializing in civil rights.

His first political success came in 1996. Thanks to the sponsorship of the judge Abner Mikua and Emil Jones, African-American Democrat leader in the Illinois Senate, Obama was elected member of the Chamber of the State by the Democratic Party, as a representative of the District of Hyde Park, where he was already known for his strong liberal convictions.

Obama used his new position to prepare for membership in the Congress of the United States, where he aspired to replace Bobby Rush, leader of the Black Panthers of Illinois, through the recruitment of their electorate. The first attempt took place in 2000 and was a strong setback in aspirations of Obama, which was dubbed by Rush in number of votes.

Between 2000 and 2004, Obama devoted himself to consolidate his electorate. In 2004 he obtained new mentors in Washington, which included outstanding figures of the Democratic Party, as John Kerry and Ted Kennedy. Thanks to the support of these and of its electorate was elected national representative at the Democratic Convention in Boston in 2004.

After winning on the Democratic side, the young African American lawyer faced Jack Ryan, Republican candidate, by the representation of the State of Illinois. On this occasion, his opponent was punctuated by a sex scandal and Obama got the position of Congressman in dispute, making it in the Fifth African American who entered the United States Congress and the second by the Democratic Party.

During the three years prior to his nomination to the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the country, Obama promoted reforms for the control of the sale of arms and to promote transparency in the use of federal funds. His message was always changing, both in domestic politics as well as outdoor, which defended a greater role of the diplomatic action to the detriment of the use of force.

Obama gave the first big step toward the Presidency of the United States in February 2007, when he presented his candidacy for the Democratic Party primary elections. The other big bet of this formation was Senator Hillary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, who was leaving with lead in polls. The campaign, which is very tight at all times, ended up deciding in favor of Obama, who won with 1953 delegates against the rival 1,770.

The official nomination as democratic candidate for the Presidency of the United States took place on June 3, 2008. Republican John McCain, who Obama was always considered as a single heir to Bush, was his rival in the presidential race. During the campaign, McCain tried to distance himself from his predecessor, but his speech was erratic and unconvincing. The message of renewal and hope for the Democratic candidate, on the other hand, Caló among the electorate; Obama was gradually extended his advantage over McCain in the polls, and finally won the election on November 4 with a 64' 9% of the vote.

Extracted from the website: Biografías y Vidas