Barack Obama

EARLY LIFE

Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital (now Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children) in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Hawaii only became a state in 1959. If it had become a state two years later than it did, Obama could not have become US president.

His father was a black exchange student from Kenya named Barack Obama Sr. His mother was a white woman from Kansas named Ann Dunham, who was an anthropologist.

Barack's parents met at a Russian class at the University of Hawaii. They married in 1961 and divorced three years later.

Obama with half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, mom Ann Dunham & grandad Stanley Dunham

In 1963, Dunham met Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian graduate student at the University of Hawaii, and the couple were married on Molokai on March 15, 1965. She divorced him in 1980.

Barack was reared by a "Christian-turned-secular mother" and was the son of a "Muslim-turned-atheist African father" and a stepfather with a "unique brand of Islam."

Barack grew up loving comic books. He was especially into Conan the Barbarian and Spiderman.

Barack was known as ‘O’Bomber’ at high school for his skill at basketball.

He was also known as ‘Barry’ until university when Barack Obama asked to be addressed by his full name.

LEGAL CAREER 

Obama went to law school at Harvard University.

On February 5, 1990 Barack Obama became the first African American president of the student run journal Harvard Law Review.

After graduating with a JD degree magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book.

Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004.

EARLY POLITICAL CAREER 

Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding Democratic State Senator Alice Palmer as Senator from Illinois's 13th District.

He was re-elected to the Illinois Senat ein 1998 and 2002.

In 2000, Obama ran for the US House seat in Illinois’ 1st District but lost that election to former Black Panther Bobby Rush.

Barack Obama successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004. The US Senate race between Obama and Alan Keyes was the first senate race in history between two black candidates. In the November 2004 general election, Obama won with 70% of the vote.

Obama in his official portrait as a member of the United States Senate

PRESIDENCY 

Barack Obama's presidential campaign for the White House started in early June 2008 when he defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries.

He defeated Republican candidate John McCain in the election on November 4, 2008 by a wide electoral majority of 365 to 173. The popular vote (based on the total number of votes across the country) was closer, with Obama winning 53%, McCain 46%.

Barack Obama was the first African American to be elected president of the United States.

Official Oval Office Portrait

The Hawaiian-born Barack Obama was the first president not born in the continental United States (apart from those born before the USA existed).

As president, Obama slowly ended the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with intention to prepare the countries so that they could defend themselves.

President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 9, 2009.

He signed the Affordable Care Act (often called "Obamacare") which changed many health care laws.

Obama was the first president to openly express support for gay marriages.

MARRIAGE 

Michelle Robinson Obama was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up in a one-bedroom flat, sleeping in the living room with her brother.

Barack Obama first met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at several group social functions.

The Obamas dance at a presidential inaugural ball.

The couple's first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing,

They were married on October 3, 1992 at Trinity United Church in Chicago.

The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10, 2001.

Official portrait  of the Obama family in the Oval Office, December 11, 2011.

When he was sworn into his presidency, Obama vowed to have dinner with his wife and children five nights a week - a point he refused to back down on -and in spite of all his important duties, he still found time to coach his daughter Sasha's school basketball team and see his children daily.

Michelle Obama graduated from Princeton and has a law degree from Harvard.

At 5ft 11in, Michelle Obama is the joint tallest First Lady — sharing the honor with Eleanor Roosevelt and Melania Trump.

BELIEFS

As Obama himself candidly admits, he meandered his way through Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, asceticism, with, along the way, smatterings of Augustine and Nietzsche, just for starters.

The only Christian church to which Obama could have been considered a consistent member was the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church, the Trinity United Church of Christ.

Obama had trouble during his first presidential campaign when Jeremiah Wright was videotaped criticizing America. On May 31, 2008, Barack and Michelle Obama announced that they had withdrawn their membership in Trinity United Church of Christ stating that "Our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive statements of Reverend Wright, which sharply conflict with our own views."

After a prolonged effort to find a church to attend regularly in Washington, Obama announced in June 2009 that his primary place of worship would be the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.

Obamas worship at African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., January 2013

PERSONAL LIFE

After working at a Baskin-Robbins as a teen, President Obama no longer likes ice cream.

His favorite meal is said to be wife Michelle’s shrimp linguine.

As president Obama has treated his staff to burger lunches, entertained foreign dignitaries at burger joints, and caused a bit of a media stir when he deigned to use Dijon mustard in lieu of ketchup.

Barack Obama likes berry tea, bottled water; and dislikes soft drinks.

Obama was the first president to brew beer on the White House grounds since George Washington.

He used his personal funds to buy a homebrewing kit and made libations with his staff.

Despite his attempts to quit smoking, the stress of the presidency led Obama to smoke 10 cigarettes on some days.

Barack Obama can bench press an impressive 200 pounds.

Barack Obama celebrated his 50th birthday by playing basketball with Shane Battier, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Maya Moore, Alonzo Mourning, Joakim Noah, Chris Paul, and Derrick Rose. 

Barack Obama's favorite music artists to listen to while he works out include the Rolling Stones, Jay Z and Stevie Wonder.

His favorite musical artist overall is Stevie Wonder. "When I was at that point where you start getting involved in music, Stevie had that run with Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Innervisions, and then Songs in the Key of Life," Obama told Rolling Stone in 2008. "Those are as brilliant a set of five albums as we've ever seen."

His favorite movies are the first two Godfather films. “There’s this combination of old world gentility and ritual, with this savagery underneath,” Obama told MTV. “It’s all about family. So it’s a great movie.”

Obama considers HBO drama The Wire to be the best TV show of all time. He calls Omar, one of the show’s central characters, “the toughest, baddest guy on the show.”

Obama’s favorite novel is Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison story of a loose group of black strivers in magical-realist Michigan.

The Obama family's pet dog Bo (October 9, 2008- May 8, 2021) was a neutered male Portuguese Water Dog. Bo was a gift to the Obama family from Senator Ted Kennedy, and he quickly became a fixture in the White House. He was often seen playing with the Obama daughters, Sasha and Malia, and he was even featured in the Obamas' official Christmas portrait in 2009.

Bo#s previous owners called him Charlie. He was re-named after Barack Obama's initials, in part as a nod to Michelle Obama's father's nickname Diddley ( a reference to rock 'n' roll singer Bo Diddley.)

The official portrait of Bo on the South Lawn of the White House.

The Portuguese water dog is otherwise known as First Dog. In 2009, he won the Teen Choice Awards’ prize for Choice Celebrity Pet.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND FEATS 

Obama is a twice Grammy winner, having scooped up the Best Spoken Word Album Award in both 2006 for his Dreams From My Father and 2008 for The Audacity Of Hope.

Barack Obama shattered the record for fastest time to reach one million followers on Twitter on May 18, 2015, after his new verified account @POTUS reached the figure in less than five hours.

Barack Obama was the first sitting President to publish an academic paper. His paper – United States Health Care Reform: Progress to Date and Next Steps – was published in 2016 by the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association.

Sources Crosswalk.com, Kmmsam.com, Businessinsider.com