Family and personal life of Obama and Michelle Robinson

2008-06-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

Obama met his wife, Michelle Robinson, in June 1989 when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin.^[152] Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial offers to date.^[153] They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.^[154] The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), in 2001.^[155]

Applying the proceeds of a book deal,^[156] the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to their current $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood.^[157] The land adjacent to their house was simultaneously sold to the wife of developer Tony Rezko, a fundraiser for several prominent Illinois politicians from both major political parties^[158], and the transaction later attracted some media scrutiny. Rezko was investigated for unrelated corruption charges, for which he was later convicted.^[159] Although Obama was not accused of any wrongdoing, he donated $150,000 in Rezko-linked campaign contributions to charity.^[160] In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million.^[161] Their 2007 tax return showed a household income of $4.2 million, up from about $1 million in 2006 and $1.6 million in 2005, mostly from sales of his books.^[162]

In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family. "Michelle will tell you that when we get together for Christmas or Thanksgiving, it's like a little mini-United Nations," he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher."^[163] Obama has seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living, and a half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband.^[164] Soetoro-Ng is married to a Chinese Canadian.^[165] Obama's mother is survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham.^[166] In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, president of the southern Confederacy during the American Civil War.^[167]

Obama plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.^[168] Before announcing his presidential candidacy, he began a well-publicized effort to quit smoking. "I've never been a heavy smoker," Obama told the Chicago Tribune. "I've quit periodically over the last several years. I've got an ironclad demand from my wife that in the stresses of the campaign I do not succumb. I've been chewing Nicorette strenuously."^[169] Replying to an Associated Press survey of 2008 presidential candidates' personal tastes, he specified "architect" as his alternate career choice and "chili" as his favorite meal to cook.^[170] Asked to name a "hidden talent," Obama answered: "I'm a pretty good poker player."^[171]

In The Audacity of Hope, Obama writes that he "was not raised in a religious household." He describes his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists") to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known." He describes his Kenyan father as "raised a Muslim," but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his Indonesian stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful." In the book, Obama explains how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change."

All about Barack Obama

2008-06-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

Barack Hussein Obama was born August 4, 1961 and is the junior United States Senator from Illinois. He is the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2008 presidential election. He is the first African American to be a major party's presumptive nominee for President of the United States.

A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. From 1992 to 2004, he also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January 2003. After winning a landslide primary victory in March 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He was elected to the Senate in November 2004 with 70% of the vote.

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he cosponsored legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In the current 110th Congress, he has sponsored legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel. Since announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama has emphasized ending the war in Iraq, increasing energy independence, decreasing the influence of lobbyists, and promoting universal health care as top national priorities.

Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at the Kapiolani Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Obama, Sr., of Nyangoma-Kogelo, Siaya District, Kenya, and Ann Dunham, a White American from Wichita, Kansas. His parents met while both were attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was enrolled as a foreign student.^[3] They separated when he was two years old and later divorced.^[4] Obama's father returned to Kenya and saw his American-born son only once more before dying in an automobile accident in 1982.^[5] After her divorce, Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro's home country of Indonesia in 1967, where Obama attended local schools in Jakarta until he was ten years old. He then returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents while attending Punahou School from the fifth grade in 1971 until his graduation from high school in 1979.^[6] Obama's mother died of ovarian cancer in 1995.^[7]

Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years.^[8] He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations.^[9] Obama graduated with a B.A. from Columbia in 1983, then worked at Business International Corporation and New York Public Interest Research Group.^[10]^[11]

After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side.^[10]^[12] During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.^[13] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.^[14] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time to Europe for three weeks then Kenya for five weeks where he met many of his Kenyan relatives for the first time.^[15]

Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988 and at the end of his first year was selected as an editor of the law review based on his grades and a writing competition.^[16] In his second year he was elected president of the law review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the law review's staff of 80 editors.^[17] Obama's election in February 1990 as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review was widely reported and followed by several long, detailed profiles.^[17] He graduated with a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991 and returned to Chicago where he had worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley & Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.^[16]^[18]

The publicity from his election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about race relations.^[19] In an effort to recruit him to their faculty, the University of Chicago Law School provided Obama with a fellowship and an office to work on his book.^[19] He originally planned to finish the book in one year, but it took much longer as the book evolved into a personal memoir. In order to work without interruptions, Obama and his wife, Michelle, traveled to Bali where he wrote for several months. The manuscript was finally published as Dreams from My Father in mid-1995.^[19]

Obama directed Illinois Project Vote! from April to October 1992, a voter registration drive with a staff of 10 and 700 volunteers that achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.^[20]^[21]

Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, as a Lecturer for four years (1992–1996), and as a Senior Lecturer for eight years (1996–2004).^[22]

In 1993 Obama joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 12-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002.^[10]^[23]

Obama was a founding member of the board of directors of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife, Michelle, became the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago in early 1993.^[10]^[24] He served on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund Obama's DCP, from 1993–2002, and served on the board of directors of The Joyce Foundation from 1994–2002.^[10] Obama served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995–2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995–1999.^[10] He also served on the board of directors of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the Lugenia Burns Hope Center.

thics reform and transparency:

Barack Obama has been very active on ethics reform since he joined Congress. In 2008 he pushed for lawmakers to have to disclose all communications with lobbyists. In 2007 he publicly disclosed all the earmarks he had requested that year. In 2006, as the Democrats' "point man" on ethics, he proposed several reforms that were voted down or dropped by the Senate, including an independent commission to oversee Senate ethics rules (a committee of senators currently does), a ban on lawmakers negotiating future employment as lobbyists, and several earmarks reforms, including a ban on trading votes for earmarks, a ban on lawmakers advocating for earmarks they have a financial interest in, and a requirement that earmarks be available for scrutiny before votes. He also proposed a failed bill requiring all committee meetings be televised, all bills be posted on the internet 3 days before votes and all earmarks be posted 3 days before approval.

In 2006 Obama, along with Sen. John McCain, sponsored a bill passed by Congress that created a searchable, online database of all government contracts. A few months earlier, Obama and McCain had engaged in a public spat over how to proceed with ethics reform, but later publicly made up.

Election reform:

Obama sponsored a bill in 2007 that would establish criminal penalties for engaging in voter deception. The bill was passed by the House but has not been by the Senate.

Campaign finance:

In 2007, Obama sponsored a bill to expand the public financing of presidential elections and bar soft money from being used in the funding of presidential conventions.

Iraq

Barack Obama opposed the Iraq War even before it began in 2002, though he hedged that opposition during the 2004 election, when the Democratic ticket had voted for the war. In 2007, Obama introduced a bill to remove most troops from Iraq within 16 months, a position he continues to hold, though an advisor has referred to this as a "best case scenario." Obama has a mixed record on Democratic attempts to end the war by defunding it - he has spoken against the tactic but also voted at least once against a bill containing further funding.

Veterans and soldiers conditions

In the wake of the Walter Reed scandal, Obama introduced legislation increasing standards of care and oversight of VA programs.

Darfur

Obama has called on the Bush administration to support a UN or NATO force in Darfur, increase pressure on Sudan to share power in Darfur, put pressure on nations supporting Sudan, and impose sanctions on Sudan.

Energy issues

In 2006 Obama called for a deal with U.S. auto makers to pick up 10% of their $6.7 billion in retiree health costs in exchange for bringing more fuel-efficient vehicles to market. He also criticized the Bush administration for what he called a failure to back up with policies its call for "energy independence."

In 2007, activists protesting what they called Obama's lack of a clear position on nuclear waste disposal say they were forced to leave one of his presidential rallies.

In February 2007, standing before the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.^[82] Describing his working life in Illinois, and symbolically linking his presidential campaign to Abraham Lincoln's 1858 House Divided speech, Obama said: "That is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a house divided to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States of America."^[83] Speaking at a Democratic National Committee (DNC) meeting one week before the February announcement, Obama called for putting an end to negative campaigning.^[84] Since announcing his presidential campaign Obama has emphasized ending the war in Iraq, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care as his top three priorities.^[85]

Obama's campaign raised $58 million during the first half of 2007, topping all other candidates and exceeding previous records for the first six months of any year before an election year.^[86] Small donors, those contributing in increments of less than $200, accounted for $16.4 million of Obama's record-breaking total, more than any other Democratic candidate.^[87] In the first month of 2008, his campaign brought in $36.8 million, the most ever raised in one month by a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries.^[88]

With two months remaining before the first electoral contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, and national opinion polls showing him trailing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama began directly charging his top rival with failing to clearly state her political positions.^[89] Campaigning in Iowa, he told The Washington Post that as the Democratic nominee he would draw more support than Clinton from independent and Republican voters in the general election.^[90]

Among the first four DNC-sanctioned state contests, Obama won more delegates than Clinton in Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina while winning an equal number in New Hampshire. On Super Tuesday, he emerged with 20 more delegates than Clinton.^[91] He broke fundraising records in the first two months of 2008, raising over $90 million for his primary campaign while Clinton raised $45 million in the same period.^[92] After Super Tuesday, Obama won the eleven remaining February primaries and caucuses.^[93] Obama and Clinton split delegates and states nearly equally in the March 4th contests of Vermont, Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island; Obama closed the month with victories in Wyoming and Mississippi.^[94]

In March 2008, a controversy broke out concerning Obama's former pastor of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright.^[95] After ABC News broadcast clips of his racially and politically charged sermons,^[95]^[96] Obama responded by condemning Wright's remarks and ending Wright's relationship with the campaign.^[97] Obama delivered a speech, during the controversy, entitled "A More Perfect Union"^[98] that addressed issues of race. After Wright reiterated some of his remarks in a speech at the National Press Club,^[99] Obama strongly denounced Wright, who he said "[presented] a world view that contradicts who I am and what I stand for."^[100] Obama resigned from Trinity on May 31, 2008, after Catholic priest Michael Pfleger gave a guest oratory that disparaged Hillary Clinton. Obama stated his resignation was to avoid an impression that he endorsed the entire range of opinions expressed at that church.^[101]^[102]

During April, May, and June, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana, and South Dakota held primaries; Obama won North Carolina, Oregon, and Montana, and Clinton won the rest, with an aggregate result of Obama remaining ahead in pledged delegates after these contests. During the same period, Obama received endorsements from more superdelegates than did Clinton.^[103] On May 31, the Democratic National Committee agreed to seat all of the Michigan and Florida delegates at the national convention, each with a half-vote, narrowing the delegate gap between the two Democrats and increasing the number of delegates needed to win the nomination.^[104] On June 3, with all states counted, Obama passed the 2118 delegate mark and became the Democratic presumptive nominee.^[105] On that day, he gave a victory speech in St. Paul, Minnesota, paying tribute to his rival Clinton, who suspended her campaign and endorsed him on June 7.^[106] Obama is the first African American to be the presumptive nominee of a major political party.^[107]

On June 19, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing since the system was created after the Watergate scandal.^[108]

Tribute to Barack Obama

Family and personal life of Obama and Michelle Robinson

All about Barack Obama