Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a black father and a white mother. On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama was elected as the 44th president of the United States after defeating Arizona Senator John McCain. After taking the oath of office on January 20, 2009, he became the first black U.S. president.

Education

Barack graduated from Columbia in 1983. Later, he attended Harvard Law School and graduated from there magna cum laude in 1991.

Personal Life

In 1992, Barack Obama married Michelle Robinson. The couple shares two daughters - Malia Ann, 13, and Natasha, 10. Before beginning his political career, Barack Obama spent 12 years teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School.

Political Career

In 1996, he was elected to Illinois Senate. Later, he was re-elected twice and held the position until he was elected as one of Illinois' two U.S. senators in 2004. In 2000, Barack Obama ran for congress, but ended up unsuccessful as he lost in the primary to Bobby Rush. In spite of rivalry in 2000, African-American Democrat Rush supported Obama in his 2004 campaign in the Senate and in his presidency campaign in 2008.

In 2004, Barack Obama became a U.S. senator, prevailing over Republican Alan Keyes. With just four years of national political experience, Obama won his run for president in the year 2008.

As U.S. President

When Obama took office, the United States of America was facing severe recession problems. His first major piece of legislative was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a $787 billion spending bill, or "stimulus package," designed to create jobs and reignite the economy.

He also quickly acted to fulfill his promises that he had made during the campaign by changing some of the policies of the Bush administration. Just after nine months into his presidency, President Barack Obama received the honor of Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee awarded him the prize for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people and his strong vision and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Bestselling Author

Besides being an intelligent and capable politician and leader, President Barack Obama is also a bestselling author. In 1995, President Obama published an autobiography titled "Dreams From My Father", which became a bestseller during his 2004 Senate campaign. His next autobiography, "The Audacity of Hope", was published in October 2006 and became a bestseller. His second autobiography also earned him awards at the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Awards and the NAACP Image Awards in 2007.