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Barack Obama is the first black President of the United States of America.

United States Senator from Illinois

In office January 3, 2005 – 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 – November 4, 2004

Preceded by Alice Palmer

Succeeded by Kwame Raoul

Personal details

Born Barack Hussein Obama II August 4, 1961 (age 51)[1] Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.[2]

Political party Democratic

Spouse(s) Michelle Robinson (1992-present)

Children Malia (born 1998) Sasha (born 2001)

Residence White House (official) Chicago, Illinois (private)

Alma mater Occidental College Columbia University (B.A.) Harvard Law School (J.D.)

Profession Community organizer Lawyer Constitutional law professor Author

Religion Christian[3]

Awards Nobel Peace Prize

Signature

Website barackobama.com

This article is part of a series on Barack Obama

Background · Illinois Senate · U.S. Senate Political positions · Public image · Family 2008 primaries · Obama–Biden campaign Transition · 1st inauguration · Electoral history · Presidency (Timeline '09 · '10 · '11 · '12 · '13) · First 100 days · Nobel Peace Prize · Re-election campaign · 2nd inauguration

Barack Hussein Obama II (i/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, running unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 2000. In 2004, Obama received national attention during his campaign to represent Illinois in the United States Senate with his victory in the March Democratic Party primary, his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July, and his election to the Senate in November. He began his presidential campaign in 2007, and in 2008, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won sufficient delegates in the Democratic party primaries to receive the presidential nomination. He then defeated Republican nominee John McCain in the general election, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He was re-elected president in November 2012, defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney, and was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013.[4] Early in his first term in office, Obama signed into law economic stimulus legislation in response to the 2007–2009 recession in the United States in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Other major domestic initiatives in his first term include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010; the Budget Control Act of 2011; and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. In foreign policy, Obama ended U.S. military involvement in the Iraq War, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered U.S. military involvement in Libya, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. In May 2012, he became the first sitting U.S. president to publicly support allowing same-sex couples to legally marry