United States, and 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
served as 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 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, after a close primary campaign against
Hillary Rod-ham Clinton in 2008, 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 after his election, Obama was named the 2009
Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
During his first
two years in office, Obama signed into law economic stimulus legislation
in response to the Great Recession in the form of the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment
Insurance Re-authorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Other major
domestic initiatives in his first term included the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act, often referred to as "Obama care"; the Odd–Frank
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; and the Don't Ask, Don't
Tell Repeal Act of 2010. In foreign policy, Obama ended U.S. military
involvement in the Iraq War, increased U.S. 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 January 2011, the Republicans regained control of
the House of Representatives as the Democratic Party lost a total of 63
seats; and, after a lengthy debate over federal spending and whether or not to
raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the Budget Control Act of
2011 and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.
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