(Brief Biography)

Barack Obama was born in 1961, and was raised, for most of his youth, in the state of Hawaii. He was parented primarily by his maternal grandmother. Besides the United States, Barack Obama has familial roots in the countries of Kenya (in East Africa) and Indonesia (in southeast Asia). As a child, Barack did not have a relationship with his father, who left the family, and later divorced his mother to pursue a Ph.D. at Harvard. (Read more about Obama's early life at: https://bit.ly/3cXgPaG)

As a youth, Barack Obama went by the nickname 'Barry'. From the 5th Grade on, until his High School Graduation in 1979, Barack attended Punahou School—a private college preparatory school in Hawaii. At the time, he was one of only three Black students enrolled. As a young man, Barack loved to read and write. After high school, Barack Obama first attended Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years, and then transferred to Columbia University in New York. Later, he attended Harvard Law School in Massachusetts, where he served as the first African American President of the Harvard Law Review.

After college, in Chicago, Barack worked as a community organizer on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. There he joined a small law firm that specialized in civil rights cases. That is where he met and later married another Harvard-educated lawyer, Michelle (Robinson) Obama. They have two daughters, Sasha and Malia. As an adult, Barack Obama has been a prolific writer. In 1995, when he was only 34 years old, he wrote a best-selling autobiography entitled, “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance”.

Prior to his election as President, Barack Obama served in the Illinois State Senate where he performed the duties of Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee. He worked with law enforcement to require the videotaping of interrogations (interviews of criminal suspects) and confessions (telling the truth) in all murder cases. Obama's new state law was enacted after a number of death-row inmates were found to be innocent. In October 2002, Obama spoke out as an early opponent of President George W. Bush's push to go to war with the country of Iraq after the 9/11 attacks. (Iraq had not been involved in any way with the airplane hijackings and crashes into buildings.) When prompted for his position on the issue, Obama was quoted as saying, "I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars." (Read more about 9/11 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks)


In 2006, Barack Obama wrote another best-selling book entitled, “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream”. He briefly represented the state of Illinois in the U.S. Senate from 2005 until 2008, when he ran for, and was elected President. He outperformed Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Primary, and defeated Republican John McCain in the General Election.

In keeping with tradition, Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration Ceremony was held on the U.S. Capitol Building balcony in Washington, D.C. The January day in 2009 was very cold (around 30° F). But an estimated crowd of 1.8 million people (the most ever), braved the weather to be there. Obama became the first African American to hold the office of President of the United States. The first words of his speech were: "My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you've bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors..."

One of President Obama's first acts was to propose enormous federal spending to prevent a terrifying economic crisis. This began in the final year of George W. Bush’s Administration, and the situation was worsening. Prior to taking office, Obama was even consulted by President Bush himself for ideas about how to stabilize the crumbling national economy. Bush, according to Obama, had no plan for saving the country from entering another "Great Depression'. Stock market values were dropping frantically, companies were declaring bankruptcy, unemployment was rising, and banks were showing signs of failure. While expensive to taxpayers, and unintentionally saving the butts of some of the wealthiest companies and people in the country, the plan held off the financial collapse of the United States.


President Obama promoted many progressive policies and legislation meant to help working class Americans. But probably the most enduring legislation (law) sent to Congress by Barack Obama was the ‘Affordable Care Act’. Because so many American individuals and families struggled with paying for medical insurance, Obama proposed an ‘Affordable Health Care’ package. In his years as a citizen, community organizer, lawyer, state senator, U.S. Senator, and President, he had seen the need for change in the way average people accessed medical care. Unless a person had health care benefits provided through their employer, most working Americans, especially self-employed people, or those making minimum wage, were under-insured or had no insurance at all.


In the event of an accident, or the discovery of cancer, diabetes, kidney failure, or other life-threatening condition, most Americans would be unable to pay the cost of that care. In the past, some families had had to sell their homes to pay medical bills that ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Others, who had no way to pay, saw their health worsen or died unnecessarily. In many other countries around the world National Health Care, paid for by the taxes of an entire population, would cover these conditions. (Here is a list of countries with National Health Care: https://bit.ly/3FKuCxI)

This idea of an ‘Affordable Care Act’ , or "ACA", had previously been championed, but never adopted into law, by Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton took on this cause when her husband, Bill Clinton was President in the 1990's. She toured the country collecting input from all stakeholder groups: patients, doctors, insurance companies, employers that offered health care to their workers, and employers that didn't. For many reasons, including fierce opposition from Republicans, insurance companies, business groups, and huge Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO's), the effort failed.


After enduring several years of criticism over the feasibility (workability) of the ACA, Obama's plan, with huge concessions (giving in) to insurance companies and HMO's was finally put into law. Highlights of the ACA included:

• lower prices for doctor's visits and medications for most people
• coverage for children up to the age of 26
• mental health coverage
• preventive and wellness services
• maternity and newborn care

The Obama Administration set up an ACA website where people without insurance could go to sign up. It was criticized for being overly confusing to use, or did work properly, prompting more criticism. On many occasions, the web site simply crashed. But the problems were fixed and became available to people who had not previously been able to afford health insurance, or wanted a better health plan for their family members. Critics (mostly Republicans) even tried to get the pubic to hate it by calling it "ObamaCare". President Obama, aware of critics' motives, and tired of having to defend it all the time, surprised everyone when he publicly embraced this alternate name for the law. (Read more about this at: https://wapo.st/3DSCrRv)

One other challenge critics cited about the ACA had to do with something Obama had said. When questioned about the flexibility of the new law, Obama said, “If you like your doctor, [under my plan], you can keep your doctor,” which was not entirely true. Many Americans had to change their health plan, hospital, or doctor, under the ACA. President Obama was forced to apologize for making this misleading statement. While the ACA today is still widely perceived as an imperfect law, which many people reject, Democrats would defend it as a step in the direction toward full National Health Care that many other countries in the world have.


On Immigration, Obama was sometimes called, “The Deporter in Chief,” because of his administration's high rate of deportations of people illegally entering or living in the U.S. These deportations were coordinated by agencies like "U.S. Customs and Border Protection", "Immigration and Customs Enforcement", and "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services", all of which were under his authority while President.


Barack Obama was the fourth President to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In presenting the award, Thorbjørn Jagland, head of the Nobel Committee, said that Obama was chosen for, "...efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation and climate change..." and "...for using established international bodies such as the United Nations to pursue foreign policy goals." Obama, humbled in his acceptance of the award said, "I do not view [this award] as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations." He added, "I will accept this award as a call to action — a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century."

Barack Obama was re-elected to a second four-year term in 2012.


As President, Obama signed the Paris Accords, which was a treaty of agreement of 195 countries to try to reduce carbon pollution, to slow down the rise in global temperatures and ocean levels. He dealt with wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and strained relations with Iran. He made good on his campaign promise to draw down (reduce) the number of military serving abroad, bringing tens of thousands of soldiers back home.


Barack Obama was President when Osama bin Laden, the supposed mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks was located in a hideout in the country of Pakistan. Obama took this 'intel' seriously, and made sure it came from reliable informants. Obama coordinated with his elite military leaders, considered the personnel and weapons options available to him, and approved the mission to kill bin Laden. The successful secret mission was carried out by heroic Navy Seals. (Read more about this at: https://www.history.com/news/osama-bin-laden-death-seal-team-six)


In 2016, a crisis of public health came to light in the city of Flint, Michigan. Flint city government officials, for economic reasons (to save money), changed the source of water piped into the city of Flint. The new water source created a contamination of the city's underground pipes, resulting in the water coming out of residents' faucets to contain lead and other carcinogens (toxins). Ingesting lead is especially harmful to children's brain development. The concerned citizens appealed to Flint city and Michigan state officials to solve the problem, but they did little to help. Upset citizens then appealed to President Obama for help. Obama traveled from Washington, D.C. to Michigan in a highly publicized event. The people of Flint expected action, but only received promises from the President and little in the way of meaningful solutions. The majority of people in Flint were disappointed by Obama's inaction. (Read more about this crisis at: https://www.britannica.com/event/Flint-water-crisis)


In his last year in office, Obama spoke of the progress made in Civil Rights and what lay ahead. He said, “Our union is not yet perfect, but we are getting closer,” and... “And that’s why we celebrate, mindful that our work is not yet done.”


Obama played a lot of golf, as well as basketball, as forms of recreation during his Presidency.


Obama's chosen Secretary of State was Hillary Clinton, and his Vice President was Joe Biden. In each of their Presidential Campaigns he provided some support, but generally remained out of the public eye.

Obama authored his third book, "A Promised Land", in the years following his Presidency, which chronicled his 2008 Presidential Campaign, and many of the events that transpired (happened) during his first term in office.

Sources:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/slavery-in-the-presidents-neighborhood-faq
https://www.biography.com/us-president
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents
healthcare.gov/glossary/affordable-care-act/
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/26/why-former-president-barack-obama-picked-joe-biden-as-his-vp-we-couldnt-have-been-more-different.html
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/photos-and-video/photo/2013/01/secretary-state-hillary-clinton-watches-president-obama-signs-preside

-Complied by Henry Anker