Barack Obama (1961 – ) US President 2008 – 2016

Barack Obama is an American politician and the 44th President of the United States. He was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Obama was the first African American to be elected president, as well as the first president to be born outside of the continental United States.

Obama was raised in an interracial family and attended Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1991. After law school, he moved to Chicago to become a community organizer and civil rights lawyer. Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 and the United States Senate in 2004. In 2008, Obama won the Democratic presidential nomination and went on to defeat Republican candidate John McCain in the general election. As president, he focused on healthcare reform, economic stimulus, and the end of the Iraq War. He also worked to strengthen diplomatic relations with foreign nations, and passed legislation such as the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Obama was re-elected in 2012, and during his second term he worked to reduce inequality and poverty, expand gay rights, and make progress in the fight against climate change. He also sought to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world and to normalize relations with Cuba. Obama left office in 2017, and since then has been working with his wife, Michelle, to launch the Obama Foundation, a non-profit organization working to promote civic engagement and economic opportunity. He is also the author of two best-selling books, Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope. Obama has been widely praised for his leadership and accomplishments, and is seen as a symbol of hope and progress for people around the world. He has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, among many other honors.