Happy Birthday President Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II was born August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, was a student from Kansas and his father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a foreign exchange student from Nyanza Province, Kenya. Barack’s parents separated when he was two and divorced the following year.
Obama’s mother later married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian student also studying in Hawaii. In 1967, all Indonesian students studying abroad and their families were required to move back to Indonesia. Obama spent the next four years in Indonesia, where he was an excellent student.
At the age of 10, Obama moved back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. He attended the prestigious Punahou Academy, graduating in 1979 with honors. From there, he moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College for two years. He then transferred to New York City’s Columbia University, where he majored in political science with a focus in international relations; he received his B.A. in 1983. Obama remained in New York City for the next two years, working at the Business International Corporation and then with the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Obama moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1985, and served as director of the Developing Communities Project. Under his guidance, the organization’s staff expanded from one to 13 people, and its annual budget went from $70,000 to $400,000. Among the projects he oversaw were a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and an organization protecting tenants’ rights.
During the 1980s, Obama realized he could help a larger number of people in more substantial ways through politics and legislation. With this in mind, he entered Harvard Law School in 1988. In his first year, Obama was made editor of the Harvard Law Review. He was elected the journal’s first African American president the following year. This high honor earned him a great deal of media attention and a publishing deal, resulting in Dreams from My Father in 1995.
After graduating from Harvard, Obama returned to Chicago to direct Illinois’ Project Vote, a campaign that registered 150,000 of the state’s African American voters. Obama spent the next 12 years teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School, while also working at the law firm of Davis, Miner, Barnhill, & Galland.
Elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, Obama immediately focused on ethics and health care legislation. He introduced tax credits benefiting low-income workers, created welfare reform, and improved early education programs for the poor.
As chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee, Obama successfully sponsored legislation requiring police to report the race of drivers they arrested and videotape homicide interrogations.
Obama’s unexpected landslide Democratic primary victory for the U.S. Senate in 2004 earned him national acclaim in the Democratic Party and spurred talks of a presidential future. Later that year, he won the Senate seat 70% to 27% – the largest victory in Illinois state race election history.
As America’s fifth African American U.S. Senator, Obama immediately began on legislation to destroy weapons of mass destruction in Eastern Europe and Russia. He also helped establish USAspending.gov, a website that makes all federal spending information available to the public. And his amendment to the Defense Authorization Act provides safeguards to discharged military personnel suffering from personality disorders. Additionally, he sponsored an amendment granting a year of job protection to family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.
Obama announced he was running for President on February 10, 2007, in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. This was the same site that Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided” speech in 1858.
Obama’s campaign stressed his plans to end the Iraq War, decrease energy dependence, and provide universal health care. In June 2008, after a close race with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, Obama was selected as the party’s presidential nominee.
Throughout his campaign, Obama set several fundraising records, especially for the large number of small donations he received. He was the first candidate to reject public financing in the general election since the system’s creation in 1976.
Obama won the election over Republican John McCain with 52.9% of the popular vote and 365 electoral votes, making him the United States’ first African American President. During his first few days in office, Obama kept his promise to share presidential records under the Freedom of Information Act. Within his first 100 days in office, he signed a $787 billion economic stimulus package providing assistance for health care and education. The following year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2012, President Obama won reelection with 51.1% of the popular vote, and 332 electoral votes.
Despite fierce opposition, President Obama was able to keep many of his campaign promises and introduce a number of new reforms. These include improvements to Wall Street, ending the war in Iraq, turning around the U.S. auto industry, repealing “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” increasing support for veterans, initiating credit card reforms, and making improvements to the food safety system, among other things. Click here for a timeline that includes many highlights from Obama’s time in office.
Click here to view more stamps honoring President Obama.
Click here to see what else happened on This Day in History.
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The only thing missing is how he planned to fundamentally change America & continually apologize for our transgressions around the world. Never mind that most of the world looks to us for the help & charity when in need.
Amen, sista!
I guess my question is in what specific ways did he plan to fundamentally change America? When we have an answer to that maybe we ca then decide whether it a good idea or not
Happy Birthday Obama!!!!!
US stamps do not use individuals as a subject while they are alive.
It was Sam Alito, Associate Justice SCOTUS not a Congressman.
Does not matter who it was. It was disrespectful to the office of the president.
It was the congressman from South Carolina who said ” you lie.” Not Allito
Wrong, though a Supreme Court justice would be worse. Joe Wilson was the culprit. https://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/09/joe.wilson/index.html
Amen, brutha!
Hear! Hear!
Dear Mystic, I like the comments as much as the Day in History. Keep on doing what you are doing!
AMEN
I was born on 08/04/1956, in Ogden, Utah.
Happy Birthday to all who share this special day with me!
I will visit the beautiful coast of Sonoma &Marin Counties, California today with my wife and do my best to not be contentious and hopefully make some new friends.
The man got so much good done in his short political career, thank you for putting your heart in the right place and trying so hard against all the misplaced political backlash. You are a man who deserves many stamps of recognition.
It’s very difficult to direct a nation. You have domestic policies and foreign policy. He lost my vote when on his first trip overseas as POTUS, he apologized for American arrogance. No discussion needed.
I guess it is because he is a secret muslim and really born in Kenya. Love the folks who believe that nonsense!
As someone who was uninsurable under the old system, his greatest achievement was ObamaCare. Why should employers have anything to do with healthcare? It’s an artifact left over from WWII wage and price controls. The only “group” in “group health” should be the whole citizenry.
Happy Birthday Barack! Very good factual summary of Obama’s life and accomplishments to date. Nevertheless, when I read it I had a feeling that extremely partial (both pro & con) interpretations and comments would follow. Was I ever right! Thanks Mystic for once again presenting interesting daily reads.
Happy Birthday President Obama! Even in face of all the disrespect thrown at you, you proceeded with integrity and professionalism. I wish you peace and blessings.
You are so right, Anita! Whoever succeeds President Obama after the 2016 elections will not be as good as this man, and we will miss him. He is still young enough to continue to work for the interests of the nation’s people. I am looking forward for more stamps that will honor him and the first lady! What makes America great is that anyone from the lowest level of society, whether man or woman, can eventually become the world’s most powerful leader.
Today is the real birthday of Loius Armstrong. He used to celebrate Jan 1 because he did not know when he was born. He said the year was 1900 but a researcher found his baptismal certificate and his birthdate is August 4 1901.
No not surprised. It shows the bigotry that is still very much alive and well in this country. I noticed the low rating also. Some still cannot digress they fact that a person of color made it to the White House and his whole family of color had the nerve to move in too. Pretty sad.
America has a lot to apologize for due to its transgressions in the past, and the president did the right thing! Mr. Obama, the first African American president, has been twice elected by a majority of voters. He followed the footsteps of other first African Americans in public service and sports who were also brutally hated and disrespected due to bigotry and racism. President Obama governed this nation well and could have accomplished more if he didn’t face continuous obstruction by his political enemies. He can best be remembered by saving this nation from an eventual economic disaster as soon as he entered office. Thank you, Mr. President, for all you have done for us in the world’s most difficult job and may your 55th birthday be a special one for you and your family. And thank you Mystic for bringing this man to our attention!
Thank you Edward. It has been a great day.
He is Jimmy Carter-lite, both in foreign policy and domestic.
I am 74 years old, and I have never seen so much misinformation and outright hatred toward a President as I have seen toward President Barack Obama who is fundamentally a good man. Is it because he is an African American, or because he has a beautiful wife and great children? Is it because he was born in Hawaii of mixed race parents? Is it because he is a Democrat and the Republican believe that they are entitled to the Presidency? Even George W. Bush, who was one of the worst Presidents in the history of the Republic, didn’t face this kind of hatred…opposition, yes, but outright hatred, no. Right on to Dr. Zeimet, Carolyn, and Hans, and the rest of you low information voters can take a hike. I’m not ready to say that Obama is a great President, but I will say that he has been and continues to be a pretty damn good one.
no Obama for this album….
concur
um, it’s a Republic “doc”
In top 5 great Presidents