Look up mason in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Mason may refer to:

• Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-setting industry such as a banker mason, fixer mason, and memorial mason
• Brick mason, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork
• Mason (surname), a common English surname
• Mason (band), Dutch electronic music duo
• Mason (crater), on the Moon
• MASON (Java), an artificial-life computer simulation development environment, written in Java
• Mason (Perl), Perl-based website development and delivery engine
• Mason (streetcar), first streetcar in the U.S.
• Mason Truck, a subsidiary of Durant Motors of the 1920s
• USS Mason, several warships
• Mason, a nickname for George Mason University
• Mason, a sept of the Clan Sinclair
• Free mason, a Freemasonry member
  • Knight Mason, member of a particular Masonic order

Places:

• Mason, Illinois
• Mason, Michigan, in Ingham County
• Mason, Houghton County, Michigan
• Mason, New Hampshire
• Mason, Ohio
• Mason, Tennessee
• Mason, Texas
• Mason, West Virginia
• Mason, Wisconsin

See also[link]

• Mason jar, a container popular in home canning
• Mason bee (Osmia species)
• Mason Proffit, folk rock band from Chicago
• Mason's rule, a formula frequently used in control theory
• Masone, town in the Alps Region of northern Italy
• Masons, Maryland
• Mason City (disambiguation)
• Mason County (disambiguation)
• Mason Township (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (February 2010)

Concetta Kirschner, better known as Princess Superstar (born February 25, 1971 in Spanish Harlem, New York^[1]) is an American rapper and DJ.

Her musical style, as she describes it, is flip-flop — a mixture of 'hip hop, electroclash and electronica'.^[2]

Background[link]

Kirschner was born in Spanish Harlem, New York to a Jewish father of Russian and Polish descent and a Sicilian-American mother who converted to Judaism. Kirschner identifies herself as a "spiritual Jew".^[3] Her parents were psychologists. When Kirschner was a child, the family moved to rural Pennsylvania and then to the suburbs of Philadelphia.^[4] She attended school at the Germantown Academy, a private high school, where she was a member of the Theatre Club and the Black Student Union. She moved to New York City at the age of 17 and went to NYU, where she got her BFA in drama. She is a vegan, active in the animal rights movement and a member of Mensa.^[5]

Career[link]

In New York City she took up the guitar,^[3] and her interest in music surpassed her interest in acting. She joined the Gamma Rays, an all-girl power psychedelic band that recorded a 7" single called "Lovely" for TeenBeat Records. Their other recordings appeared on various compilations.^[6] Around the same time, Kirschner was composing hip hop-styled songs on a 4-track recorder.

Princess Superstar[link]

In 1994, Kirschner made a demo tape called, Mitch Better Get My Bunny, under the name "Princess Superstar". She sent the tape to the College Music Journal and to the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal Records.^[4] While she got callbacks from CMJ and Grand Royal, she went on to sign with Dark Beloved Cloud Records, who released her song "I'm White" on their Sympathy for Count Pococurante compilation.

In 1995, she teamed up with three backing musicians and signed with 5th Beetle Records.^[4] They recorded her debut album, Strictly Platinum, which gained her some notoriety as being one of very few white female rappers.

In 1997, Kirschner went on to launch her own record label, first calling it "A Big Rich Major Label", but then eventually settling on "Corrupt Conglomerate". She recruited a new crew of backing musicians and recorded CEO, a concept album about corporate culture.

Her next album, 2000's Last of the Great 20th Century Composers, was co-produced by Curtis Curtis and contains the song "Kool Keith's Ass", and a remix of "Do It Like a Robot" by Blues Explosion.

Kirschner went on to collaborate with Kool Keith on "Keith and Me" for the 2001 Princess Superstar Is LP released on Ruthless Records/Studio !K7. The album, co-produced Curtis Curtis, has guest appearances by Beth Orton and Bahamadia. The single "Bad Babysitter" was #11 on the UK charts.

For 2005's My Machine a futuristic hip-hopera concept double album,^[7] she collaborated with various producers such as Arthur Baker, Jacques Lu Cont, Junior Sanchez, Armand Van Helden, Todd Terry, and DJ Mighty Mi. This went to #3 on the UK charts in 2007.

In 2008, Kirschner sang on the "Licky" single by long-time associate Larry Tee which was featured in Get Him To the Greek and other movies and TV shows.

In 2009 Kirschner was featured on Grandmaster Flash's record The Bridge, alongside Snoop Dogg and Busta Rhymes.

Kirschner produced New York rapper Kalae All Day's debut album, released March 17, 2010.

In 2011 Kirschner released "Xmas Swagger" produced by the Rural.

Princess Superstar will release her sixth studio album The New Evolution in 2012. The album was funded by Superstar's fans, using Pledge Music.^[8]

DJ[link]

Kirschner is also a DJ. She has released DJ recordings, such as Princess Is a DJ in 2002, Now Is the Winter of Our Discothèque in 2005, and American Gigolo III on International DeeJay Gigolo Records in 2007.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 1996 Strictly Platinum (5th Beetle)
• 1997 CEO (A Big Rich Major Label)
• 2000 Last of the Great 20th Century Composers (Corrupt Conglomerate)
• 2001 Princess Superstar Is (Studio !K7/Rapster)
• 2005 My Machine (Studio !K7)
• 2007 The Best of Princess Superstar (Studio !K7)
• 2012 The New Evolution

EPs/singles[link]

• 1994 "Mitch Better Get My Bunny" (cassette EP)
• 1999 "Come Up to My Room"
• 1999 "I Hope I Sell a Lot of Records at Christmastime"
• 2001 "Wet!Wet!Wet!/Keith n' Me"
• 2002 "Bad Babysitter" (#11 UK)^[9]
• 2002 "Keith N' Me" (feat. Kool Keith) (Rerelease)
• 2002 "Fuck Me On The Dancefloor" (Disco D feat. Princess Superstar, single from his record A Night at the Booty Bar)
• 2003 "Do It Like a Robot"
• 2003 "Jam For The Ladies (Moby vs. Princess Superstar, original version on the Moby album 18)
• 2004 "Memphis Bells" (The Prodigy featuring Princess Superstar)
• 2005 "Coochie Coo"
• 2005 "Perfect"
• 2005 "My Machine"
• 2006 "Perfect (Exceeder)" (Mason vs. Princess Superstar) (#3 UK, #1 UK Dance Chart, #17 NL)
• 2008 "Licky" (Larry Tee featuring Princess Superstar)
• 2009 "Life Is But a Dream"
• 2010 "Ground Control"
• 2011 "Xmas Swagger"

Music videos[link]

• 1996 "Smooth"
• 2002 "Bad Babysitter"
• 2002 "Keith N' Me"
• 2003 "Jam For The Ladies"
• 2005 "Perfect"
• 2007 "Perfect (Exceeder)"
• 2008 "Licky (Herve Radio edit)"
• 2011 "Xmas Swagger"

DJ albums[link]

• 2002 Princess Is a DJ
• 2005 Now Is The Winter Of Our Discothèque
• 2005 Now Is The Winter Of Our Discothèque Pt. 2
• 2007 American Gigolo III

Guest appearances[link]

	"Perfect" noicon Song by Princess Superstar
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

• Interview on Channel V (Australia) with Yumi Stynes [2006]
• MTV's "Made" - Made coach.

• "Lovage" - MC Paul Barman
• 2000: MTV Get Off The Air, Part 2 - MC Paul Barman It's Very Stimulating
• 2001: The Jump Off - The High & Mighty Presents Eastern Conference All Stars II
• 2003: Jam For The Ladies Remix Moby
• 2003: Fuck Me On The Dancefloor Disco D
• 2003: Return To NY - Arthur Agent
• 2003: Soft Shoe Snoozin - Gonzales Z
• 2004: Memphis Bells - The Prodigy Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned
• 2004: Mein Schatzi - Munk Aperitivo
• 2005: Unholy Matrimony - The High & Mighty 12th Man
• 2005: Darling Nikki - XLOVER Pleasure & Romance
• 2006: Iron Man - Lotterboys Animalia
• 2006: Eat It - Dr Octagon The Return Of Doctor Octagon
• 2006: European Accent DJs Are Not Rockstars
• 2006: V.I.P. DJs Are Not Rockstars
• 2006: Computer Arling & Cameron Hi-Fi Underground
• 2006: Lick The Alphabet Diskokaines
• 2006: Rock-A-Boogie Diskokaines
• 2006: Goes Busters LBL
• 2006: Licky Larry Tee
• 2006: Pussy (Greenskeepers Remix) One Fingered Pocket
• 2006: Let's Get Old DJ Yoda The Amazing Adventures Of DJ Yoda
• 2006: Lips On Fire Agoria The Green Armchair
• 2006: Dayglo Fetisch
• 2007: Wanna Make Out The Glimmers
• 2007: Detonator Shinichi Osawa The One
• 2009: Monday Morning Sharam Jey & LouLou Players
• 2009: Those Chix Grandmaster Flash The Bridge (Concept Of A Culture)
• 2009: Rock U Alexander Technique
• 2011 "Blowdryer" George Monev
• 2011 "Do you wanna Funk" Zoo Brazil

See also[link]

• List of female rappers

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Interview with Princess Superstar

Mason is the stage name of the Dutch music producer duo Iason Chronis (born January 17, 1980) and Coen Berrier (born April 17, 1979). They had a number one on the UK Dance Chart in 2007 with their track Exceeder. Exceeder had originally been an instrumental and had received a vinyl only release in the UK in 2006. The new version of the track, Perfect (Exceeder) featured vocals from Princess Superstar and reached number 3 on the national British chart in January 2007. The number was a big hit in The Netherlands as well. Mason has been very popular with Ministry of Sound featuring on many of their annual compilations.

Mason has released music on numerous electronic music labels, such as Great Stuff Recordings, and Pickadoll Music, and remixed artists such as Moby, Robyn and Gabriella Cilmi. In 2008 they launched their own label 'Animal Language'. In 2011 the duo released their debut album 'They Are Among Us', which featured collaborations with Roisin Murphy, DMC, Sam Sparro, Kurtis Blow and Aqualung. They also had chart success in Holland and Belgium with their song 'Runaway', which was a modern version of Runaway by Eruption

Biography[link]

Mason consists of the producers Iason Chronis and Coen Berrier. They perform their live show together, but Iason Chronis is the DJ face of the duo.

Iason Chronis was born in Amsterdam to a Dutch actress and Greek sculptor. He began learning the violin at age 6. In 1987, he sang in the 8th version of the Kinderen voor Kinderen choir, and would continue to do so until the 12th version in 1991. In his teens, he practiced DJing using his grandmother's turntables. At a later age, he took a four-year course in Music Composition and Performance, for which he received an award from the Dutch Royal Family. He uses his violin skills during his DJ-sets. During his tour with Tiësto in 2004, he played the violin during a live performance of Lethal Industry.

Coen Berrier has been a singer and guitar player in numerous bands throughout his teens, and was also responsible for "Husan" by Bhangra Knights, which reached number 7 in the UK pop charts in 2005. Berrier and Chronis met at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht, where they formed the temporary pop act Systex.

Mason performed at Sensation White, Dance Valley, Nature One, Creamfields, Global Gathering and many clubs around the world.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Mason – They Are Among Us (Animal Language 2011)
• Mason presents Animal Language (DJ Mag covermount CD) (Mag 2010)
• The Amsterdam Tapes vol.1 (Newstate 2008)
• 5 Years Electronation (NEWS 2007)
• Top Of The Clubs 34 mixed by Mason (Kontor 2007)

Singles[link]

• Little Angel feat. Aqualung (Animal Language 2011)
• Boadicea feat. Roisin Murphy (Animal Language 2011)
• Runaway (Ministry Of Sound Australia 2011)
• Runaway / Let’s Get Ferretic (Animal Language 2010)
• You Are Not Alone (Animal Language 2010)
• Corrected feat. DMC & Sam Sparro (Animal Language / Ministry Of Sound 2010)
• Syncom / The Badger (Animal Language 2010)
• Ignite / Who Killed Trance (Animal Language 2009)
• Artex / Intimate Expresse (Pickadoll 2009)
• At The Hippo Bar / Affra (Animal Language 2009)
• Frontrow Chemistry / Capibara (Animal Language 2009)
• The Ridge (Oliver Koletzki remix) (Great Stuff 2009)
• The Amsterdam Tape (Blanco Y Negro 2009)
• Kippschwinger / Amsterdam Tape (Animal Language 2009)
• The Ridge (Great Stuff 2008)
• Bermuda Triangle (Ego 2008)
• Quarter (Great Stuff / Vendetta / Sound Division 2007)
• Wheb Farners Attack (Malente) (Unique 2008)
• The Screetch (Great Stuff 2007)
• Perfect (Exceeder) (Ministry Of Sound / Sony BMG 2007)
• The Benedict Files (Aleph 2006)
• Bigboy Exercises (Middle Of The Road 2006)
• Exceeder (Great Stuff 2006)
• Exceeder / Follow Me (Middle Of The Road 2006)
• The Screetch (Middle Of The Road 2005)
• Helikopter EP (Electrix 2004)

Remixes[link]

• Sharam Jey – Put Ya! (Mason Remix) (Toolroom 2011)
• Disco Of Doom – Alice Cooper (Mason’s Schools Out Rework) (Discobelle Records 2011)
• Zoo Brazil – Tear The Club Up (Mason Remix) (Refune 2011)
• Jesse Rose – Non Stop (Mason Remix) (Made To Play 2011)
• Nelsen Grover - Awake (Mason Remix) (Animal Language 2010)
• Glenn Morrison – Tokyo Cries (Mason’s Smallroom Mix) (Blackhole 2011)
• Evil Nine – Stay Up (Mason remix) (Gung-ho 2010)
• JCA & TAI – Yalla Yalla (Mason remix) (Great Stuff 2010)
• Rex The Dog – Prototype (Mason’s Animal Language mix) (Hundahaus 2009)
• Tommy Trash – Stay Close (Mason mix) (Ministry Of Sound Aus. 2009)
• Martin Solveig – One 2 3 Four (Mason’s Dark Disco Mix) (Mixture 2009)
• Moby – Im In Love (Mason’s Glowsticks-Mix) (Mute 2008)
• Robyn – Cobrastyle (Mason Vocal / Dub mix) (Konichua 2008)
• Gabriella Cilmi – Save The Lies (Mason Vocal / Dub mix) (Warner 2008)
• Hadouken – Declaration Of War (Mason Vocal / Dub mix) (Atlantic 2008)
• Noisia – Gutterpump (Mason Remix) (Skint 2008)
• AKA the Junkies – Konijntje (Mason Remix) (Magnetron Music 2008)
• DJ DLG – XESS (Mason Remix) (Pickadoll 2007)
• Mazi & Duriez – This Is Not A Follow Up (Mason Remix) (Brique Rouge 2007)
• Freeform Five – No More Conversations (Mason Remix) (Universal 2007)
• Unknown – Style Attract Play (Mason Remix) (Factory 2007)
• Groove Rebels – Breakpoint (Mason Remix) (Hammerskjoeld / Media 2007)
• Unknown – Breathe (Mason Remix) (Boss/ Ministry of Sound 2007)
• Don Diablo - Blow your speakers (Mason Remix) (Ministry of Sound 2007)
• Cygnus X – The Orange Theme (Terry Toner & Mason remix) (Be Yourself Music 2007)
• Kid Dusty – Constant Rising (Mason Remix) (Python 2007)
• The Age Of Steam - Disco Mafia (Mason Remix) (CR2 2006)
• Joseph Armani presents Corkscrew – Elbow (Mason Remix) (Craft Music 2006)
• Ordinary Boys – Lonely At The Top (Mason Remix) (B-Unique 2006)
• Patrick Alavi – Quiet Punk (Mason Remix) (King Kong 2006)
• Beatfreakz – Superfreak (Mason Remix) (Data / Ministry of Sound 2006)
• Crime Club – The Beast (Mason Remix (Tiger Records / Kontor 2006)
• Monoloop - Hypersentual Love (Mason Remix) (Sugaspin 2006)
• Loft 17 - So Ready (Mason Remix) (Molto 2006)
• Don Diablo - Never 2 Late to die (Mason Remix) (Sellout Sessions 2006)
• Malente - Revolution (Mason Remix) (Unique 2006)
• Don Diablo - Blow your speakers (Mason Remix) (Sellout Sessions 2005)

External links[link]

• http://www.discogs.com/artist/Mason
• http://www.dj-mason.com/
• http://www.myspace.com/musicofmason
• Mason's manager -

Barack Obama
44th President of the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office January 20, 2009
Vice President	Joe Biden
Preceded by	George W. Bush
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 (1961-08-04) August 4, 1961 (age 50)[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	Christianity[3]
Awards	Nobel Peace Prize
Signature
Website	barackobama.com

	This article is part of a series on Barack Obama
Background Illinois Senate US Senate Political positions Public image Family 2008 primaries Obama–Biden campaign Transition Inauguration Electoral history Presidency Timeline '09 '10 '11 '12 First 100 days Nobel Peace Prize Re-election campaign

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. In January 2005, Obama was sworn in as a U.S. Senator in the state of Illinois. He would hold this office until November 2008, when he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the 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.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In April 2011, he announced that he would be running for re-election in 2012.

As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation 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 domestic policy initiatives 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, and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In May 2012, he became the first sitting U.S. president to openly support legalizing same-sex marriage. In foreign policy, he ended the war in Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered U.S. involvement in the 2011 Libya military intervention, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.

Early life and career[link]

Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital (now Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children) in Honolulu, Hawaii,^[2][4][5] and is the first President to have been born in Hawaii.^[6] His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas, and was of mostly English ancestry,^[7] along with Scottish, Irish, German, and Swiss.^{[8][9][10][11][12]} His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a Luo from Nyang’oma Kogelo, Nyanza Province, Kenya. Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian class at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his father was a foreign student on scholarship.^[13][14] The couple married on February 2, 1961,^[15] separated when Obama Sr. went to Harvard University on scholarship, and divorced in 1964.^[13] Obama Sr. remarried and returned to Kenya, visiting Barack in Hawaii only once, in 1971. He died in an automobile accident in 1982.^[16]

After her divorce, Dunham married Indonesian Lolo Soetoro, who was attending college in Hawaii. When Suharto, a military leader in Soetoro's home country, came to power in 1967, all Indonesian students studying abroad were recalled, and the family moved to the Menteng neighborhood of Jakarta.^[4][17] From ages six to ten, Obama attended local schools in Jakarta, including Besuki Public School and St. Francis of Assisi School.^[18]

In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Armour Dunham, and with the aid of a scholarship attended Punahou School, a private college preparatory school, from fifth grade until his graduation from high school in 1979.^[19] Obama's mother returned to Hawaii in 1972, remaining there until 1977 when she went back to Indonesia to work as an anthropological field worker. She finally returned to Hawaii in 1994 and lived there for one year before dying of ovarian cancer.^[15][20]

Of his early childhood, Obama recalled, "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind."^[14] He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.^[21] Reflecting later on his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered—to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect—became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear."^[22] Obama has also written and talked about using alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind."^[23] At the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency, Obama described his high-school drug use as a great moral failure.^[24]

Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to attend Occidental College. In February 1981, he made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to divest from South Africa in response to its policy of apartheid.^[25] In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and sister Maya, and visited the families of college friends in Pakistan and India for three weeks.^[25] Later in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations^[26] and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1983. He worked for a year at the Business International Corporation,^[27] then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.^[28][29]

Chicago community organizer and Harvard Law School[link]

Two years after graduating, Obama was hired in Chicago as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.^[29][30] He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.^[31] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.^[32] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for the first time.^[33] He returned to Kenya in August 2006 for a visit to his father's birthplace, a village near Kisumu in rural western Kenya.^[34]

In late 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School. He was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year,^[35] and president of the journal in his second year.^[31][36] During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as an associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.^[37] After graduating with a J.D. magna cum laude^[38] from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago.^[35] Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention^[31][36] and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations,^[39] which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father.^[39]

University of Chicago Law School and civil rights attorney[link]

In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book.^[39][40] He then taught at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years—as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004—teaching constitutional law.^[41]

From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote, a voter registration campaign with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.^[42] In 1993, he joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004. His law license became inactive in 2002.^[43]

From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project; and of the Joyce Foundation.^[29] He served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.^[29]

Legislative career: 1997–2008[link]

State Senator: 1997–2004[link]

Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding State Senator Alice Palmer as Senator from Illinois's 13th District, which at that time spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park – Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn.^[44] Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws.^[45] He sponsored a law that increased tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.^[46] In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.^[47]

Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was reelected again in 2002.^[48] In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.^[49]

In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.^[50] He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.^[46][51] During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.^[52] Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate.^[53]

U.S. Senate campaign[link]

County results of the 2004 U.S. Senate race in Illinois. Counties in blue were won by Obama.

In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race; he created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002. Obama formally announced his candidacy in January 2003.^[54]

Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq.^[55] On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War,^[56] Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally,^[57] and spoke out against the war.^[58] He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd that "it's not too late" to stop the war.^[59]

Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun to not participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving fifteen candidates.^[60] In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir, Dreams from My Father.^[61] In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention,^[62] seen by 9.1 million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party.^[63]

Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.^[64] Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan.^[65] In the November 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote.^[66]

U.S. Senator: 2005–2008[link]

Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005,^[67] becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus.^[68] CQ Weekly characterized him as a "loyal Democrat" based on analysis of all Senate votes in 2005–2007. Obama announced on November 13, 2008, that he would resign his Senate seat on November 16, 2008, before the start of the lame-duck session, to focus on his transition period for the presidency.^[69]

Legislation[link]

Obama cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.^[70] He introduced two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons;^[71] and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending.^[72] On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with Senators Tom Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain—introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.^[73]

Obama sponsored legislation that would have required nuclear plant owners to notify state and local authorities of radioactive leaks, but the bill failed to pass in the full Senate after being heavily modified in committee.^[74] Regarding tort reform, Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which grants immunity from civil liability to telecommunications companies complicit with NSA warrantless wiretapping operations.^[75]

Obama and U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) visit a Russian facility for dismantling mobile-missiles (August 2005).^[76]

In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.^[77] In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007.^[78] Obama also introduced Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections,^[79] and the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007,^[80] neither of which was signed into law.

Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges.^[81] This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008.^[82] He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which has not passed committee; and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.^[83] Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.^[84]

Committees[link]

Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works, and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006.^[85] In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.^[86] He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs.^[87] As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before Abbas became President of the Palestinian National Authority, and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi in which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government.^[88]

Presidential campaigns[link]

2008 presidential campaign[link]

Obama stands on stage with his wife and daughters just before announcing his presidential candidacy in Springfield, Illinois, February 10, 2007.

President George W. Bush meets with President-elect Obama in the Oval Office on November 10, 2008.

On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois.^[89][90] The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "House Divided" speech in 1858.^[89][91] Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care,^[92] in a campaign that projected themes of "hope" and "change".^[93]

A large number of candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries. The field narrowed to a duel between Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton after early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process but with Obama gaining a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules.^[94] On June 7, 2008, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.^[95]

On August 23, Obama announced his selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate.^[96] Biden was selected from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.^[97] At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in his support.^[98] Obama delivered his acceptance speech, not at the center where the Democratic National Convention was held, but at Invesco Field at Mile High to a crowd of over 75,000; the speech was viewed by over 38 million people worldwide.^[99][100]

During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations.^[101] On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976.^[102]

McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate and the two engaged in three presidential debates in September and October 2008.^[103] On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain.^[104] Obama won 52.9 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7 percent.^[105] He became the first African American to be elected president.^[106] Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant Park.^[107]

2012 presidential campaign[link]

On April 4, 2011, Obama announced his re-election campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his website and filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission.^{[108][109][110]} As the incumbent president he ran almost unopposed in the Democratic Party presidential primaries,^[111] and on April 3, 2012, Obama had secured the 2778 convention delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.^[112]

Presidency[link]

First days[link]

Barack Obama takes the oath of office as President of the United States.

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President, and Joe Biden as Vice President, took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office, Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.^[113] He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp,^[114] but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required funds.^{[115][116][117]} Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records,^[118] and changed procedures to promote disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.^[119] He also reversed George W. Bush's ban on federal funding to foreign establishments that allow abortions.^[120]

Domestic policy[link]

The first bill signed into law by Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing the statute of limitations for equal-pay lawsuits.^[121] Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover an additional 4 million uninsured children.^[122] In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era policy which had limited funding of embryonic stem cell research and pledged to develop "strict guidelines" on the research.^[123]

Barack Obama speaking at Joint session of Congress with Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on February 24, 2009

Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his Presidency. Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by Obama on May 26, 2009, to replace retiring Associate Justice David Souter, was confirmed on August 6, 2009,^[124] becoming the first Hispanic to be a Supreme Court Justice.^[125] Elena Kagan, nominated by Obama on May 10, 2010, to replace retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, was confirmed on August 5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three, for the first time in American history.^[126]

On September 30, 2009, the Obama administration proposed new regulations on power plants, factories and oil refineries in an attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to curb global warming.^[127][128]

On October 8, 2009, Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a measure that expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.^[129][130]

On March 30, 2010, Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, a reconciliation bill which ends the process of the federal government giving subsidies to private banks to give out federally insured loans, increases the Pell Grant scholarship award, and makes changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.^[131][132]

In a major space policy speech in April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction at NASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return of human spaceflight to the moon and development of the Ares I rocket, Ares V rocket and Constellation program, in favor of funding Earth science projects, a new rocket type, and research and development for an eventual manned mission to Mars, and ongoing missions to the International Space Station.^[133]

On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, fulfilling a key promise made in the 2008 presidential campaign^[134][135] to end the Don't ask, don't tell policy of 1993 that had prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces.^[136]

President Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address focused on themes of education and innovation, stressing the importance of innovation economics to make the United States more competitive globally. He spoke of a five-year freeze in domestic spending, eliminating tax breaks for oil companies and reversing tax cuts for wealthy Americans, banning congressional earmarks, and reducing healthcare costs. He promised that the United States would have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015 and would be 80% reliant on "clean" electricity.^[137][138]

As a candidate for the Illinois state senate Obama had said in 1996 that he favored legalizing same-sex marriage;^[139] but by the time of his run for the U.S. senate in 2004, he said that while he supported civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex partners, for strategic reasons he opposed same-sex marriages.^[140] On May 9, 2012, shortly after the official launch of his campaign for re-election as president, Obama said his views had evolved, and he publicly affirmed his personal support for the legalization of same-sex marriage, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so.^[141][142]

Economic policy[link]

Obama presents his first weekly address as President of the United States on January 24, 2009, discussing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening worldwide recession.^[143] The act includes increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals,^[144] which is being distributed over the course of several years.

In March, Obama's Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, took further steps to manage the financial crisis, including introducing the Public-Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to $2 trillion in depreciated real estate assets.^[145] Obama intervened in the troubled automotive industry^[146] in March 2009, renewing loans for General Motors and Chrysler to continue operations while reorganizing. Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including the sale of Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat^[147] and a reorganization of GM giving the U.S. government a temporary 60 percent equity stake in the company, with the Canadian government shouldering a 12 percent stake.^[148] In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment.^[149] He signed into law the Car Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as "Cash for Clunkers", that temporarily boosted the economy.^{[150][151][152]}

Although spending and loan guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department authorized by the Bush and Obama administrations totaled about $11.5 trillion, only $3 trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009.^[153] However, Obama and the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the 2010 budget deficit will be $1.5 trillion or 10.6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the 2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion or 9.9 percent of GDP.^[154][155] For 2011, the administration predicted the deficit will slightly shrink to $1.34 trillion, while the 10-year deficit will increase to $8.53 trillion or 90 percent of GDP.^[156] The most recent increase in the U.S. debt ceiling to $16.4 trillion was signed into law on January 26, 2012.^[157] On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2011. The legislation enforces limits on discretionary spending until 2021, establishes a procedure to increase the debt limit, creates a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and establishes automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee does not achieve such savings.^[158] By passing the legislation, Congress was able to prevent an unprecedented U.S. government default on its obligations.^[159]

Employment statistics (changes in unemployment rate and net jobs per month) during Obama's tenure as U.S. President^[160][161]

The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.1 percent and averaging 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year.^[162] Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8 percent, which was less than the average of 1.9 percent experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries.^[163] GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate of 1.6 percent, followed by a 5.0 percent increase in the fourth quarter.^[164] Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year.^[164] In July 2010, the Federal Reserve expressed that although economic activity continued to increase, its pace had slowed, and Chairman Ben Bernanke stated that the economic outlook was "unusually uncertain."^[165] Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9 percent in 2010.^[166]

The Congressional Budget Office and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth.^[167][168] The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1 million,^{[168][169][170][171]} while conceding that "It is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package."^[167] Although an April 2010 survey of members of the National Association for Business Economics showed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in two years, 73 percent of 68 respondents believed that the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment.^[172]

Within a month of the 2010 midterm elections, Obama announced a compromise deal with the Congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of the 2001 and 2003 income tax rates, a one-year payroll tax reduction, continuation of unemployment benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount for estate taxes.^[173] The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858 billion Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on December 17, 2010.^[174]

Health care reform[link]

Barack Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the White House, March 23, 2010

Obama called for Congress to pass legislation reforming health care in the United States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal.^[175] He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, to cap premium increases, and to allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900 billion over 10 years and include a government insurance plan, also known as the public option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage for pre-existing conditions, and require every American carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans.^[176][177]

On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009.^[175] After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over the proposals.^[178] In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on stem cell research.^[179]

On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House.^[180][181] On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39.^[182] On March 21, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to 212.^[183] Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010.^[184]

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes health-related provisions to take effect over four years, including expanding Medicaid eligibility for people making up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) starting in 2014,^[185] subsidizing insurance premiums for people making up to 400 percent of the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010) so their maximum "out-of-pocket" payment for annual premiums will be from 2 to 9.5 percent of income,^[186][187] providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions, establishing health insurance exchanges, prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for medical research. According to White House and Congressional Budget Office figures, the maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their income relative to the federal poverty level.^[186][188]

The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for those in high-income brackets, taxes on indoor tanning, cuts to the Medicare Advantage program in favor of traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies;^[189] there is also a tax penalty for those who do not obtain health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons.^[190] In March, 2010, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the net effect of both laws will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143 billion over the first decade.^[191]

In March 2012, the Supreme Court heard arguments by a coalition of 26 states maintaining that it is unconstitutional to force individuals to buy health insurance.^[192]

Gulf of Mexico oil spill[link]

On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshore drilling rig at the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, causing a major sustained oil leak. The well's operator, BP, initiated a containment and cleanup plan, and began drilling two relief wells intended to stop the flow. Obama visited the Gulf on May 2 among visits by members of his cabinet, and again on May 28 and June 4. On May 22, he announced a federal investigation and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and concurrent Congressional hearings. On May 27, he announced a 6-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and leases, pending regulatory review.^[193] As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government.^[194]

Foreign policy[link]

Barack Obama speaking on "A New Beginning" at Cairo University on June 4, 2009

In February and March, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a "new era" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms "break" and "reset" to signal major changes from the policies of the preceding administration.^[195] Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab cable TV network, Al Arabiya.^[196]

On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and government of Iran.^[197] This attempt at outreach was rebuffed by the Iranian leadership.^[198] In April, Obama gave a speech in Ankara, Turkey, which was well received by many Arab governments.^[199] On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt calling for "a new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.^[200]

On June 26, 2009, in response to the Iranian government's actions towards protesters following Iran's 2009 presidential election, Obama said: "The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous. We see it and we condemn it."^[201] On July 7, while in Moscow, he responded to a Vice President Biden comment on a possible Israeli military strike on Iran by saying: "We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East."^[202]

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Barack Obama, during the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit.

On September 24, 2009, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to preside over a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.^[203]

In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.^[204][205] During the same month, an agreement was reached with the administration of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new pact reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about one-third.^[206] The New START treaty was signed by Obama and Medvedev in April 2010, and was ratified by the U.S. Senate in December 2010.^[207]

On December 6, 2011, he instructed agencies to consider LGBT rights when issuing financial aid to foreign countries.^[208]

Iraq War[link]

On February 27, 2009, Obama declared that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months. His remarks were made to a group of Marines preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. Obama said, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."^[209] The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troops levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of 35,000 to 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last United States combat brigade exited Iraq. The plan is to transition the mission of the remaining troops from combat operations to counter-terrorism and the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces.^[210][211] On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over.^[212] On October 21, 2011 President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be, "home for the holidays".^[213]

War in Afghanistan[link]

Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan.^[214] He announced an increase to U.S. troop levels of 17,000 in February 2009 to "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan", an area he said had not received the "strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires".^[215] He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan, with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war.^[216] On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan.^[217] He also proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date.^[218][219] McChrystal was replaced by David Petraeus in June 2010, after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.^[220]

Israel[link]

Obama meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, 2009

During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including a record number of U.S. troops participating in military exercises in the country, increased military aid, the re-establishment of the U.S.-Israeli Joint Political Military Group and the Defense Policy Advisory Group, and an increase in visits among high-level military officials of both countries, including Ehud Barak and Admiral Mike Mullen.^[221]

In 2011, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements, with the United States being the only nation to do so.^[222] Obama supports the two-state solution to the Arab–Israeli conflict based on the 1967 borders with land swaps.^[223]

War in Libya[link]

In March 2011, as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya, calls for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including Europe, the Arab League, and a resolution^[224] passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.^[225] In response to the unanimous passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 on March 17, Gaddafi who had previously vowed to "show no mercy" to the citizens of Benghazi^[226]—announced an immediate cessation of military activities,^[227] yet reports came in that his forces continued shelling Misrata. The next day, on Obama's orders, the U.S. military took a lead role in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities in order to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone,^[228] including the use of Tomahawk missiles, B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets.^{[229][230][231]} Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all of its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbed Operation Unified Protector.^[232] Some Representatives^[233] questioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath.^[234][235]

Osama bin Laden[link]

Obama and the U.S. national security team gathered in the Situation Room to monitor the military operation resulting in the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011.

Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the next several months determined what they believed to be the location of Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad.^[236] CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011.^[236] Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs.^[236] The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers and computer drives and disks from the compound.^[237][238] Bin Laden's body was identified through DNA testing,^[239] and buried at sea several hours later.^[240] Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square.^[237][241] Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush,^[242] and from many countries around the world.^[243]

2010 midterm election[link]

Obama called the November 2, 2010 election, where the Democratic Party lost 63 seats in, and control of, the House of Representatives,^[244] "humbling" and a "shellacking".^[245] He said that the results came because not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery.^[246]

Cultural and political image[link]

Obama conducting the first completely virtual interview from the White House in 2012^[247]

Obama's family history, upbringing, and Ivy League education differ markedly from those of African American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement.^[248] Obama is also not a descendant of American slaves.^[249] Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is "black enough", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong".^[250] Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation."^[251]

Obama is frequently referred to as an exceptional orator.^[252] During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama has delivered a series of weekly Internet video addresses.^[253]

According to the Gallup Organization, Obama began his presidency with a 68 percent approval rating^[254] before gradually declining for the rest of the year, and eventually bottoming out at 41 percent in August 2010,^[255] a trend similar to Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's first years in office.^[256] He experienced a small poll bounce shortly after the death of Osama bin Laden, which lasted until around June 2011, when his approval numbers dropped back to where they were prior to the operation.^{[257][258][259]} Polls show strong support for Obama in other countries,^[260] and before being elected President he has met with prominent foreign figures including then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair,^[261] Italy's Democratic Party leader and then Mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni,^[262] and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.^[263]

Obama talks with pub-goers as the First Lady draws a pint of stout at the Ollie Hayes pub in Moneygall, Ireland, in 2011

In a February 2009 poll conducted by Harris Interactive for France 24 and the International Herald Tribune, Obama was rated as the most respected world leader, as well as the most powerful.^[264] In a similar poll conducted by Harris in May 2009, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn.^[265][266]

Obama won Best Spoken Word Album Grammy Awards for abridged audiobook versions of Dreams from My Father in February 2006 and for The Audacity of Hope in February 2008.^[267] His concession speech after the New Hampshire primary was set to music by independent artists as the music video "Yes We Can", which was viewed 10 million times on YouTube in its first month^[268] and received a Daytime Emmy Award.^[269] In December 2008, Time magazine named Obama as its Person of the Year for his historic candidacy and election, which it described as "the steady march of seemingly impossible accomplishments".^[270]

On October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples".^[271] Obama accepted this award in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 2009, with "deep gratitude and great humility."^[272] The award drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures.^[273][274] Obama is the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office.

Family and personal life[link]

Barack Obama posing in the White House with wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia in 2009

In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations", he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher."^[275] Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband and seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family – six of them living.^[276] Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham,^[277] until her death on November 2, 2008,^[278] two days before his election to the Presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011.^[279] In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.^[280]

Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years.^[281] Besides his native English, Obama speaks Indonesian at the conversational level, having learned the language during his four childhood years in Jakarta.^[282] He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.^[283]

Obama taking a shot during a game on the White House basketball court, 2009

Obama is a well known supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator.^[284] In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the all star game while wearing a White Sox jacket.^[285] He is also primarily a Chicago Bears fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and recently rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after Obama took office as President.^[286] In 2011, Obama invited the 1985 Bears to the White House; in 1986, the team did not attend due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.^[287]

In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin.^[288] Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial requests to date.^[289] They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.^[290] The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998,^[291] followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10, 2001.^[292] The Obama daughters attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the private Sidwell Friends School.^[293] The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog named Bo, a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.^[294]

Applying the proceeds of a book deal, the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago.^[295] The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.^[296]

In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million.^[297] Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.^[298][299] On his 2010 income of $1.7 million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 to Fisher House Foundation, a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.^[300][301]

As per the latest financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $10 million.^[302]

Obama tried to quit smoking several times, sometimes using nicotine replacement therapy, and, in early 2010, Michelle Obama said that he had successfully quit smoking.^[303][304]

Religious views[link]

Obama is a Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote in The Audacity of Hope that he "was not raised in a religious household". He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists"), to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known". He described his father as "raised a Muslim", but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful". Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change".^[305]

In an interview with the evangelical periodical Christianity Today, Obama stated: "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life."^[306]

On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views saying "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me."^[307][308]

Obama was baptized at the Trinity United Church of Christ, a black liberation church, in 1988, and was an active member there for two decades.^[309] Obama resigned from Trinity during the Presidential campaign after controversial statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright became public.^[310] After a prolonged effort to find a church to attend regularly in Washington, Obama announced in June 2009 that his primary place of worship would be the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.^[311]

Notes[link]