Barack Obama is an American politician and attorney who served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a Kenyan father, Barack Obama Sr., and an American mother, Ann Dunham. Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia before returning to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983 and later earned a law degree from Harvard Law School, where he became the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.
Before his presidency, Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago and later as a civil rights attorney. He entered politics in 1996, serving as a state senator in Illinois until 2004. In 2004, Obama gained national attention with a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention and was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate, representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008.
Obama launched his presidential campaign in 2007 and won the Democratic nomination, defeating Hillary Clinton. He was elected President in 2008, defeating Republican candidate John McCain, and was re-elected in 2012, defeating Mitt Romney. Obama became the first African American to hold the office of U.S. President.
During his presidency, Obama passed several significant domestic policies, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, which aimed to reform healthcare access and reduce the number of uninsured Americans. His administration also enacted the Dodd-Frank Act to reform financial regulations after the 2008 financial crisis. In foreign policy, Obama focused on ending U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011, and worked to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba.
After leaving office in 2017, Obama has remained active in public life, focusing on issues such as climate change, democracy, and leadership through the Obama Foundation.
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