Barack Obama facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Barack Obama
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Official portrait, 2012
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| 44th President of the United States | |
| In office January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017 |
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| Vice President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | George W. Bush |
| Succeeded by | Donald Trump |
| United States Senator from Illinois |
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| In office January 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008 |
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| Preceded by | Peter Fitzgerald |
| Succeeded by | Roland Burris |
| Member of the Illinois Senate from the 13th district |
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| In office January 8, 1997 – November 4, 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Alice Palmer |
| Succeeded by | Kwame Raoul |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Barack Hussein Obama II
August 4, 1961 Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Obama family |
| Education | |
| Occupation |
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| Awards | Full list |
| Signature |  |
| Website | |
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician. He was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African-American president. Before becoming president, he was a U.S. senator for Illinois from 2005 to 2008. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Obama left office in January 2017. Donald Trump became president after him. Obama now lives in Washington, D.C.. Many people think he was a very good president.
Obama received the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on October 9, 2009. He said his efforts were small. He gave the prize money to different charities.
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Early Life
Obama was born on August 4, 1961. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father was from Kenya. His mother was from Kansas. She was an anthropologist.
He spent most of his childhood in Hawaii and Chicago, Illinois. He also lived in Jakarta, Indonesia for four years. He lived there with his mother and stepfather. He moved back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents.
Education
From age six to ten, Obama went to schools in Indonesia. His mother also taught him at home in English. His stepfather taught him to be strong and understand how the world works.
Obama attended Punahou School. This was a private school that helped him get ready for college. He went there from fifth grade until he finished high school in 1979. He received a scholarship to attend.
Obama started college at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He then graduated from Columbia University in New York City. After working for a while, Obama went to law school. He studied law at Harvard University. After law school, he worked for a law firm in Hyde Park, Chicago.
Family
Obama married Michelle Obama in 1992. She is also a lawyer. They have two daughters. Their names are Malia Ann, born in 1998, and Sasha, born in 2001. They were born in Chicago. The family moved into the White House in 2009.
Obama has a half-sister who is a teacher in Hawaii. His father died in a car accident in Kenya. His mother died from ovarian cancer. His grandmother died just before he became president.
Before Becoming President
Obama worked for Alice Palmer. She was an Illinois state senator. In 1995, she decided not to run again. Obama then decided to run for her state senate seat. He won the election. He was a state senator from 1997 to 2004.
As a state senator, he wrote a law. This law made police keep records of the race of people they stopped. He also wrote a law that made police videotape when they questioned murder suspects. He taught law part-time at the University of Chicago.
Obama ran for the U.S. Senate. He gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention. This speech was on television. He became a U.S. Senator from 2005 to 2008.
Obama won the presidential election in 2008.
Presidential Campaigns
2008 Presidential Campaign
Obama started his campaign for president in 2008. He won against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary elections. Many people thought Hillary Clinton would win. But Obama won many smaller elections. He had a lot of volunteers helping him.
Obama chose not to take government money for his campaign. This allowed him to raise more money from private donors. He raised the most money ever for a presidential campaign.
Obama's campaign message was about hope and change. He was against the war in Iraq. He wanted to help American car companies. He also wanted to send more troops to Afghanistan.
During the campaign, some people questioned his connections to certain individuals. His minister also said things that some people found controversial. Obama said his opponent, John McCain, was too much like George W. Bush. John McCain disagreed. Obama ran with Joe Biden as his choice for Vice President.
Obama won the election on November 4, 2008. He won with 365 electoral votes. John McCain had 173 electoral votes. Obama also won the popular vote with 53% of all votes.
2012 Presidential Campaign
Obama announced he was running for president again in April 2011. He posted a video on his website. Since he was already president, few other Democrats ran against him. He easily won the Democratic nomination.
His opponents from the Republican party were Mitt Romney for president and Paul Ryan for vice president.
In the election on November 6, Obama and Joe Biden won again. They defeated Romney and Ryan. Obama received 332 electoral votes. This was a smaller win than in 2008. Obama won 51.1% of the popular vote.
Presidency (2009–2017)
Obama became president in January 2009. He was the first African American president. At that time, the United States was in a difficult recession. Obama asked Congress to spend $787 billion to help the economy. He called this plan the stimulus bill. This bill paid for road projects, gave money to schools, and funded science projects. It also gave tax credits to many Americans.
He continued a plan started by George W. Bush. This plan gave money to car companies and banks. It helped them avoid going out of business. He signed a law to make rules for banks and financial companies. This was to try and stop another recession.
Obama ended the Iraq War. He helped prepare Iraq to protect itself. The terrorist leader Osama bin Laden was killed while Obama was president. He also helped with changes in leadership in Libya. Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This law changed many health care rules. It is often called "Obamacare." He also created jobs through public works projects. He was the first president to openly support gay marriage.
He was reelected in 2012. During his second term, the government temporarily stopped some services. He was able to restart good relations with Cuba. In 2015, the United States joined the Paris Climate Agreement.
Post-Presidency (2017–Present)
A president can only serve two terms. So, Obama could not run for president again. Donald Trump became president in early 2017. Obama left office with a 60% approval rating.
Obama still owns a house in Washington, D.C..
Obama and his wife, Michelle, give speeches and attend events. They also run a charity called the Obama Foundation. They own Higher Ground Productions. This company makes movies. Netflix hired them to make documentaries. One of their documentaries, American Factory, won an Academy Award. It was named the best documentary of 2019.
He released his book about being president, A Promised Land, on November 17, 2020.
In February 2021, Obama and musician Bruce Springsteen started a podcast. It is called Renegades: Born in the USA. They talk about their lives and their love for America. In late 2021, their company, Higher Ground, signed a deal with Netflix. They will develop comedy projects. On March 4, 2022, Obama won an award for narrating his book.
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On April 5, 2022, Obama visited the White House. It was his first visit since leaving office. He celebrated the 12th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act.
In June 2022, the Obamas signed a deal with Audible. This deal is for their podcast company, Higher Ground.
In September 2022, Obama visited the White House again. He and Michelle showed their official White House portraits.
Awards and Honors
Obama received the Norwegian Nobel Committee's Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. He also won the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2017. He was named TIME Magazine's Time Person of the Year in 2008 and 2012. He won two Grammy Awards for his audiobooks. He also won two Primetime Emmy Awards for narrating documentaries. He won two Children's and Family Emmy Awards too.
Interesting Facts About Barack Obama
- Obama is the first President born in Hawaii.
- As a child, he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia for four years. He could speak Indonesian well.
- In high school, Obama used the nickname "Barry."
- Obama promised his daughters they would get a dog if he became president. In 2009, Senator Ted Kennedy gave them a Portuguese water dog named Bo.
- In 2022, he narrated the Netflix series Our Great National Parks. He won an Emmy Award for it.
- The Barack Obama Presidential Center will be his presidential library. It will be in Jackson Park in Chicago.
- The saying "thanks, Obama" started on Twitter. People used it humorously to blame him for small problems. Obama himself used the phrase in videos.
Barack Obama Quotes
- "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
- "You can’t let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you."
- "When times get tough, we don't give up. We get up."
- "If somebody is different from you, that's not something you criticize, that's something that you appreciate."
- "Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world."
- "Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail."
See Also
In Spanish: Barack Obama para niños
