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Barack and Obama redirect here. For other uses, see Barack (disambiguation) and Obama (disambiguation).
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 Senatorfrom Illinois
In officeJanuary 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008
Preceded by
Peter Fitzgerald
Succeeded by
Roland Burris
Member of the Illinois Senatefrom the 13th district
In officeJanuary 8, 1997 – November 4, 2004
Preceded by
Alice Palmer
Succeeded by
Kwame Raoul
Born
August 4, 1961 (1961-08-04) (age 47)[1]Honolulu, Hawaii, United States[2]
Birth name
Barack Hussein Obama II[2]
Nationality
American
Political party
Democratic
Spouse
Michelle Obama (m. 1992)
Children
Malia Ann (b. 1998)Natasha (a.k.a. Sasha) (b. 2001)
Residence
Chicago, Illinois (private)White House, Washington, D.C. (official)
Alma mater
Occidental CollegeColumbia University (B.A.)Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Profession
Community organizerAttorneyAuthorProfessorPolitician
Religion
Christian(Most recent denomination:[3]United Church of Christ)
Signature

Website
WhiteHouse.gov
This article is part of a series about
Barack Obama
Background · Illinois Senate · U.S. SenatePolitical positions · Public image · Family2008 primaries · Obama–Biden campaignTransition · Inauguration · US Presidency
Barack Hussein Obama II (pronounced /bəˈrɑːk hʊˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the forty-fourth and current President of the United States. Obama was the junior United States Senator from Illinois from January 3, 2005, until his resignation on November 16, 2008, following his election to the presidency. The first African American elected President, he was sworn in on January 20, 2009, in an inaugural ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.
Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as a community organizer, and practiced as a civil rights attorney in Chicago before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He also taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, Obama was elected to the Senate in November 2004. Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004.
As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, Obama helped create legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for U.S. military personnel returning from combat assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan.