President Barack Obama

Barack Obama

By Tom Kirvan

From Hawaii, to Indonesia, to Hawaii again, to California, to New York, and then to the South Side of Chicago, it proved to be a road well-traveled for Barack Obama, the first African American to be elected President of the United States in 2008.

Born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Obama was 2 years old when his parents divorced and was raised by his mother, Ann, who moved her family to Indonesia in 1967. Four years later, the future president returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents until graduating from high school in 1979. After beginning his studies at Occidental College in Los Angeles, Obama transferred to Columbia University in New York, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1983.

After briefly working as a financial analyst in New York, Obama relocated to Chicago, working as a community organizer on Chicago’s South Side, setting the stage for his enrollment in Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1991 while serving as the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.

In 1992, after marrying Michelle Robinson, he served as Illinois Executive Director of PROJECT VOTE, beginning a political career that included two terms in the Illinois State Senate and two years as a U.S. senator before being elected president.

Barack Obama*

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is the answer,” said Obama in his victory speech on election night.

“It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America,” he declared.

He would serve two terms in office, winning re-election in 2012 over Republican candidate Mitt Romney. His time in the Oval Office was highlighted by the passage of the Affordable Care Act, rescuing the U.S. auto industry from the financial tumult caused by the Great Recession, authorizing the mission against terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, and by championing the Paris climate agreement.

“This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet,” Obama said about the need to address climate change. “Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands.”

Upon leaving office, President Obama offered words of reflection for his successors to consider.

*Official White House Photo by Pete Souza, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons