A Black President

Those two words in the same sentence were thought to be unthinkable not long ago,but how things have change, as yesterday Democratic Senator from Illinois,Barack Obama got enough votes to clinch the Democratic party nomination.He thus becomes the first African-American to head one of the two major political parties, heading into the 2008 elections which will decide who will become the next President of the United States.
Other black politicians,the Reverend Jesse Jackson comes to mind, had ran for the Presidency of the United States,but nobody had come this far.When Jesse Jackson ran for President of the United States,he made headlines by winning quite a handful of states on "Super Tuesday",but deep down everybody knew he was not going to be the party's nominee come decision time.Who is this guy anyway?
Senator Obama Jr. was born on the 4 of August 1961 in Honolulu,Hawaii,United States.His father,Obama Sr.is from Kenya,East Africa and his mother, Ann Dunham is from Wichita ,Kansas.His parents met at the University of Manoa,the father being an international student at the time.They were separated when Barack Hussein Obama was only aged two.His early schooling includes attending a school in Jakarta,Indonesia until age 10 and Punahou school back in Hawaii, until graduating from high school in 1979.
He moved to Los Angeles and attended Occidental College for two years before transferring to Columbia University in New York City.He studied Political Sciences,specializing in International relations while at Columbia University.He graduated with a BA from Columbia University in 1983 and his next University stop was at Harvard Law School were he enrolled in 1988.He will graduate from Harvard in 1991 with a JD magna cum laude.While at Harvard, the highlight of his stay there was being elected in 1990 as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.
As for jobs that he had held,Obama worked at Business International Corporation and New York Public Interest Research Group after graduating from Columbia University until 1985 when he moved back to Chicago and took a job as a Community organizer.
He taught part-time at the University of Chicago Law School from 1993 to 2004.
He also worked as an Associate Attorney with Davis,Miner,Barnhill and Galland from 1993 to 2002.
He was first elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996,won re-election in 1998 and 2002.In the year, 2000 he made an unsuccessful bid to get into the US house of Representatives.
In 2004, he won election into to the US senate as a junior senator from Illinois.
Barack Obama has written two books,"Dreams of my father" and "Audacity of Hope".
Barack Obama is married to Michelle Obama(they married in 1992)and they have two children, daughters aged 10 and 7 years old.
Barack Obama won the Democratic party's nomination by concentrating on reaching the magic number of 2118 votes, and got there by picking up victories in small primaries and Caucasus instead of concentrating on the bigger states like his rival Hillary Clinton did.
He won Iowa despite the fact that polls leading up to the Caucasus,showed him trailing by a wide margin.
Hillary Clinton fought back though and won New Hampshire despite the momentum being on Obama's side.The back and forth race continued until Super Tuesday which ended up as a split decision.
After Super Tuesday,Senator Barack Obama build up a lead which he will not relinquish by winning eleven straight primaries and caucuses,picking up what turned out to be an insurmountable lead.
Senator Hillary Clinton, stayed in the race despite calls for her to throw in the towel,claiming she has the lead in the areas that counted the most,the super delegates.That argument crumpled when Senator Barack Obama started picking up one key super delegate endorsement after the other, until he surpassed Senator Hillary Clinton in the that category also.
Senator Hillary Clinton stayed on though until June the 3,when the primaries in South Dakota and Montana pushed Senator Barack Obama over the magic number of 2118. A 46 years one guy who spend eight years in the Illinois Senate and was elected to the US senate in 2004.
Back in February, Senator Hillary Clinton seem to have all the advantages to get the Democratic nomination;money,political connections,two terms in the United States Senate and to cap it all she had been first Lady when her husband was President of the United States.
Now after a campaign in which Senator Barack Obama raised a record amount of money, the one term Senator from Illinois is now just one step away from capturing one of the most glamorous jobs in the world.He wins in November and we have ourselves a brother living in the"White House".How is somebody like Senator Barack Obama going to change the lives of African-Americans living in the US?All the crap about a black man not being intelligent enough to play quarterback,about certain jobs being available only to Caucasians.
Now the premier job is up for grabs and African-American Senator Barack Obama will as of yesterday the 3 of June 2008 begin a journey that will lead him to the promise land.
One thing is for sure though,come 2009,if Senator Barack Obama wins, lives for African-Americans will never be the same again.There are a lot of check and balances entrenched in a Democratic society like the US,but the President of the United States still possess a lot of power around the World.
No wonder,Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton stayed in the Democratic party nomination race until the very end.Who could blame her?We are talking here about a very historic moment.She had the chance to become the first female President of the US,no small fit either.
Senator Barack Obama does have a few advantages going into the November elections;the first being the fact that President George W. Bush has created quite a mess since taking over the Presidency in 2000.The war in Iraq,a slowdown in the economy just to name a few.Also the Republicans have occupied the White House for two consecutive terms and the public, I believe is ready for a change.
Senator Barack Obama's strategy would be to tag Senator John McCain as a continuation of the Bush Presidency.
Senator Barack Obama launched his national campaign for the Presidency of the United States infront of a crowd of about 10,000 people at the Nissan Pavilion in Virginia on Thursday June the 5 of 2008.
On Saturday the 7 of June,speaking in Washington DC,Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton officially ended her run for the White and endorsed Obama for the November elections.
To win the White House,McCain or Obama will need 270 electoral votes and the followings states are considered to be the swing states in the forthcoming general elections.
Colorado,Florida,Iowa,Michigan,Minnesota,Missouri,Nevada,New Hamphire,New Jersey,New Mexico,North Carolina,Ohio,Oregon,Pennsylvania,Virginia and Wisconsin.
Starting from the 1992 Presidential elections,Colorado has voted Republican all four times,so has Virginia and North Carolina.
Michigan has voted all four times,92,96,2000,2004 for the Democrats,so has Pennsylvania,Oregon,New Jersey and Minnesota.
Senator Barack Obama has promised a fight in which he will go after independent voters in all 50 states.The idea is to force Senator John McCain to defend traditional Republican strongholds.He has dispatched staffers to all fifty states.Obama can afford to do this because of his ability to raise funds in record numbers.
He demonstrated this ability during his battle with Senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination.Obama raised a lot of money from minor donors by appealing to them over the internet.
On June 18 2008, Senator Barack Obama announces that he will forgo public funding for his presidential campaign. The decision frees him to raise funds privately for the run to the White house.
Raising funds privately is something that Obama is good at, as he demonstrated during his battle with Senator Hillary Clinton for the post of Democratic Party nominee.The decision means he has to give up $85million of public money, but also allows him to be able to raise up to $300million from the list of 1.5million donors that he already has available in his data-base.
The decision is a turnaround from an earlier pledge that he would stick to public funding if the Republican Presidential nominee did likewise.But haven't just demonstrated what a fund raising money machine he can be, it was widely expected that Obama would negate on his early promise.Sticking to public funding could have been disadvantageous to his campaign.
The decision to reject $85million of public funding, will allow Senator Barack Obama to raise and spent as much money as he likes in the upcoming general election,part of his plans to expand the Electoral College playing field.
On the 27 of June 2008, Senator Barack Obama meets Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in New Hamphire as the former fierce rivals appear in public during a rally in New Hampshire.The process of national reconciliation of the Democratic party begins with Obama haven promised Hillary Clinton to help in the retirement of her $20million campaign debt.
Senator Barack Obama had promised during his primary election run to abide by a 16 month timetable for removal of combat troops from Iraq.He is due to visit Iraq soon and is now opened to consider a slower withdrawal of the troops after making an "on the spot" assessment.A switch in strategy to catch up with Senator John McCain in the field of National Security.
On July 16 2008, Senator Obama opens 20 new offices in the state of Virginia, another proof that he sees the state as one of the battleground states.
Senator Barack Obama is in Iraq today this 21 of June, meeting with military officers there to discuss strategy,days after meeting with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.Before he headed home, he paid visits to Israel,France and Great Britain.
With a few days leading to the Democratic National Convention, Obama announced his choice for Vice President and it is Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware.Senator Joseph Biden himself had once ran for President of the US and is a long standing member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the US senate.I am a little bit surprise with the choice of Biden as Vice Presidential candidate but it seems as if the choice is working out pretty well.Senator Joe Biden has handled himself very well since his nomination as choice for vice President.He did very well in his debate against the Republican Vice Presidential candidate,staying clear of any personal attacks and petty criticism and he did not get in the way of Senator Barack Obama at all.
As early as a month into the voting,it seems as if Senator Barack Obama is heading for a November victory.He won all three debates handily and insiders are saying that with a month to go, he has to pick up one of three key states to get to the magic number of 270.The states in questions are Virginia,Colorado and Florida.He wins one of these states and he is in as the next President of the United States.
The Presidential Debates versus Senator McCain were not close at all with Obama winning with an average victory margin of 58 percent to 42 percent for John McCain.
With about a week to go before the actual voting begins,the prestigious New York Times has already declared that the one time Senator from the state of Illinois will become the 44 President of the United States come the 4 of November.
Congratulations President Barack Obama.