Ferry staverman biography of barack obama
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After his original Republican opponent in the general election, Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race, the former presidential candidate Alan Keyes stepped in. After returning to Hawaii, he lived with his maternal grandparents. “The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep. During his presidency, Obama implemented various reforms, including the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
After leaving office in 2017, Obama remained active in politics and advocacy work.
Despite tight Republican control during his years in the state senate, Obama was able to build support among both Democrats and Republicans in drafting legislation on ethics and health care reform. If elected, Palin would have been the nation’s first-ever female vice-president.
As in the primaries, Obama’s campaign worked to build support at the grassroots level and used what supporters saw as the candidate’s natural charisma, unusual life story and inspiring message of hope and change to draw impressive crowds to Obama’s public appearances, both in the U.S.
and on a campaign trip abroad. I’m opposed to dumb wars…I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U. S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.”
Barack Obama’s Speech At the 2004 Democratic National Convention
When Republican Peter Fitzgerald announced that he would vacate his U.S.
Senate seat in 2004 after only one term, Obama decided to run. His campaign focused on criticizing the Bush administration's policies and highlighting the need for energy independence and education reform. As a state senator, Obama notably went on record as an early opponent of President George W. Bush’s push to war with Iraq.
During a rally at Chicago’s Federal Plaza in October 2002, he spoke against a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq: “I am not opposed to all wars.
He gained attention for his support of alternative energy sources and his opposition to the Iraq War. In 2007, he announced his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election. For the next several years, he worked with low-income residents in Chicago’s Roseland community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development on the city’s largely Black South Side.
After winning reelection in 2012, Obama began his second term focused on securing legislation on immigration reform and gun control, neither of which he was able to achieve. Obama was elected to the Illinois state senate in 1996 and served there for eight years. He partnered with another Republican, Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, on a bill that expanded efforts to destroy weapons of mass destruction in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Despite these challenges, Obama received widespread support, including endorsements from influential figures like David Geffen, who organized a fundraising campaign that raised $1.3 billion.
In 2008, Obama became the Democratic nominee for president and went on to win the general election against Republican candidate John McCain.
They worked to bring new voters—many of them young or Black, both demographics they believed favored Obama—to become involved in the election.
A crushing financial crisis in the months leading up to the election shifted the nation’s focus to economic issues, and both Obama and McCain worked to show they had the best plan for economic improvement.
He won 52 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, defeating both multimillionaire businessman Blair Hull and Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes. She and her new husband, an Indonesian man named Lolo Soetoro, moved with her young son to Jakarta in the late 1960s, where Ann worked at the U.S. embassy.
After high school, Obama attended Occidental College in Los Angeles and later transferred to Columbia University, where he graduated in 1983.
In 1985, Obama moved to Chicago and worked for a church-based charity organization as a social organizer, helping underprivileged communities. He continues to be an influential figure, using his platform to address issues of racial and social justice.
He published his second book, The Audacity of Hope, in October 2006.
On February 10, 2007, Obama formally announced his candidacy for president of the United States. It put the relatively unknown, young senator in the national spotlight.
In November 2004, Illinois delivered 70 percent of its votes to Obama (versus Keyes’ 27 percent), sending him to Washington as only the third African American elected to the U.S.
Senate since Reconstruction.
During his tenure, Obama notably focused on issues of nuclear non-proliferation and the health threat posed by avian flu.