Barack Obama

Updated November 2011

44th President of the United States of America

In 2004 Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat, representing Illinois, and he gained national attention by giving a rousing and well-received keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. In 2008 he ran for President, and despite having only four years of national political experience, he won. In January 2009, he was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, and the first African-American ever elected to that position.

Timeline

Senior Lecturer in Law

University of Chicago Law School
Jan 1, 1993 - Dec 31, 2004

State Senator

State of Illinois
Nov 1, 1997 - Nov 14, 2004

US Senator (IL-D)

United States Senate
Jan 1, 2005 - Nov 5, 2008

President

United States of America
Jan 20, 2009 - Current

Dreams of My Father

Book Published
Jul 18, 1995

Malia Ann

Daughter Born
Jul 4, 1998

Natasha

Daughter Born
Jun 10, 2001

Wins!

US Presidential Election
Nov 4, 2008
Barack Obama wins the US Presidential Election and becomes the first African-American President of the United States

Sworn In

Inauguration
Jan 20, 2009
Sworn in as the 44th president of the United States by Chief Justice John G. Roberts while holding the Lincoln Bible

Keynote Address

Democratic National Convention
Jul 27, 2004
Gives keynote address at Democratic National Convention on July 27, which widely broadens his popularity and fame.

Signs Economic Stimulus Bill

Legislation
Feb 17, 2009
President Obama signs a $787 billion stimulus bill into law after a partisan legislative battle. The final package of spending increases and tax relief draws only three supporting votes from Republicans in the Senate and none in the House.

Sonia Sotomayor to Supreme Court

Nomination
May 26, 2009
President Obama announces that he will nominate Sonia Sotomayor, a federal appeals judge in New York, to the Supreme Court, choosing a daughter of Puerto Rican parents who was raised in a Bronx public housing project to become the nation's first Hispanic justice.

Signs Health Care Law

Legislation
Mar 23, 2010
With the strokes of 22 pens, President Obama signed his landmark health care overhaul — the most expansive social legislation enacted in decades — into law, saying it enshrines “the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care.”

Elena Kagan

Nomination
May 10, 2010
President Obama nominates Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the nation's 112th justice, choosing his own chief advocate before the Supreme Court to join it in ruling on cases critical to his view of the country's future. She would replace Justice John Paul Stevens.

Signs Legislation Overhauling Financial Rules

Legislation
Jul 21, 2010
Signs into law a sweeping expansion of federal financial regulation, marking another major legislative victory before the midterm elections in November.

Signs Compromise Tax Plan

Legislation
Dec 17, 2010
President Obama signs the sweeping $858 billion tax bill into law, the culmination of a lawmaking process that featured intensive negotiations with Republicans and loud expressions of frustration from Democrats.

Death of bin Laden

Announcement
May 2, 2011

Quote

“In reaffirming the greatness of our nation we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those that prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.”

Barack Obama

Inaugural Address, 2009
“If we think that we can secure our country by just talking tough without acting tough and smart, then we will misunderstand this moment and miss its opportunities. If we think that we can use the same partisan playbook where we just challenge our opponent's patriotism to win an election, then the American people will lose. The times are too serious for this kind of politics.”

Barack Obama

August 19, 2008
“What the American people hope -– what they deserve -– is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences; to overcome the numbing weight of our politics. For while the people who sent us here have different backgrounds, different stories, different beliefs, the anxieties they face are the same. The aspirations they hold are shared: a job that pays the bills; a chance to get ahead; most of all, the ability to give their children a better life.”

Barack Obama

State of the Union, 2010