Kalman rubinson biography of barack obama

Unfortunately, the degree of satisfaction a reader achieves by patiently navigating its ten chapters is inadequate compensation for the persistently tedious experience. Garrow makes no discernible effort to separate mundane details from consequential facts and there are few, if any, overarching themes or theses. Individual moments of merit are numerous, but are overshadowed by long stretches which seem aimless or inconsequential.

As a reference on his pre-presidency this book is, in some ways, commendable. But as a presidential biography it proves a mind-numbing exercise in patience and pointless perseverance — 2 stars Full review here. It also ends somewhat abruptly — just as Obama is leaving Chicago to attend Harvard Law and well before the start of his political career.

But it is extremely well-researched, quite well written and, in the end, paints a compelling portrait of the 44th president as he approaches the end of his third decade of life. February 17, at pm. Steve said:. February 18, at pm. John said:. February 28, at pm. He is widely regarded as a charismatic speaker — frequently speaking on the ideals of hope and optimism.

Barack Obama was born 4 Aug in Hawaii. His father was a Kenyan intellectual and his mother a white teenager from Kansas. When Barack was still young, his father abandoned the family and Barack would only meet his father on a few future occasions. After a brief spell living in Indonesia, he moved back to Hawaii where he was raised by his grandparents.

Obama later produced two birth certificates to prove his nationality. After studying law at Harvard, he worked as a civil rights lawyer in Chicago. It was here in Chicago that he met his future wife, Michelle. They married in and had two children. In , he gained his major political breakthrough serving in the Illinois State Senate.

In , he was elected to the US Senate where he gained a reputation as one of rising stars in the Democrat Party. In the aftermath of the Iraq war, his reputation was enhanced by his previous opposition to the war. July Despite a lack of political experience, he put forward his name for the Democratic presidential candidate in Against the stiff opposition of Hilary Clinton, Obama ran a near perfect campaign.

His mother and half-sister later joined them. Obama struggled with the absence of his father, whom he saw only once more after his parents divorced when Obama Sr. While living with his grandparents, Obama enrolled in the esteemed Punahou School. He excelled in basketball and graduated with academic honors in As one of only three Black students at the school, he became conscious of racism and what it meant to be African American.

He shares a mother with half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and has five paternal half-siblings. According to Oprah Daily , he has maintained a warm and close relationship with half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng. The two grew up together and both graduated from the Punahou School. So he really ended up being the man of the house. Obama entered Occidental College in Los Angeles in After two years, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, graduating in with a degree in political science.

After his undergrad studies, Obama worked in the business sector for two years. He moved to Chicago in , where he worked on the impoverished South Side as a community organizer for low-income residents in the Roseland and the Altgeld Gardens communities. He also visited relatives in Kenya and paid an emotional visit to the graves of his biological father, who died in a car accident in November , and his paternal grandfather.

The next year, he met with constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe. Their discussion so impressed Tribe that when Obama asked to join his team as a research assistant, the professor agreed. He graduated magna cum laude with his juris doctor from Harvard Law School in In , while still in law school, Obama joined the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin as a summer associate.

There, he met Michelle Robinson, a young lawyer who was assigned to be his adviser. Initially, Michelle refused to date Barack, believing that their work relationship would make the romance improper. However, she relented not long after, and the couple fell in love. On October 3, , he and Michelle were married. Barack and Michelle welcomed two daughters several years later: Malia , born in , and Sasha , born in The couple has stated that their personal priority is their children.

During his years as a state senator, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans to draft legislation on ethics, as well as expand health care services and early childhood education programs for the poor. He also created a state earned-income tax credit for the working poor. In , Obama made an unsuccessful Democratic primary run for the U.

House of Representatives seat held by four-term incumbent candidate Bobby Rush. Undeterred, he created a campaign committee in and began raising funds to run for a seat in the U. Senate in With the help of political consultant David Axelrod, Obama began assessing his prospects for a Senate win. Encouraged by poll numbers, Obama decided to run for the open U.

Senate seat, vacated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald. In the Democratic primary, he defeated multimillionaire businessman Blair Hull and Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes with 52 percent of the vote. That summer, he was invited to deliver the keynote speech in support of John Kerry at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Obama emphasized the importance of unity and made veiled jabs at the George W.

Bush administration and the diversionary use of wedge issues. After the convention, Obama returned to his U. Senate bid in Illinois. His opponent in the general election was supposed to be Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, a wealthy former investment banker. However, Ryan withdrew from the race in June following public disclosure of unsubstantiated sexual deviancy allegations by his ex-wife, actor Jeri Ryan.

That August, diplomat and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan. With his win, Obama became only the third African American elected to the U. Senate since Reconstruction. Sworn into office on January 3, , Obama partnered with Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana on a bill that expanded efforts to destroy weapons of mass destruction in Eastern Europe and Russia.

Then, with Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, he created a website to track all federal spending. In February , Obama made headlines when he announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. He was locked in a tight battle with then-U. See also the follow-up story "Barack Obama's transgender former nanny finds fame and a job offer" Archived February 2, , at the Wayback Machine , The Guardian , Thursday 8 March Archived from the original on October 12, Jawa Pos in Indonesian.

Archived from the original on July 13, Retrieved May 6, New York: Riverhead Books. When Lolo completed his military service, Trisulo, who was married to Lolo's sister, Soewardinah, used his contacts with foreign oil companies doing business in Indonesia, he told me, to help Lolo get a job in the Jakarta office of the Union Oil Company of California.

Note: and the family moved two miles north to 22 Taman Amir Hamzah Street in the Matraman Dalam neighborhood in the Pegangsaan administrative village of the Menteng subdistrict in Central Jakarta. The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on January 25, Retrieved January 20, Maraniss , pp. Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original PDF on June 25, Note: Obama lived with his grandparents at the Punahou Circle apartments at S.

Beretania Street in Honolulu. Note: Dunham and her children lived in an apartment at Poki Street in Honolulu. Anthropology News. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Department of Anthropology. Archived from the original on June 10, Honolulu: East-West Center. Archived from the original on December 24, Ann; Dewey, Alice G. Polowijan 3, Kraton, Yogyakarta to Prof.

Alice G. Dewey Univ. Durham, N. Archived from the original on August 29, See also: Ochieng, Philip November 1, The EastAfrican. Archived from the original on September 27, Obama , pp. In August , Obama flew his wife and two daughters from Chicago to join him in a visit to his father's birthplace, a village near Kisumu in rural western Kenya.

Gnecchi, Nico August 27, Voice of America. Archived from the original on January 15, See also: Cose, Ellis September 11, Archived from the original on June 12, Wrong, Michela September 11, New Statesman. Archived from the original on January 16, See also: Serrano, Richard A. March 11, Archived from the original on November 8, Archived from the original on December 7, In Dreams from My Father , Obama writes: "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it.

For analysis of the political impact of the quote and Obama's more recent admission that he smoked marijuana as a teenager "When I was a kid, I inhaled. Archived from the original on May 11, Seelye, Katharine Q. October 24, ABC News. Archived from the original on May 25, Retrieved May 25, Obama , , pp. Maraniss , pages with "choom gang". Retrieved October 29, Romano, Lois January 3, October 9, Archived from the original on October 31, August 17, Archived from the original on April 7, Retrieved May 1, The State Journal-Register.

Archived from the original on November 9, Retrieved August 23, February 8, Retrieved September 7, As a teenager, Obama went to parties and sometimes sought out gatherings on military bases or at the University of Hawaii that were mostly attended by blacks. Archived from the original on May 24, Retrieved May 12, Possley, Maurice March 30, Archived from the original on October 9, Talev, Margaret November 19, The Sacramento Bee.

Archived from the original on March 7, Kovaleski, Serge F. February 9, Rohter, Larry April 10, Archived from the original on April 11, USA Today. Archived from the original on May 28, Jackson, Brooks June 5, Mendell , pp. Remnick , pp.

Kalman rubinson biography of barack obama

Columbia College Today. Archived from the original on September 5, Retrieved June 9, Retrieved October 1, June 26, Archived from the original on February 16, Retrieved October 15, — via National Archives. Knopf, Random House, Inc. Who's Who in America, OCLC Retrieved April 13,