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Illinois
Sen. Barack Hussein Obama shifted to accepting the mantle
of becoming
the
nation's first African-American president. He had taken
positions involving national, political, economic, and
social issues - and emphasizing the withdrawal of the
American troops from Iraq, increasing energy independence,
decreasing the influence of lobbyists, and promoting
universal health care as the top national priorities.
Senator Joseph Biden, his vice-presidential running mate,
also has made history by becoming the first Roman Catholic
to be elected Vice-President.
President
Obama is married to the phenomenal Michelle Robinson Obama.
The Obamas have two lovely daughters - 10-year-old Malia
and seven-year-old Sasha. The girls have become America's
sweethearts. At the recent inaugural brunch,
hosted by the AACS Omni Committee, former AACS President
Vikki Taylor said, "America has brought itself into
mercy, an opportunity for diversion from a
self-destructive path by choosing Barack Obama. Now that
we have seen, we can embrace the faith of our ancestors.
We can continue the journey - this struggle - knowing that
it can take us where we have always hoped and need to
go."
Nonetheless,
Democratic Executive Committee Treasurer Melba McCarty
said, "I share the pride we African-Americans have in
the election of President Obama, a man who embodies
qualities and leadership that can transform our country.
However, the reality is he is just one man, and we must
all remain politically engaged for the true substantive
change that he promotes to become a reality."
The
baby boy named Barack went by the nickname Barry, having
been born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961, to
Barack, Sr., of Alego, Kenya Colony, and the former
Stanley Ann Dunham of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In his
memoir, "Dreams From My Father," President Obama
wrote, "At the time of his death (in an auto
accident), my father remained a myth to me...He had left
Hawaii back in 1963 when I was only two-years-old, so that
as a child I knew him only through the stories that my
mother and grandparents told."
His
parents met as students at the University of Honolulu
while his father was on scholarship and later would win
another scholarship to study at Harvard for his Ph.D. The
couple divorced when young Barack was four-years-old. His
mother remarried another foreign student, who this time
was born in Indonesia. It was there that the story is told
of his mother drilling Barack on school work early before
leaving for work. Classes were taught in the Indonesian
language in Catholic school and then a secular, government
school. Barack wrote an essay in the third grade of
becoming president. His teacher later told the
"Chicago Tribune" that she was not sure which
country he wanted to become president of. He has a sister,
Maya, who was born of the union of his mother's second
marriage, in addition to seven surviving siblings in
Africa.
Indonesia's
poverty and corruption became clear as Barack questioned
his mother about the country and how they were able to
afford a better house. She used every opportunity to shape
his values for a return to America. She bought books on
the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, gospel giant Mahalia
Jackson's records, and had Barack read "Life
Magazine" while waiting for her at her job. The
material gave him ideas concerning the treatment of people
of color in his homeland. Identity issues
surfaced many times as puberty, peer pressures centering
on race, as well as life without a father, forced him to
reconcile matters.
As
he grew taller, seeking answers at age 15, he found
basketball an answer to some of life's many questions.
Since the age of 10, Barack had been living in Hawaii with
his grandparents, Toot and Gramps Dunham. It was there
that he attended Punahou, a Hawaiian prep school made
possible by his grandfather's boss, a former graduate.
An older kid moved to the neighborhood, giving Barack a
Black male friend with whom he could puzzle through that
phase. At the crossroads of his life, he decided he would
not waste his intellectual gifts. The pair discussed the
aspects of what goes into learning how to be a Black male
in America. It was then that he turned to the writings of
his elders - James Baldwin, RalphEllison, W. E. B. Dubois,
and Malcolm X.
Barack
settled on attending Occidental College in Los Angeles,
transferring in two years to Columbia University, where he
became a political science major, having a focus on
international relations, as well as earning a B.A. degree.
Barack began working in Chicago as a community organizer,
prior to earning his law degree at Harvard Law School. He
was the first African-American president of the
"Harvard Law Review" even though the publication
had a 104-year history. Barack graduated magna cum laude
in 1991 from Harvard with a J.D. degree. His mother passed
away from ovarian and uterine cancer in 1995, a few months
after his memoir was published.
He
served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to
2004 and, in 2005, became the junior United States Senator
from Illinois. In Springfield, Illinois, during February
2007, he announced his candidacy for the presidency, and
secured enough delegates to clinch the nomination in June
2008. Hillary Rodham Clinton, his remaining opponent in
the quest for the nomination, conceded defeat and urged
her supporters to back Obama. His Democratic National
Convention acceptance speech was a crowning achievement.
He became the first African-American in history to run on
a major party ticket. Senator John McCain was the
Republican opponent. Moreover, it was November 4, 2008,
that Barack Hussein Obama won the election, making him the
first African-American elected President of the United
States.
In
addition to all of his accolades, we bear witness that at
the Inaugural Ball, celebrating his victory, President
Barack Obama could DANCE! The members of the AACS
are awe-inspired to salute the Commander-in-Chief,
President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United
States!
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