Barack Hussein Obama II
This essay will analyse Barack Obama and his role as a world leader, beginning with a brief background on him and his rise to president of the United States of America.
A background to Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States, and the first African American to hold the office. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is married to first lady Michelle and has two daughters Malia ann and Natasha.
Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, whilst earning his degree in law, he served as president of the Harvard Law Review. He was also a community organiser in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, running unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 2000.
In 2004, Obama received national attention during his campaign to represent Illinois in the United States Senate, and was elected to the Senate in November. He began his presidential campaign in 2007, and in 2008, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won sufficient delegates in the Democratic Party primaries to receive the presidential nomination. He then defeated Republican nominee John McCain in the general election, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009.
During his first two years in office, Obama signed into law economic stimulus legislation in response to the great recession. Other major domestic initiatives in his first term include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often referred to as "Obamacare", the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.
In foreign policy, Obama ended U.S. military involvement in the Iraq War, increased U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered U.S. military involvement in Libya, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.
Obama was re-elected president in November 2012, defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney, and was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013. During his second term, Obama has promoted domestic policies related to gun control in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. His administration filed briefs which urged the Supreme Court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996. In foreign policy, Obama has continued the process of ending U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan.
When Obama assumed office needless to say there were more than a few controversial points arose including the claim that he secretly practices Islam. Obama was baptised into the United Church of Christ (UCC) denomination and formally joined it in 1988. He left the UCC in 2008 because of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy. He now worships with a Southern Baptist pastor at Camp David but has not become a formal member of any church since 2008.
Though Obama is a