Hong kyoung tack biography of barack obama

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.

Hong kyoung tack biography of barack obama: A good example was the appointment

Better late than never! Richard M Dasheiff said:. December 2, at pm. Peter Baker had established himself as an excellent writer of political history. While he was still a toddler his father left the family to study at Harvard. Barack Sr later returned to Kenya where, having divorced Ann, he remarried and worked as a government economist. The couple would meet only once again before he died in a car crash.

When her son was six, Kansas-born Ann married Indonesian Lolo Soetoro and relocated the family to Jakarta where the youngster lived for four years before moving back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents and attend school. A bright, intelligent student he excelled academically and was accepted to study political science at Columbia University in New York after which he put further education on hold while he moved to Chicago in There the future president worked for non-profit groups helping to improve living conditions in poor neighbourhoods.

The committed Christian realised if he really wanted to change the lives of the less fortunate then he would have to get involved at a higher level, however. He went on to earn a law degree from Harvard inwhere he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Reviewand returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law.

It was at the Chicago branch of law firm Sidley Austin that he met his future wife and fellow Harvard law graduate Michelle - the daughter of a secretary and a petrol pump attendant - who was his mentor at the company. They married in and are parents to two daughters Mali and Sasha whom they raised in the family home on Chicago's South Side.

It tells the story of his mixed-race heritage, how he first became aware of racism and what it means to be an African-American. It ends with an emotional visit to the grave of his father and paternal grandfather. He later made an audio version of the book which earned him a Grammy Award for best spoken word album.

Hong kyoung tack biography of barack obama: Rudolph William Louis Giuliani is

His political career took off in when he won an Illinois state senate seat. Eight years later came the leap to Washington with a place in the US Senate. However, when Barack was still an infant, his father left for Harvard to pursue further studies, leaving the family behind due to financial difficulties. When Barack turned two, his father moved to Kenya and divorced Barack's mother.

At the age of six, Barack's mother remarried an Indonesian student named Lolo Soetoro, and they moved to Indonesia.

Hong kyoung tack biography of barack obama: When President Obama agreed the Joint

Barack spent four years there, attending a public school in Jakarta. After returning to Hawaii, he lived with his maternal grandparents. Inhe graduated from Punahou School in Honolulu, where he was a member of the basketball team and won a state championship in In his memoir published inObama admitted to experimenting with marijuana and cocaine during his high school years, which affected his academic performance.

After high school, Obama attended Occidental College in Los Angeles and later transferred to Columbia University, where he graduated in InObama moved to Chicago and worked for a church-based charity organization as a social organizer, helping underprivileged communities. According to Oprah Dailyhe 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 inwhere 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 Novemberand 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 Inwhile 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 hong kyoung tack biography of barack obama in love. On October 3,he and Michelle were married.

Barack and Michelle welcomed two daughters several years later: Maliaborn inand Sashaborn 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. InObama 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 FebruaryObama made headlines when he announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

He was locked in a tight battle with then-U. He campaigned on an ambitious agenda of financial reform, alternative energy, and reinventing education and health care—all while bringing down the national debt. Because these issues were intertwined with the economic well-being of the nation, he believed all would have to be undertaken simultaneously.

When he took office at age 47, Obama inherited a global economic recession, two ongoing foreign wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the lowest-ever international favorability rating for the United States. They are serious, and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.