Barack Obama is an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017, and he was the first African American to hold the office.

Who is Barack Obama? (Quick Scoop)

  • Full name: Barack Hussein Obama II.
  • Born: August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii.
  • Roles: Former community organizer, law professor, Illinois state senator, U.S. senator from Illinois, and two-term U.S. president.
  • Historic milestone: First Black president of the United States, elected in 2008 and reā€‘elected in 2012.
  • Major party: Democratic Party.

Early life and education

  • Obama was raised mainly in Hawaii by his mother, Ann Dunham, and his grandparents; his father, Barack Obama Sr., was from Kenya and his mother was from Kansas.
  • He attended Occidental College, then transferred to and graduated from Columbia University in New York.
  • He later studied law at Harvard Law School, where he became the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review.

Political rise

  • Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago before entering politics, focusing on housing and job issues.
  • He was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996, working on ethics reform, health care access, and support for lowā€‘income families.
  • In 2004, he won a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois, gaining national attention after a widely praised Democratic National Convention keynote speech that year.

Presidency highlights (2009ā€“2017)

  • Obama won the 2008 presidential election against Republican John McCain and took office on January 20, 2009.
  • He confronted the Great Recession with a large economic stimulus package, support for the auto industry, and financial reforms.
  • His signature domestic achievement was the Affordable Care Act (ā€œObamacareā€), a major expansion of health insurance coverage.
  • In foreign policy, his administration pushed for withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, ordered the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, and helped negotiate the Paris climate agreement.
  • He supported the repeal of ā€œDonā€™t Ask, Donā€™t Tell,ā€ allowing gay and lesbian service members to serve openly in the military.
  • In 2009, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his early efforts in international diplomacy and nuclear nonā€‘proliferation.

Life after the White House & latest context

  • Since leaving office, Obama has focused on the Obama Foundation, civic engagement, and leadership programs for young people.
  • He and Michelle Obama signed major book deals; his memoir ā€œA Promised Landā€ and her memoir ā€œBecomingā€ became bestsellers.
  • He remains active in public debates on democracy, voting rights, climate change, and misinformation, and he is one of the most followed political figures on platforms like Twitter and Instagram.
  • As of early 2026, he is a prominent elder statesman of the Democratic Party and often weighs in on U.S. elections and global issues through speeches, opā€‘eds, and social media posts.

TL;DR: Barack Obama is the first Black U.S. president, a former senator from Illinois, and a major modern political figure whose presidency is most closely associated with recovering from the Great Recession and passing the Affordable Care Act.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.