Meet Barack Obama

Barack Obama's latest headline involvement was that of the New York Times article posted on February 11.

Obama was apparently noted as being "prickly" in response to several reporters' questions. He did however; manage to demonstrate his leadership qualities including boldness, accuracy, and thoroughness. Obama was also mentioned as having answered three student reporters on their inquiry of the direction of the No Child Left behind Bill with detail and formality.

Obama also recently responded to an Australian Prime Minister slam with a well stated challenge. He stated that if the Australian prime minister was "ginned up to fight the good fight in Iraq" he needs to send another 20,000 Australians to the war. This was in response to the Australian Prime Minister's statement that Obama's plan to remove troops by March of 2008 would most likely lead to a victory of al Qaeda.

Prime Minister Howard of Australia retaliated with no apology; instead he stood by his stance. It was also noted by one official in particular that "Prime Minister Howard knows that setting a timeline for a withdrawal sends the wrong signal to our enemies."

Barack Obama is well known for his ethical lobbying. He actually helped pass the state of Illinois' first ethics reform bill in 25 years.

Obama also began building a coalition for reform by helping to produce the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. The act proposed increasing the cool off period to two years for lawmakers seeking to become lobbyists. The bill also would have opened conference committee meetings to the public and required that all bills be posted on the Internet for 24 hours before they can be voted on. The provisions were incorporated into the Senate bill which passed in 2007.

Senator Obama also had a hand in sponsoring three other ethics-related bills in the 109^th Congress that went even further on ethics.

Senator Obama has used his life for public service including community organizer, civil rights attorney and a leader in the Illinois state Senate. Obama continues to campaign for working families.

Obama was sworn into office in January of 2005. Since then he has continued to focus on promoting economic growth and bringing good paying jobs to Illinois.

Prior to Obama's position in the U.S. Senate, he worked for seven years in the Illinois state Senate. He worked with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating several programs including the state Earned Income Tax Credit which has so far provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state.

Obama is also a family man with a wife of 15 years and two daughters. The family resides in the South Side of Chicago where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.

Senator Obama was born on August 4^th, 1961 in Hawaii. He later graduated from Columbia University in 1983 and moved to Chicago in 1985 to work for a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions for the poor.

In 1991, Obama graduated from Harvard Law School where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.

Senator Obama's specific stands on several important political issues are as follows.

ON the issue of Tax Reform, Obama believes that the federal tax code has become increasingly complex and unfair. He believes tax rates should be as low as we can afford them to be; and everyone should pay their fair share.

On the issue of Good Government, Responsible Spending, Obama has had a hand in drafting and initiating the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act which was recently passed.

Concerning Energy, Senator Obama believes America must commit to a new national energy policy focused on improvements in technology and investments in alternative fuels, as well as greater efforts in conservation, efficiency, and waste reduction.

Concerning Iraq, Senator Obama agrees with the Iraq Study Group's conclusion that we must begin a phased redeployment of American troops to signal to the government and people of Iraq that ours is not an open-ended commitment. Obama believes that the only hope for Iraq is for the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds to come together and reach a resolution.