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Barack Hussein Obama
the 44th President of the
United States of America

Barack Obama on the 21st January taking another oath of Office at the White House after the judge messed up the 1st one.

Obama at Whitehouse

Obamamobile

Wining and Dining

BBarack Obama’s Mum, Stepfather and Stepsister

Barack Being Sporty

Me and my Dad

Me and my Stepfather

Being Youth
The College Days of Barack

Becoming a full grown man is not easy at all!

Happy Wedlock

Obama Enjoying Village Life

Controlling children can be a handful!
Barack Obama’s two daughters and their friends

Dress to kill

That’s all folks!

Abraham Lincoln, Barrack Obama: All humans were created equal
Chief Richard Akinjide, CON, SAN

'One of the reasons why those who are successful in their business or profession go into politics is that they want to make history and want to be part of history. But such goals are not for the faint hearted who abhor taking risks. The life journey itself from start to finish is a risky enterprise. That was, and still is, part the reasons why both Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obama went into politics, despite all their educational and professional successes. They are legends. Those reasons remain valid since the time of Troy to Vietnam till today'

Today January 20, 2009, an Afro-American of an African father becomes the President and the Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America - The most powerful and the richest nation in the world, in effect, the Leader of the World. That is unique, no matter how you look at it. That is the event we today mark and celebrate, a unique and unprecedented event in the history of the world and, indeed, in the history of human race. It is a peaceful revolution engineered by Democracy and the Rule of Law.

For those who are happy at this turn of events and history, I say congratulations, and for those who feel unhappy, I say, please take heart, no one can either alter or arrest the mechanics of historical changes. Where is the Roman Empire? Where are the British and French and the Ottoman Empires? Where is the Soviet Empire? The entire world should be a nation of one family where there should be no room for half free and half slaves whether in political and economic terms. No one coming to this world was ever asked to elect his choice of race or colour. So why punish anyone for something over which he or she has no control?

It is very tempting, on an occasion like this, to write and speak effusively about Barrack Obama who is today being sworn in as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America. Let others do that. I will not. To me, the hero of this moment is Abraham Lincoln who triggered and started the Revolution we are now celebrating and of which Barrack Obama is just a beneficiary. No one should think for a moment that I underrate or devalue Barrack Obama's unique and excellent contributions to today's event and to what led to it. I must not, I cannot and I do not.

Barrack Obama's charisma, brilliance by any standard and sterling oratory, like that of Abraham Lincoln, had earned the admiration of many people all over the world. One of the reasons why those who are successful in their business or profession go into politics is that they want to make history and want to be part of history. But such goals are not for the faint hearted who abhor taking risks. The life journey itself from start to finish is a risky enterprise. That was, and still is, part the reasons why both Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obama went into politics, despite all their educational and professional successes. They are legends. Those reasons remain valid since the time of Troy to Vietnam till today. Tacitus described politics as "The most flagrant of all passions".

Paradoxically, the journey to the pinnacle of power by both Abraham Lincoln and Barrack Obama, have a lot in common. Lincoln's road to success was longer, more tortuous, and far less likely.

Born on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin on an isolated farm in the slave state of Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln had an older sister, Sarah, who died in child birth when he was nineteen, and a young brother who died in infancy. His father, Thomas, had never learnt to read and according to Abraham Lincoln. Never did "more in the way of writing than to bunglingly sign his own name." As a six year-old boy, young Thomas had watched a Shawnee riding party murder his father. This violent death, Lincoln later suggested, coupled with poverty left Thomas "a wondering laboring boy" growing up without education. Lincoln's father was working as a rough carpenter and hired hand when he married Nancy Hanks, a quiet, intelligent young woman of uncertain ancestry.

In later life, Lincoln neither romanticized nor sentimentised the difficult circumstances of his childhood. When asked in 1860 by his campaign biographer, John Locke Scripps, to share the details of his early days, he replied: "Why Scripps? It is a great piece of folly to attempt to make any thing out of my early life. It can all be condensed into a single sentence you will find in Grey's Elegy: 'The short and simple annals of the Poor".

Of the four rivals who wanted to be President when Lincoln contested, Seward alone kept parents into his adulthood, Chase, was only eight when he lost his father. Bates was eleven. Their lives like, Lincoln's, were molded by loss. But the lonely months of living without adult supervision must be difficult. Lincoln had never even set foot "inside of a college or academy building" until he acquired his licence to practice law. What he had in the way of education he had to pick up on his own.

The volumes to feed Lincoln's intellectual hunger did not come cheaply. The story is often recounted of the time he borrowed Parson Weems's Life of George Washington from Josiah Crawford, a well-to-do farmer who lived sixteen miles away. Thrilled by this celebrated account of the first president's life, he took the book to his loft at night, where, by the light of a tallow candle, or if tallow was scarce, by a grease lamp made from hickory bark gathered in the woods, he read as long as he could stay awake, placing the book on a makeshift shelf between the cabin logs so he could retrieve it at daybreak.

During a severe rainstorm one night, the book was badly soiled and the covers warped. Lincoln went to Crawford's house, explained what had happened, and offered to work off the value of the book. Crawford calculated the value of two full days' work pulling corn, which Lincoln considered an unfair reimbursement, or an unfair contract. Nevertheless, he straightway set to work and kept on until "there was not a corn blade left on a stalk." Then, having paid his debt, Lincoln wrote poems and songs lampooning "Josiah blowing his bugle" - Crawford's large nose. Thus Crawford, in return for loaning Lincoln a book and then exorbitantly penalizing him, won a permanent, if unflattering, place in American history.

A lucid, inquisitive, and extraordinarily dogged mind was Lincoln's native endowment. Already, he possessed a vivid sensibility for the beauty of the English language. Often reading aloud, he was attracted to the sound of language along with its meaning - its music and rhythms. He found this in poetry, and to the end of his life would recite poems, often lengthy passages, from memory. He seemed especially drawn to poetry that spoke of our doomed mortality and the transience of earthly achievements. For clearly, Lincoln, this acolyte of pure reason and remorseless logic, was also a romantic.

All three of Lincoln's rivals shared his early love of books, but none had as difficult a task securing them or finding the leisure to read. In the household of his classically educated father, Seward had only to pick a book from well-stocked shelves, while both local academies he attended and Union College maintained substantial collections of books on history, logic, rhetoric, philosophy, chemistry, grammar, and geography. Chase, likewise, had access to libraries, at his uncle's boys' school in Worthington and at Dartmouth College. And while books were not plentiful where Bates grew up, he had the luxury of his scholarly relative's home, where he could peruse at will an extensive collection.

The distance between the educational advantages Lincoln's rivals enjoyed and the hardships Lincoln endured were rendered even greater by the cultural resistance Lincoln faced once his penchant for reading became known. In the pioneer world of rural Kentucky and Indiana, where physical labour was essential for survival and mental exertion was rarely considered a legitimate form of work, Lincoln's book hunger was regarded as odd and indolent. Nor would his community understand the thoughts and emotions stirred by his reading; there were few to talk to about the most important and deeply experienced activities of his mind.

While Lincoln's stepmother took "particular Care not to disturb him would let him read on and on till (he) quit of his own accord," his father needed help with the tiresome chores of felling trees, digging up stumps, splitting rails, plowing, weeding, and planting. When he found his son in the field reading a book or, worse still, distracting fellow workers with tales or passages from one of his books, he would angrily halt the activity so that work could continue. The boy's endeavours to better himself often incurred the resentment of his father, who occasionally destroyed his books and may have physically abused him.

Lincoln's relationship with his father grew strained, particularly when his last chance for schooling was foreclosed by his father's decision to hire him out. He laboured for various neighbours butchering hogs, digging wells, and clearing land in order to satisfy a debt the family had incurred. Such conflict between father and son was played out in thousands of homes as the "self-made" men in Lincoln's generation sought to pursue ambitions beyond the camped lives of their fathers.

I think the pinnacle of Abraham Lincoln's success was perhaps reached at Cooper Union in New York where on February 27, 1860 before crowd of more than 1500 he delivered what New York Tribune called "One of the happiest and most convincing political arguments ever made in this city" in defence of Republican principles and to confine slavery to where it already existed. "The vast assemblage frequently rang with cheers and shouts of applause which were prolonged and intensified at chore. No man ever before made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience"

His three other contenders for nomination were house names in Republican circles. William Henry Seward Senator from New York, Ohio's Salmon P. Chase Senator and Gov Edward Bates framed the Missouri Constitution - elder statesmen".

Abraham Lincoln, lawyer, at 51 was nominated on May 18, 1860. Chicago was Republican Presidential Party venue for the Convention. He won the Presidential election that followed and he became the President of the United States America.

Twenty months before the Emancipation Proclamation, the President had told Hay that "the central idea pervading this struggle is the necessity that is upon us, of proving that popular government is not an absurdity," predicting that "if we fail it will go far to prove the incapability of the people to govern themselves." Now tens of thousands had died in pursuit of that purpose. At Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln expressed that same conviction in far more concise and eloquent terms as follows:

"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

"But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work, which they who fought here, have, thus far, so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that, government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".

Henceforth, that Address of Abraham Lincolns became known among the most famous speeches in history as the GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. I read it for the first time in 1949 when the book known as "Abraham Lincoln" by DRINKWATER was one of the prescribed books for the English Literature Senior Cambridge Examination at ODUDUWA COLLEGE, Ile-Ife which I attended. It changed my views and my attitude to life for all times.

The United States National Park Service in April 2008 opened a USD$103 Million Museum and Visitor Centre to help visitors to GETTYSBURG vast battle field in Pennsylvania. The 6000 acres expanse dotted with nearly 1,400 memorials and monuments to North America's bloodiest battle, is where the Union Armies beat back General Robert E. Lee's confederate assault on the Northern territory in a turning point in the USA Civil War and where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous speech.

The complex is tucked into a wooded area on the GETTYSBURG National Military Park - land that saw no major action in the three-day Civil War battle from July 1 to 3, 1863. More than 51,000 confederate and union soldiers were killed, wounded or captured. The current visitor centre was built in 1921 and acquired by the National Park Service in 1971.

I end by quoting Aristotle, who said in Latin: "Amicus Plato, sed amica veritas," meaning "Plato is dear to me, but dearer still, is the truth".

Over to you, our Black African rulers.
Source: The Guardian, 21^st January 2009.

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Obama steps in as U.S. 44th president, pledges America will lead again
From Martin Oloja and Laolu Akande Washington DC

HOPE was born amid raging economic crisis in the United States (U.S.) and pall of recession in other parts of the world as Barack Obama took oath of office as the first African-American President of the U.S. yesterday.

He was sworn in at exactly 5.45 p.m. Nigerian time as the 44th president of the U.S., using the same Bible used by Abraham Lincoln 48 years ago in 1861.

Two years after beginning his political career as a little-known first-term Illinois senator with a foreign-sounding name, Obama yesterday moved into the Oval Office as the nation's fourth youngest president, at 47, a barrier-breaking achievement believed impossible by generations of minorities.

Obama stepped into history, grasping the reins of power and expressing America's readiness to lead the world again. He said the nation must choose "hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord" to overcome the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

In frigid temperatures, an exuberant crowd of more than a million packed the National Mall and parade route to celebrate Obama's inauguration in a high-noon ceremony. They filled the National Mall, stretching from the inaugural platform at the U.S. Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial in the distance.

A mighty chorus of cheers erupted as Obama stepped onto the inaugural platform, a midday sun warming the crowd that had waited for hours in the cold. There were some boos when Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney came onto the platform.

With 11 million Americans out of work and trillions of dollars lost in the stock market's tumble, Obama emphasised that his biggest challenge is to repair the tattered economy left behind by outgoing President George W. Bush.

"Our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions has surely passed," Obama said in an undisguised shot at Bush administration's policies. "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin the work of remaking America."

The dawn of the new democratic era - with Obama allies in charge of both houses of the Congress - ends eight years of Republican control of the White House by Bush, who leaves Washington as one of the nation's most unpopular and divisive presidents, the architect of two unfinished wars and the man in charge at a time of economic calamity that swept away many Americans' jobs, savings and homes.

In his words for political leaders whom he said cling to power through corruption and deceit, Obama said they should be ready to change.

His words: " To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

Making at least two references to his father's African heritage, President Obama in his inaugural address told "all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more."

His second reference to his Kenyan father in the speech was when he underlined America's enduring liberty which is why he, "whose father, less than 60 years ago, might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."

In the speech that lasted about 20 minutes in front of the US capitol on a cold afternoon, President Obama reminded the world that " earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions."

According to him, previous American presidents and allies around the world "understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint."

Pledging that such a legacy will be kept under his administration, Obama put the world on notice that "guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations."

He said for its part, America "will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan," adding that the new administration will work with old friends and former foes to address current threats including lessening the "nuclear threat, and roll back the spectre of a warming planet."

But he warned in no uncertain terms that America "will not apologise for our way of life" and that without a doubt, America would not be outlasted by terror and terrorists.

His words: "We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

Hammering on a theme of unity, which has actually marked the entire transition process of the new US administration, Obama restated that "we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Moslems, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth."

He said " because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace."

He addressed the Moslem world, saying America will " seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect."

But yet he warned leaders around the globe "who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West," declaring firmly that they should " know that their people will judge them on what they can build, not what they destroy."

He said it was a moment to recall "that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

Obama called for a political truce in Washington to end "the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics."

He said that all Americans have roles in rebuilding the nation by renewing the traditions of hard work, honesty and fair play, tolerance, loyalty and patriotism.

"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility, a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task."

With the economy in a long and deepening recession, Obama said it was time for swift and bold action to create new jobs and lay a foundation for growth. Congressional Democrats have readied an $825 billion stimulus plan of tax cuts and spending for roads, bridges, schools, electric grids and other projects.

"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works," the new president said.

Taking stock of the nation's sobering problems, Obama said: "That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

"Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet."

The new U.S. President took the oath at 12:06 pm yesterday, by which time he was already six-minutes old as president since the U.S. Constitution mandated that the new president takes office at exactly 12 noon whether or not he has taken the oath.

The presidential oath was administered on Obama by the U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who was nominated in 2005 by the immediate past U.S. President George W. Bush. Incidentally at the America Senate confirmation of the Chief Justice Roberts then, 22 Democratic Party senators voted against his confirmation: Senator Obama was one of them.
Source: The Guardian, 21^st January 2009.

The world stands still for Obama
By Waheed Bakare with agency report

Stepping into history, Barack Hussein Obama, grasped the reins of power as the 44th President of the United States on Tuesday, saying America must choose “hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord” to overcome the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

He invoked the memory of the country’s founding fathers and assured Americans that he would strive to rebuild the country’s standing in the world.

“We are ready to lead once more,” he said while delivering a 20-minute inaugural speech that focussed on responsibility, accountability, and the renewal of America and its role and relations with the world.

Earlier, Obama had stood solemnly during the invocation by the conservative Rick Warren, his eyes closed in the final moments before he took office.

Aretha Franklin then sang the US national anthem against a backdrop of clear blue skies and a light wind. Thousands waved flags as the soul legend sang her version of the Star Spangled Banner to a rapturous reception.

Joseph Biden, a veteran senator, was then inaugurated as vice-president by the longest-serving member of the US Supreme Court.

The focus then shifted to Obama. He placed a hand on a Bible used by Abraham Lincoln at his inauguration in 1861 and repeated the oath of office, promising to ”preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the US.”

He spoke candidly of the problems before his administration, saying, ”The challenges we face are real. 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.”

The new President made reference to the scale of his achievement at being the first African-American elected to the White House, in a remark that gathered one of the biggest cheers of the speech.

“This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed... why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath, “Obama said.

The dawn of the new Democratic era - with Obama allies in charge of both houses of Congress - ends eight years of Republican control of the White House by former President George W. Bush, who left Washington DC as one of US most unpopular and divisive presidents.

Bush is also the architect of two unfinished wars and was the man in charge at a time of economic calamity that swept away many Americans‘ jobs, savings and homes.

With 11 million Americans out of work and trillions of dollars lost in the stock market‘s tumble, Obama emphasised that his biggest challenge was to repair the tattered economy left behind by Bush.

“Our time of standing on the path, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed,” he said in an undisguised shot at the Bush administration policies.

”Starting today (Tuesday), we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin the work of remaking America, ” he added.

Obama‘s election was cheered around the world as a sign that America will be more embracing, more open to change.

“To the Muslim world,” he said, “we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”

Still, he bluntly warned, ”To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society‘s ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

”To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”

Two years after beginning his improbable quest as a little-known, first-term Illinois senator with a foreign-sounding name, Obama moved into the Oval Office as the nation‘s fourth youngest president, at 47, and the first African-American, a barrier-breaking achievement believed impossible by generations of minorities.

He said it was a moment to recall ”that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.”

Obama added that his inauguration was a triumph for racial progress, mere decades after segregation was allowed in the city from where he was addressing the nation.

“This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall,” he said, watched by a sea of people in central Washington.

The President called for a political truce in Washington to end ”the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.”

He said that all Americans had roles in rebuilding the nation by renewing the traditions of hard work, honesty and fair play, tolerance, loyalty and patriotism.

He said, “What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility, a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.”

With the economy in a long and deepening recession, the new President said it was time for a swift and bold action to create new jobs and lay a foundation for growth.

Congressional Democrats have readied a $825bn stimulus plan of tax cuts and spending for roads, bridges, schools, electric grids and other projects.

”The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works,” the new president said.

A mighty chorus of cheers had earlier erupted as Obama stepped to the inaugural platform, a mid-day sun warming the crowd that had waited for hours in the cold. There were some boos when Bush and former Vice-President Dick Cheney came onto the platform.

An exuberant crowd of more than a million packed the National Mall and parade route to celebrate Obama‘s inauguration in a high-noon ceremony in defiance of frigid temperatures.

They filled the mall, stretching from the inaugural platform at the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial in the distance.

Washington‘s subway system was jammed and two downtown stations were closed when a woman was struck by a subway train.

Among the VIPs at the Capitol was pilot Chesley ”Sully” Sullenberger, the hero of last week‘s US Airways crash into the Hudson River.

The 56th inauguration day began for Obama and Biden with a traditional morning worship service at St. John‘s Episcopal Church, across Lafayette Park from the White House.

Bells pealed from the historic church‘s tower as Obama and his wife, Michelle, arrived five minutes behind schedule.

The festivities were expected to end well after midnight on Tuesday, with dancing and partying at 10 inaugural balls.

By custom, Obama and his wife, and Biden and his wife, Jill, went directly from church to the White House for coffee with Bush and his wife, Laura.

Michelle brought a gift for the former first lady in a white box decorated with a red ribbon.

Shortly before 11am (American time) Obama and Bush climbed into a heavily armoured Cadillac limousine to share a ride to the Capitol for the transfer of power, an event flashed around the world in television and radio broadcasts, podcasts and Internet streaming.

Today, his first working day in office, Obama is expected to redeem his campaign promise to begin the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq under a 16-month timetable.

Aides said he would summon the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Oval Office and order that the pullout should commence.
Source: Punch, 21^st January 2009.

Obama sworn-in, warns terrorists
Written by VANGUARD

WASHINGTON DC —FEW minutes after he took oath of office as the 44th President of the United States, President Barack Obama gave in his inaugural speech an assessment of America’s present, as well as a glimpse of a vision of what the world’s most powerful nation can still become.

Obama told the capacity crowd at the National Mall that America’s challenges are real. His words: “Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time,” Obama told hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in front of the Capitol.

“But know this, America — they will be met,” he said.

He also vowed to end the divisiveness and partisanship he said was rampant through Washington.
“We come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics,” he said.

In another allusion to Washington’s shortcomings, Obama promised to hold accountable anyone who handles taxpayers’ dollars.

“And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.”

The new president, who hugged civil rights stalwart Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, upon walking on stage, also hailed the civil rights movement.

“This is the meaning of (America’s) liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath,” Obama said.

Wearing a navy suit and red tie, Obama was sworn in using the same Bible that was used in President Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration.

The crowd became silent as Obama began his address, with only an occasional “That’s right” or “Amen” and scattered applause from the hundreds of thousands in front of him.

Saddleback Church founder Rick Warren delivered the invocation, applauding what he called “a hinge-point in history.” Aretha Franklin sang “My Country ’Tis of Thee” before Joe Biden was sworn in as vice president.

1.  Hundreds of thousands of people were on the National Mall —dancing, singing and vigorously shaking flags — in anticipation of Tuesday’s swearing-in.

“This is America happening,” said Evadey Minott of Brooklyn, New York. “It was prophesized by King that we would have a day when everyone would come together. This is that day. I am excited. I am joyful. It brings tears to my eyes.”

Minott was at Lafayette Square near the White House, where Obama and his wife, Michelle, had coffee with President Bush and first lady Laura Bush before heading to Capitol Hill.

The Obamas attended a prayer service earlier at St. John’s Episcopal Church to kick off the day of events surrounding Obama’s inauguration.

The historic event has drawn myriad celebrities and politicians, including actors Dustin Hoffman and Denzel Washington, director Steven Spielberg and former vice presidents Dan Quayle, Al Gore and Walter Mondale.

Former Presidents Clinton, Carter and George H.W. Bush also were in attendance. Clinton and Bush shared an embrace.Oprah Winfrey and actor Samuel L. Jackson sat on the same row. Winfrey hugged Senate hopeful Caroline Kennedy and later said of the inauguration, “It’s behind the dream. We’re just here feeling it with the throngs of people. It’s amazing grace personified.”

Suburban Washington train stations were jammed. A four-story parking deck at the Springfield, Virginia, station was filled at 5 a.m. Trains rolling into the stop about 15 miles south of the Capitol had no room for the hundreds on the platform.
Source: Vanguard, 21^st January 2009.

Obama's letter to his daughters
By Kingsley Osadolor

ON the eve of his inauguration yesterday as President of the United States, Barack Obama drafted a well-publicized letter to his two daughters. In it, he shared with them his dreams as a father and leader - the most powerful man in the world. He explained to them why he embarked on the grueling, risky but ultimately rewarding journey to the White House. Obama put his daughters on notice that the arrival of the first black family in the White House is a signal for more work - to make America better and Americans happier. That task is his as President. But he also intimated his daughters to prepare for their own future challenges when the inevitable generational powershift occurs.

Recalling the lessons he had learnt growing up to understand that "America is great not because it is perfect but because it can always be made better," he exhorted his daughters to imbibe with passion the sense of obligation, through co-operation and collaboration, to engender America's endless quest for self-actualization. "These are the things I want for you - to grow up in a world with no limits on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into compassionate, committed women who will help build that world. And I want every child to have the same chances to learn and dream and grow and thrive that you girls have. That's why I've taken our family on this great adventure." His daughters, Sasha and Malia, are only 10 and 7 years old. Now, their father has dreamt for them, aroused their imagination, and provided a template on which they can build their own dreams as they mature in life.

We all begin, as Obama admitted, from thinking that we are the centre of the universe - until we realize that beyond us there exists a world of responsibilities. Those responsibilities are at once parental and communal, the latter expanding with a wider span of control as human organization becomes more complex. What underlines those responsibilities is leadership. Once congenital afflictions are discounted, our lives, as individuals and nations, are reflections largely of the quality of leadership to which we have been exposed. A visionless leadership cannot expect that, by some miracle, its product would be of superior variety.

Essentially, if we took, for now, only the parental angle in Obama's missive to his daughters, we would realize once again our common humanity. Whether black or white, yellow or brown, parents harbour in their bosom a positive dream for a much brighter future for their offspring. We saw it in our fathers and mothers, most of whom denied themselves of pleasures, sweated legitimately and with dignity, just to assure for us a better life. Such stories of parental sacrifice are more starkly dramatized in the developing world where the state provides no safety net, and life is one hell of a struggle in the jungle. Yet, protectiveness as well as the quest for a better future for our offspring has its roots in our biology. There is certainly a code programmed into the human genes that makes us protective of our young. That instinct has as its ultimate goal, survival and continuity of the species. Even in the animal world, there is such protectiveness in the wild, until the demands of the food chain take their inevitable course and toll.

The innate tendency for protection of the young and vulnerable has found expression in our statute books. For example, sections 301 and 372 of the Criminal Code. Section 301 provides that "It is the duty of every person who, as head of a family, has charge of a child under the age of 14 years, being a member of his household, to provide the necessaries of life for such child; and he is held to have caused any consequences which result to the life or health of the child by reason of any omission to perform that duty, whether the child is helpless or not." Similarly, s.372 stipulates that, "Any person who being the parent, guardian or other person having the lawful care or charge of a child under the age of twelve years, and being able to maintain such child, wilfully and without lawful or reasonable cause deserts the child and leaves it without means of support, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to imprisonment for one year."

It is doubtful whether Nigerians in fact advert their minds to these provisions, for they are just desperate to look after their own in a rat-race that can be appropriately couched: "In the name of our children". A cynical way to view the prevailing attitude of most Nigerian parents is that they have so unconsciously obeyed those provisions relating to parental obligations in the Criminal Code, that they now breach other sections of the Code and other relevant laws. Thus, obedience to law, however unconscious, has become an avenue for illegality. You would, therefore, find parents who are committing all kinds of atrocities, because they believe they should secure a better life for their children. Armed robbers make that allocutus when they are being nailed. Pervasive corruption in the public service is driven by greed, but on the rationalization of the parents, who are raiding the state's coffers, that they have to look after their wards. Some shameless parents even go to the extent of aiding and abetting their children to cheat in examinations, all because they believe they want a better life for the kids, by them making pole-vault ordinary challenges of life such as preparing for and faithfully writing an exam.

The private sector, whether organized or chaotic, is not left out either. Businessmen and women cheat; they peddle fake drugs and adulterated goods, all in a bid to earn huge returns in order to be able to look after their children. Structures which have collapsed during construction have behind them contractors and clients who used substandard materials, so they can save money and be able to look after their children. Indeed, the collapse of values and the grave erosion of our sense of community flows from a Darwinist instinct of survival of the fittest being played out in a Hobbesean terrain.

Which brings us again to the contents of Obama's letter. He writes his daughters that, even though they are now at the pinnacle of privilege in the wealthiest and most powerful nation history has ever witnessed, the daughters are nevertheless part of a larger community - the United States. According to Obama, "I want all our children to go to schools worthy of their potential - schools that challenge them, inspire them, and instil in them a sense of wonder about the world around them. I want them to have the chance to go to college even if their parents aren't rich. And I want them to get good jobs that pay well and give them benefits like healthcare, jobs that let them spend time with their own kids and retire with dignity."

If Nigerian leaders, at Federal, State and local government levels ever harboured such dreams, our country would have been a runaway success. Look around, some of Nigeria's leaders, past and present, have some of the best private schools in the country. And the logical inference is that they supervised the destruction of public schools in order to create the appropriate conditions for theirs to grow and thrive. Most other private schools owned by ordinary folks are so driven by a manic desire for quick and huge profits, that the real reason for their existence is not education but a business enterprise that exhibits those unconscionable traits never to be seen in a learning environment.

So parochial, self-centred and shortsighted is leadership in Nigeria that its primary ends are self-aggrandizement first, family interest next, a few friends to take care of, and the rest of society can go to blazes. Those who are more privileged in Nigeria and therefore appropriate to themselves obscene advantages that leverage their children's future, have created the inevitable consequence of a boomerang. The multitude of disadvantaged children, whose parents despite their best efforts in the stultifying Nigerian environment were unable to climb high on the social ladder, take out their frustrations on the rest of society, more especially those whom they perceive as oppressors. Any victim of an armed robbery attack, whether fatal or not, is somebody's child; he/she could also be a parent. Every victim of assassination, whether politically or economically motivated, is the child of somebody.

Obama's letter is a message to parents and to political leaders. We must dream dreams to create a better and liveable society. Our dreams and vision must plant hope in our spirits, fire our imagination, and propel us to breach the frontiers of current human challenges. Thus, while addressing his children, Obama is actually unfolding his global vision for humanity: "I want us to push the boundaries of discovery so that you'll live to see new technologies and inventions that improve our lives and make our planet cleaner and safer. And I want us to push our own human boundaries to reach beyond the divides of race and region, gender and religion that keep us from seeing the best in each other."

What is our leadership doing? They are thinking of allocating oil blocks, revoking licences, importing diesel, collecting estacode, terrorizing everyone else with their sirens, ready to fly abroad to treat common cold, awarding contracts on end, but watching the governed pine away in misery. It is a pertinent poser, just when are we going to get out of our prolonged nightmare while others are dreaming sweet dreams?
Source: The Guardian, 21^st January 2009.

The women that shaped Obama's life
By Beatrice Okechukwu

THE name Barack Obama has become a global buzzword, thanks to the wonders of information technology, which made it possible for people from different parts of the world to view every aspect of American electioneering campaigns from the comfort of their living rooms.

The long and tortuous campaigns culminated in the choice of Barack Obama by the American people as their 44th President. The young President-elect has been variously described as enigmatic, iconoclastic, phenomenal, stellar, and a transformational figure. His name has resonated in every part of the globe because he had made history by being the first Afro-American to be elected the President of the strongest country in the world. We have all been smitten by his astounding charm, cool temperament, urbanity, and charisma. His message of hope and change has caught on with a world beset with problems of terrorism, climate change, food insecurity, and financial crises. It has been acknowledged that no previous President of the United States of America had received a similar global jubilation of such magnitude at his election.

There have been many write-ups in the Nigerian print-media on the American election, particularly on what African countries can learn from it. The thrust of this piece has a feminist perspective, which is to pay tribute to the women in Obama's life, the women who nurtured him and inculcated in him those enduring values that have enriched his life and made him so different and special; the women who have impacted his life positively and produced the stability and finesse in outlook and character that he demonstrated throughout his electioneering campaign; the women who taught him to have confidence in himself and to believe in 'the audacity of hope'. I refer here to his mother Mrs. Ann Dunham Obama, his grandmother Mrs. Madelyn Dunham, and his wife Mrs. Michelle Obama. Feminist in this context should not be misconstrued to mean anti-men. It is simply an appreciation of womankind and the important natural role women play in moulding mankind, and a celebration of womanhood.

From what we have read about his childhood, there was obviously not much influence from his father who, more or less, abandoned him to the care of his mother whose influence he considers significant. In his memoir, Dreams from My Father, Obama says of his mother, 'what is best in me I owe to her'. Described as ' a very intelligent, quiet girl' by her high school friend, she obviously bestowed on her son the cool temperament, which characterised his campaigns, and the mature reactions to his opponent's numerous unjustified criticisms. Though it may be argued that she was almost an absentee mother herself, it has been shown that the little time she spent with her son was qualitative. According to Amanda Ripley in her article 'A Mother's Story' - Time of April 20, 2008, Barack's mother woke up well before dawn throughout her life. While living in Indonesia during her second marriage, she taught English at the U.S. Embassy. And because her young son was not taught English in the Indonesian school he attended, this loving mother went into her son's room every day at 4 a.m. to give him English lessons from a correspondence course. This commitment and sacrifice ensured that her son did not lag behind his mates when he eventually returned to the United States.

Two failed marriages and two young children to take care of were no encumbrance to her as she moved on to empower herself academically and financially. A Master's programme in the Anthropology of Indonesia preceded a PhD in the same discipline. These were tenaciously carried out between jobs, and the latter took almost two decades to complete. But fate dictated that she was not to see her son blossom into the political phenomenon the world is celebrating today. She died in 1995 before his thirty-fifth birthday.

Obama's grandmother, Mrs. Madelyn Dunham, ensured that he did not lack maternal love during those years of separation from his biological mother. His grandmother, whom he fondly referred to as 'Toot' provided him with the stability and enabling environment necessary for growth and development in those critical years of childhood. Obama's constant reference to his grandmother throughout his campaigns is an eloquent testimony to the fact that she was a 'significant other' in his young life.

Indeed, the fact of a black grandson being brought up and loved by his white grandparents must have reinforced his idea of racial harmony. The twist of fate played out again recently in his life as his grandmother was also denied the joy of beholding him in his 'defining moment' in history. She passed on two days before he was to become the President-elect of the United States of America.

Grandmother and wife, Michelle, are a kindred spirit as Obama himself opines in his memoir: 'in her eminent practicality and Midwestern attitudes, she (Michelle) reminds me not a little of 'Toot', the no-nonsense Kansan who raised him, and who, after meeting Michelle for the first time, pronounced her 'a very sensible girl'. (Reader's Digest, October 2008). Michelle's father suffered from multiple sclerosis, and despite the terrible pains he suffered, he went to work daily and was able to raise two kids. Her father's tenacity and resilience defined strength for Michelle. A strict mother and something of a perfectionist, she and her husband share the same idea of being good parents to their girls. In fact, in a recent interview granted to Reader's Digest, he credits Michelle with creating a 'zone of normalcy' for his daughters. He emphasises that the daughters' lives 'haven't changed or been disrupted and that's been Michelle's greatest gift to me.' He actually referred to her in one of his campaigns as 'the rock of the family'. It is interesting that Michelle's worldview of Fraser's glass-half-full fortitude is analogous with her husband's 'yes, we can' political mantra.

As the name of Barack Obama resonates throughout the world, and both electronic and print media rave over his extraordinary success in the polls, it is appropriate to recognise these women in his life who contributed in no small way the current success story. This piece also serves as a reminder to mothers all over the world, and particularly in Nigeria, of the immense responsibility they have in making or marring the future of their children in the course of their upbringing. Educational psychologists emphasise the importance of the first eight years of a child's life in determining his success or failure later in life, as the foundation for these are laid in the early years of life. Since the child in your care today may be the 'Barack Obama' of tomorrow, mothers should give their children love, attention, devotion, commitment, a stable home, and the stimulating environment in which to develop to their full potential.

Positive character traits like self-possession, composure, assertiveness, tolerance, honesty, patience, humility, resilience, modesty, love, etc are developed early in life. Parents, especially mothers, should spend quality time with their young children. Society stands to gain a lot if mothers inculcate positive values in their children early in life, and this could be the ultimate panacea for the social and moral decadence, which has beset contemporary Nigerian society. After all, it is the children of today who will be the leaders of tomorrow.

In the same vein, wives should emulate Michelle's complete and unpretentious support of her husband's aspirations. Women like to quote the adage that 'behind every successful man is a woman'. By the same token, we should remember that behind every unsuccessful man there is also a woman. I want to believe that every Nigerian woman wants to be that special woman behind her successful man. Let us therefore work hard at fulfilling our role as the 'helpmate' of our spouses by giving them the love and encouragement they need to succeed in their chosen careers.

• Dr. (Mrs.) Okechukwu lives in Lagos.
• Source: The Guardian, 21^st January 2009.

The Obama girls and the man they love

Barack Obama met his wife (then named Michelle Robinson) in 1989 when he was employed as summer a associate at a Chicago law firm. She joined him in a friendly way at group functions, but they did not have their first real date until the summer was over (as she initially kept turning him down). They were engaged in 1991 and were married in October 1992.

Their first daughter, Maila Ann, was born in summer 1998 and their second daughter, Natasha (known simply as Sasha), was born in 2001. The Obama family lives in a historic home on Chicago's South Side with lots of play space for their girls. (When asked if he has ever wanted to have a son, Obama has simply stated to the press that he is happy to be the father of two healthy and beautiful young daughters.)

Obama and his wife seem to have easygoing temperaments that complement each others, but according to inside reports, it is actually Obama who is much more nervous before interviews and making public appearances. He also says that Michelle is the strict disciplinarian with the kids (whereas he is not) and that she keeps him away from cigarettes. Obama candidly states, "Being married to Michelle, and having these tall, beautiful strong-willed girls in my house-never allows me to underestimate women. But also, I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. And my grandmother was a remarkable woman. When my grandfather was off in world War II, she worked as a Roise the Riveter, essentially, while she was raising my mother. When they moved to Hawaii, she got a job as a secretary, and with never more than a high school education, ended up being the first woman vice president of a bank in Hawaii. She was the primary breadwinner for the family for a pretty long time. And so I've been raised understanding that women are able to do everything that men can do, and some things that men can't do."

Speaking with obvious admiration Obama continues, "Michelle is one of the smartest people I know. She is my chief counsel and advisor. I would never make big decisions without asking her opinion, certainly about my career and my life."

Obama's daughters seem to be outgoing and playful, as girls their ages usually are. When asked which daughter would be better suited to politics, Obama responds, "If anybody went into politics, it would be Sasha, because she's such a ham. We don't take them to too many campaign events, but on the occasions where we have, Maila's kind of shy and waving just a little bit. And Sasha's just...out there shakin' it."

The marriage has not been perfect, however, despite the fact the two are so well suited. Michelle Obama has admitted that she sometimes has felt abandoned by her husband's ultra-busy schedule in the past and they even appeared in a ladies home journal"Can This Marriage Be Saved?" column at one point.

Obama admits the strain of being a stage legislator and later senator often got to be too much for his wife."I think if you've got two working parents, you've got small kids and one of the spouses, in this case, me, is gone a bunch of the time, and the other spouse, Michelle, is home, expected to work and look after the girls-and occasionally help-me that's a big burden. That's a big stress. And at that time, we were still paying off student loans and we'd be short at the end of the month sometimes."

Continuing on a serious note, Obama says. "I still remember when I was a state legislator and Michelle called close tears because our wonderful babysitter had quit and decided to go back to nursing. And Michelle's thinking to herself, what am I going to do? Because she had depended so heavily on this person to kind of hold it all together. And she was, frankly, mad at me because she felt as if she was all alone in this process."

It's Michelle Obama, though, who can best explain how these marital problems, caused by the stresses of Obama's growing political career, were solved. "Part of it was time. Our kids got older, and then they're in school. Their needs are different. Those early years are a whole lot of work. But the truth is that everybody struggles with it-we just don't talk about it out loud.

And then also I had to change because there were a lot of things time-wise that he couldn't provide, because he was not there. So, how, do I stop being mad at him, and start problem solving, and cobble together the resources, I also had to admit that I needed space and I needed time. And the more time that I could get to myself, the less stress I felt. So it was a growth process for me individually and for us as a couple, too.

Overall, the Obamas consider themselves to be a very happy couple. While in the Senate, Obama tried to make it a priority to be home every weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, and every Christmas the family returned to Hawaii (where Obama spent much of his childhood) to see his grandmother and sister. The Obamas try to attend Sunday church services in Chicago as a family whenever possible, even though the presidential election campaigning made that very difficult over the past year.

More than anything, however, Obama is proud to be a good father and says that seems to hit a good chord with voters of both sexes; "I like having men come up to me and saying. 'You know, I'm really glad you're a good father. I like that maybe some little boy somewhere who doesn't have a good father' I like that maybe some little boy somewhere who doesn't have a dad in his house sees Michelle and the girls and me out somewhere, and has that image in his head that he 's going to carry with him somewhere down the road. It's not a burden, I've got a pretty loveable family. I love them to death. And they know it. And so it's not that hard to hopefully project that to the world."
Source: The Guardian, 21^st January 2009.

Early conflicts and Obama's search for identity

Although the 2007 Princeton Review described Barack Obama as having a "rising star quality," for young 'Barry,' - a name passed down from his father because people couldn't pronounce Barack - those two years were filled with conflict and confusion in Dreams From My Father, Obama writes, referring to the other multi-racial students at school, "Their confusion made me question my own racial credentials all over again.

He rebelled to avoid being called a "sellout." He hung out with the more politically-active Black students, the foreign students, Marxist professors, structural feminists and others of that persuasion. "I chose my friends carefully," Obama writes. At night they discussed topics such as neocolonialism or Eurocentrism. He and the other conscious brothers drank beer, smoked reefer and played basketball. Despite indifference and a bad attitude, Obama managed to leave a strong impression during his time there. In an Associated Press article, Occidental College politics Professor Roger Boesche remembers Obama as "a very thoughtful and curious student."

Dissatisfied and still searching for somewhere to belong, Obama transferred to Columbia University in his junior year. He writes: "What I needed was a community, I realised a community that cut deeper than the common despair that Black friends and I share when reading the latest crime statistics or the high fives I might exchange on a basketball court..."

No longer called Barry, Obama majored in political science and international relations and wrote his senior paper on Soviet nuclear disarmament. Living off campus, he spent his first night sleeping in an alley because an apartment was unavailable. The next morning, he washed at a hydrant across the street beside a homeless man.

Now, Obama stopped getting high, ran three miles a day and fasted on Sunday. "For the first time in years, I applied myself to my studies and (kept) a journal of daily reflections and very bad poetry," he writes. In Dreams, he tells of heatless sublets, living on 94th Street with his Puerto Rican neigbours and watching with a roommate, "White people from the better neighbourhoods," bring their dogs to defecate on the block. According to him, "It was only now that I began to grasp the almost mathematical precision with which America's race and class problems joined...not just out on the streets but in the stalls of Columbia's bathrooms as well, the walls remained scratched with blunt correspondence..."

In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Obama discussed his ascetic existence in New York, revealing that he spent his time in spiritual exploration and deliberately withdrew from the world.

Obama says he went days without speaking to anyone and kept company with books by Saint Augustine, and Nietzsche, the father of existentialism. He joined the Black Students Organization and participated in anti-apartheid activities. In a Newsweek article, William Araiza, attending a seminar with Obama in their senior year, stated, "I don't want to imply he was intentionally aloof, he just seemed like he wasn't part of the college gang."

And yet, Obama's professors and classmates including former international politics professor Michael Baron and MTV president Michael Wolf, confirm that he was a brilliant, standout student and an active participant in seminars. Baron says he was one of the top one or two students in his class.

In 1983, Obama received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia. By 1988, Obama was back on campus, pursuing law studies at Harvard University. According to the Harvard Crimson newspaper, Obama worked as a research assistant for constitutional law Professor Laurence H. Tribe for a year and assisted him with a book. "He is the most extraordinary student that I have ever taught," Tribe says. "He had a level of maturity and a degree of authenticity and a moral compass that was so powerful that it was just magnetic."

By 1990, the New York Times was reporting Obama's election as the Harvard Law Review's "first black president in its 1O4-year history." Says law Professor Kenneth W. Mack, one of Obama's class mates from the law school, "He had a reputation - or wisdom and insight-beyond being book-smart, which he evidently was - that seemed to belie the fact that he was only a few years older than most of us" Mack states, ".. many of the qualities that helped Obama secure the nomination were already evident when he was elected president of the Law Review."

Remembering the publication's election, Mack adds that Obama had the unique ability to bridge "bridges with those who did not share his opinion." Even conservative students with fundamentally different ideologies than Obama still agreed that he ".. was the best candidate to lead an often bitterly divided institution."

Martha l. Minow, who taught Obama at Harvard Law School, states, "Obama has an amazing ability to combine vision with analysis, emotion with reason, and hope with good sense."

Barack Obama completed his J.D. degree magna cum laude in 1991. His search for his place in the world was over and his journey to the White House had begun. 'Barry the rebel' was now 'Barack the Renaissance Man,' self-assured and self reliant, but most of all, selfless in his love for ordinary people.

Source: The Guardian, 21^st January 2009.

Family roots that moulded the 'Obama dream'

PRESIDENT-elect Barack Obama's early years were spent in places as diversified as Hawaii and Indonesia- and he lived through much adversity and change. Many of his supporters today say these factors were key in making him a candidate with strong leadership qualities, especially when it comes to foreign and educational policies. Obama, said by friends and relatives to have been a quiet, awkward child, cares as much about students developing self-esteem as he does about their studies.

Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. came into the world on August 4, 1961, at the Kapiolani Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Obama, Sr., of Nyang'oma Koegla, Siaya District, Kenya, and Stanley Ann Dunham (simply known as "Ann"), an atypical, very independent Midwesterner from Wichita, Kansas. His parents met while they were both students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa - his father was actually a foreign exchange student. Barack's mother and father decided to separate when he was two years old and later divorced.

Shortly after the divorce, Obama's father returned to his homeland of Kenya. He saw his American-born son only once more before dying in an automobile accident in 1982. Obama's mother went on to marry Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro's homeland of Indonesia in 1967, where Obama attended local schools in Jakarta until he was 10. While in Jakarta, his mother worked as a secretary at an embassy, raising funds for Obama to take a U.S. correspondence course. Accounts say she woke up Obama early every morning to give him English lessons that usually lasted around three hours per session and he was never too thrilled to have to get up early!

In his 1995 book, Dreams From My Father: A story Of Race And Inheritance, Obama recalls, "She would come home with books on the Civil Rights Movement, the recordings of Mahalia Jackson, the speeches of Dr. King. When she told me stories of school-children in the South who were forced to read books handed down from wealthier White schools but who went on to be come doctors and lawyers and scientists, I felt chastened by my reluctance to wake up and study in the mornings..."

He then returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents while attending Punahou School from the fifth grade in 1971 until his graduation from high school in 1979.

Obama has often spoken of the special affection he has for his maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, saying, "She was a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world."

In Dreams From My Father, he describes his childhood and adolescence in Hawaii: "There were too races, with power among them too diffuse, to impose the mainland' rigid caste system."

While Obama loved the beauty of Hawaii's natural wonders, his days spent there were bittersweet. At the elite, preppy Punahou School, Obama experienced racially-tinged encounters with White boys who thought it was funny that his father was from the Luo tribe and a White girl who asked to touch his hair.

Obama's mother returned to Hawaii in 1972 for several years, and then went back to Indonesia for her fieldwork. Obama has always described his mother as an "intellectual rebel" and has said she was the most dominant figure in his life. "Her life showed a deep respect for intellectual rigor and perhaps an uncommon sense of learning, reveals Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, who lives in Hawaii. In 1995, Obama's mother died of ovarian cancer.

As a teenager, Obama experienced the usual adolescent urge to experiment with drugs. In his book he admits to suing booze, cocaine and pot during a period of self-searching when he was trying to establish his identity as a Black man and seek companionship with the opposite sex.

Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years. He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialisation in international relations. Obama graduated with a B.A from Columbia in 1983, then worked for a year at the Business International Corporation and then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.

He entered Harvard Law school in 1988 but first travelled to Kenya. It was an attempt to get to know his late father a little better, but he also wanted to experience and analyse firsthand the tumultuous political climate present in that country. For him it was a life-changing opportunity that was worlds away from the type of privileged, aristocratic atmosphere he had come to know at Harvard.
Source: The Guardian, 21^st January 2009.