The New President: His Biography and His Family

BARACK OBAMA

44th President of the United States of America

Barack Obama, born August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, HI

Son of Barack Obama, Sr. and Anne Dunham

Attended Occidental College for two years, graduated with a degree in political science from Columbia University in 1983

Director of Developing Communities Project on Chicago’s Southside from 1985 to 1988

Consultant and instructor for Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute

Graduated from Harvard Law in 1991 magna cum laude

Editor of Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year and elected as president of the Law Review in 1990 as its first black president

Joined the civil rights law firm Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland in Chicago, working there from 1993 to 2004

Taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004

Organized voter registration drives during Bill Clinton’s campaign in 1992

Married lawyer Michelle in 1992; two children: Malia and Sasha

In 1995 he published what started as a book on race relations and became an autobiography, Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Won a seat in the Illinois State Senate in 1996 representing Hyde Park on Chicago’s Southside

Ran for and lost in the Democratic primary in 2000 for the U.S. House of Representatives seat held by Bobby Rush

Decided to run in 2003 for Illinois U.S. Senate seat vacated by Republic Peter Fitzgerald and won the Democratic primary in 2004 with 52 percent

Delivered the keynote address in the summer of 2004 at the Democratic National Convention as a Senate candidate, drawing national attention

Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004 with 70 percent, the largest electoral victory in Illinois history, becoming only the third African American elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction

Published his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, in 2006

Announced his candidacy for the presidency of the U.S. in February 2007

Became the presumptive Democratic nominee on June 3, 2008, after a long and contentious primary season with Senator Hillary Clinton

MICHELLE OBAMA

First Lady of the United States of America

Poised, smart and elegant, Michelle Obama as the new First Lady brings a touch of class to the White House halls.  She'll turn 45 years old on January 17, days before Inauguration, and  will settle into 1600 Pennsylvania with a sense of family, community and, not least, a solid and strong education.

Born Michelle Robinson, the daughter of Marian and Fraser Robinson grew up on Chicago's South Shore before she moved on to Princeton (BA cum laude, 1985) and then to hallowed halls of Harvard for a J.D. degree in 1988.

After a stint at Chicago's starched white collar law firm, Sidley Austin, Michelle met and mentored a young Barack.  They both left the firm, but Barack held on to the starched white collar along with his legal skills…and Michelle.  Michelle went on to work for Mayor Daley’s office in Chicago and then the University of Chicago and its hospital.

After the young Barack initially won her heart with his community involvement, they married in October 1992.

Throughout the campaign, Michelle has made a policy of trying not to be away from her girls, Malia and Sasha, more than two days and one night a week; the Obama daughters are in private school in Chicago (The University of Chicago Lab School), and there is early indication that they will continue to be so when the family moves to the Nation’s Capitol

Further, Mrs. Obama claims not to be one of her husband's senior advisors, though few, having seen her take center stage at this year's Democratic National Convention in Denver, would doubt her significant influence on the president.