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American English Vocabulary from this story

Jr.- a title to given to a son when he has the same name as his father; pronounced "Junior" (Barack Obama's father's name is Barack Obama Sr.)

Harvard and Columbia- two of the best universities (for academics) in the United States

attorney- another name for a lawyer

primaries- refers to the primary elections for president

running for president- seeking the position (trying to be elected) president

major party- the major parties in America are the Democratic and Republican Parties

caucasian- a white person

scholarship- money given to qualified students for the purpose of education (to be on scholarship means to be recieving this money)

divorce- ending a marriage

to get remarried- to get married again

to move- in this context "move" means to change the location of where you are living

around- in this context "about" means "approximately"

anthropologist- a scientist that studies the human origins, behavior, and development

diagnose- to determine or find (usually used for when talking about disease, or illnesses)

teenage years- then years when someone is between the ages of 13 and 19

LA- short form of the city "Los Angeles"

Illinois Senate- a council or group having the highest responsibities in the (Illinois) state government

to re-elect- to be elected again into the same position

Senator- a member of the Senate

popular vote- the number of votes cast by individual votes (as opposed to the eletoral college)

today- currently

varsity team- a schools top players (players that participate in games) for a specific sport

non-practicing- a term used often in a religious context meaning "not an active member" or "non-participating member" of a church or religion

Baptists and Methodists- different Christian denominations (churches)

reverend- a leader and authority in certain Christian denominations (usually of a single church building)

atheist- someone who does not believe in God, supreme beings, or life after death

Barack Obama

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Barack Hussein Obama Jr. is currently the 44th president of the United States of America. He graduated from Harvard Law School and Columbia and began working as a civil rights attorney in the state of Chicago in 1992 until 2004. Barack started his campaign for president in early 2007. The competition was tough during the Democratic presidential primaries while running against Hillary Clinton. As we know, Obama would end up winning, and became the first African American presidential candidate for a major party. Later in 2008, Obama won the general election against the Republican candidate, John McCain. Obama officially became president in January 2009.

Barack was born in 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His mother was a Caucasian woman from Kansas and his father was a foreign student on scholarship from Kenya. His parents met in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii. Obama's parents were divorced in 1964, and his father moved back to Kenya. Barack only saw his father one more time before his father died in a car accident nearly 18 years later in 1982.





Obama's mother remarried to another foreign student from Indonesia. In 1967, all foreign Indonesian students were forced to return to their homeland by the new military leader in Indonesia. Obama went to school in Jakarta for around 4 years until he returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. His mother continued to work in Indonesia as anthropologist. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and came back to live with Barack and her parents for one year until she died.

Obama struggled with his interracial heritage and admitted to using marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol during his teenage years. He began college in LA in 1979 and eventually graduated from Harvard, Columbia and eventually became a professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School.

In 1996 Obama was elected into the Illinois Senate, and re-elected in 1998 and 2002 (he lost the election in 2000). In 2004 he won the election and was sworn in as the Illinois Senator in January 2005. He was only the fifth black Senator in US history. In 2008, Barack defeated John McCain by receiving 52.9% of the popular vote, and became the America's first black president.

Today Barack still speaks Indonesian learned while living there as a child. He still enjoys playing basketball, and was once a member of his high school's varsity team. He met his future wife, Michelle Robinson, in 1989, and the two were later married in 1992. Obama developed his Christian views during his adult life. His mother was raised by non-practicing Baptists and Methodists. His father was raised Muslim but later became an atheist. Obama later became a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ in 1988. He was an active member there until 2008 when Reverend Jeremiah Wright made controversial remarks during Barack's presidential campaign.