1991年,奥巴马在哈佛大学获得了“极优等”(拉丁文的学位荣誉,magna cum laude)法学士的学位,并回到芝加哥。1994年至2002年,奥巴马分别在芝加哥森林基金会和乔伊斯基金会的董事会任职过一段时间。
1996年,奥巴马进入政坛,当选伊利诺伊州参议员。2003年1月,奥巴马被选为伊利诺伊斯州卫生公共服务委员会主席。2004年11月,他在国会选举中当选伊利诺伊州联邦参议员。
2008年参加美国大选
2007年2月10日,奥巴马在伊利诺斯州首府春田市的老州政府大厦前正式宣布参加2008年总统大选。伊拉克战争、增大能源自主和全民医疗保险是奥巴马竞选纲领所关注的三大主要问题。此外,“变化”是奥巴马的竞选主题。
巴拉克•奥巴马在美国当地时间周二的晚间以压倒性优势获胜,成为美国首位黑人总统。这一结果颠覆了美国有史以来存在的种族隔阂现状。他在获胜后对欢庆胜利的众多支持者们喊道:“变革的时代来了。”
这位伊利诺伊州民主党参议员在俄亥俄、佛罗里达、弗吉尼亚、爱荷华等几个角逐激烈的战场州击败共和党参议员约翰•麦凯恩之后,这一历史性胜利的局面便已锁定。
Romantic story
Obama met his wife, Michelle Robinson, in June 1989 when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial offers to date. They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), in 2001.
A diversified family
In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family.
"Michelle will tell you that when we get together for Christmas or Thanksgiving, it's like a little mini-United Nations," he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." Obama has seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living, and a half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband. Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham until her death on November 2, 2008, just before the presidential election.
Obama plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team. Before announcing his presidential candidacy, he began a well-publicized effort to quit smoking.
“罗曼史”
1989年6月,奥巴马在芝加哥盛德国际律师事务所做暑期助理期间,结识了米歇尔•鲁宾逊。当时米歇尔被指派为奥巴马3个月工作期间的顾问,她在社交集会时加入了奥巴马的团体,但却拒绝了他最初的约会邀请。那年夏季快结束时,他们才开始约会,随后两人于1991年订婚,并于1992年10月3日正式结婚。他们有两个女儿,大女儿玛丽亚-安出生于1999年,小女儿娜塔莎(萨沙)出生于2001年。
“小联合国”
在2006年的一次采访中,奥巴马让人们了解了他的多样性的大家庭。
他说:“米歇尔最有发言权了,每当过圣诞节或者感恩节,我们家就像一个小联合国一样。我的亲人有的长得像伯尼·麦克(黑人喜剧演员),有的则酷似撒切尔夫人”。奥巴马的父亲是肯尼亚人,在那里他有7个同父异母兄妹,其中6个还健在。他还有一个同母异父的妹妹---玛雅,是他的母亲和他的印尼继父所生。他的母亲先于外祖母去世。奥巴马的外祖母玛德琳•杜汉姆出生于堪萨斯,遗憾的是她在本月2日大选之前去世。
奥巴马喜欢打篮球,高中时曾是校队成员。宣布竞选总统之前,他向民众表示自己会戒烟。
Cultural and Political image
With his Kenyan father and white American mother, his upbringing in Honolulu and Jakarta, and his Ivy League education, Obama's early life experiences differ markedly from those of African American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement. Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is "black enough," Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that the debate is not about his physical appearance or his record on issues of concern to black voters. Obama said that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong."
Echoing the inaugural address of John F. Kennedy, Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation."奥巴马的父亲来自肯尼亚,母亲为美国白人,他在檀香山和雅加达两地长大,就读于常青藤名校。他的这些早期经历与在二十世纪六十年代通过民权运动开拓自己事业领域的那些非洲裔美国政界人士明显不同。在关于他是否“够黑”这个问题上,奥巴马在全美黑人新闻工作者协会2007年8月的会议上表示,这样的争论与他的外表或者他对黑人选民问题的关注并无关系。他说:“我们到现在还在被那个固有的观念所影响,觉得受到白人的认可是不可能的。”
对于自己的年轻形象,奥巴马在2007年10月的一次竞选演讲中引用肯尼迪总统就职演说中的话说:“如果不是这个火炬在被一次次地传递到新一代的手上,我不会有这个机会的。”
很多评论家都认为奥巴马在国际上的受欢迎度在他的公众形象中起了决定性作用。他不仅在其他国家的几次民调中都得到了极高的支持率,而且在他成为总统候选人之前就与一些外国政要及在职官员关系密切。这其中就有2005年与奥巴马在伦敦会面、时任英国首相的托尼•布莱尔,同年拜访过奥巴马参议员办公室的意大利民主党领袖瓦尔特•维尔特洛尼,以及现任法国总统尼古拉斯•萨科奇,二人曾于2006年在华盛顿会过面。
温馨提示:答案为网友推荐,仅供参考