Obama's first term. Barack Obama - biography, information, personal life

Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii. His parents met at the University of Hawaii. Father, black Kenyan Barack Hussein Obama Sr., came to the United States to study economics. His mother, white American Stanley Ann Dunham, studied anthropology. When Barack was still a baby, his father went to continue his studies at Harvard, but due to financial difficulties he did not take his family with him. When his son was two years old, Obama Sr. went alone to Kenya, where he received a position as an economist in the government apparatus. He divorced his wife.

When Barack was six years old, Anne Dunham remarried, again to a foreign student, this time an Indonesian. Together with his mother and stepfather Lolo Soetoro, the boy went to Indonesia, where he spent four years. He studied at one of the public schools in Jakarta. Then he returned to Hawaii and lived with his mother's parents. In 1979 he graduated from the privileged private school Punahou School in Honolulu. During his school years, Obama's big hobby was basketball. He won the 1979 state championship as a member of the Punahaou team. In his memoirs, published in 1995, Obama himself recalled that in high school he used marijuana and cocaine, and his grades declined.

After high school, Obama studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles, then transferred to Columbia University, where he graduated in 1983. After that, in 1985 he settled in Chicago and worked in one of the church charity groups. As a “social organizer” he helped residents of disadvantaged areas of the city. According to one of Obama's websites, it was his experience in philanthropy that made him realize that changes in legislation and policy were needed to improve people's lives.

In 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School, where in 1990 he became the first black editor of the university's Harvard Law Review. In 1991, Obama graduated and returned to Chicago. He began practicing law, mainly defending victims of various types of discrimination in court. In addition, he taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School and worked on election law issues in a small law firm. Obama became known as a liberal, an opponent of the creation of NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Area, a fighter against racial discrimination, and a supporter of a system of universal health insurance.

Obama's political career began in the Illinois State Senate, where he represented the Democratic Party for eight years, from 1997 to 2004. In 2000, Obama attempted to run for election to the House of Representatives, but lost the primary to incumbent Congressman Bobby Rush, a former member of the Black Panther movement. In the state Senate, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans, working together on government programs to support low-income families through tax cuts. Obama acted as an active supporter of the development of preschool education. He supported measures to tighten control over the work of investigative bodies. In 2002, Obama condemned the George W. Bush administration's plans to invade Iraq.

In 2004, Obama entered the race for one of the Illinois seats in the US Senate. In the primaries, he managed to win a convincing victory over six opponents. Obama's chances of success increased when his Republican opponent, Jack Ryan, was forced to withdraw his candidacy due to scandalous allegations brought against Ryan during his divorce proceedings.

On July 29, 2004, during the election campaign, Obama addressed the Democratic National Convention. His speech, which was broadcast on television, brought Obama wide fame in the United States. The senatorial candidate urged listeners to return to the roots of American society and once again make the United States a land of “open opportunity”: he illustrated the ideal of open opportunity through the example of his own biography and the biography of his father.

In the Senate elections, Obama defeated Republican Alan Keyes by a large margin. He began his duties on January 4, 2005 and became the fifth black senator in US history. Obama served on several committees: Environment and Public Works, Veterans Affairs, and Foreign Relations.

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As he previously did in the state Senate, Obama collaborated with Republicans on a number of issues, including work on government transparency legislation. In addition, Obama visited Russia together with the famous Republican Senator Richard Lugar: the trip was dedicated to cooperation in the field of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In general, Obama voted in the Senate in accordance with the liberal line of the Democratic Party. He paid special attention to the idea of developing alternative energy sources.

Senator Obama was able to unusually quickly win the sympathy of the press and become one of the most prominent figures in Washington. By the fall of 2006, observers already considered it quite possible for him to be nominated in the next presidential election. At the beginning of 2007, Obama was in second place behind Senator Hillary Clinton on the list of Democratic Party favorites. In January, Obama created an assessment committee to prepare for the presidential election. As of early February 2007, 15 percent of Democrats were ready to support Obama, and 43 percent were ready to support Clinton.

In January 2007, Obama faced scandalous accusations. Information began to spread in the press that while living in Indonesia, he allegedly studied at an Islamic madrasah school, where representatives of the radical Muslim sect of the Wahabbits preached. These accusations were denied, but left a significant negative imprint on Obama's image.

On February 10, at a rally in Springfield, Illinois, Obama announced his entry into the presidential race. If he wins, he promised to withdraw American troops from Iraq by March 2008. Along with the Iraq campaign, he criticized the Bush administration for insufficient progress in combating oil dependence and developing the education system. Soon, on February 13, at another rally in Iowa, Obama made a reckless statement. Criticizing Bush's Iraq policy, he said the lives of American troops killed in Iraq were "wasted." He had to repeatedly apologize and explain that he had expressed his thoughts poorly. Obama's stance on Iraq and his plans to withdraw troops were critically received by Bush supporters not only in the United States, but also abroad. One of the American president's allies, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, announced that Obama's plans play into the hands of terrorists.

In February 2007, Obama was supported by David Geffen, one of the founders of the film company DreamWorks, in the past one of Bill Clinton's prominent supporters. Geffin said that Hillary Clinton is too controversial a figure and will not be able to unite Americans in difficult times for the country. Together with other Hollywood celebrities, Geffin organized an event to raise donations in favor of Obama - the amount collected reached $1.3 billion. Geffin's tough comments against Clinton were associated with a narrowing of the gap between the former first lady and Obama: at the end of February the difference was 12 percent. 36 percent of Democrats were ready to vote for Clinton, and 24 percent for Obama.

One of the vulnerabilities of candidate Obama was the question of his affiliation with “African-Americans.” As it turned out, some representatives of the black population, including the most influential representatives of this minority, were in no hurry to recognize Obama as one of their own. The fact is that, unlike a “real” American Negro, Obama is not a descendant of slaves brought to the American continent from West Africa. In addition, the senator did not have the opportunity to participate in the struggle for the rights of blacks - unlike most American black politicians. The situation worsened when, in early March 2007, the press reported that Obama's maternal family included slave owners.

Obama has been married to lawyer Michelle Robinson Obama since 1992. They have two daughters: Malia and Sasha. Official biographies report that Obama and his wife are parishioners of one of the Christian churches in Chicago - Trinity United Church of Christ.

Barack Obama is the author of two books: in 1995, he published a memoir, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, and in 2006, a book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream). The audio version of the first book won a Grammy Award in 2006. Both of Obama's books became bestsellers.

Vermya
MisterX 21.01.2009 02:12:35

Time will tell, but if you comment on Obama's actions before the presidency, a positive type of person

Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. is the current (since January 20, 2009) 44th President of the United States of America. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2009. Before being elected president, he was a U.S. Senator from Illinois.

The first African American to be nominated for President of the United States by one of the two major parties; Unlike most black Americans, Obama is not a descendant of slaves, but the son of a student from Kenya.

Brothers need to pull up their pants. You are walking next to your mother, your grandmother, your underwear is visible. Here's my take on it: I think it's a waste of time to pass a law banning pants down... But that doesn't mean people can't show some common sense and some respect for other people. You know, some people may not want to look at your underwear, and I am one of them.

Obama Barack

Born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, the capital of the state of Hawaii. His parents met at the University of Hawaii. Father, black Kenyan Barack Hussein Obama Sr., came to the United States to study economics. His mother, white American Stanley Ann Dunham, studied anthropology. When Barack was still an infant, his father went to continue his studies at Harvard, but due to financial difficulties he did not take his family with him. When his son was two years old, Obama Sr. went alone to Kenya, where he received a position as an economist in the government apparatus. He divorced his wife.

When Barack was six years old, Anne Dunham remarried, again to a foreign student, this time an Indonesian. Together with his mother, half-sister and stepfather Lolo Soetoro, the boy went to Indonesia, where he spent four years. He studied at one of the public schools in Jakarta. Then he returned to Hawaii and lived with his mother's parents.

In 1979 he graduated from the privileged private school Punahou School in Honolulu. A school that is proud of its famous alumni - actors and athletes. During his school years, Obama's big hobby was basketball. He won the 1979 state championship as a member of the Punahaou team. In the same 1979, Barack Obama graduated from school, and now he honorably occupies not the last place in the lists of famous graduates of this school. In his memoirs, published in 1995, Obama himself recalled that in high school he used marijuana and cocaine, and his grades declined.

After school, Obama studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles, then transferred to Columbia University, where he graduated in 1983, where Obama began to emerge as a politician and public figure.

In 1983, with a Bachelor's degree, Barack Obama began working for a large International Business Corporation as an editor in the financial information department. Obama will work there for a year, his first job out of college.

After that, in 1985 he settled in Chicago and worked in one of the church charity groups. As a “social organizer” he helped residents of disadvantaged areas of the city. It was his experience working in charity that made him realize that changes in legislation and policy are needed to improve people's lives.

McCain recently called me a socialist because I want to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans. By the end of the week he will accuse me of being a secret communist because in kindergarten I shared toys, shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Obama Barack

In 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School, where in 1990 he became the first black editor of the university's Harvard Law Review. This is not all of Obama's successes at Harvard in 1990. The New York Times will write about the news that he has become the first black president of the Harvard Lawyers' Club in its one hundred and four-year history. In 1991, Obama graduated and returned to Chicago. He began practicing law, mainly defending victims of various types of discrimination in court. In addition, Obama worked at the headquarters of the Democratic Party, taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School, and worked on election law issues at the small law firm Miner, Barnhill and Galand. Obama became known as a liberal, an opponent of the creation of NAFTA - the North American Free Trade Area, a fighter against racial discrimination, and a supporter of a system of universal health insurance.

People nowadays are forced to figure it out. The situation forces me. It regularly escalates so much that it threatens to turn into something more heated than just confrontation. But only specialists can judge the development of political events within the leading powers. Let's take the USA for example. Security throughout the world directly depends on who is at the helm. The name of the country's president is on everyone's lips. Who is he - Barack Obama - a Republican or a Democrat? What follows from this, how does it affect the situation? Let's figure it out.

What's the difference? Democrats

Parties in the United States differ in their views on the role of the state in regulating society. Whether a Republican or a Democrat, they have the same view of the country’s position in the world, its irrefutable (from their point of view) right to interfere in the affairs of other countries, but they will argue about their own affairs until they are hoarse. We can say that their views on this issue are fundamentally opposite. What's the point? It turns out that democrats believe that the state should take an active part in building society. Their theme is a strong federal government. It must control both the economy and the social sphere. In addition, Democrats are proposing to Congress bills to increase taxes and redistribute budget funds to those sectors that currently occupy it. That is, the policy of this party is quite flexible. Knowing such details, it is not difficult to understand who Obama is a Republican or a Democrat, what his symbol is - an elephant or a donkey. One has only to look at his domestic political projects. More on this below.

Why are Democrats criticized?

It is clear that it is impossible to gain supporters based on the same idea. Especially in such a democratic society as exists in the USA.

The second party must offer people its own characteristics and demonstrate its strengths. This is what the Republican says about the enemy: either the Democrat has too flexible a backbone, or does not want to solve the problems of the state at all. This criticism is entirely justified. The fact is that representatives of the Democrats believe in liberal socialist principles. They try to be flexible in solving problems and adapt to current conditions. Republicans also criticize them for their excessive attention to immigrants, African Americans and the poorest segments of the population. By the way, these communities were the basis of the electorate of this party when Obama was elected. Whether he is a Republican or a Democrat can be judged even by who voted for him. Traditionally, this party is supported by poor, unprotected people who lack decent income.

A little about the views of Republicans

The opposing party is targeting the middle class, enterprising and active people. Its representatives are confident that the state should not poke its nose into the economy, leaving it to self-regulation.

They assign a very meager set of tasks to the federal government: let it monitor the implementation of basic laws, and society will develop according to the capitalist scenario. Representatives of this party stand up for big money in opposition to the Democrats, who seek to redistribute excess profits, directing part of them to social support for the poor. The views and ideas described are fundamental to them. Based on the politician's statements, it becomes immediately clear who he is - a Republican or a Democrat. But let's return to the main question.

Barack Obama: Republican or Democrat?

His practical initiatives will help to recognize his party affiliation in the US President. Russian-language media often talk about them. Here, for example, is his medical reform. It is aimed at ensuring that as many citizens as possible can receive qualified assistance. We make a note: care for all categories of the population.

Another recent initiative. Barack Obama proposed giving voting rights to illegal immigrants! Nonsense, which was immediately criticized by his political opponents. Another note: the initiative is aimed at attracting the poorest segments of the population. This is probably enough already.

Now you can draw your own conclusion about whether Obama is a Republican or a Democrat. We reason: his political initiatives are of a social nature, directed towards the poorest strata. We compare it with the description and conclude: Obama is a democrat. That's how it is. He is a member of a party whose symbol is a donkey. So we have dealt with the formal side of the issue. But that's not all. Let's move on. We are interested in how the party affiliation of the main US politician influences the world, what does Barack Obama offer (or impose) on us?

Is the President of the States a Republican or a Democrat? What's the difference?

There is an opinion that liberal social views are somehow connected with foreign policy peacemaking. In other words, that Democrats are more inclined to make friendly gestures towards other states. Let's look at the facts. Afterwards, many interstate armed conflicts occurred with the participation of the States. You will be surprised, but most of them began (continued) on the orders of the Democratic president. To name a few: the Korean (Truman), Vietnam (Kennedy and Johnson) wars, the conflict in Afghanistan (Carter), Yugoslavia (Clinton), Libya and Syria (Obama). Republicans cannot boast of such “feats.” And Obama, the current president, does not betray the principles of his fellow party members. His rhetoric, critics say, is weak. Only the actions speak for themselves. US bombs are falling on the world as if from (horrifying photos are proof of this).

Obama promised to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. Only they are still there. No necessary decisions have been made. Soldiers trample foreign land.

President or lame duck?

When discussing the views of the current US leader, one cannot ignore the peculiarities of this period. And there are a lot of them. All countries have many problems today. You can start from afar. Back in 2008, the financial crisis began. We fought him quite hard. Gradually, the media hype died down. People thought that everything had calmed down. Economists have a different opinion. In 2014, the world faced the threat of a new crisis. At the same time, no one understands how to deal with it.

Obama is a president faced with a task that is insurmountable by modern estimates. expressed by the cosmic figure of eighteen trillion dollars. Steps taken to ease the pressure on the budget have achieved nothing. And then the foreign policy course began to slip.

USA and Russia

A new confrontation between old enemies has filled the world's media. Because of the Ukrainian crisis, the planet, as some say, is again sliding towards the threat of nuclear conflict.

Considering that the only time it was used was by a Democratic President, what can humanity expect now? What will Obama do? 2014 was an extremely difficult year for him. The superpower, accustomed to its undisputed leadership, faced persistent resistance from a country that was no longer perceived as a global player. It turned out that Russia not only has its own interests, but also knows how to fight for them, attracting sometimes unexpected allies to its side. The world has changed beyond recognition.

Is he a complete democrat?

By the beginning of 2015, an unprecedented situation had arisen. In theory, based on the history of the United States, Obama is obliged to “throw all his strength into battle.”

Such disobedience, which Russia showed, has never been forgiven to anyone. But that's not all. Countries (not only the Russian Federation) began to switch to their national currencies. This is already a threat to the economic collapse of the United States as a state. An example, as you understand, was set by Russia. Not only does it misbehave with the territories of its neighbors (Crimea), but it also pulls the rug out from under the dollar. Once again we return to the experience of Democratic presidents. They made decisions about military operations. What about Obama? In 2014, as political scientists say, the first economic war began. Who will win? Will there be bombings? We will find out the answer over time.

Barack Hussein Obama II - 44th President of the United States- born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu (Hawaii). President of the United States from January 20, 2009 to this day.

Barack Obama's parents met in 1960 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Father - Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (1936 - 1982) - Kenyan, son of a healer from the Luo people. Brought up in the traditions of Islam, he later became an atheist. The missionary school paid for his studies in Nairobi and sent him to study econometrics at the University of Hawaii, where he organized the Foreign Students Association and topped his graduating class. Mother - Stanley Ann Dunham (1942 - 1995) - was born on a military base in Kansas into a family of Christian Americans, but later became an agnostic. She is primarily of English, Scottish, Irish and German descent; Barack Obama also has Cherokee ancestry through her mother, Madeleine Lee Payne. Stanley Ann was studying anthropology at the University of Hawaii when she met Obama Sr. Grandmother Madeleine Lee raised Obama for a long time, they were very attached to each other. Obama paused his presidential campaign to visit her in the hospital; Madeleine Lee Payne Dunham died on November 2, 2008.

Obama Sr.'s father and Dunham's parents were against the marriage, but they got married on February 2, 1961. Two years later, after Barack was born, his father went to Harvard to continue his studies, but Dunham and Obama Jr. soon returned to Hawaii. Barack's parents divorced in January 1964.

While studying at Harvard University, Obama Sr. met the American teacher Ruth Nidesand, with whom, after completing his studies in the United States, he went to Kenya. This was his third marriage, which produced two children. Upon returning to Kenya, he worked for an oil company and then received a position as an economist in the government apparatus. The only time he saw his son was when he was 10 years old. In Kenya, Obama Sr. was involved in a car accident, as a result of which he lost both legs, and later died in another car accident.

Soon after the divorce, the mother met another foreign student, Indonesian Lolo Sutoro, married him and in 1967 left with him and little Barak for Jakarta. From this marriage, Barack had a half-sister, Maya. Barack's mother died of ovarian cancer in 1995.

In Jakarta, Obama Jr. studied in one of the public schools from 6 to 10 years old. After that, he returned to Honolulu, where he lived with his mother's parents until he graduated from the prestigious private school Panahou in 1979.

He described his childhood memories in his book “Dreams of My Father.” As an adult, he admitted that at school he smoked marijuana, took cocaine and alcohol, which he told voters about at the Presidential Campaign Civic Forum on August 16, 2008 and described this as his lowest moral failure.

After high school, he studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years and then transferred to Columbia University, where he majored in international relations. By the time he received his bachelor's degree in 1983, Obama was already working at the International Business Corporation and the New York Research Center.

In 1985, when he moved to Chicago, he began working as a community organizer in disadvantaged areas of the city. In 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School, where in 1990 he became the first African-American editor of the university's Harvard Law Review.

In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois State Senate.

He served as a senator from 1997 to 2004, representing the US Democratic Party: he was re-elected twice: in 1998 and 2002. As a senator, he collaborated with both Democrats and Republicans: he worked with representatives of both parties on programs to support low-income families through tax cuts; acted as a supporter of the development of preschool education, supported measures to tighten control over the work of investigative bodies.

In 2000, he attempted to run for election to the US House of Representatives, but lost the primaries to the incumbent black congressman Bobby Rush.

In 2004, he entered the race for nomination to one of the Illinois seats in the US Senate and won a landslide victory over six opponents in the primaries.

Sworn in as a U.S. Senator on January 4, 2005, becoming the 5th African American U.S. Senator in the nation's history.

While a senator, he visited the White House several times at the invitation of President George W. Bush.

The nonpartisan publication Congressional Quarterly characterized him as a "loyal Democrat" based on an analysis of all Senate votes from 2005 to 2007; National Journal recommended him as the "most liberal" senator based on an assessment of elected votes during 2007. Left his Senate position on November 16, 2008.

On February 10, 2007, in front of the old Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Obama announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States. The location was symbolic because it was there that Abraham Lincoln gave his historic “House Divided” speech in 1858. Throughout the campaign, Obama advocated for a quick end to the Iraq War, energy independence and universal health care. His campaign slogans are "Change We Can Believe in" and "Yes We Can!" (The song Yes We Can, recorded by a number of famous artists using words from Obama's campaign speech, gained great popularity).

During the first half of 2007, the Obama campaign raised $58 million. Small donations (less than $200) accounted for 16.4 million of that amount. The number set a record for presidential campaign fundraising in the first six months of the calendar year before an election. The size of the small portion of the donation was also extraordinary. In January 2008, the campaign set another record with $36.8 million, the most ever raised by a presidential candidate in the Democratic primary.

Obama is the first (and only) presidential candidate to refuse public funding of his election campaign.

Barack Obama became the unified Democratic candidate after Hillary Clinton officially announced her withdrawal from the race on June 7, 2008 and supported Obama's candidacy. On June 25, 2008, 42nd US President Bill Clinton endorsed Obama for the first time, through spokesman Matt McKenna, declaring that he would do everything in his power to ensure that Barack Obama won the November 2008 US presidential election.

Obama won comfortably in states with high urbanization and education levels; Obama's most challenging states were those with predominantly poor, white, rural populations, such as West Virginia. Obama also won victories in traditionally Republican states (for example, Alaska, which has traditionally supported Republicans since 1980).

On November 4, Obama secured the support of 338 of the 538 electors with the required 270 votes, meaning he would take office on January 20, 2009. At the same time, voter turnout reached a record of 64%.
Obama received the fewest votes in the US South; in Alabama, where 60.4% of voters voted for McCain, only one in ten white voters, according to exit polls, voted for Obama.

According to the Associated Press, cases of religious and racial intolerance have increased in the United States since Barack Obama's victory in the presidential election; Director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Mark Potok said: “There are a large number of people who feel that they are losing their usual way of life, that it is as if the country that their ancestors built has been stolen from them.”

Obama's victory caused euphoria in a number of countries around the world - a phenomenon called "Obamamania", the symptoms of which began to appear during the election campaign. Kenya and some other countries in Africa and the Middle East were especially susceptible to it.

Russian-American political scientist Nikolai Zlobin wrote in Vedomosti on January 28, 2009 about the Kremlin’s reaction to Obama’s victory: “The tone of Dmitry Medvedev’s speech before the Federal Assembly on November 5, 2008, as well as the belated and cold congratulations to Obama, indicated that Moscow I was not ready for Obama and was very disappointed.

On November 18, 2008, in a video address to participants in an environmental conference in Los Angeles, Obama condemned the current administration for “abandoning the leadership role” of the United States in preserving the environment; promised that he would allocate $15 billion annually for energy saving measures and would strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in 2020 to 1990 levels. On the same day, the media reported unofficial information about his intention to appoint a black lawyer, Eric Holder, who was US Deputy Secretary of Justice under Clinton, to the post of Secretary of Justice in his future administration.

On January 20, 2009, he was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States during an inauguration ceremony near the Capitol building. The ceremony attracted a record number of spectators - over a million people. The oath was taken on the Bible on which Abraham Lincoln swore at his inauguration. The President's first act upon taking the oath of office was the proclamation of a proclamation declaring January 20, 2009, “National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation.”

According to CNN (January 21, 2009), the cost of Barack Obama's inauguration and inaugural celebrations is the highest in US history: costs could exceed $160 million.

The next day, late in the evening, on the advice of constitutional lawyers, in the White House, as a precaution, the head of state took the oath of office again, due to the fact that the day before there was an error in reading the text of the oath established by the US Constitution: Chief Justice Roberts of the US Supreme Court mistakenly put the word “honestly” (eng. faithfully) after the words “to serve as President of the United States.”

On January 22, 2009, he signed an order to close the prison for terrorism suspects at the American military base at Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) within a year.

As a presidential candidate, Obama said the Iraq War was a mistake by the Bush administration and that Afghanistan should become a central front in the fight against terrorism. In mid-2008, he advocated that by the summer of 2009 there would be no American combat units left in Iraq. He also said that on the first day after his inauguration he would give the order to end the war in Iraq. Immediately after coming to power, he revised his views on the timing of the end of the war, saying in February 2009 that military operations there would be completed in 18 months.

During 2009, Obama twice strengthened the American contingent in Afghanistan. In February, 17,000 troops were sent there. In December, Obama announced the deployment of 30,000 more troops, while emphasizing that the United States has no interest in occupying Afghanistan. Currently, the American contingent in Afghanistan already numbers about 70,000 troops, and after the arrival of reinforcements it will reach 100,000, which is comparable to the size of the Soviet contingent at the peak of the USSR war in Afghanistan (about 109,000 people).

The escalation of US participation in hostilities in Afghanistan, as well as the stabilization of the situation in Iraq, led to the fact that if in 2008 American losses in Afghanistan were half as many as those in Iraq, then in 2009 the situation changed in a mirror image - in 11 months there were deaths in Afghanistan twice as many soldiers as there are in Iraq. Overall, 2009 was the bloodiest year for American forces in Afghanistan since the start of the counterterrorism operation. However, US casualties remain far below the annual Soviet casualties at the height of the 1979-1989 war.

Obama has spoken out in favor of allowing abortions, including late-term abortions. During the discussion in the United States about the law prohibiting abortion using the so-called method. partial birth wrote that if elected, he would tirelessly defend this method of abortion as a legitimate medical procedure. He also helped develop programs to prevent teenage pregnancy, including through the distribution of contraceptives and sex education programs for teenagers.

In preparing the material, articles from Wikipedia- free encyclopedia.

American Democratic politician, senator from Illinois since 2005. Fifth black senator in US history. Obama gained significant popularity in the post-2004 period. He is running for the 2008 presidential election as a candidate from the Democratic Party.