# Barack Obama ![[50 Resources/51 Attachments/51.03 Public/2026-05-04 Barack Obama.jpg|400]] Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president and previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983 and worked as a community organizer in Chicago before attending Harvard Law School, where he became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as a civil rights attorney and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996 and to the U.S. Senate in 2004. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain. He was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in international diplomacy. During his presidency, Obama oversaw the economic recovery from the 2008 financial crisis, the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the end of the Iraq War, and the killing of Osama bin Laden. After leaving office, Obama has remained politically active and has authored three books: "Dreams from My Father" (1995), "The Audacity of Hope" (2006), and "A Promised Land" (2020). He continues to work through the Obama Foundation and is frequently ranked among the top tier of U.S. presidents by historians and political scientists. ## Quotes <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #type/quote AND [[Barack Obama]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> <!-- SerializedQuery: LIST FROM #type/quote AND [[Barack Obama]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> - [[If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress]] - [[Just learn to get stuff done]] - [[Whatever is needed, I can handle it]] <!-- SerializedQuery END --> ## Books <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #books AND [[Barack Obama]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC -->