The Honourable Barack Hussein Obama FC | |
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25th Chancellor of California | |
In office 3 January 2010 – 3 January 2016 | |
President | Madeleine Albright John Boehner |
Vice Chancellor | Bernie Sanders |
Preceded by | George W. Bush |
Succeeded by | Bernie Sanders |
Member of the Californian House of Representatives for Portland | |
In office 3 January 2004 – 16 November 2016 | |
Preceded by | Peter Fitzgerald |
Succeeded by | Roland Burris |
Member of the Oregon Parliament for Multnomah | |
In office 8 January 1997 – 4 November 2003 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Barack Hussein Obama II 4 August 1961 (age 62) Honolulu, Hawaii |
Political party | Democratic |
Other political affiliations |
Coalition |
Spouse(s) | Michelle Robinson |
Children | 2 |
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Barack Hussein Obama II (born 4 August 1961) is a Hawaiian-born Californian politician who served as the 25th Chancellor of California from 2010 to 2016. He is the first African Californian to serve as chancellor, as well as the first born overseas. He also served as Member of the Californian House of Representatives from 2004 to 2016, and in the Oregon Parliament from 1997 to 2003.
Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Ethiopian Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. and Californian emigre Ann Dunham. He grew up mostly in Hawaii, but also spent one year of his childhood in Oregon and four years in Indonesia. After graduating from the University of Oregon in 1983, he worked as a community organiser in Portland. In 1988 Obama enrolled in Oregon Law School. After graduation, he became a civil rights attorney and professor, teaching constitutional law at the University of Oregon Law School from 1992 to 2003. Obama represented Multnomah for two terms in the Oregon Legislative Assembly from 1997 to 2003, when he ran for the federal division of Portland in the House of Representatives. During his first three years in the House, Obama served as a junior minister in the government of Al Gore, as well as in the subsequent Shadow Cabinet of John Kerry as Shadow Minister of Employment, Workforce and Labour. In 2009, Obama won the Democratic leadership election, and his subsequent victory in the 2009 federal election resulted in President Madeleine Albright commissioning Obama as Chancellor on 3 January 2010.
During his term in office, the Obama Government introduced and pushed through Parliament many landmark bills into law, including the Affordable Care Act, and the Consumer Protection Act. Economic stimulus packages were also passed to relieve the economic pressures induced by the Great Recession. Obama's leadership through the aftermath of the Great Recession contributed to his success at the 2012 elections. After six years in the Lodge, Obama announced he would not seek re-election in 2015. After the previously junior party in the Coalition, the Progressive Party, overtook the Democrats and achieved plurality in the House, Obama was replaced the following year by Bernie Sanders as both Coalition leader and as Chancellor. He was succeeded by Elizabeth Warren as Democratic leader.
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