Barack Hussein Obama was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the son of black Kenyan immigrant and white woman from Kansas. Obama’s parents separated when he was two years old and later separated. His mother married Lolo Soetoro and moved to Jakarta Indonesia. Obama attended schools in Jakarta, when he was 10 years old, his mother sent him back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents.
Obama grew up in Hawaii and completed his high school. After high school, Obama graduated from Columbia University in New York with degree in political science. He worked in the industry for two years and then worked as a community organizer for low-income residents of Roseland and Altgeld Gardens.
Obama headed small civil right firm in Chicago and later entered politics. In the Illinois state legislature, he developed a reputation for bipartisanship. As a senator, American public have high hopes from him. We believe that he can bring Democrats and Republicans closer and ease a racial and religious tension that exits all around the world.
As a noble prizewinner and president of the United States, Obama has mesmerized of billions of people around the world. I choose to write about him because of his character, global vision, educational background, family values, humbleness and his ability to empower others. I admire is strength to make good sound decisions and take full responsibility for any positive or negative consequences. He has done a great job leading our nation in these tough economic crises.
Barack Obama. (2010). Biography.com. Retrieved 10:41, Feb 16 2010 from http://www.biography.com/articles/Barack-Obama-12782369
Bacon Jr., P. (2005). Barack Obama. Time, 165(16), 60. Retrieved from MAS Ultra - School Edition database.
Ikram,
ReplyDeleteI, too, chose a president whom I believe exhibits great leadership skills, despite the fact that he made poor choices in his personal life. Bill Clinton is similar to Barack Obama in that they are both charismatic, skilled public orators. Of course, the obvious is that they are both democrats.
They are both from middle class families, and both from parents who were divorced; however, Obama was fortunate enough to be raised by loving grandparents who provided him a safe, encouraging environment. Clinton, on the other hand, may have had a loving mother, but he also had to live in an abusive household with an alcoholic step-father. He still managed to overcome this adversity without losing his self-confidence and burning desire to be great.
Connie
Connie puts it perfectly charismatic! Leaders who have charisma are at an advantage in communicating their message.
ReplyDeletePerseverance is also a characteristic evident in Obama and other leaders. Reading about the different leaders perseverance seems to be a common trait.
Ikram,
ReplyDeleteI thought Obama showed tremendous strengh and courage when his grandmother died just days before the election. How he could continue on at that point, exhausted from the campaign trail, is amazing! He is an orator of great quality. The President appeals to the common person as he faced adversity and challenge as a child. Not only was he abandoned by his father but also in a sense by his mother as she sent him to live with his grandmother. He also comments that he faced discrimination from white and black people but now he appeals to all races. He has tenacity to turn all experiences into positive learning lessons. Turning points in his life may have been in early life all of the transitions of his childhood. Another may be meeting and marrying Michelle Obama as they share similar passions and goals. She supports and enhances his role. He is experiencing some failure as his popularity is reported as waning in certain polls and he has been unsuccessful in moving two parties to agree on a public healthcare plan. He desparately wants the two major parties to work together on issues that face the nation but partisan politics get in his way. From a personal standpoint,with all of the discipline he demonstrates in all facets of his life he is unable to stop smoking. There is much pressure placed on him to stop smoking as he is a national role model. He is a great man whom I am glad to refer to as our President.
Ikram,
ReplyDeleteI also chose a member of the Obama family, First Lady Michelle Obama. While reading the background you described for President Obama it is interesting to see how the two of them compliment each other in their roles, values and leadership styles. For both of them there is such a balance that they have between their work and their family. Each of them have so many different roles and in all of those, they are able to balance their time.
Both Barack and Michelle had struggles in their life before meeting one another. Both of them can relate to the average citizen through those experiences. After meeting, they were able to make decisions together that were in the best interest of each other's values, beliefs and goals. They continue to work together as Michelle is trying to choose her own involvement in issues and projects that compliment President Obama's goals for our country. There are many different directions she is going, however she shares the President's "global vision" as you stated in your post.