Barak Obama | Marden's Keys To Success

Barack Obama (1961-present)

Barack Hussein Obama II (born in Honolulu, Hawaii, August 4, 1961) is the 44th
President of the United States, having been sworn in on January 20, 2009. He is the first African American President.

His mother was an American of European descent, his father a Kenyan. Obama’s extended family is very diverse – he said in 2006: "It's like a little mini-United Nations - I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher."

In Dreams from My Father, Obama cites possible Native American ancestors on his mother’s side and also distant relatives of the president of the southern Confederacy during the American Civil War, Jefferson Davis.

His parents met as students in Hawaii and were married at the time of Barack Obama’s birth, but separated when he was two and divorced in 1964.

Barack Obama’s mother later married an Indonesian student and from ages 6 to 10, Obama lived in Jakarta. (He can still speak Indonesian conversationally.) He then returned to Honolulu and lived with his maternal grandparents until he graduated from high school at the age of 18.

Speaking later about his high school years in Honolulu, Obama said: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear."

After high school, he moved to Los Angeles then in 1981 to Columbia University in New York City, from where he graduated in 1983 with a B.A. in political science.

He worked in Chicago's far South Side as a community organizer between 1985 and 1988.

Before entering Harvard Law School in late 1988, he traveled for the first time to Europe and to Kenya, to meet his paternal relatives. In 1991 he graduated from Harvard and returned to Chicago.

Having graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, he taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004 and practiced as a civil rights attorney in Chicago.

His first book, a personal memoir “Dreams from My Father” was published in 1995.

Obama was the junior United States Senator from Illinois (January 2005 until November 2008), the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history.

Based on his voting history during 2007, the National Journal ranked him as the "most liberal" senator. In 2008, he was ranked as the eleventh most powerful Senator by Congress.org and the most popular politician in the Senate, enjoying 72% approval in Illinois.

A 2009 interview revealed that despite his heavy work load, his commitment to his family remained so great through his years as a Senator that he was still able to find time to read all 7 Harry Potter books to his daughters!

He was elected as President of the United States of America in November 2008 and took office on January 20th 2009.

Take a look at one of his first speeches:

If Orison Swett Marden was still writing his inspirational books today, Barack Obama would surely be showcased in chapter after chapter. A man of great honor and integrity who has made the most of all the possibilities he has encountered, Obama would be the archetypal case study of someone from an unconventional background who was nevertheless able to make a huge success of his life.

Why not take a look at the other "Success Masters" on this site by checking out the links at the foot of the index page - Success Leaves Traces - and you may well find that spark of inspiration you need to take the next step to success in your own life.

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