Barack Obama

page type::article thing type::person role::leader scope::nation leader of::United States



About
Senator Barack Obama was elected President of the United States in 2008, in a major landslide victory. He is the first African-American to be elected to this office or even nominated for it by a major political party.

topics

 * There are some fears Obama might be assassinated.
 * /campaign
 * Obama's /birth certificate was demanded by Republicans trying to build a case that Obama is not legally qualified to be president, during the closing days of the race
 * The /Muslim smear is false but was nonetheless widely believed right through the election (it remains to be seen whether this rumor will persist)
 * /criticism of Obama
 * Racist fears intensified dramatically as Obama's victory became likely and then actual
 * /writings: pieces written (or spoken from prepared notes) by Obama
 * /impeachment: conservatives want to impeach Obama for supposedly doing stuff that George W. Bush actually did but which they apparently believe Bush couldn't possibly have done because he was moral.
 * replaced much of this sentence with the text "only Obama is 100% worse, spending more money than all presidents, COMBINED." This is not a true statement.

phases

 * /academia: Obama's academic career
 * /senate: Obama's career as the senator from Illinois
 * /campaign for the presidency
 * /victory: reactions to the historic event
 * /transition: transitioning from Bush to Obama
 * Obama-Biden administration: presidential administration

Related Pages

 * McCain vs. Obama: comparison of the two major 2008 candidates

Official

 * Senatorial site
 * campaign site
 * Fight The Smears

Projects

 * Eyes on Obama: seems generally pro-Obama (domain registered to Imran Media, a company in Menlo Park, California)
 * Obama 2.0: ostensibly a site which "digs a little deeper" into Obama, by which they apparently mean criticism. Seems generally conservative and pro-big-business.

News & Views

 * 2007-11-14 4Barack by Lawrence Lessig
 * 2007-08-10 How the Democrats Blew It in Only Eight Months by Alexander Cockburn, The Nation: 'Then Obama drew even fiercer fire by saying he would take nukes off the table in the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "I think it would be a profound mistake for us to use nuclear weapons in any circumstance," Obama told the AP on August 2, adding, after a pause, "involving civilians." Then he quickly said, "Let me scratch that. There's been no discussion of nuclear weapons. That's not on the table."' Well, at least he's flip-flopping in the right direction.
 * 2007-05-07 Racism lurks in the shadows for Obama by Leonard Pitts, Jr.: more about racism in the US than about Obama; cross-posted.
 * 2007-04-22 Obama: Blacks as guilty as Imus (cross-posted to racism in the US)

Quotes By

 * 2007-06-03
 * Wolf Blitzer: "I want you to raise your hand if you believe English should be the official language of the United States."
 * Barack Obama: "This is the kind of question that is designed precisely to divide us. You know, you're right. Everybody is going to learn to speak English if they live in this country. The issue is not whether or not future generations of immigrants are going to learn English. The question is: How can we come up with both a legal, sensible immigration policy? And when we get distracted by those kinds of questions, I think we do a disservice to the American people."
 * 2007-02-11 In response to 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft's question: "Would you advocate the use of military force to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?": "I think we should keep all options on the table..." (sources; related: potential US invasion of Iran)

Humor

 * 2008-03-19 Black Guy Asks Nation For Change: Obama framed as a panhandler