Date of Birth: August 4, 1961

Place of Birth: Honolulu, Hawaii

Race: Black/Asian

Religious Affiliation: United Church of Christ

Education

B.A., Columbia University, 1983
J.D., Harvard Law School, 1991

Family
Spouse: Michelle Robinson, married 1992
Children: Malia, born 1999, Natasha, born 2001

Experience

Current position:
US Senator from Illinois, 2005

Past Public Service Positions:
Illinois State Senator, 1997-2004

Past Private Sector Positions:
Attorney, Miner, Barnhill & Galland
Lecturer, University of Chicago
 

Why I Got Into Politics 

At a July 2006 Q&A session with NBC's Tim Russert, sponsored by the Partnership for Public Service, Obama spoke in his opening remarks about why he entered politics despite the conception that all politicians are crooks.  

“There’s always been another tradition to government, politics and public service. It is a tradition best described I think by Dr. [Martin Luther] King when he said that ‘an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ A sense that we are connected as a people…The possibility for us to engage in the process, not of perfecting the world but improving it, pushing that boulder up the hill so that at the end of our lifetime we can look back and say we made a difference. I can’t imagine a more worthy project. And you don’t have to be in government to do it but government is one of the most important vehicles by which we do it.”

Video Journal

Interview with John Stuart: