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Barack Obama was born August 4th 1961 in Hawaii to a Caucasian American mother and a Kenyon born father. He grew up in a predominately white household due to the fact that his father was a foreign student who married his mother in 1961 and divorced in 1964 when he returned to Kenya. He would only visit Barack once before passing away in 1982. His mother pasted away in 1995. Barack attended Occidental College from 1979 to 1981 and later transferred to Columbia where he received his BA. He would later go on to attend Harvard Law and obtain his law degree. He married Michelle in 1992. In 1996 he was first elected into the Illinois state senate and in 2004 he was elected to the US Senate. In 2008 Barack became the first African-American to hold a primary ticket in a presidential election and would win the 2008 election against opponent John McCain.
- Abortion
- President Obama is Pro-Choice- According to his website "President Obama believes a woman’s health care choices are personal decisions, best made with her doctor—without interference from politicians". President Obama voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion ban act stating that the state can properly restrict late-term abortions. He also voted for a $100 million education initiative to reduce teen pregnancy and provide contraceptives to young people. With Obamacare, many insurance plans are beginning to fully cover birth control without copays or deductibles as a part of women's preventive care.
- Equality of Opportunity (Race & Gender)
- President Obama opposes offering reparations to the descendants of slaves. He has stated that the best reparations we can provide are good school in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed. Obama supports affirmative action based on college admission. President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act to help women fight back against pay discrimination.
- Crime & Punishment
- President Obama has send that the death penalty is use too frequently and inconsistently. He does favor it for cases in which the "community is justified in expressing the full measure of it's outrage".
- Education
- President Obama has vowed to strengthen the public school education in our country. In 2004 He opposed education vouchers for use at private school because he felt that it would undermine public schools. In 2007 he supported merit pay for teachers. He also called for hight pay for teachers. He has also proposed the American Opportunity Tax Credit which would provide a refundable tax credit for education in exchange for community service.
- The President has also doubled funding for the Pell Grant and fought to prevent federal student loan interest from doubling for more than 7 million students, and capped federal student loan repayments at 10% of income. One of his platforms is to invest in community colleges to provide education and career-training programs.
- Immigration
- President Obama has said that he does not believe that 12 million illegal immigrants should be deported. He stated that we should give them a pathway to citizenship. He supported a guest worker program and voted in favor of the Bush administration back Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. President Obama tried to pass the DREAM Act which didn't pass however he states that he refuses to give up on the act and he believes that young people who were brought to America through no fault of their own should be able to earn citizenship through military service or the pursuit of a higher education. President Obama does want to focus on enforcement efforts on those who endanger our communities and de-emphaize low-priority cases.
- Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered rights
- President Obama has openly stated that he does not agree "that homosexuality is immoral". He supports expanding the protection afforded by hate crimes statues to cover crimes committed agains individuals because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. President Obama signed a bill repealing Don't ask don't tell during his presidency. In 2009 President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes prevention act into law. The president has also said that he support same sex couples adopting children.
