| abstract | - Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is the 34th and current President of the Republic of California . He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a Californian Senator from Hawaii, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of the University of the Southern California and Pacifico Law School, where he was the president of the Pacifico Law Review. He was a community organizer in Honolulu before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in San Diego and taught constitutional law at the University of San Diego Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Hawaii Senate from 1997 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the California House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the California Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Hawaii Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the Californian Senate in Hawaii in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Nancy Pelosi, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee Ron Nehring, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named Grand Cross of Dannebrog, the Knighthood of the Order of Prince Henry (Grand Officer) and the Légion d'Honneur. As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Consumer Protection Act, and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In foreign policy, he initiated the North American Trade Association. In April 2011, Obama declared his intention to seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election. Author: CassAnaya Help contribute to Pax Columbia by visiting the Pax Columbia Portal.
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