Barack Obama

Barack Obama served as the forty-fourth president of the United States and was the first Black American to hold the office. A Democratic senator from Illinois at the time of his election in November of 2008, Obama prevailed after a grueling primary season against his chief Democratic rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, and a hard-fought presidential campaign against the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain. Obama electrified voters during campaign appearances with a unifying message of hope and an ambitious agenda of change that included ending the war in Iraq and extending affordable health care to all Americans. In his inaugural address on January 20, 2009, he proclaimed: “On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of...