Difference between revisions of "Barack Hussein Obama"

'''Barack Hussein Obama II''' (reportedly born in [[Honolulu, Hawaii]] on August 4, 1961, age 62) sometimes known as '''Bathhouse Barry'''<ref>[https://youtu.be/ZkCi4DZS-G0 Bath House Barry], Mar 8, 2018. [[YouTube]].</ref> was the 44th President of the [[United States]]. Elected as America's first "post-racial" president according to mainstream [[fake news]] media, Obama exacerbated racial tensions and left a dismal legacy of a divided<ref>Pollak, Joel B. (July 22, 2019). [https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/07/22/pollak-barack-obama-wrote-playbook-on-political-division/ Pollak: Barack Obama Wrote the Playbook on Political Division]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved July 22, 2019.</ref> America along [[Marxist]] class, racial, and "[[gender confusion|gender normative]]" lines.<ref>https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/05/politics/obama-race-relations-poll/</ref>  In his final year in office, Barack Obama illegally meddled in the [[2016 Presidential election]] and then attempted to blame the [[Russian]]s for it, despite Obama's own [[Collusion#Collusion with foreign nations|collusion with Russia]] 5 years prior.<ref>https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/02/10/poll-americans-overwhelmingly-believe-obama-improperly-surveilled-trump-campaign/</ref><ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8304654/WikiLeaks-cables-US-agrees-to-tell-Russia-Britains-nuclear-secrets.html WikiLeaks cables: US agrees to tell Russia Britain's nuclear secrets]</ref><ref>[https://www.thedailybeast.com/obama-administration-trade-british-nuclear-secrets-with-russia Obama Administration Trade British Nuclear Secrets with Russia]</ref> In early January 2017, Obama empowered holdovers in his administration to engage in [[sedition]] against the [[Trump transition]] team and newly elected [[Trump administration]].<ref>*https://consortiumnews.com/2017/06/08/soft-coup-on-trump-hiding-in-plain-sight/<br>*[http://archive.is/9KxFz How Obama Ran the Trump Coup], By Robert A. Taft, Feb 17, 2020.<br>https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/it-was-exactly-like-sedition-the-obama-trump-transition-was-more-like-sedition/</ref> Barack Obama is the first American president since the transition of [[James Buchanan]] to [[Abraham Lincoln]] who refused a peaceful transfer of power to his elected successor.  Despite his personal involvement,<ref>https://www.foxnews.com/politics/read-declassified-susan-rice-email-about-jan-5-2017-oval-office-meeting-with-obama</ref> Obama was not [[impeachment and removal|impeached]] for [[Spygate]] [[crime]]s after leaving office.<ref>https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2020/05/09/this-oval-office-meeting-attended-by-obama-and-biden-was-key-to-the-anti-trump-plot-n389501</ref> Obama is known for his [[conspiracy theories]],<ref name="tinfoilhat" /> and for inciting [[mob]] [[violence]] by promising to "punish our enemies,"<ref>https://menrec.com/5-times-obama-encouraged-violence-republicans/</ref> and saying "if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."<ref>https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/campaigns/44441-obama-on-gop-if-they-bring-a-knife-to-the-fight-we-bring-a-gun</ref>

According to [[Joe Biden]], who served for more than four decades in the nation's capital, there were no clean, bright, and articulate Blacks prior to Barack Obama.<ref>https://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/31/biden.obama/</ref> Obama was the first partial non-birthing person of color to hold the office of president. Obama was selected for admission to [[Harvard Law School]]. In a paper he wrote as a student, he dismissed the American dream as "unfounded optimism" while noting that [[Donald Trump]] is the true idol of the American working class.<ref>Obama wrote: “[Americans have] a continuing normative commitment to the ideals of individual freedom and mobility, values that extend far beyond the issue of race in the American mind. The depth of this commitment may be summarily dismissed as the unfounded optimism of the average American—I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don’t make it, my children will.” ([http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/05/everything-wrong-with-obama-in-two-sentences-with-a-twist.php Everything Wrong with Obama in Two Sentences-with a Twist]").</ref>

Obama insisted on failed policies, such as [[ObamaCare]], and yet had an arrogant dismissal of his critics.<ref>

*[https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/dec/7/assessing-the-obama-legacy-he-has-failed/ Assessing the Obama legacy], Washington Times, December 7, 2016

*[https://www.nationalreview.com/article/442299/barack-obama-progressive-arrogance-leads-backlash Its Arrogance and Condescension Finally Catches Up with the Left], ''National Review'', 2016

*[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/17/president-obamas-biggest-mistake-in-office-thinking-you-can-separate-politics-from-policy/?utm_term=.802d414c3589 President Obama admits his biggest mistake: Arrogance], ''Washington Post'', 2015</ref> A hard veil of censorship and domestic spying abuses fell during his administration on investigative journalists, political opponents, and critics.<ref>https://www.amazon.com/Smear-Shady-Political-Operatives-Control/dp/0062468162</ref> Much of Obama's personal life was shrouded in mystery<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sca-BjFJb_Q</ref> as a fawning media promoted his agenda of uprooting cultural norms. Critics of Obamacare or [[gay marriage]] typically were smeared as racist. The US Intelligence Community was used to spy on, harass, and intimidate independent journalists and political opponents.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20120925054433/http://wikileaks.org:80/gifiles/docs/1210665_obama-leak-investigations-internal-use-only-pls-do-not.html</ref> His presidency was marred by anemic economic growth, rising federal debt, his poor foreign policies and multiple political scandals.<ref>

*[https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2016/08/20/obamas-legacy-of-failure-in-the-middle-east/ Obama’s Legacy of Failure in the Middle East], ''Foreign Policy Journal'', 2016

*[https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/02/18-major-scandals-obama-presidency/ 18 Major Scandals in Obama’s ‘Scandal-Free’ Presidency], Breitbart, January of 2017

*[http://akdart.com/obama101.html Lists of Obama scandals], Andrew K. Dart, http://akdart.com updated January 2019.</ref>  Obama separated families at the border and locked children in cages.<ref>https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-01/fact-check-did-obama-detain-90000-children-border</ref>  Pursuing a foreign policy that undermined American interests, he developed close relations with foreign dictators and shunned democratic movements.<ref>Pollak, Joel B. (July 12, 2019). [https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/07/12/pollak-everything-joe-biden-said-about-donald-trumps-foreign-policy-actually-describes-barack-obamas/ Pollak: Everything Joe Biden Said About Donald Trump’s Foreign Policy Actually Describes Barack Obama’s]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved July 12, 2019.</ref><ref>[https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1038127594682675200 Heshmat Alavi]. ''Twitter''. September 7, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2019.</ref> He failed to see the backlash against his "transformational" [[Cultural Marxist]] programs and said in February 2016, "I continue to believe that Mr. [[Donald Trump|Trump]] will not be president."<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/obama-i-continue-believe-trump-will-not-be-president-n519751 Obama: ‘I Continue to Believe Trump Will Not Be President’], NBC, 2016</ref> Some people say that Obama is the worst president in history.<ref>Bedard, Paul (September 7, 2018). [https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/list-200-reasons-why-obama-is-worst-president-in-history List: 200 reasons why Obama is ‘worst president in history’]. ''Washington Examiner''. Retrieved September 7, 2018.</ref>

[[Barack Obama and abortion|Obama is pro-abortion]].  In fact, he was the most pro-abortion president to date.<ref>[https://www.sba-list.org/suzy-b-blog/obama-most-pro-abortion-president-ever "Obama: The most pro-abortion president ever"] (July 12, 2011). The Susan B. Anthony List website/The Suzy B Blog.</ref> Obama dedicated himself to promoting [[abortion]], rather than reducing them as he promised.  Just to name a few of the administrative actions by which he has done this would include expanding abortions through [[Obamacare]], appointing many pro-abortion judges and officials, moving to strip medical professionals of rights of conscience, and forcing taxpayers to support the pro-abortion movement around the globe.

Obama partnered with [[al Qaeda]] and [[Islamic State]] elements in [[Syria]] for a [[regime change]] war against [[Bashar al Assad]].<ref>https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/asia/item/19583-moderate-rebels-armed-by-obama-join-al-qaeda-isis</ref>  Assad was a voice for pluralism and inclusion, protecting Christians, Jews, Yazidis and minorities against Obama-backed [[Islamofascist]]s.<ref>https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/09/2011912135213927196.html</ref>

Despite framing himself as an advocate for the poor, speaking about income inequality and [[socialism]], Obama is a [[limousine liberal]] as his life after his presidency attests.

{{TOC right}}

:''Main article : [[Early life and career of Barack Hussein Obama]]''

Obama claims to have been born in [[Honolulu, Hawaii]] on August 4, 1961, to Stanley Ann Dunham and possibly [[Barack Obama Sr.]]—a [[bigamy|bigamist]] who already had a wife in Kenya.<ref name=msnbc>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23257295/ns/msnbc_tv-documentaries/t/obama-becomes-rising-star-among-democrats/ "Obama becomes rising star among Democrats: Transcript of 'The Candidates: Barack Obama'"] (February 20, 2008). MSNBC. Retrieved from NBC News website/MSNBC TV documentaries. See [[MSNBC]].</ref>  Some contend that this story is a complete fabrication. [[Obama]] was reportedly given a Social Security number whose first three digits were assigned at that time to applications coming from zip codes in Connecticut.<ref>Beginning in 1972, all [[Social Security]] numbers were issued from a central office in Baltimore, Maryland.  [https://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/geocard.html "The SSN numbering scheme"] (March 2001 or bef.)  Social Security: Official Social Security website/History/Social Security Numbers.</ref> Obama traveled to Pakistan, India, and Indonesia in 1981, however, he never obtained a U.S. passport until 2004 after he was elected to the United States Senate. During the 2008 presidential primaries, a firm headed by [[John Brennan]] hacked into the [[U.S. State Department]]'s visa files and accessed Obama's passport files using whichever Social Security numbers Obama was using at the time.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/22/passport.files/index.html</ref> An FBI informant and whistleblower who worked for Brennan, and was the key witness, was found murdered by a gunshot wound two weeks later.<ref>https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/apr/19/key-witness-in-passport-fraud-case-fatally-shot/</ref> Obama later appointed Brennan to a key White House position and as [[CIA]] director in his second term. Brennan was referred for [[criminal]] investigation in 2019 in Obama's [[Spygate]] scandal.

Claims that Obama was born in [[Kenya]] have been traced to sources hired by Obama. In 1991, Obama's literary agent, Acton & Dystel, published a promotional booklet stating that Obama was born in Kenya.<ref>Multiple references:

*Pollak, Joel B. (May 17, 2012). [https://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/17/The-Vetting-Barack-Obama-Literary-Agent-1991-Born-in-Kenya-Raised-Indonesia-Hawaii "The vetting—exclusive—Obama's literary agent in 1991 booklet: 'Born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii'"].  Breitbart website/Big government.  See [[Breitbart.com]].

*Newby, John (May 17, 2012). [http://www.examiner.com/article/publisher-s-1991-booklet-says-barack-obama-was-born-kenya "Publisher's 1991 booklet says Barack Obama 'was born in Kenya'"].  Examiner.com website/News/Politics/Republican.</ref> The claim that Obama was born in Kenya remained on the agent's website until 2007.<ref>Shapiro, Ben (May 17, 2012). [https://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/17/Obama-pamphlet-in-use-2007 "Obama's lit agency used 'born in Kenya' bio until 2007"].  Breitbart website/Big government.  See [[Breitbart.com]].</ref> Internet archives confirm this information.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070403190001/http://www.dystel.com/clientlist.html "Client list"]. Dystel and Goderic Literary Management website.  Retrieved from April 3, 2007, archive at Internet Archive.</ref> In addition to the information from literary agents, Michelle Obama stated in a speech that Kenya is Obama's "homeland".<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLzJz2A2N1c "Michelle Obama: Kenya is Barack Obama's homeland!"] (Michelle Obama speaking at the 2008 LGBT Democratic Convention delegate luncheon hosted by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund and the Human Rights Campaign: "The world as it should be", August 26, 2008) (April 7, 2010). YouTube video, 0:30, posted by Rubystars0000.  See [[Human Rights Campaign]].</ref>  At a speech in Kenya shortly after his presidency ended, Obama publicly stated that, "Now, three years ago, I visited Kenya as the first sitting American President to come from Kenya."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L36sGc4Id2I Obama's speech at the launch of Sauti Kuu Foundation in Kogelo] at YouTube (Obama's admission starts at 5:48 of the video)</ref>

Obama's birth parents divorced in 1963 when his mother discovered Barack Obama Sr. was already married to a woman living in Kenya.<ref>Birrell, Ian (August 12, 2011).  [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-2024819/Barack-Obamas-father-Bigamist-drunk-wife-beater.html "Barack Obama's father: Bigamist, drunk and wife-beater, [review of&#93; ''The Other Barack'' by Sally H. Jacobs (Pubic Affairs £20)"]. MailOnline/U.K./Books [U.K.] This is one of the first misleading statements about Barack Obama when he was introduced to America as Keynote Speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Advance publicity billed him as the "son of Kenyan economist" when, in fact, Obama Sr. was forced out of the graduate program at Harvard because of his bigamy. He returned to Kenya. Obama at the age of 9 once briefly met his father who served in the corrupt Kenyan socialist regime's Department of [[Economic Planning]]. Obama Sr. killed himself in a drunken car accident.</ref> When Obama was 2 years old, his mother married Lolo Soetoro, an [[Indonesian]] geologist. At age 6, his mother and adoptive father took him to Jakarta, Indonesia for 4 years while his mother pursued a Ph.D. in Anthropology requiring fieldwork there.<ref name="db mother">{{cite web|url=https://server5.kproxy.com/servlet/redirect.srv/sruj/scclqomayrvxbo/stuv/p2/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-03/a-singular-woman-by-janny-scott-review-by-stacy-schiff/#|publisher=The Daily Beast website|date=May 3, 2011|title="Dreams of his mother": Review of ''A Singular Woman'' by Janny Scott|author=Stacy Schiff}} See [[The Daily Beast]].</ref> His mother then returned to Hawaii and abandoned him there with his grandparents (Stanley and Madelyn Dunham, who had moved to Hawaii in 1959) <ref name=revealed>Malveaux, Suzanne (August 20, 2008). [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/20/se.02.html Transcript of "Barack Obama Revealed"].  CNN website/Transcripts. See CNN</ref> so she could return to Indonesia after her divorce.  In Honolulu Obama attended the exclusive Punahou Academy where, according to classmates and the ''[[Huffington Post]]'', he had sex with older white men for money to buy drugs.<ref>https://www.huffpost.com/entry/barack-obama-gay-hustler-_n_4242447</ref> In 1986 Obama's high school pot dealer was beaten to death with a hammer by his gay lover over drugs and breaking wind in his face.<ref>https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2547667/EXCLUSIVE-Obamas-high-school-pot-dealer-future-president-thanked-good-times-yearbook-beaten-death-gay-lover-fights-flatulence-drugs.html</ref> Obama's grandfather arranged for his friend, the noted Communist writer [[Frank Marshall Davis]], to serve as a mentor and role model for an impressionable African-American youth.

Other siblings of Obama's include his half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and 7 other children born to his father by 4 different women.<ref name=raisingobama>Purdum, Todd (March 2008).  [https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/03/obama200803 "Raising Obama"]. ''Vanity Fair''.</ref> For much of his early life, prior to his transfer to [[Columbia University]], he went by his nickname, "Barry." In the summer of 1988, before attending [[Harvard Law School]] (he'd just been accepted), he visited Kogelo, Kenya, to learn more about his father's family. When his mother died in 1995, he and his sister Maya scattered her ashes over Hawaii's south shore.<ref name=revealed />

Obama attended [[Jeremiah Wright|Reverend Jeremiah Wright]]'s Trinity United Church from 1984 to 1988 during his time as a [[community organizer]] (''See [[Barack Obama#1984-1988.2C Community Organizer|1985-1988, Community Organizer]] section''). Obama credits Wright with his alleged conversion to Christianity, and had both his daughters, Sasha and Malia, baptized there.<ref name=revealed />

At age 6, Obama attended schools in Indonesia, the first a Catholic school while he was in kindergarten, and later a public school that taught religion. The school had mostly Muslim students (since most Indonesians are Muslim). In ''[[Dreams From My Father (autobiography)|Dreams from My Father]]'', Obama writes, "In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to my mother that I had made faces during [[Koran]]ic studies."<ref>Obama, Barack (1995). ''Dreams from My Father'' (New York: Times Books), p. 14.  Quoted at [http://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/Dreams_From_My_Father_Principles_+_Values.htm "Dreams from my father: On principles & values"]. OnTheIssues website. See [[Dreams From My Father (autobiography)|''Dreams from my Father'']]</ref> ''Insight'' magazine first reported [[Hillary Clinton]]'s organization had "questions about Obama’s Muslim background: ''Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a [[Madrassa]] as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?"''<ref>Schlussel, Debbie (January 19, 2007). [http://www.debbieschlussel.com/2899/hillary-clinton-agrees-with-schlussel-obama-suspicious-deceptive-on-muslim-background/ "Hillary Clinton agrees with Schlussel: Obama suspicious, deceptive on Muslim background"].  Debbie Schlussel website.  See [[Debbie Schlussel]].</ref>

In 1971, at age 10, Barack Obama moved to Hawaii, and his grandparents helped him gain entrance to the prestigious Punahou Academy in Honolulu, where he began substance abuse and illegal drugs.<ref>Johnson, Luke (May 25, 2012).  [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/25/obama-pot-smoking-details_n_1545904.html "Obama pot-smoking details revealed in David Maraniss book"]. The Huffington Post website. See [[Huffington Post]].</ref> He was accepted through a scholarship for disadvantaged minorities while he was in the 5th grade.<ref name=revealed /> At this elite high school with 1,200 students, he was just 1 of 3 black students. Obama failed to make the starting lineup of the school's state champion basketball team his senior year. He wrote a poem for the school's literary magazine, ''Ka Wai Ola''.<ref name=raisingobama />

In 1979, he began a 2-year stint at Occidental College in Los Angeles,<ref name=msnbc /> and then transferred to Columbia University in New York, which he graduated from in 1983.<ref name=pragmatic>Scott, Janny (July 30, 2007). [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/us/politics/30obama.html?pagewanted=all "In Illinois, Obama proved pragmatic and shrewd"]. ''The New York Times'' website.  See ''[[New York Times]]''.</ref> During this time he published an anti-military tirade embracing Soviet General Secretary [[Leonid Brezhnev]]'s <ref>Obama supported [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] General Secretary Brezhnev's foreign policy over both Presidents [[Jimmy Carter]] and Ronald Reagan's decision to deploy the MX Missile in Europe.

* See Pond, Elizabeth (November 24, 1981).  [https://www.csmonitor.com/1981/1124/112439.html "Brezhnev offers Schmidt moratorium on nuclear missiles"].  ''Christian Science Monitor''.  See also ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]''.

* See also Obama, Barack (March 10, 1983). [https://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/images/nytint/docs/obama-s-1983-college-magazine-article/original.pdf "Breaking the war mentality"].  Columbia [University] ''Sundial''.  Retrieved from archive at ''The New York Times'' website.  See also ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> proposal for a nuclear freeze in the campus newspaper and allegedly spoke at an Anti-Apartheid rally,<ref name=revealed /> although several prominent student leaders said they did not remember him there. Professor Michael L. Baron was impressed by Obama and wrote him a recommendation for Harvard Law School.<ref name=differs>Scott, Janny. (October 30, 2007). [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/politics/30obama.html?pagewanted=all "Obama's account of New York years often differs from what others say"].  ''The New York Times''.  See ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> From 1983 to 1988, Obama took time off from his education to work as a financial analyst and later a community organizer in Chicago. In the winter of 1988, Barack Obama decided to attend Harvard Law School, and left Chicago for Cambridge, Massachusetts. In his 2nd year, a power struggle broke out among the dominant white liberals over control of the ''[[Harvard]] Law Review''. Obama was elected its first black president as a compromise candidate, largely with the help of conservatives following a "marathon voting session" in which he finally won on the 19th ballot.<ref name=raisingobama /> This led to national attention and numerous job offers, which Obama passed up, at age 30, to pursue his political career in Chicago.<ref>Multiple references:

*[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23257295/ns/msnbc_tv-documentaries/t/obama-becomes-rising-star-among-democrats/ "Obama becomes rising star among Democrats: Transcript of 'The Candidates: Barack Obama'"] (February 20, 2008).  MSNBC.  Retrieved from NBC News website/MSNBC TV documentaries.  See MSNBC.

*Malveaux, Suzanne (August 20, 2008). [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/20/se.02.html Transcript of "Barack Obama Revealed"].  CNN website/Transcripts. See [[CNN]]</ref>

When Obama was attending Harvard Law School, he dreamed of himself or his children becoming like [[Donald Trump]].<ref>[https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/03/obama-once-dreamed-being-trump-manuscript-shows.html Obama once dreamed of being Trump, manuscript shows]. ''Fox News''. May 3, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2017.</ref>

[[File:Michael Robinson.jpeg||thumb|350px|right|Michelle (Robinson) Obama, Barack Obama's domestic partner.]]

According to ''Rising Star'' by David J. Garrow, in 1986 Obama tried hard to convince Sheila Miyoshii Jager, someone of Dutch and Japanese ancestry, to marry him.<ref name="MarryBefore"/> She refused his request to marry him due to her age. By 1987, Obama had his sights on becoming U.S. president.<ref name="MarryBefore">[https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/03/book-barack-obama-asked-woman-to-marry-him-before-meeting-michelle.html Book: Barack Obama asked woman to marry him before meeting Michelle]. ''Fox News''. May 3, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2017.</ref>

Barack Obama met his mate known then as Michelle Robinson, while he was an intern and Michelle was on staff at Sidley Austin LLP, a very large corporate law firm.<ref name=msnbc /> Despite company policy prohibiting relations between staff and interns, the two became involved. The two continued a long-distance relationship while he finished law school, and on October 18, 1992,<ref>[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/03/obama-anniversary-20-years-married_n_1935840.html "Obama anniversary: Barack & Michelle celebrate 20 years of marriage (photos)"] (October 3, 2012).  Huffington Post website.  Huffington Post says it was October 3, 1992.  See [[Huffington Post]].</ref> were joined in a domestic union officiated by Reverend [[Jeremiah Wright]] at Trinity United Church,<ref>http://hillbuzz.org/time-to-tell-everyone-you-know-about-jeremiah-wrights-down-low-club-barackobama-presobama-26407</ref> a church which has supported gay marriage since the 1970s.<ref name=revealed /> Michelle has not practiced law since 1994 when she failed to renew her law license, allegedly to start a family.<ref>https://rumble.com/embed/v9nrn5/?pub=a6ncj</ref> Malia, the couple's oldest daughter, was born in 1999, and Natasha (often called Sasha) in 2001.<ref name=msnbc />

In 1983 Obama [[collude]]d with [[Russia]] to further Russian [[foreign policy]] interests against the United States in an essay entitled ''Breaking The War Mentality'' published in Columbia University's weekly magazine, ''The Sun Dial.''<ref>https://2012election.procon.org/sourcefiles/obama-article-sun-dial-columbia-breaking-war-mentality.pdf</ref>

In 1984 Obama worked as a writer and financial analyst for Business International Corporation to help pay off some of his student loans. Business International Corporation was a small newsletter-publishing and research firm which aided multinational companies in understanding overseas markets. Obama served as a writer/researcher for a company reference service, Financing Foreign Operations, and wrote for their newsletter, ''Business International Money Report''. His supervisor was Cathy Lazere.<ref>Multiple references:

*Scott, Janny (October 30, 2007). [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/politics/30obama.html?pagewanted=all "Obama's account of New York years often differs from what others say"].  ''The New York Times''.  See ''[[The New York Times]]''.

*Henig, Jess (June 21, 2008). [https://www.factcheck.org/2008/06/obama-polishes-his-resume-2/ "Obama polishes his resume"]. FactCheck.org website.

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091003011550/http://www.analyzethis.net/2005/07/09/barack-obama-embellishes-his-resume/ "Barack Obama embellishes his resume"] (July 9, 2005).  Analyze This website.  Retrieved from October 3, 2009 archive at Internet Archive.</ref>

In 1984, Obama was hired by the New York Public Interest Research Group, a non-profit organization promoting environmental, consumer, and government reforms. He also was paid just under $10,000 annually as a full-time organizer for Harlem's City College to mobilize student volunteers.<ref name=differs />  

*Scott, Janny (September 9, 2007). [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/us/politics/09obama.html?pagewanted=all "In 2000, a streetwise veteran schooled a bold young Obama]." ''The New York Times''.  See ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> however stories vary wildly. Jerry Kellman, who hired him, says it was "$10,000 a year and a $2,000 car allowance".  Obama himself gave different numbers; his memoir says $10,000 (as well as the car), in his Wesleyan speech he gave it as "$12,000 a year plus $2,000 for an old, beat-up car", and when he announced his candidacy for president, it was "a group of churches had offered me a job as a community organizer for $13,000 a year".  

Ryan Lizza at ''[[The New Republic]]'' reported that "Jean Rudd of the Woods Fund...had provided Kellman with his original $25,000 to hire Obama".  Ari Berman reported in ''[[The Nation]]'' that the "[Woods Fund] gave a $25,000 grant to the Developing Communities Project, which hired Obama". CBS Channel 2 in Chicago ran a story with a document showing that Obama's proposed salary in 1987 was $25,000, a number that the Obama campaign confirmed while insisting at the same time his original salary was $13,000.<ref>Beckwith (April 23, 2008 or bef.).  [http://theobamafile.com/obamaworks.htm "Community organizing"].  The Obama File website/Politics.</ref>  Many of the organizers that Obama worked with in Chicago were experienced in the methods of [[Saul Alinsky]], and taught Obama many of the methods found in his book ''[[Rules for Radicals]]''.<ref>[https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2012/03/14/how%20saul%20alinsky%20taught%20barack%20obama%20everything%20he%20knows%20about%20civic%20upheaval/ How Saul Alinsky Taught Barack Obama Everything He Knows About Civic Upheaval]</ref>

During this time Obama joined Reverend Wright's Trinity United Church because in the words of Suzanne Malveaux of ''[[CNN]]'', "It was the church to join if you wanted to be one of Chicago's black movers and shakers." At the time, community organizing involved close affiliation with churches, which was how Obama met Wright. Obama abandoned the fight against asbestos contamination in the Altgeld Gardens housing project to pursue personal interests and a career by enrollment at Harvard Law School in the winter of 1988.<ref name=revealed />

[[File:Barack-Hussein-Obama-mit-Louis-Farrakhan-528x524.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Barack Obama with the notorious [[anti-Semite]], [[Louis Farrakhan]]. Farrakhan calls [[Jews]] "pigs and dogs." The [[Anti-Defamation League]] identifies Farrakhan as the nation's “leading anti-Semite."<ref>[https://www.adl.org/resources/profiles/the-nation-of-islam The Nation of Islam], Anti-Defamation League.</ref>]]

In 1988 Obama gained work as a Summer Associate at one of the most prestigious corporate law firms in the world, Sidley Austin LLP,<ref>Multiple references:

*Malveaux, Suzanne (August 20, 2008). [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/20/se.02.html Transcript of "Barack Obama Revealed"].  CNN website/Transcripts.</ref> whose partners included [[Newton Minow]], thanks to the recommendation of Minow's daughter Martha, a professor at Harvard Law School. It was at the Sidley Austin firm that Obama would meet Michelle Robinson, his future domestic partner.<ref name=raisingobama /> From 1993 to 1996 he practiced civil rights law including suing Citibank to force them into making [[Subprime loan|subprime mortgage]]s to minority borrowers.<ref>Schweizer, Peter (October 5, 2009).  [https://www.forbes.com/2009/10/03/community-reinvestment-act-mortgages-housing-opinions-contributors-peter-schweizer.html "A poisonous cocktail: Expanding the Community Reinvestment Act"]. ''Forbes'' website.  See [[Forbes]].  In ''Selma S. Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank'', lead attorney Obama alleged that although his clients had been denied mortgages "because of delinquent credit obligations and adverse credit," they were really victims of institutional racism. The suit was brought about by the Community Reinvestment Act, so called affirmative action mortgage lending. The plaintiffs won $60,000, and the court awarded Sidley Austin $950,000 for the work of Obama and two other attorneys.</ref>  After graduating from Harvard he was hired by Miner, Barnhill, & Galland, a small politically connected law firm.<ref>Lattman, Peter (May 11, 2007). [https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/05/11/sidley-austin-when-barack-met-michelle/ "When Barack met Michelle"].  Wall Street Journal website/Business/Law Blog/Lawyers and Law Firms.  See ''[[Wall Street Journal]]''.</ref>  It was at Miner, Barnhill, & Galland that he would meet influential real estate developer [[Tony Rezko]].<ref name=revealed />

*Scott, Janny (July 30, 2007). [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/us/politics/30obama.html?pagewanted=all "In Illinois, Obama proved pragmatic and shrewd"]. ''The New York Times'' website.  See ''[[New York Times]]''.</ref>

'''1991-1995: Author'''

In 1995 Obama published ''[[Dreams From My Father (autobiography)|Dreams From My Father]]'' about his life and family background.<ref name=msnbc /> It was in a 1992 book Obama claimed to have been born in Kenya.

According to the ''Encyclopedia Britannica'', prior to the information being scrubbed from its website in mid-April 2008 during the Democratic Presidential Primaries, Obama was one of three prominent organizers of black supremacist group the [[Nation of Islam]]'s [[Million Man March]] on Washington, D.C.<ref>Hoft, Jim (April 2, 2008).  [https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2008/04/wright-obama-helped-organize-march-with-louis-farrakhan/ "Wright & Obama helped organize march with Louis Farrakhan"]. Gateway Pundit website.  See [[Gateway Pundit]]</ref>

Obama taught part-time at the [[University of Chicago]] Law School<ref name=raisingobama /> from 1992 to 2004. Though Obama erroneously describes himself as a "constitutional law professor",<ref>Whiteman, Timothy (April 5, 2013).  [http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-complains-of-being-constrained-by-a-system-founding-father-put-place "Obama complains of being 'constrained by a system' Founding Fathers put in place"].  Examiner.com/News/Politics/Republican.</ref> he was actually only a senior lecturer and the class he taught the most times was called "Current Issues in Racism and the Law".<ref>Holt, Mytheos (September 20, 2012).  [https://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/09/20/obamas-favorite-course-to-teach-at-the-university-of-chicago-revealed/ "Obama’s favorite course to teach at the University of Chicago revealed"]. The Blaze/Stories/Media. See [[The Blaze]].</ref> He was a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, teaching 3 courses per year<cite>, and a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004. After Obama was criticized for lying about his job title, the University of Chicago released a statement stating that senior lecturers are considered Law School faculty and regarded as professors but not full-time or tenured. Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time, tenured track position several times during this period but declined each time.<ref>[https://www.law.uchicago.edu/media "Media inquiries: Statement regarding Barack Obama"] (March 2008 or bef.). University of Chicago Law School website.  See [[University of Chicago]]</ref>

[[File:Bookbio.jpg|right|300px|thumb|The Birther movement was started by Obama himself.]]

Obama rose to prominence as an Illinois state senator invited to give the 2004 Democratic Party Nomination Convention Keynote Speech. Gloria Borger, later chief political analyst at CNN, appeared on the state media channel [[PBS]] ''Washington Week in Review'' program, and introduced the unknown Obama to America as a "Kenyan economist" running for the U.S. Senate in 2004. In the most memorable line of the speech, Obama said,

{{quotebox-float|"Tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America -- there’s the United States of America."<ref>http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2004/barackobama2004dnc.htm</ref>}}

{{quotebox-float|"After September 11th all our people rallied to President Bush's call for unity to meet the danger.  There were no Democrats. There were no Republicans. There were only Americans. And how we wish it had stayed that way."<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25678-2004Jul29.html</ref>}}

===Awards===

Obama shares the distinction with [[Richard Nixon]] and [[Josef Stalin]] as twice being named ''[[Time magazine]]'' person of the year.

'''2009 Nobel Peace Prize'''

On October 9, 2009, Barack H. Obama became the third sitting U.S. President<ref name=wilsons>Wilson, Scott (October 10, 2009). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/09/AR2009100900914.html "President Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize"]. ''Washington Post'' website.  See [[Washington Post]].</ref> to be awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] "''for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples''".<ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/press.html "The Nobel Prize for 2009: Press release"] (October 9, 2009). Nobel Prize website [Oslo, Norway]/Nobel Prizes/Peace/Laureates/2009.  Accessed May 13, 2012.</ref> Obama stated that he was "surprised and deeply humbled" to receive the unexpected award,<ref>CNN (October 9, 2009). [https://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/index.html?eref=ib_us "Obama: Nobel Peace Prize is 'Call to Action'"]. CNN website/World/Europe.</ref> and also said, "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize—men and women who have inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace".<ref name=wilsons /> The award was widely criticized given Obama's then lack of accomplishments.<ref>Multiple references:

*Chazan, Guy and MacDonald, Alistair (October 11, 2009)  [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125509603349176083.html "Nobel Committee's decision courts controversy"]. ''The Wall Street Journal'' website/World.

*Associated Press (October 9, 2009). [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/09/obamas-peace-prize-draws-criticism-liberals/ "Obama's Peace Prize draws criticism, even from some liberals"].  Fox News website/Politics.  See [[Associated Press]].</ref>

{{See also|Radical roots of Barack Hussein Obama|Maoist Thought}}

In 1995 a cadre of like-minded individuals gathered for a fundraising event in the early career of Barack Obama hosted by [[Weather Underground]] (WUO) [[terrorist]] [[William Ayers|William "Bill" Ayers]]. Besides Obama, those in attendance were Ayers wife [[Bernardine Dohrn]],<ref>Geyer, Georgie Anne and Beech, Keyes (October 1970). "Cuba: School for U.S. Radicals [five part series]". ''Chicago Daily News''/''Chicago Sun-Times''.  Excerpted in

[https://vault.fbi.gov/Weather%20Underground%20(Weathermen) ''Foreign Influence:  Weather Underground Organization (WUO)''] (August 20, 1976), pp. 113-115.  FBI.  Retrieved from "Weather Underground (Weathermen)" webpage PDF rendering, part 3 of 6, pp. 5-7 at FBI website/FBI Records: The Vault. Located by The Real Barack Obama blog.  See ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]''.</ref> and Carl Davidson, veterans of [[guerrilla warfare]] training in [[Cuba]] just prior to the 1968 Democrat National Convention riots.  Ayers and Dohrn have taken credit for, and never denied, bombing the [[U.S. Capitol]], the [[Pentagon]] and the [[State Department]].   

Ayers and Dohrn used their celebrity status among [[leftist]]s to launch Obama's career. Ayers, Dohrn and [[Jeff Jones]]<ref>Klein, Aaron (August 13, 2009).  [https://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106653 "Obama's 'green jobs czar' worked with terror founder"].  WorldNetDaily website.  "[[Van Jones]]...served on board of..." "activist group where ex-Weatherman serves as top director"'. See [[WorldNetDaily]].</ref> are authors of ''[[Bill Ayers#Prairie Fire Organizing Committee and Maoist thought|Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-imperialism]]'', the title taken from [[Quotations from Chairman Mao|''The Sayings of Mao Zedong'']].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/QuotationsFromChairmanMaoTse-tung/ ''Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung''] (1966), 2nd ed.  Retrieved from Internet Archive.</ref> The book declares "we are [[communist]] men and women."<ref>Klehr, Harvey (1988). ''Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left Today'' (New Brunswick: Transaction Books), p. 109.</ref> Ayers later jokingly, publicly admitted to ghostwriting Obama's book, ''[[Dreams From My Father (autobiography)|Dreams From My Father]]''<ref>Cashill, Jack (March 28, 2011). [https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/03/ayers_affirms_he_wrote_dreams.html "Ayers affirms he wrote ''Dreams from my Father''"].  American Thinker website/Blog.  See [[American Thinker]].</ref> and Obama was to appoint several openly avowed Maoists to prominent White House and Executive Branch positions.<ref>Fund, John (October 21, 2009). [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704597704574487431322664964.html "From Mao to Obama"]. ''Wall Street Journal'' website.</ref>

===A Charter of Negative Liberties===

In a 2001 interview on WBEZ FM Chicago Public Radio, Senator Obama said some critically disparaging things about the [[United States Constitution]].  He said:

But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society. And to that extent as radical as people tried to characterize the Warren court, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as it’s been interpreted, and the Warren court interpreted it in the same way that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. It says what the states can’t do to you, it says what the federal government can’t do to you, but it doesn’t say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf. And that hasn’t shifted. One of the I think tragedies of the civil rights movement was because the civil rights movement became so court focused, I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributed change and in some ways we still suffer from that.<ref>[https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2008/11/03/barack-obamas-poor-understanding-of-the-constitution Barack Obama's Poor Understanding of the Constitution]</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jr9mLB3yKs Obama Constitution Negative Liberties.flv]</ref><ref>[https://www.wnd.com/2008/10/79225/ Obama rips U.S. Constitution]</ref></blockquote>

Barack Obama ran for the Illinois state senate in 1996. He was initially supported by incumbent [[Alice Palmer]], who declared she would run for the U.S. Congress. However, when her bid for Congress failed on November 28, 1995, she tried to run for her old seat in the March 1996 election. Her supporters asked Obama to step aside, although whether this was with her permission remains uncertain.<ref name=pragmatic /> Not only did Obama not step down, he gathered a team of high-priced lawyers, including fellow Harvard Law School graduate Thomas Johnson, to challenge his opponent's petition signatures on technicalities after the filing deadline had passed. Such tactics are legal and frequently used in Chicago; in 2006 they eliminated 67 of the 245 aldermanic candidates;<ref name=bareknuckle>Jackson, David and Long, Ray (April 4, 2007).  [http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2007-04-04/news/0704030881_1_petitions-voter-rights-candidates "Barack Obama: Showing his bare knuckles"]. ''Chicago Tribune'' website.  See ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''.</ref> yet nevertheless led to the term "hardball" by ''The New York Times''<ref name=pragmatic /> and "cutthroat" by David Mendel as reported by both CNN<ref name=revealed /> and MSNBC.<ref name=msnbc /> The ''Chicago Tribune'' declared Obama had mastered "the bare-knuckle arts of Chicago electoral politics", noting "The man now running for president on a message of giving a voice to the voiceless first entered public office not by leveling the playing field, but by clearing it."<ref name=bareknuckle /> As one of Obama's four opponents, eliminated through his ballot challenges, would put it: {{cquote|"Why say you're for a new tomorrow, then do old-style Chicago politics to remove legitimate candidates? He talks about honor and democracy, but what honor is there in getting rid of every other candidate so you can run scot-free? Why not let the people decide?"

—Gha-is Askia, 1996 Illinois Senate candidate<ref>Jackson, David & Long, Ray (April 3, 2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20130123154440/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-070403obama-ballot-archive,0,5297304,full.story "Obama knows his way around a ballot"]. ''Chicago Tribune'' website.  Retrieved from January 23, 2013 archive at Internet Archive.</ref>}} Mark Ewell, another candidate, filed 1,286 signatures, and Obama's challenges left him 86 short of the minimum requirement (757).<ref name=spivak>Spivak, Todd (February 28, 2008).  [https://www.houstonpress.com/2008-02-28/news/barack-obama-screamed-at-me/ "Barack Obama and me"]. ''Houston Press'' website.</ref> Ewell filed a federal lawsuit contesting the election board's decision but Tom Johnson intervened, and Ewell's case was dismissed just a few days later. Ewell and other Obama opponents were using early 1995 polling sheets to verify signatures of registered voters, but city authorities had just purged 15,871 unqualified people from the 13th district list, and Obama's challenges used the more recent, updated list. Askia was left 69 signatures short of the requirement. If names were printed instead of signed in cursive, they were declared invalid. If they were good but the person registering the signatures wasn't a registered voter (e.g. underage) they were invalid.<ref name=hardball>Griffin, Drew & Johnston, Kathleen (May 29, 2008). [https://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/29/obamas.first.campaign/ "Obama played hardball in first Chicago campaign"]. CNN website.  Article text begins: "When the Democratic National Committee meets Saturday on the thorny issue of seating the Florida and Michigan delegations..."</ref> Palmer had according to Obama campaign consult Ronald Davis, used two children to help gather her petition signatures. To this day Palmer denies the challenges were valid, and maintains she could have overcome the objections with more time and resources.<ref name=bareknuckle /> Thanks to his lawyers, Obama would win the election without a single other candidate on the ballot.

In 2000, Obama lost his only political election when he chose to run against experienced incumbent and former [[Black Panther]] Bobby L. Rush for the U.S. Congress in a 65% black district. Rush's name recognition began at 90%, Obama's at 11%. Michelle Obama opposed taking on such an iconic figure dear to the community and threatened divorce.<ref>Bates, Daniel (May 16, 2012).  [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145035/Michelle-Obama-prepared-divorce-papers-separate-Barack-leaving-suicidal.html "New book claims Michelle Obama prepared divorce papers to separate from Barack—leaving him so depressed friends feared he'd kill himself"].  ''Daily Mail'' website. See ''[[Daily Mail]]''.</ref> Establishment Democrats considered Obama "a white man in [[blackface]]".<ref>Gilmore, Jim (reporter, producer).  (October 9, 2012). [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/choice-2012/transcript-29/ "Transcript of 'Barack Obama' in Kirk, Michael and Wiser, Mike (producers) '''Frontline'':  The Choice 2012'"]. PBS website/WGBH/Frontline/film/The Choice 2012.</ref> Rush said of Obama, "He went to Harvard and became an educated fool," adding, "We’re not impressed with these folks with these eastern elite degrees."<ref>Ballasy, Nicholas (March 28, 2012).  [https://dailycaller.com/2012/03/28/bobby-rush-in-2000-obamas-a-harvard-educated-fool-who-thinks-he-knows-all-about-the-civil-rights-protests/ "Bobby Rush in 2000: Obama a Harvard ‘educated fool’ who ‘thinks he knows all about’ the ‘civil rights protests’"].  Daily Caller website.  See [[Daily Caller]].</ref> Todd Spivak would give voice to this impression of Obama, noting that

{{cquote|"My view of Obama then wasn't all that different from the image he projects now....One thing I can say is, I never heard him launch into the preacher-man voice he now employs during speeches. He sounded vanilla, and activists in his mostly black district often chided him for it."<ref name=spivak />}}

Rush would go on to win the Primary with 61.02% of the vote; Obama received 30.36%.<ref>Scott, Janny (September 9, 2007).  [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/us/politics/09obama.html?pagewanted=all "In 2000, a streetwise veteran schooled a bold young Obama]." ''The New York Times''.  See ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> The loss led to Obama considering dropping out of politics altogether, particularly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, since his name sounds similar to "Osama bin Laden".<ref name=msnbc />

'''State Senate voting record'''

Obama entered the Illinois Senate promising change to a corrupt system. He mixed often radical votes with more pragmatic agreements. Possibly one of his most radical votes was against requiring medical care for aborted children who survive [[abortion|the procedure]] – in fact, the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council ascribed him a 100% rating for his consistently pro-choice votes.<ref name="cbs illinois">{{cite web|url=https://server5.kproxy.com/servlet/redirect.srv/sruj/sbgpzfpr/snop/p2/stories/2007/01/17/politics/main2369157.shtml|title=Obama record may be gold mine for critics|publisher=CBS News website|last=Clark|first=Amy|date=January 17, 2007}}  See [[CBS News]].</ref> He was criticized for using the statehouse as a stepping stone for a more illustrious career: Steven J. Rauschenberger, a [[Republican]], said prior to Obama's election as president: “He is a very bright but very ambitious person who has always had his eyes on the prize, and it wasn’t Springfield. If he deserves to be president, it is not because he was a great legislator.”<ref name="nyt illinois">{{cite web|publisher=''The New York Times'' website|title=In Illinois, Obama proved pragmatic and shrewd|last=Scott|first=Janny|date=July 30, 2007|url=https://server5.kproxy.com/servlet/redirect.srv/sruj/sboxugmc/snop/p2/2007/07/30/us/politics/30obama.html}}.</ref>

The statehouse was majority Republican, so the Senator was sometimes forced to compromise. He formed allegiances across party lines to pass [[campaign finance]] reform that banned most gifts by lobbyists, prohibited spending campaign money for legislators’ personal use and required electronic filing of campaign disclosure reports.<ref name="nyt illinois"/> Obama also helped pass a so-called “driving-while-black bill”, which required the police to collect data on the race of drivers they stopped as a way to monitor [[racial profiling]].<ref name="nyt illinois"/>

Obama established himself as a chief spokesperson in opposition to the [[War on Terror]] during an October 2002 rally at Federal Plaza in Chicago<ref>The rally was organized by Chicagoans Against War in Iraq (CAWI) later renamed Chicagoans Against War and Injustice.  See Davidson, Carl (November 2, 2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20100811115415/http://www.noiraqwar-chicago.org/?page_id=2 "About CAWI"].  Chicagoans Against War and Injustice website.  Retrieved from August 11, 2010 archive at Internet Archive.</ref> [[community organizing|organized]] by veteran [[Mao]]ist and webmaster of [[Progressives for Obama]],<ref>[https://www.linkedin.com/in/carldavidson Carl Davidson] (2010 or bef.) LinkedIn [Profile page/Experience/Webmaster]. Retrieved March 13, 2010 and February 13, 2016.</ref> [[Carl Davidson]].

: ''Main Article: [[2003 Barack Obama deal with Emil Jones]]''

When Illinois' U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald announced he would be retiring in April 2003, Obama jumped at the opportunity, declaring that he would be a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2004.<ref name=msnbc /> To boost his chances Obama approached the newly crowned president of the Illinois Senate, Emil Jones Jr., with a proposal. According to Jones, whom Obama has since called his "godfather"<ref name=godfather>Associated Press (March 31, 2008). [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obamas-political-godfather-in-illinois/ "Obama's political 'godfather' in Illinois"].  CBS News website.  See [[Associated Press]], CBS News.</ref> the conversation went as follows:

{{cquote|"After I was elected president, in 2003, he came to see me, a couple months later. And he said to me, he said, ‘You’re the senate president now, and with that, you have a lot of pow-er.’  And I told Barack, ‘You think I got a lot of pow-er now?,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, you got a lot of pow-er.’ And I said, ‘What kind of pow-er do I have?’ He said, ‘You have the pow-er to make a United States sen-a-tor!’  I said to Barack, I said, ‘That sounds good!’ I said, ‘I haven’t even thought of that.’ I said, ‘Do you have someone in mind you think I could make?,’ and he said, ‘Yeah. Me.’"<ref name=PurdumandScott/>}}

*Malveaux, Suzanne (August 20, 2008). [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/20/se.02.html "Transcript of 'Barack Obama Revealed'"].  CNN website/Transcripts.

*Spivak, Todd (March 25, 2004). [http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/article-922-in-the-black.html "In the black"]. ''Illinois Times''.</ref> Jones' influence had a major impact on Obama's chances in the 2004 elections, preventing major political players from backing Obama's opponents. To quote Emil Jones,{{cquote|"He knew if he had me in the run for the Senate, it would put a block on the current mayor. The current mayor and the father of the controller, which was Dan Hynes, they were roommates in Springfield when the mayor was a state senator, so they had a relationship. Another big financial backer for the governor was Blair Hull. Barack knew if he had me it would checkmate the governor, ’cause the governor couldn’t come out and go with Blair Hull, ’cause the governor needs me. Same with the mayor. So he had analyzed and figured all of that out. He knew I could help him with labor support. And I could put a checkmate on some of the local politicians that didn’t know him, but they couldn’t really go against me."

—Emil Jones<ref name=raisingobama />}}

:''See also: [[Early life and career of Barack Hussein Obama#U.S. Senate .282004-2008.29|Barack Obama:U.S. Senate (2004-2008)]], [[United States Senate election in Illinois, 2004]]''

Despite initially trailing in the polls to frontrunner [[Blair Hull]],<ref>Spivak, Todd (March 25, 2004). [http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/article-922-in-the-black.html "In the black"]. ''Illinois Times''.</ref> Obama greatly benefited from what the ''Chicago Tribune'' called "the most inglorious campaign implosion in Illinois political history"<ref name=mendell>Mendell, David (March 17, 2004). [http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004-03-17/news/0403170332_1_blair-hull-gery-chico-blacks-and-liberal-whites "Obama routs Democratic foes"]. ''Chicago Tribune'' website.  See ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''.</ref> when pressure from journalists and opposing candidates, just weeks before the election, forced the unsealing of Hull's messy divorce files.<ref name=blairhull>Voegeli, William (March 19, 2004). [https://web.archive.org/web/20070826095930/http://www.claremont.org/publications/pubid.339/pub_detail.asp "The rise and fall of Blair Hull"].  The Claremont Institute website.  Retrieved from August 26, 2007 archive at Internet Archive.  See [[Claremont Institute]].</ref> The files revealed Hull's ex-wife's accusations of verbal and physical abuse.<ref name=spivak /> Hull would afterward criticize the media, stating, "As for the press, I will never read the newspaper the same way again."<ref name=mendell /> Obama would go on to win the Primary with 53% of the vote.<ref name=blairhull /> Obama's unexpected victory led to him being termed a "rising star" by the media.<ref>Howlett, Debbie (March 18, 2004). [https://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2004-03-18-obama-usat_x.htm Dems "See a rising star in Illinois Senate Candidate"].  ''USA Today'' website/News/Politics-Elections/Nation/Campaign 2004.  See ''[[USA Today]]''.</ref>

'''2004 General election, Jack Ryan'''

Once again Obama found himself trailing to popular front-runner [[Jack Ryan]], and once again a candidate's campaign imploded thanks to media intervention. In an unprecedented move, the ''Chicago Tribune'' and local TV station WLS sued to force the unsealing of Ryan's divorce files, despite opposition from both Ryan and his wife, Jeri Ryan, who in the files accused Jack Ryan of trying to coerce her to perform sex acts in public. Though Ryan advisors told him he could still win if using a negative attack on Obama, Ryan refused to engage in what he considered dirty politics.<ref name=abandon>Associated Press (June 26, 2004).  [https://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/state/2004-06-25-ryan_x.htm "Jack Ryan abandons Senate bid"].  ''USA Today'' website/News/Politics-Elections/State/Campaign 2004.  See [[Associated Press]].</ref> Ryan then dropped out of the race (per request by the Illinois GOP<ref name=idealist>Sangwan, Rahul (October 1, 2004). [https://web.archive.org/web/20060924232703/http://www.dartmouthindependent.com/archives/2004/10/jack_ryan_81_th.html "Jack Ryan '81: The conservative idealist"]. ''Dartmouth Independent'' website. Retrieved from September 24, 2006 archive at Internet Archive.</ref>), following which the Illinois GOP scrambled to find a replacement, leaving Obama uncontested for weeks to campaign and build up public support. On top of all this, Obama was selected to give the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (July 27<ref>Obama, Barack (June 26, 2004). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19751-2004Jul27.html "Transcript:  Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama [Keynote address at 2004 Democratic National Convention&#93;"].  Transcribed by FDCH E-Media.  ''Washington Post'' website.  See ''[[Washington Post]]''.</ref>), catapulting him into the national spotlight, and leading to further media publicity terming him a "rising star".<ref>Page, Susan and Despeignes, Peronet (July 28, 2004). [https://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-07-28-obama-speech_x.htm "Rising star brings Democrats to their feet"]. ''USA Today'' website/News/Politics-Elections/Nation/President/Campaign 2004.  See ''[[USA Today]]''.</ref>

After a number of candidates including former [[Chicago Bears]] coach Mike Ditka declined to run,<ref>CNN (August 9, 2004). [https://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/08/senate.illinois.keyes/ "Keyes challenges Obama for Illinois Senate seat"]. CNN website/Politics/America Votes 2004.  See [[CNN]].</ref> the Illinois GOP finally settled on fiery [[Alan Keyes]], a former Ambassador to the Economic and Social Counsel of the United Nations,<ref name=spivak /> with less than 3 months left before the November 2004 election.<ref name=msnbc /> His sudden entrance into the state for the election was initially attacked in the press as "carpetbagging".<ref>Multiple references:

*Pearson, Rick (September 5, 2004). [http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004-09-05/news/0409050304_1_selfish-hedonist-alan-keyes-illinois-republican-party "Keyes, state GOP gearing up blame campaign"].  ''Chicago Tribune'' website/News.</ref> Keyes repeatedly claimed his primary motivation for entering a race he had seemingly no chance of winning was his disgust at Obama's votes on the popular [[Born Alive]] bills.<ref>Keyes, Alan (August 18, 2004). [https://www.mail-archive.com/newsandviews@chuckmuth.com/msg00699.html "How YOU can help Alan Keyes for Senate!"] Message from Keyes2004 Inc. to multiple internet mailing lists.  Retrieved from archive of newsandviews internet mailing list at The Mail Archive website.</ref> Keyes, from his first day of arriving in Illinois (August 9, 2004),<ref name=assails>Associated Press (August 9, 2004). [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5654128/ "Keyes assails Obama's abortion views"].  NBC News website/Politics.</ref> accused Obama of having voted against bills mandating medical care for newborn children, and supporting "infanticide" (the term twice used in the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act<ref>United States Congress (October 21, 2003).  [https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/108/s3/text/enr "S. 3 (108th): "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003"], sec. 2, subsec. 14, paras. G and O.  Govtrack.us website/Congress/Bills/108th Congress/Senate bill 3/Text.</ref>) where hospitals left newborn infants to die like garbage.<ref>Multiple references:

*Keyes, Alan (June 2008 or bef.)  [http://www.keyesarchives.com/transcript.php?id=341 "Alan Keyes on the Tavis Smiley Show"]. Alan Keyes Archives website.  Transcript of interview by Tavis Smiley.  ''Tavis Smiley Show'' (New York City: National Public Radio, August 31, 2004).  See [[NPR]].

*Keyes, Alan (June 2008 or bef.)  [http://www.keyesarchives.com/transcript.php?id=337 "Alan Keyes on CBS2 Chicago This Morning"]. Alan Keyes Archives website.  Transcript of interview with ''CBS This Morning'' show. ''CBS This Morning'' (Chicago:  CBS 2, August 30, 2004).</ref> Obama in a debate on October 13, 2004, defended himself against Keyes' accusations of infanticide by claiming that Illinois law was already sufficient.<ref>[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004-10-13/news/0410140004_1_alan-keyes-senate-race-first-of-three-debates "Debate or discussion?"] (October 13, 2004). ''Chicago Tribune'' website/News.</ref>

However, Keyes' rhetoric, calling Obama's votes "the slaveholder's position"<ref name=assails /> and saying "Jesus Christ would not vote for Obama"<ref>Keyes, Alan (June 2008 or bef.). [http://www.keyesarchives.com/transcript.php?id=348 "Alan Keyes on the Scott Thomas Show (AM1160 - WYLL)"].  Alan Keyes Archives website.  Transcript of interview by Scott Thomas. ''Scott Thomas Show'' (Chicago:  WYLL, AM 1160, September 7, 2004).</ref> was widely ridiculed by the press. Keyes' unabashed criticism of homosexuality as "selfish hedonism" was also targeted.<ref>Multiple references:

*Associated Press (September 2, 2004).  [https://www.nbcnews.com/id/5897569/ns/politics/t/keyes-cheneys-gay-daughter-practicing-selfish-hedonism/#.VsR94_krKWg "Keyes: Cheney's gay daughter practicing selfish hedonism"].  NBC News website/Politics.

*Pallasch, Abdon M. (September 2, 2004).  [https://web.archive.org/web/20040903052923/http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-keyes02.html "Keyes' gay slam roils GOP"].  ''Chicago Sun-Times'' website/News/Elections. Retrieved from September 3, 2004 archive at Internet Archive.  See ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]''.  This article misquotes [[Liz Cheney]]; previous bulleted reference in this multiple reference gives full quote verified by CNN transcript.</ref> Obama would ultimately win the election, 70% to 27%.<ref>[http://cnn.hu/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/IL/S/01/index.html "America votes 2004: Election Results, U.S. Senate/Illinois"] (November 2, 2004). CNN Hungary website/Elections.</ref>

[[File:Photo 2025-07-06 15-21-17.jpg|right|300px|thumb|As Senator, Obama inspects [[weapon]]s disposal in [[Donetsk]]. As President, Obama reversed the trend and sent weapons to kill [[Russian]]s in Donetsk.]]

Obama's incomplete term in the U.S. Senate was largely not noteworthy. In voting against raising the [[debt limit]] in 2006 Obama famously said, "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. ... I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit."<ref>Multiple references:

*''Washington Post'' FACT CHECKER, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/annotating-obamas-2006-speech-against-boosting-the-debt-limit/2013/01/14/aa8cf8c4-5e9b-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_blog.html Annotating Obama’s 2006 speech against boosting the debt limit], Washington Post, Glenn Kessler, 01/15/2013.

*Kaplan, Rebecca (April 11, 2011).  [https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/04/obama-once-opposed-debt-ceiling-hike/237129/ "Obama once opposed debt ceiling hike"]. ''The Atlantic'' website/Politics.</ref> In 2008 as candidate for president Obama called George W. Bush's request to raise the debt limit "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic".<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kuTG19Cu_Q "Obama says adding $4 trillion to debt is unpatriotic [July 3, 2008&#93;"] (August 23, 2011). YouTube video, 0:38, posted by maywhitley31.</ref>

The ''National Journal'' ranked him the most liberal senator in 2007.<ref name="ranked">{{cite web|url=https://server5.kproxy.com/servlet/redirect.srv/sruj/sbgpzfpr/snop/p2/8301-502163_162-3775451-502163.html|title="''National Journal'': Obama most liberal senator in 2007"|author=Montopoli, Brian|date=January 31, 2008|publisher=CBS News website}}.  See [[CBS News]].</ref>

*[http://www.votesmart.org/finance.php?can_id=9490 Barack Obama II's Campaign Finances]</ref> All four subsequently received approximately $70 billion in taxpayer assisted [[bailout]] money from the [[TARP]] program he voted for.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/10/14/business/14bailout.graphic2.html ''Beneficiary Banks'', ''The New York Times''. 2008-10-14.]</ref>  UBS AG, a foreign bank and the 12th largest donor to Obama,<ref>[https://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638 Top 20 Contributors, 2007-2008]</ref> was fined $780 billion in February 2009 in a U.S. Federal Court on charges it helped thousands of Americans evade taxes.<ref>[https://www.investmentnews.com/article/20090219/FREE/902199983 ''UBS fined $780 million in tax evasion scandal,''] Investment News, February 19, 2009.</ref> After just four short years, Obama still ranks number one over all time of Big Pharma money recipients with slightly under $5 million, followed by Hillary Clinton with a little more than $3.5 million.<ref>https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary.php?ind=H04&cycle=All&recipdetail=S&mem=Y</ref>  Since entering the Senate, prescription opioid deaths in the U.S. rose from 12,000 per year to over 46,000 per year.<ref>https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/prescribing.html</ref>

==Presidential campaigns==

[[File:Party affiliation in the USA in 2022.jpg|thumbnail|right|700px|Since Barack Hussein Obama's winning the U.S. presidential election in 2008, which was a reflection of the [[Democratic Party]] moving politically [[leftism|leftward]] on social issues and also embracing corporate influence, the Democratic Party has seen a significant loss of registered voters.]]

Contrary to popular myth at the end of the [[Cold War]], Communism did not die, it only went into remission. The rise of Barack Obama and passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) signaled a renewed attack on basic constitutional rights and a revival of a  spectre haunting humanity.

Unlike Democrat contenders Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, Obama's hands were not "stained" with the Iraqi war resolution; a number of Democrats wanted to punish candidates for acting [[bi-partisan]] and called for his candidacy. His only career accomplishment until then had been the delivery of a speech at the 2004 [[Democratic National Convention]].

Through heavy use of [[early voting]] by the Democrat political machine, Obama was elected president in 2008 in the midst of a severe economic meltdown and a foreign policy crisis. Obama outspent [[John McCain]] by hundreds of millions of dollars in 2008,<ref>[https://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contriball.php?cycle=2008 "Candidate comparison: Top contributors 2008 cycle"] (betw. September–November 2013). OpenSecrets.org website.</ref> and spending more than a billion dollars from special interests to snag reelection in 2012.<ref>Multiple references:

*[https://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/candidate.php?cycle=2012&id=N00009638 "Barack Obama (D): Candidate summary, 2012 cycle/Source of funds"] (betw. March–June 2013).  Opensecrets.org website.  34% Individual contributions, 67% large and corporate.

*[https://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/index.php "2012 presidential race/Overall spending"] (betw. August–September 2015).  OpenSecrets.org website. These special interests count of over $1 billion may have decreased at least for a time since August–September 2015, where a grand total of individual contributions of less than $1 billion is reflected, but the grand total is presumably incomplete (shown, for example, by the uncounted University of California contributions revealed when comparing the subtotal from the time before August–September 2015 to the time afterwards, the subtotal thus ''increasing''), has every chance of remaining close to its precise revised estimated amount at the beginning of that time (of $964 million) and does not include Super PAC contributions, which is ''indirect'' spending.

**([https://web.archive.org/web/20150304050735/https://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/contrib.php?cycle=2012&id=N00009638 Link to version of this reference] on March 4, 2015 [whose pertinent subtotal which follows was the same back to the time indicated in the first bulleted reference] which shows $1,212,245 in contributions from the University of California.  This is ''vs.'' $1,350,139 in contributions shown in the version indicated by the Internet Archive to have been published between August–September 2015 and shown in versions at least for a time thereafter [version retrieved on February 7, 2016 shows the same amount].)</ref>

Former [[Democrat]] Presidential candidate [[Joe Lieberman]] endorsed Obama's opponent [[John McCain]] in 2008 and declined to endorse Obama for the [[Presidential Election 2012|2012 presidential election]].<ref>Lillis, M. (2012, April 22). [https://thehill.com/video/campaign/222929-lieberman-declines-to-endorse-in-presidential-race Sen. Lieberman declines to endorse in presidential race]. ''The Hill''.</ref>

 

*Newton-Small, Jay (2008, January 14). "[http://swampland.time.com/2008/01/14/obama_campaign_defends_present/ Obama Campaign Defends 'Present' Abortion Votes]." ''[[Time Magazine]]''.</ref> However, Pam Sutherland, the long-time head of Illinois Planned Parenthood, came to Obama's aid, criticizing Clinton for making the attack, and stating repeatedly that Obama's present votes were part of a broader strategy used by Planned Parenthood to keep Illinois voters from knowing their state senators were voting against the controversial and popular bills.<ref>Hernandez, Raymond & Drew, Christopher (2007, December 20). "[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/us/politics/20cnd-obama.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin Obama's Vote in Illinois Was Often Just 'Present']." ''The New York Times''.</ref><ref>Follmer, Max (2008, March 28). "[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/14/obama-emphasizes-prochoic_n_81460.html Obama Emphasizes Pro-Choice Voting Record as Clinton Questions 'Present' Votes]." ''[[Huffington Post]]''.</ref>

 

{{See also|Barack Obama and Liberation Theology}}

 

 

 

-Barack Obama<ref>Zeleny, Jeff (2008, April 18). "[https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/obama-criticizes-mccain-on-economic-stance/ Obama Criticizes McCain on Economic Stance]." ''The New York Times''.</ref>}} On August 22, Obama selected [[Joe Biden]] as his running mate for the vice presidency,<ref>''CNN'' (2008, August 23). "[http://articles.cnn.com/2008-08-23/politics/biden.democrat.vp.candidate_1_biden-john-mccain-barack-obama?_s=PM:POLITICS Obama Introduces Biden as Running Mate]."</ref> which would be contrasted one week later with John McCain's selection of [[Sarah Palin]].<ref>Cooper, Michael & Bumiller, Elisabeth (2008, August 29). "[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/us/politics/29palin.html?pagewanted=all Alaskan is McCain's Choice; First Woman on G.O.P. Ticket]. ''The New York Times''.</ref>

 

 

*Zuckerman, Mortimer B. (July 16, 2010).  [https://www.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2010/07/16/obamas-anti-business-policies-are-our-economic-katrina "Obama's anti-business policies are our economic Katrina"]. ''U.S. News and World Report'' website.

*Wright, C. Edmund (February 12, 2012).  [https://www.americanthinker.com/2010/02/dear_mr_president_why_we_are_n.html "Dear Mr. President: Why we are not hiring"].  American Thinker website.  See [[American Thinker]].</ref> On March 1, 2013, Obama issued [[Executive Order|executive orders]] to implement his [[Budget sequester|sequester]] of budget cuts which<ref>Bedard, Paul (February 27, 2013).  [https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/dnc-boosts-obama-job-cut-threat-of-750000-to-2-million/article/2522664?custom_click=rss "Sequester hype: DNC adds 1.25 million job cuts to Obama's 750,000"].  ''Washington Examiner'' website.  Article located by [[Weasel Zippers]] website.</ref> has been widely criticized for destroying jobs in what was an anemic and fragile recovery.<ref>Foys, Bob (February 26, 2013).  [http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-26/news/chi-20130226-foys_briefs_1_sequester-president-obama-press-secretary-jay-carney "President Obama's sequester"].  ''Chicago Tribune'' website.  See [[Chicago Tribune]].</ref>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obama launched a global anti-Christian jihad with his support for [[al-Qaeda]] and the [[Islamic State]] to overthrow the governments of Libya and Syria. The Black African [[slave trade]] was revived in Libya after Obama removed [[Muammar Gaddafi]], an ally in the [[War on Terror]].<ref>[https://womensenews.org/story/international-policyunited-nations/150527/un-sex-violence-envoy-focusing-syria-iraq UN Sex Violence Envoy: Focusing on Syria, Iraq]</ref><ref>[https://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2009/06/barack-obamas-top-10-apologies-how-the-president-has-humiliated-a-superpower Barack Obama's Top 10 Apologies: How the President Has Humiliated a Superpower], Heritage Foundation</ref> Obama, who was raised a Muslim<ref>[https://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2007/01/was_obama_blood.html Was Obama bloodied by madrassa story?]</ref><ref>[http://www.danielpipes.org/11952/obama-muslim-childhood Obama's Muslim Childhood]</ref> and is not a descendant of slaves, criticized Christians and the Crusades as reports of thousands of women and girls being captured, sold, and raped flooded in.<ref>[https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/579393/ISIS-Michelle-Obama-prostitute-justifies-raping-slave-girls-Koran ISIS calls Michelle Obama a PROSTITUTE and justifies raping slave girls with the KORAN]</ref><ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-speech-at-prayer-breakfast-called-offensive-to-christians/2015/02/05/6a15a240-ad50-11e4-ad71-7b9eba0f87d6_story.html Critics pounce after Obama talks Crusades, slavery at prayer breakfast], Washington Post</ref> Additionally, Obama overemphasized political correctness in U.S. national security policy, something disliked by CIA officials.<ref>Dorman, Sam (November 5, 2019). [https://www.foxnews.com/media/book-cia-staff-obama-white-house CIA staff complained about Obama White House's political correctness, new book claims]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved November 5, 2019.</ref>

 

 

Obama entered his second term mocking and ridiculing the idea that Russia was America's prime geo-strategic competitor; by the closing days of his presidency, Obama was in a panic fanning the flames of a Third Red Scare. Vladimir Putin and Russia had thoroughly embarrassed Barack Obama on the world stage as Obama withdrew America from its traditional role of global leadership and repudiated the idea of [[American exceptionalism]]. Respect for America degenerated in the world as issues such as transexual bathrooms occupied more of Obama's time and attention than the 12 million homeless refugees Obama had driven from their homes in his failed "[[Arab Spring]]" policy. Having been thoroughly rebuked politically with the election of Donald Trump, as a [[lameduck]] Obama attempted to coverup [[DNC]] scandals uncovered by [[Wikileaks]] by scapegoating Vladimir Putin and fostering an atmosphere of paranoia about Russia, the future, and a Trump presidency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{{main article|Afghanistan War}}

 

 

Obama needlessly escalated troop strength<ref name="pbs">{{cite web|url=https://server5.kproxy.com/servlet/redirect.srv/slxv/sbla/sjkl/p2/wgbh/pages/frontline/obamaswar/themes/strategy.html#ixzz1LhWNImZp|title=Obama's New Strategy (March '09)|author=George Packer, Seth Jones, David Kilcullen, Rory Stewart, Andrew Exum, Col. Andrew Bacevich (Ret.)|work=[[PBS]]|language=English}}</ref> and defense costs in Afghanistan from $43.5 billion in George Bush's last year to $113.7 billion for 2011.<ref>Congressional Research Service, quoted in Gregory Anthony, ''What price war?''</ref> Adviser to General [[Stanley McChrystal]] David Kilcullen wrote, "One of the big strategic shifts is the use of language now which talks about Pakistan and Afghanistan as the same theater. Now we talked about Af-Pak long before the Obama administration came about, but the public use of that term, and the description of it as the Afghanistan-Pakistan campaign, sends a new message to people about how the administration is going to think about Afghanistan and Pakistan."<ref name="pbs"/>

 

'''Bowe Bergdahl swap'''

When [[Barack Obama]] released five Taliban commanders from the [[Guantanamo Bay]] prison in exchange for American deserter Bowe Bergdahl in 2014, he assured Americans that the enemy combatants would not be allowed to return to Afghanistan.  6 American soldiers lives were lost searching for the American deserter.<ref>https://nypost.com/2014/06/02/six-soldiers-died-searching-for-deserter-pow-fueling-backlash/</ref>  Upon Bergdahl's return, Obama celebrated Bergdahl as a heroic “POW,” a designation the Pentagon never gave him.  Khairullah Khairkhwa, one of the five released from Guantanamo, sat across the table from Joe Biden's personal representative in [[Moscow]] in the spring of 2021, where Mullah Khairkhwa was part of the Taliban delegation that negotiated the terms of the US withdrawal.  Mullah Khairkhwa is the mastermind of the Taliban takeover, even though the Pentagon classified Khairkhwa as too dangerous to release.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*[https://www.onenewsnow.com/ap/politics/report-obama-administration-lied-about-iran-deal Report: Obama administration lied about Iran deal]. ''OneNewsNow'' (from the ''Associated Press''). June 6, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2018.