Barack Obama Age

• Barack Obama is 47 years old.  

• He was born on August 4th, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Barack Obama Ancestry:

• Obama's ancestry includes Scottish, Irish, Cherokee
Indians and the Lueo people of Kenya.

• According 1850 Census records from Kentucky, Barack
Obama's great-great-great-great grandfather, George
Washington Overall, owned two slaves, a 15 year-old girl
and a 25-year-old man. The same records show that one of
Obama's great-great-great-great-great-grandmothers, Mary
Duvall, also owned two black slaves, a 60 year-old man and
a 58 year-old woman.

Barack Obama Parents & Grandparents:

• Barack Obama's mother is Ann Dunham. She
was born on November 29, 1942 in Wichita, Kansas, to
Stanley and Madelyn Dunham.  Ann attended the University of
Hawaii, where she met Barack Obama Sr. The two were married
in 1960 and gave birth to Barack Jr. in 1961. In 1963 the
couple divorced and Ann Obama then married oil manager Lolo
Soetoro, another University of Hawaii student from
Indonesia. In 1967, when Soetoro's student visa was revoked
because of political unrest in Indonesia, Dunham and Barack,
then in first grade, accompanied him back to Jakarta where
Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro was born. Four years
later Barack Obama Jr. was sent back to the United States
to be raised by her parents.  Ann succumbed to ovarian
cancer on November 7th, 1995.


Barack Obama Jr. with his mother Ann Dunham Obama

 
Barack Obama Jr. with his mother, Indonesian step-father
Lolo Soetoro,
and his sister Maya Soetoro in Jakarta Indonesia in 1970


• Obama’s father is Barack Hussein Obama
Sr., economist, born in Alego, Siaya District,
Kenya in 1936.  He met Ann Dunham while a student at the
East-West Center of the University of Hawaii.  The couple
married in 1960 and divorced in 1963 when Obama was two
years old.
Barack Hussein Obama Sr. died in a car crash in Nairobi,
Kenya in 1982, leaving three wives, six sons and a
daughter, all but one of his children live in Britain or
the United States.  He is buried in the village of his
birth.


Barack Obama Sr.

 
Barack Obama Sr.



• Barack Obama’s maternal grandfather is Stanley
Armour Dunham, born on March 23, 1918 in Kansas,
Missouri.  At age 8 he found the body of his mother, Ruth
Armour Dunham, who had committed suicide at age 26.  He
worked on oil rigs during the Great Depression and served
in the Army during World War II.  He had an itch for
adventure, moving his family from Kansas to Texas to
Washington state and finally to Hawaii where he worked as a
furniture salesman.  He died on February 8, 1992 in
Honolulu, Hawaii and is buried in Punchbowl National
Cemetery, Honolulu, Hawaii.

• Barack Obama’s maternal grandmother is Madelyn
Lee Payne Dunham, born in October 1922 in Wichita,
Kansas.  She worked on a bomber assembly line during the war
and as vice-president of a bank.  She is 85 and currently
lives in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii. Barack and Michelle Obama
return most every Christmas to Hawaii to visit her.


Barack Obama Jr. with his maternal grandparents at his high
school graduation.

 
Barack Obama Jr. with his grandparents Madelyn and Stanley
Dunham.


• Obama’s paternal grandfather is Hussein Onyango
Obama.  He was born in 1895 in Kenya and died in
1979.

Barack Obama Spouse:

• Spouse: Michelle LaVaugh Robinson;

• She was born on January 17th, 1964

• Occupation: Vice president of community and external
affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

• Married Barack Obama: October 18, 1992 in Chicago,
Illinois.




Michelle LaVaugh Robinson
Obama




Barack Obama Children:

• Malia Ann Obama, born on July 4th, 1999
 
• Natasha (Sasha) Obama, born in 2001



Obama with wife Michelle and daughters Sasha (left) and
Malia (right)


• Both Children attend the University of Chicago Laboratory
School in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. The school
was founded by American educator John Dewey in 1896 on the
principles of hands-on learning and exploration. The school
goes from nursery school through 12th grade and is
affiliated with the University of Chicago.  About half the
students, such as Malia and Sasha Obama, have a parent who
is an employee of the university and thereby receive a
discount of as much as $20,000 per year off the full
tuition.  It is considered one of the top preparatory
schools in the United States and has been heralded as one
of the more diverse independent schools with about 35%
students of color and over 44 nationalities represented.

• Obama told the Chicago Tribune, "My kids have gone to the
University of Chicago Lab School, a private school, because
I taught there and it was five minutes from our house. So
it was the best option for our kids." 




Barack Obama Religion:

• United Church of Christ.

• Barack and Michelle Obama resigned their membership in
the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago where Barack
had been a member for twenty years. The resignation followed
offensive comments by Rev. Michael Pfleger and Rev. Jeremiah
A. Wright Jr.

Barack Obama Education:

• Franciscus Assisi Roman Catholic Primary
School, in Jakarta, Indonesia, from kindergarten 
through the 3rd grade; 

Obama was registered on January 1, 1968, under the name
Barry Soetoro an Indonesian citizen whose religion was
listed as Islam.

" Israella Pareira ‘Iis’ Darmawan, 63, Senator Obama's
kindergarten teacher, remembers him as an exceptionally
tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local
language and had sharp math skills. He wrote an essay
titled, 'I Want To Become President,' the teacher said."

His third grade teacher: Fermina Katarina Sinaga "asked her
class to write an essay titled 'My dream: What I want to be
in the future.' Senator Obama wrote 'I want to be a
President,' she said."

•  Sekolah Dasar Nasional Menteng No. 1 or the
Basuki school, in Jakarta, Indonesia, 4th grade; 

• Punahou School in Hawaii from the 5th
grade to the 12th grade;

• Occidental College in Los Angles,
California for two years;

• Columbia University in New York, New
York, BA in political science, 1983;

• Harvard Law School, J.D., 1991 graduated
magna cum laude or in the top ten percent of his class;

• When asked about his best and worst grades or subjects in
school, Obama replied, "graduated magna cum laude from
Harvard Law and a D in 8th grade French".





Barack Obama Military Service:

• None.


Barack Obama Career:

• Senator, United States Senate, 2005-present; 

• Senator, Illinois State Senate, 1997-2004; 

• Center for Neighborhood and Technology; 

• Chicago Annebery Challenge; 

• Cook County Bar; 

• Cook County Bar Association Community Law Project; 

• Board Member, Joyce Foundation; 

• Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights under the Law; 

• Leadership for Quality Education; 

• Member, Trinity United Church of Christ;
 
• Board Member, Woods Fund of Chicago



Barack Obama Present Position:

U.S. Senator from Illinois



Barack Obama position on the War in Iraq:

• Obama was an stark opponent of the war as an Illinois
state senator and campaigned against the war in his 2004
Senate bid. He had said, I am not opposed to all wars, I am
opposed to dumb wars.

• Obama is opposed to the present troop increase, supports
a phased redeployment.  In January 2007, he introduced the
Iraq War De-Escalation Act with a goal of removing all
combat troops from Iraq by March 31, 2008.

• He has said in the April, 2007 debate, "there's no
military solution to this. We've got to have a political
solution, begin a phased withdrawal, and make certain that
we've got benchmarks in place so that the Iraqi people can
make a determination about how they want to move forward."




Barack Obama position on Immigration:

• Obama supports amnesty / permanent legalization for
illegal aliens and temporary legalization for illegal
aliens as guest workers.
 
• He supports granting citizenship to illegal aliens
already in the country as long as they pay the fines and
back taxes, learn English, do not violate the law and go to
the end of the line to become citizens.

• He supports efforts to build a fence along the Mexican
border.
 
• He backs the use of additional personnel, infrastructure
and technology to safeguard American borders and ports.

• Obama advocates tougher laws to keep illegal aliens from
finding jobs and would create a program for employers to
easily verify an applicant's immigration status.




Barack Obama position on Health Care:

• He claims that medical bills and health related issues are
the number one cause for personal bankruptcy. 

• A priority for Obama would be to promote affordable,
accessible, and high-quality health care.

• Obama would mandate that all children have health care
coverage.

• He would create a national public insurance program that
would allow individuals and small businesses to buy
affordable health care similar to that available to federal
employees. 

• He supports universal health care, and believes that the
government should buy prescription drugs in bulk to reduce
costs. 

• His plan would require all employers to contribute toward
health coverage for their employees or toward the cost of
the public plan.

• He wants hospitals to be graded on performance and switch
to more cost-effective, computerized record keeping system.
 
• Obama would create a national health insurance exchange
to reform the private insurance market. 

John McCain Age

• John McCain is 71 years old.  

• He was born on August 29th, 1936 on a military
installation in the Panama Canal Zone where his mother and
father, a Navy officer, were stationed.

• Were he to be inaugurated as president, he would be the
oldest in history at age 72. 

• To John McCain’s asset, his mother is still alive and
active at age 95.

John McCain Ancestry:

• John McCain’s family roots are Scotch-Irish. His
great-aunt was a descendant of Robert the Bruce, an early
Scottish king.

• John Young, an McCain ancestor, served on General George
Washington's staff during the American Revolution.

• In 1848 the McCain clan relocated to Mississippi and
number of McCain's ancestors fought in the Civil War on the
side of the Confederacy.

• McCain's great-great grandfather, William Alexander
McCain, owned a plantation in Mississippi with 52 slaves. 
According to documentation from the Carroll County
Courthouse, the Carrollton Merrill Museum, the Mississippi
State Archives and the Greenwood, Mississippi Public
Library and including slave schedules from Sept. 8, 1860, 
he owned slaves labeled either ‘black’ or ‘mulatto’ and
ranging in age from 6 months to 60 years.  He later died
during the Civil War as a soldier for the Mississippi
cavalry.

John McCain Parents & Grandparents:

• McCain's father, Admiral John S. "Jack" McCain Jr., Naval
Academy class of 1931, won the Silver Star for his command
of two submarines during World War II. 


John McCain with his father Admiral John S. McCain Jr. 


• McCain's mother Roberta Wright McCain,
was born on February 7, 1912 with her twin sister, Rowena,
in Muskogee, Oklahoma.  She married John S. McCain, Jr., on
January 21, 1933, in Caesar's Bar, Tijuana, Mexico.
Roberta McCain, now aged 96 is still active and visible,
during her son's 2008 presidential campaign.


John McCain's mother, Roberta Wright McCain


• Paternal grandfather, Rear Admiral John S. "Slew"
McCain,  born in Carroll County, Mississippi,
August 9, 1884, the son of John Sidney and Elizabeth-Ann
Young McCain.  He was a student at the University of
Mississippi, 1901-02, graduated from the United States
Naval Academy in 1906 and the Navy War College in 1929.  He
married Katherine Vaulx, August 9, 1909. Their children
were: John Sidney, James Gordon, Katherine Vaulx. He was a
grizzled old sea dog who commanded aircraft carriers in the
Pacific during World War II  most notably as a commander of
the Fast Carrier Task Force. He bet on horses, drank
bourbon and water, and rolled his own cigarettes with one
hand.  McCain's exceedingly skillful tactics protecting
Canberra (CA-70) and Houston (CL-81) in October 1944 earned
him the Navy Cross. He witnessed the Japanese surrender
aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945.


John McCain's grandfather, John S. "Slew" McCain


While the majority of his service was reportedly excellent,
a lapse in McCain's leadership of his forces significantly
contributed to the Allied defeat and heavy losses in one of
the naval battles around Guadalcanal. McCain had been
requested to conduct extra reconnaissance missions over
"The Slot" in the Solomon Islands on August 8, 1942. For
reasons never explained, McCain failed to order the
missions as requested, and furthermore, didn't inform the
Allied naval commanders at Guadalcanal that they weren't
carried out. As a result, Allied naval forces were
surprised and defeated in the Battle of Savo Island on
August 9, a defeat that jeopardized the entire Guadalcanal
operation for the Allies. 
Admiral John "Slew" McCain died on Sept. 6, 1945 and is
buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC.



John McCain Spouse:

• Spouse: Carol
Shepp;

• Occupation: Model

• Married: July 3rd, 1965 in Philadelphia, PA.  

• Divorced: April 2nd, 1980



John McCain and Carol Shepp met in 1964 while he was at the
United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. Carol Shepp had
been married to and was divorced from one of McCains
classmates at the academy and had two children.  John
McCain adopted her two sons soon after the wedding and
daughter Sidney was born in 1966. A year later, McCain was
sent to Vietnam as a bomber pilot on an aircraft carrier,
was captured and became a POW.  Carol would not see him
again for almost six years. 


McCain with wife Carol Shepp upon his return from Vietnam
March 14, 1973 


On Christmas Eve 1969 Carol Shepp McCain was in an
automobile accident and thrown through her car's windshield
sustaining serious injuries included crushed legs, broken
arm and pelvis, and internal bleeding.  Despite her
condition and caring for three young children, she refused
to allow her POW husband to be notified, fearing that the
news would affect him while he was still being held
prisoner. When McCain returned home in 1973, he found that
his wife was a different person. The accident had "left her
4 inches shorter and on crutches, and she had gained a good
deal of weight."

McCain started having extramarital affairs after returning
from Vietnam, divorced Shepp in 1980, and he married his
millionaire mistress, Cindy Lou Hensley, the following
month. 

___________________________________________________________

• Spouse: Cindy Lou
Hensley;

• born: May 20, 1954 in Phoenix, Arizona

• Occupation: Chairwoman of Hensley and Company board of
directors.  Hensley and Company financial reports show
Cindy McCain’s assets worth at least of $28 million.

• Married: May 17, 1980 



Cindy Lou Hensley McCain

McCain met Cindy Hensley in 1979 at a military reception in
Honolulu, Hawaii.  Hensley was an attractive 25-year-old
woman from a very wealthy and politically connected Arizona
family. Cindy's father founded Hensley and Company, the
nation's second-largest Anheuser-Busch distributor.
John McCain noted "She was lovely, intelligent and
charming, 17 years my junior but poised and confident. I
monopolized her attention the entire time, taking care to
prevent anyone else from intruding on our conversation.
When it came time to leave the party, I persuaded her to
join me for drinks at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. By the
evening's end, I was in love."


John and Cindy McCain Wedding - May 17, 1980




John McCain Children:

     Children with Carol Shepp

• Doug Shepp, son, born Oct. 12, 1948, is John McCain’s
oldest child and a pilot for American Airlines. Doug is the
offspring of a former marriage of McCain's first wife Carol
Shepp and was adopted by McCain as a young boy. 

• Andy Shepp, son, born May 12, 1962. Andy is the offspring
of a former marriage of McCain's first wife Carol Shepp and
was adopted by McCain as a young boy. 

• Sidney McCain daughter, born Sept. 2 1966, works in music
industry.


     Children with Cindy Hensley
McCain

• Meghan McCain, daughter, born Oct. 23, 1984, a journalist
and now working as a campaign aide for McCain. Meghan
graduated Columbia with a degree in Art History and
internships at Newsweek and "Saturday Night Live."

 
Meghan
McCain
• John "Jack" Sidney McCain IV, born May 2, 1986, attends
the United States Naval Academy.

 
John
"Jack" McCain


• James "Jimmy" McCain, born May 21, 1988, enlisted in the
U.S. Marine Corps in Sept. 2006 and is stationed in Iraq.

• Bridget McCain, adopted daughter, born on July 21, 1991. 
She was brought to the US from Mother Teresa's orphanage in
Bangladesh as a baby by Cindy McCain for treatment of a
cleft palate before the McCains chose to adopt her.

 
Bridget
McCain
"We are a normal family just like everyone else," Bridget
McCain is a junior at a private high school in Phoenix,
Arizona. She likes playing basketball, volleyball and
spending time with her friends.  Her favorite subject in
school is history. Bridget's favorite family tradition is
when her family comes together at their cabin near Sedona,
Arizona during the Christmas holidays to celebrate.  The
McCain family sing Christmas carols and light hundreds of
candles along the hillside by their home which requires a
lot of family teamwork. "We are work hard at everything we
do and we stick to it," Bridget said. 
Bridget believes that the most important quality for a
president is "to be a good leader to know what to do every
step of the way."  Bridget has stated that her parents are
her role models and heroes. "My Dad's best achievement is
being a dad and also running for president at the same
time. He always puts family first!" 


John McCain Religion:

• Episcopal

John McCain Education:

• Episcopal High School in Alexandria,VA.,
graduated in 1954.

• United States Naval Academy, 1958; 

McCain, the son and grandson of Navy admirals, graduated
894th of 899 in his Naval Academy class in 1958.  His class
rank was low due to poor grades for acedemics, conduct and
leadership, which reflected his sloppy appearance,
rebellious attitude, and poor relations with his company
officer.  

A free spirit, McCain chafed under the strict rules of the
academy. He maintained his membership in the "Century Club"
each year by earning more than 100 demerits. McCain's bio in
the academy yearbook read: "Sturdy conversationalist and
party man. John's quick wit and clever sarcasm made him a
welcome man at any gathering. His bouts with the academic
and executive departments contributed much to the
stockpiles of legends within the hall."  

He had neither been ordered to go there by his parents nor
discussed alternatives; as he later wrote, "I remember
simply recognizing my eventual enrollment at the Academy as
an immutable fact of life, and accepting it without
comment."  


• National War College, 1973; 



• When asked about his best and worst grades or subjects in
school, McCain replied, "I never got good grades."


John McCain Military Service:

• Naval aviator training, Naval Air Station Pensacola,
Florida.

• United States Navy 1958-1981, Pilot, Captain, with
service in Vietnam; 

• Prisoner of war, Vietnam, 1967-1973; 

• Awards: Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and
Distinguished Flying Cross




John McCain Career:

• Senator, United States Senate, 1987-present 

• Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
1995-2001, 2003-2005;

• Chair, Committee on Indian Affairs, 1995-1997,
2005-2007;

• Representative, United States House of Representatives,
1983-1987;

• Republican presidential candidate, 2000



John McCain Present Position:

Senator from Arizona



John McCain position on the War in Iraq:

• As a senator in October 2002, McCain voted to support a
joint resolution to authorize the use of United States
Armed Forces against Iraq.

• He remains a very stark supporter of President Bush's
policies but has criticized the management of the war.

• McCain supports the present troop increase and favors
maintaining troop levels.  He has also defended moral
justifications for the war.




John McCain position on Immigration:

• McCain supports amnesty / permanent legalization for
illegal aliens and temporary legalization for illegal
aliens as guest workers.

• He initially supported the temporary guest worker program
that failed to advance in US Senate and then his position to
emphasize border security first.

• Advocates tightening of the border by increasing
patrols.

• He would increase the number of visas issued for
agricultural workers.

• McCain supports relaxing the restrictions barring legal
immigrants from using social programs such as food stamp,
health care and housing.




John McCain position on Health Care:

• McCain opposes universal health care.

• He supports importing prescription drugs to lower costs.
 
• He would offer a refundable $2,500 tax credit and $5,000
for families.

• He would open health care markets by allowing providers
to practice nationwide, rather than restricting them
regionally, allowing the purchase of health insurance
across state lines.