Barack’s father had to return to Kenya; the son grew up with his mother and her parents in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983. Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.

Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics. He earned a law degree from Harvard where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Back to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became only the third African-American elected to the US Senate.

It has been the rich and varied experiences of Barack Obama’s life – growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas – that have animated his political journey. He still believes in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose – solving the challenges of everyday Americans.

In the State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families by creating programs: Earned Income Tax Credit providing over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state; expansion of early childhood education; and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, he worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

In the US Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, allowed every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out corruption and political scandals in Congress.

As a member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Sen. Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay and the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan. He traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. He’s working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative and higher fuel standards.

Whether it’s the poverty exposed by Katrina in New Orleans, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, raised by working class parents, and their two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6, live on Chicago’s South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.