An Amazing Person: Barack Obama (essay)

Could you imagine where we would be without people who have worked towards making a difference and changing our lives? We see and or hear about these people everyday, but not many are recognized for the great impact that they have made. When it comes to making a difference, one president stands out among the rest. He not only made history as the first African American president, he was also such an influential leader as the 44th president of the United States. I am of course talking about Barack Obama.

Background

On August 4th, 1961(58 years old), Barack Huessin Obama was born to Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii although his father was from Kenya and his mother from Kansas. Barack had a hard childhood as his father left shortly after he was born and his mother remarried causing him and his new family to move to Jakarta, Indonesia. Several incidents in Indonesia made his mother fear for their safety, and so she sent Barack back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. While there, he was determined to work hard and enrolled in Punahou Academy. He was one of only three black students who attended the school. This fact caused him to be more aware of racism and what it meant to be African American. He excelled with high honors and later graduated in 1979. You might be interested to know that he graduated from law school and practiced as a civil rights lawyer in Chicago. It was there that he met and later married Michelle Robinson who was assigned to be his advisor at the law firm that he worked at. The two would later have two daughters; Malia and Sasha. He worked as a lawyer for a while, but decided he wanted to take a chance and run as an Illinois Senator. As a state senator, he was able to work with both republicans and democrats on important issues such as health care, ethics, and early childhood education. This was an accomplishment that would lead him to become our 44th president of the United States. On November 4th, 2008 Barack won his presidency against John McCain and was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. In 2012, he ran for re election against Mitt Romney and won. He officially started his second term on January 21st, 2013 and ended his presidency on January 20th, 2017. He ran for a total of two terms.

Achievements

As mentioned previously, Barack Obama became the first African American president in the history of the United States. Along with being the 44th president, he also gained a lot of achievements. He earned the Nobel Peace Prize (2009), the Profile In Courage Award (2017), NME Award for Hero of the Year (2013), as well as many more. He is also known for boosting fuel efficiency standards, established net neutrality, and passing health care reform while in office.

Facts

Barack and his family have always kept a low profile and still remain out of the spotlight since leaving his presidency. Both Barack and Michelle have taken on charitable causes, and both signed a book deal. He has actually written two books and is currently working on his third. Quotes While there are many quotes that I really like from Barack Obama and his many speeches, my favorite ones are his ones about making a change. It was him who once said “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change we seek.” I believe this to be so true because without Obama taking the chance to run as president, who knows if we would have ever had the opportunity to have an African American president. It took him working hard and believing in a common cause that inspired him to make a difference and to make that change.

Conclusion

While change has never been easy to come by, Obama has showed us through his amazing leadership and determination that one person definitely can make a difference. He started out with an awareness of racism and took that knowledge to later become our 44th president. His many achievements have shown just how respected and honored he is, not just as a president, but as a person as well. I hope this has helped you to see that you can make a difference too. 

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