Obama -- From a low-paid community worker to President

Washington, Nov 5 (PTI) From a small-time community
worker to the most powerful man in the world, Barack Obama's
victory in the U.S. Presidential polls marks a huge political
transformation in a country with a racist past that will have
a Black occupy the top post for the first time.

A votary of strong ties with India, the 47-year-old
Harvard-educated lawyer and a Democrat reached the White House
exactly 45 years after the Black civil rights leader Martin
Luther King challenged Americans to embrace his "dream" of
equality.

Barack Hussein Obama, whose father was a Kenyan and mother
a White American, himself has had no misgivings on the
herculean task he faced in getting elected as President
because of his race and name. This was reflected by his recent
comment that getting elected to the White House would be a
"leap".

Undertaking his campaign with a catchy slogan -- 'The
Change We Need' -- Obama presented himself to America as a
fresh face with the knowledge and mettle needed for the White
House.

He emerged victorious after a gruelling and bitter
21-month-long campaign in which he overcame the challenge from
high-profile fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton and Vietnam War
veteran Republican nominee John McCain.

Born on August 4, 1961, in Hawaii, Obama will be the first
Black President, a development that demonstrates a major
change in America, which has witnessed bitter racism for
centuries before the social evil was abolished about 200 years
ago.

Obama's first tryst with power came in 1996 when the
low-paid community organiser on Chicago's south side was
elected to the state Senate of Illinois. He made it to the
federal Senate in 2004 after a landslide electoral victory.

While many have scoffed at Obama's experience as a
community organiser saying community work experience does not
count in the making of a U.S. President, analysts feel that it
has helped the black American leader to reach out to
individual voters during his campaign.

Obama became a media darling and one of the most
visible figures in Washington, with two best-selling books to
his name - 'The Audacity of Hope' and 'Dreams From My Father'.

For the Democrats, who were out to wrest the
Presidency from the Republicans after eight years, Obama's
nomination was a gamble.

But Obama defeated Arizona Senator McCain handsomely
in the election which was dominated by frequent controversies,
mostly related to his race and religion.

Obama, whose first name Barack in Arabic means 'the
blessed', was hard pressed to fend off rumours that he is a
Muslim and said he is a practising Christian.

During the campaign, the advocate of strong
partnership with India has made a number of comments and
gestures, including lending support to the civil nuclear deal
though he initially had reservations on it.

He has also made it clear that India posed no threat
to Pakistan and that the latter rather faced the danger from
militants within.

At the same time, he also talked about discouraging
outsourcing, a move, if implemented, could have an adverse
impact on India.

"....Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks
to companies that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving
them to companies that create good jobs right here in
America," he said during campaigning.

Obama, who broke all records for fund-raising, had
said that his victory would be a "defining moment" for the
nation which abolished slavery 200 years ago but was still
battling the scourge of racial discrimination.

An early critic of the Iraq war, the Democrat, who
spoke out against the prospect of an invasion several months
before the March 2003 move by the Bush administration,
expressed willingness to talk to Iranian leaders without
preconditions, a desire criticised as reckless by his
Republican rival McCain.

Obama rallied huge crowds with inspiring words and
vowed to bring change to the calcified ways of Washington,
even as critics tried to cast him as a celebrity whose
oratorical sizzle concealed a thin resume.

In a series of debates - including three with McCain -
Obama proved adept and skilled at answering questions and
offering proposals about health care, the financial bailout
and Iraq, among other issues.

On countering the threat of terrorism, Obama said he
will do this by building new partnerships and would send
troops into war zone only with a clear mission.

"As commander-in-chief, I will never hesitate to
defend this nation, but will only send our troops into harm's
way with a clear mission," he had said.

"I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats
of 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation, poverty
and genocide, climate change and disease," he had promised.

His approach to dealing with the Wall Street meltdown
earned endorsement from the former Joint Chiefs of Staff
chairman Colin Powell, who praised Obama's "steadiness
... (and) depth of knowledge."

Obama is married to lawyer Michelle and the couple
have two daughters, 10-year-old Malia and seven-year-old
Sasha. PTI
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