Who was Barack Sr.?

Barack Obama Sr. was born in Kanyadhiang village, Rachuonyo District^[1] on the shores of Lake Victoria just outside Kendu Bay, Kenya, at the time a colony of the British Empire, and raised in the village of Nyang’oma Kogelo, Siaya District.^[8] His family are members of the Luo ethnic group. He was the son of Onyango Obama (c. 1895-1979) who had at least three wives; Barack Obama Sr. was the son of Akumu Habiba, the second wife. However, he was raised by Onyango's third wife, Sarah, after Akumu left her family and separated from her husband in 1945.^[2][9] Before working as a cook for missionaries in Nairobi, Onyango had travelled widely, enlisting in the British colonial forces and visiting Europe, India, and Zanzibar, where he converted from Roman Catholicism to Islam and took the name Hussein Onyango Obama. Although Obama Sr. was born into a Muslim family, he was an atheist before he came to the United States.^[3] Obama Sr. was married in 1954 at the age of eighteen, in a tribal ceremony to Kezia, with whom he had four children.

'Americans are not your enemy,' Obama tells Muslims

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama said his administration will offer a hand of friendship to the Muslim world, but will hunt down terrorist organizations that kill innocent civilians.

President Obama said the United States will go after terrorist organizations that kill innocent civilians.

"My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy," Obama said in an interview with the Al-Arabiya satellite television network. "We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect."

In his run for the White House, Obama pledged to improve ties with the Muslim world, draw down U.S. troops in Iraq and close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The president has also pledged to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital in the first 100 days of his administration. No location has been announced.

Obama said the United States will go after terrorist organizations that kill innocent civilians, but will do so while respecting the rule of law. The president said that difference makes America great.

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Tracing the Steps of Greatness

President-elect Barack Obama, arriving in Washington Saturday night at the end of a 137-mile train journey evocative of Abraham Lincoln's arrival in Washington, used the trip as a pre-inaugural vehicle for calling on Americans to summon a new spirit of optimism.

Obama's arrival on the eve of an outdoor concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday marks the start of a series of celebrations leading to his inauguration as the 44th president on Tuesday. Along the way, he spoke of the hardships that Americans are facing, and invoked the spirit of the nation's founders as an inspiration for making "a new declaration of independence.''

"The trials we face are very different now, but they are severe in their own right,''Obama told thousands assembled in Baltimore, during the final layover of a train trip in which he also echoed Lincoln's own inspirational inaugural words.

"What's required is a new declaration of independence,'' Obama repeated along his route, making "an appeal not to our easy instincts, but to our better angels.''

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In another act of honoring and commemorating Lincoln's inaugural process, Obama requested the use of the same bible President Lincoln used when he was sworn in.

"President-elect Obama is deeply honored that the Library of Congress has made the Lincoln Bible available for use during his swearing-in," Presidential Inaugural Committee Executive Director Emmett Beliveau said in a statement Tuesday.

The burgundy velvet Bible with gilded edges was purchased and inscribed by William Thomas Carroll, clerk of the Supreme Court.

It will be on display at the Library of Congress February 12 to May 9 as part of an exhibition titled "With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition." The exhibit will then travel to five other American cities in commemoration of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth on Feb. 12, 1809.

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Change: As Promised

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama opened his presidency by breaking sharply from George W. Bush's unpopular administration, but he mostly avoided divisive partisan and ideological stands. He focused instead on fixing the economy, repairing a battered world image and cleaning up government.

"What an opportunity we have to change this country," the Democrat told his senior staff after his inauguration. "The American people are really counting on us now. Let's make sure we take advantage of it."

In the highly scripted first days of his administration, Obama overturned a slew of Bush policies with great fanfare. He largely avoided cultural issues; the exception was reversing one abortion-related policy, a predictable move done in a very low-profile way.

The flurry of activity was intended to show that Obama was making good on his promise to bring change. Yet domestic and international challenges continue to pile up, and it's doubtful that life will be dramatically different for much of the ailing country anytime soon.

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All Eyes on the Economy

It is no secret where President Obama's attention is focused as he begins the healing process for a battered and struggling nation. Obama's first order of business is an aggressive, well-defined stimulus program which seeks to jump-start the U.S. economy and create millions of jobs in the upcoming years. Although there are some differences in opinion about this program and how it should be carried out, Obama has made significant progress in developing this package, which he hopes to sign in to action as soon as the President's day holiday next month.

The Kids Say Thank You

3 days post-inauguration of the nations first African American president, a group of children come together to thank President Barack Obama for for instilling a new sense of inspiration, hope, and change to the United States of America... It is truly time for change....