Barack Hussein Obama II(b. 4 August 1961) is an Americanpoliticianwho served as 44th president of theUnited States of Americafrom 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president in American history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois and as an Illinois state senator. Born in Honolulu,Hawaii, Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and later worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. He became acivil rights attorneyand an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. In 1996, Obama was elected to represent the 13th district in the Illinois Senate, a position he held until 2004, when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In the2008 presidential election, after a close primary campaign againstHillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama selectedJoe Bidenas his running mate and defeated Republican nomineeJohn McCainand his running mateSarah Palin. He became popular in Japan in part due to the fact that he shares his last name with a city in the Fukui prefecture. Use this tag whenever President Obama is shown, or for works which imply his famous "Hope" or "Change" campaign posters, or for his campaign phrase, "Yes we can".