Barack Obama: His Life and Rise in Politics Quiz

Answer: Hawaii

Obama was born in Honolulu to Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham of Wichita, Kansas, who met while both were students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Obama, Sr. and Dunham would separate when the young Barack was two and finally divorce when he was four. The future president would remain with his mother.

Answer: Kenya

Barack Obama, Sr. returned to Kenya after his divorce from Dunham and went on to receive a graduate degree in economics from Harvard. At the age of 46, Obama, Sr. was killed in an automobile accident, having lost both of his legs in a previous crash. Although the president's father was raised as a Muslim, he identified as an atheist after moving to the United States.

Answer: Indonesia

From the ages of 6-10, Obama attended various schools within Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Throughout this period, Barack received education in the Christian faith, although he was formally enrolled as a Muslim (the faith of his stepfather). Obama's third grade teacher recalls how the future senator wrote an essay describing his desire to one day be president (of which country, she wasn't sure)! Barack would eventually return to the United States, living with his maternal grandparents in Honolulu.

Answer: Columbia

Barack graduated from Columbia in 1983 with a BA in political science; it would be another five years until he returned to academia (in this case, Harvard Law School). He remained in New York City for two years, working at both Business International Corporation, an American advisory firm offering its services to American businesses operating abroad, and the New York Public Interest Research Group, a non-profit, student-run "consumer, environmental and government reform" agency.

Answer: Chicago

Indeed, Barack Obama planted his future political and vocational roots in the Windy City. He continued as director at the Catholic Church-funded Developing Communities Project until his matriculation at Harvard Law School in 1988. After earning his JD, Obama took a job with the Chicago-based Miner Barnhill & Galland law firm as an associate attorney and lectured on constitutional law at the University of Chicago.

Answer: United Church of Christ

Among other things, Reverend Wright has been vigorously criticized for preaching anti-American and racially divisive sentiments shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Obama maintained that while he was familiar with Wright's penchant for fiery oration, he wasn't privy to the reverend's most inflammatory statements until they broke in the American media.

In direct response to the Wright controversy, the then-Democratic presidential candidate delivered a speech in Philadelphia on March 18, 2008, that elaborated his own views on race in America and his thoughts surrounding Wright's statements.

Answer: True

Barack made use of his clout on campus to address the issue of faculty diversity. While presidents of the Harvard Law Review typically go on to clerk for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals and then for an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Obama instead elected to return to Chicago and work on a voter registration drive after graduating magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991.

Answer: Michelle

Cindy, Bill and Janet are, of course, the first names belonging to the spouses of Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and former Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR), respectively! Michelle Obama née Robinson was born and raised in Chicago, attending, respectively, Princeton and Harvard for college and law school.

She and Barack have two daughters, Malia Ann (b. 1998) and Natasha (b. 2001).

Answer: 1996

State Senator Obama represented Chicago's 13th District. Some of his accomplishments in this position included negotiating welfare reform, advocating for increased childcare subsidies, promoting interrogation and racial profiling legislation, and focusing on government ethics.

In 2002, while still a state senator, he delivered a speech denouncing the Bush administration's intention to invade Iraq in light of intelligence (subsequently debunked) on Saddam Hussein's stockpiling of WMDs. In the 2008 campaign, Obama contrasted his position on the Iraq War with that of his primary Democratic rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, who voted in 2002 with many other U.S. Senators to imbue President George W. Bush with the power to declare war on Iraq.

Answer: Alan Keyes

Obama handily defeated perennial presidential candidate and former ambassador Alan Keyes, going on to serve in the 109th Congress of the United States with Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). Instrumental in placing Obama on the national stage was his delivery of the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, where Senator John Kerry (D-MA) was nominated to run against President George W. Bush. David Axelrod served as Senator Obama's chief political strategist for the 2004 senate campaign and served in the same capacity for the 2008 presidential campaign. For the record, Jeri Ryan, ex-wife of Jack Ryan, is perhaps best known for her role as Seven of Nine on "Star Trek: Voyager."

Answer: "Dreams from My Father" & "The Audacity of Hope"

Obama published "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" in 1995, detailing his early life and unique experiences growing up in a mixed-race family. He re-released the book in 2004 and appended his Democratic National Convention keynote address.

After his election to the U.S. Senate, and arguably in anticipation of his run for the presidency, Barack penned "The Audacity of Hope," in which he expatiated his views on contemporary U.S. politics. His chief Democratic rival for the 2008 nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, wrote "It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us" while serving as First Lady, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, released his memoir, "My Life," in 2004. "Faith of My Fathers" is 1999 work by Sen. John McCain.

Answer: Armed Services

Critics and opponents on both sides of the political aisle have accused Obama of a prohibitively short, if not unremarkable tenure as a U.S. Senator. Supporters often note that when he was elected President, Obama had served the same amount of time in the Senate as former President John F. Kennedy prior to the latter's ascension to the White House. Obama cites his work on the "Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act" (co-sponsored with potential rival John McCain), the "Coburn-Obama Transparency Act," and the "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act" as examples of legislation that exemplify his recent record and ability to collaborate with Republican colleagues.

Answer: Barbra Streisand

Streisand, a longtime supporter of Democratic causes, has been an ardent Clinton supporter ever since Bill first ran for President in 1992; the diva supported Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary election. Following the suspension of former Senator John Edwards' (D-NC) campaign in late January 2008, Obama and Clinton split many traditionally Democratic constituencies; Obama performed well with African-Americans and young voters, while Clinton polled successfully with Latino and white women voters.

Answer: guns

Republican opponents and Clinton surrogates alike denounced these comments, made by Obama at a private San Francisco fundraiser on April 6, 2008, as "out of touch" and indicative of the senator's "elitist leanings." Obama subsequently stated that he regretted his choice of words but did not intend to belittle anyone.

Answer: Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina, Connecticut

On August 27, 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama became the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 2008. This marked the first instance in which either major American political party nominated an African-American for the presidency. On November 4, 2008, Obama defeated Senator John McCain to become the President-elect of the United States of America. Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009.