Office of External Affairs and Environmental Education - Emergency Operations Center and BP Oil Spill - President Barack Obama delivers remarks in the rain at the Coast Guard Venice Center in Venice, LA, May 2, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) [412-APD-858-P050210PS-0583.jpg]

Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He is the first African-American to have served as president, as well as the first born outside the contiguous United States. He previously served in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, and in the Illinois State Senate from 1997 to 2004. Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, two years after the territory was admitted to the Union as the 50th state. He grew up mostly in Hawaii, but also spent one year of his childhood in Washington State and four years in Indonesia.