奧巴馬成為第一位非裔美國總統

The United States has elected its first African-American president with the victory of Barack Obama in Tuesday’s balloting.Obama’s victory ends eight years of Republican control of the White House under President George Bush. He becomes the first black president in the United States’ 232-year history. He will be sworn in on January 20， 2009.

Obama， not even a national figure just a few short years ago， overtook a host of Democratic presidential hopefuls， including Senator Hillary Clinton， to clinch the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 2008 presidential election.

The son of a white American woman and a black Kenyan man， the 47-year-old Obama burst into the national spotlight after delivering the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Four years later， he became the party nominee and the first African-American to win the nomination of a major U.S. political party.

Obama， who was born in Hawaii， spent his youth on the Pacific Island U.S. state， as well as in Indonesia. Obama attended Columbia University in New York and set his sights on public service after graduation， becoming a community organizer in Chicago. He later attended Harvard Law School and served in the Illinois State Senate. He won his U.S. Senate seat by a landslide in 2004.

He has campaigned on a message of hope and unity， stressing the need to overcome long-standing political and social divisions. He has also emphasized his call for change after eight years of Republican control of the White House under President George Bush.Obama’s wife Michelle is a fellow Harvard Law School graduate. They have two young girls.

奧巴馬的勝利終結了喬治#8226;布什當政下共和黨主宰白宮8年的歷史。他成為美國232年的歷史上第一位黑人總統。他將在2009年1月20日宣誓就職。

就在幾年前連一個全國知名人物都還算不上的奧巴馬，而今壓倒了一大群民主黨總統職位的期望候選人，包括參議員希拉里#8226;克林頓，獲得了2008年總統選舉的民主黨候選人提名。

在2004年民主黨全國大會上發表主題演講后，一個美國白人婦女和一個肯尼亞黑人男子的兒子——47歲的奧巴馬一躍成為全國矚目的焦點。四年后，他成了民主黨總統提名候選人，也成了第一位贏得美國政治大黨候選人提名的第一位非裔美國人。

奧巴馬，生于夏威夷，在美國這個太平洋島嶼以及印尼度過青州年時代。奧巴馬在紐約哥倫比亞大學讀書，畢業后開始關注公共服務事業，在芝加哥當了一名社區組織者。后來他上了哈佛法學院，并在伊利諾伊斯州參議院供職。2004年，他以壓倒性多數贏得了美國參議員席位。

他的競選主題是希望和團結，強調克服長期存在的政治和社會裂痕的必要性。他也重點呼吁改變喬治#8226;布什總統當政下共和黨對白宮8年的掌控。奧巴馬的妻子米歇爾也是哈佛法學院畢業生。他們育有兩個女兒。