Barack Hussein Obama II (/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/ (audio speaker iconlisten); born August 4, 1961) is an American politician. He was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African-American to hold the office. Before becoming president, he was a U.S. senator from Illinois and served from 2005 to 2008. He is a Democrat.

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He married Michelle Robinson in 1992. They have two daughters.

Obama was inaugurated in January 2009 as the first African American mixed-race president. As president, he slowly ended US participation in the Iraq War, having prepared the country to defend itself. The al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden was killed while Obama was in office. Also, he contributed to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (often called "Obamacare") which changed many health care laws. He also enacted many acts to create public works jobs to help the economy. He became the first president to openly express support for gay marriage, and proposed gun control as a result of the Sandy Hook school shooting.

He was reelected in 2012. During his second term, the government partially shut down. He was able to open diplomatic relations with Cuba. In 2015, the United States joined the Paris Climate Agreement. He attempted to nominate Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court but was unsuccessful in doing so.

Obama left office in January 2017 and was succeeded by Republican Donald Trump. He now lives in Washington, D.C. He is ranked very high in presidential opinion polls.