ABSTRACT
Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. is the most successful black politician in American history. His election as president in November 2008 is historic in numerous ways. He is the first president: raised outside the forty-eight contiguous states (Hawaii); of African ancestry; with Muslim ancestry; with a parent who was not a U.S. citizen. And of course, he is the first non-white president. He is the nation’s first African American president. Obama’s career and election illustrate the statement he made when introducing his first Supreme Court nominee, “No dream is beyond reach in the United States of America.”
