Talk:Barack Obama

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Barack Obama article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

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faq page Frequently asked questions To view the response to a question, click the [show] link to the right of the question. Family and religious background Q1: Why isn't Barack Obama's Muslim heritage or education included in this article? A1: Barack Obama was never a practitioner of Islam. His biological father having been "raised as a Muslim" but being a "confirmed atheist" by the time Obama was born is mentioned in the article. Please see this article on Snopes.com for a fairly in-depth debunking of the myth that Obama is Muslim. Barack Obama did not attend an Islamic or Muslim school while living in Indonesia age 6–10, but Roman Catholic and secular public schools. See [1], [2], [3] The sub-articles Public image of Barack Obama and Barack Obama religion conspiracy theories address this issue. Q2: The article refers to him as African American, but his mother is white and his black father was not an American. Should he be called African American, or something else ("biracial", "mixed", "Kenyan-American", "mulatto", "quadroon", etc.)? A2: Obama himself and the media identify him, the vast majority of the time, as race for more information on this concept. We could call him the first "biracial" candidate or the first "half black half white" candidate or the first candidate with a parent born in Africa, but Wikipedia is a tertiary source which reports what other reliable sources say, and most of those other sources say "first African American". Readers will learn more detail about his ethnic background in the article body. Q3: Why can't we use his full name outside of the lead? It's his name, isn't it? A3: The relevant part of the Manual of Style says that outside the lead of an article on a person, that person's conventional name is the only one that's appropriate. (Thus one use of "Richard Milhous Nixon" in the lead of Richard Nixon , "Richard Nixon" thereafter.) Talk page consensus has also established this. Q4: Why is Obama referred to as "Barack Hussein Obama II" in the lead sentence rather than "Barack Hussein Obama, Jr."? Isn't "Jr." more common? A4: Although "Jr." is typically used when a child shares the name of his or her parent, "II" is considered acceptable, as well. And in Obama's case, the usage on his birth certificate is indeed "II", and is thus the form used at the beginning of this article, per names . Q5: Why don't we cover the claims that Obama is not a United States citizen, his birth certificate was forged, he was not born in Hawaii, he is ineligible to be President, etc? A5: The Barack Obama article consists of an overview of major issues in the life and times of the subject. The controversy over his eligibility, citizenship, birth certificate etc is currently a fairly minor issue in overall terms, and has had no significant legal or mainstream political impact. It is therefore not currently appropriate for inclusion in an overview article. These claims are covered separately in Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories. Controversies, praise, and criticism Q6: Why isn't there a criticisms/controversies section? A6: Because a section dedicated to criticisms and controversies is no more appropriate than a section dedicated solely to praise and is an indication of a poorly written article. Criticisms/controversies/praises should be worked into the existing prose of the article, per the Criticism essay . Q7: Why isn't a certain controversy/criticism/praise included in this article? A7: Wikipedia's summarized here or been left out of this article altogether, but are covered in some detail in the sub-articles. Q8: But this controversy/criticism/praise is all over the news right now! It should be covered in detail in the main article, not buried in a sub-article! A8: Wikipedia articles should avoid giving WP:BRD . Q9: This article needs much more (or much less) criticism/controversy. A9: Please try to civil . Starting off your discussion by accusing the editors of this article of having a bias is the quickest way to get your comment ignored. Talk and article mechanics Q10: This article is over 275kb long, and the article size guideline says that it should be broken up into sub-articles. Why hasn't this happened? A10: The restriction mentioned in citations and invisible comments, which do not count towards the limit. Q11: I notice this FAQ mentions starting discussions or joining in on existing discussions a lot. If Wikipedia is supposed to be the encyclopedia be bold and fix any biases that I see in the article? A11: It is true that Wikipedia is the encyclopedia that anyone can edit and no one needs the permission of other editors of this article to make changes to it. But Wikipedia policy is that, "While the consensus process does not require posting to the discussion page, it can be useful and is encouraged." This article attracts editors that have very strong opinions about Obama (positive and negative) and these editors have different opinions about what should and should not be in the article, including differences as to appropriate level of detail. As a result of this it may be helpful, as a way to avoid content disputes, to seek consensus before adding contentious material to or removing it from the article. Q12: The article/talk page has been vandalized! Why hasn't anyone fixed this? A12: Many editors watch this article, and it is unlikely that vandalism would remain unnoticed for long. It is possible that you are viewing a cached result of the article; If so, try bypassing your cache . Disruption Q13: Why are so many discussions closed so quickly? A13: Swift closure is common for topics that have already been discussed repeatedly, topics pushing fringe theories, and topics that would lead to violations of Wikipedia's policy concerning biographies of living persons, because of their disruptive nature and the unlikelihood that consensus to include the material will arise from the new discussion. In those cases, editors are encouraged to read this FAQ for examples of such common topics. Q14: I added new content to the article, but it was removed! A14: Double-check that your content addition is not sourced to an opinion blog, editorial, or non-mainstream news source. Wikipedia's policy on questionable . Inflammatory or potentially libelous content cited to a questionable source will be removed immediately without discussion. Q15: I disagree with the policies and content guidelines that prevent my proposed content from being added to the article. A15: That's understandable. Wikipedia is a work in progress. If you do not approve of a policy cited in the removal of content, it's possible to change it. Making cogent, logical arguments on the policy's talk page is likely to result in a positive alteration. This is highly encouraged. However, this talk page is not the appropriate place to dispute the wording used in policies and guidelines. If you disagree with the interpretation of a policy or guideline, there is also recourse: Dispute resolution . Using the dispute resolution process prevents edit wars, and is encouraged. Q16: I saw someone start a discussion on a topic raised by a blog/opinion piece, and it was reverted! A16: Unfortunately, due to its high profile, this talk page sees a lot of attempts to argue for policy- and guideline-violating content – sometimes the same violations many times a day. These are regarded as disruptive, as outlined above. single-purpose accounts raise the same subject(s) repeatedly in the apparent hopes of overcoming significant objections by other editors. Editors have reached a consensus for dealing with this behavior: Efforts by established single-purpose accounts to introduce such poorly-sourced content will be summarily deleted. On the second such attempt, the source in question will be immediately reported to the reliable sources noticeboard for administrative assistance. New editors who wish to engage in discussions on previously rejected content are encouraged to ensure that their sources do not violate any of Wikipedia's policies and sourcing guidelines. Other Q17: Why aren't the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns covered in more detail? A17: They are, in sub-articles called Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign and Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign. Things that are notable in the context of the presidential campaigns, but are of minimal notability to Barack Obama's overall biography, belong in the sub-articles. Campaign stops, the presidential debates, and the back-and-forth accusations and claims of the campaigns can all be found there.

	Barack Obama is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on August 18, 2004, and on November 4, 2008.
Article milestones Date Process Result August 12, 2004 Featured article candidate Promoted August 18, 2004 Today's featured article Main Page December 21, 2007 Featured article review Kept January 23, 2007 Featured article review Kept July 26, 2007 Featured article review Kept April 15, 2008 Featured article review Kept September 16, 2008 Featured article review Kept November 4, 2008 Today's featured article Main Page December 2, 2008 Featured article review Kept March 10, 2009 Featured article review Kept March 16, 2010 Featured article review Kept March 17, 2010 Featured article review Kept June 17, 2012 Featured article review Kept October 22, 2012 Featured article review Kept December 4, 2021 Featured article review Demoted A news item involving this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "In the news" column on November 5, 2008. Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on November 4, 2013, November 4, 2016, and November 4, 2022. Current status: Former featured article

Biography: Politics and Government / Science and Academia

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United States: District of Columbia / Presidential elections / Presidents / State Legislatures / Government Top‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by WikiProject District of Columbia (assessed as High-importance). This article is supported by WikiProject U.S. presidential elections (assessed as Top-importance). This article is supported by WikiProject United States Presidents (assessed as Top-importance). This article is supported by WikiProject U.S. State Legislatures (assessed as Low-importance). This article is supported by WikiProject U.S. Government (assessed as Top-importance). More information: /  This article has been selected for use on the United States portal. This article has been selected for use on the Illinois portal. This article has been selected for use on the Chicago portal. This article has been selected for use on the Hawaii portal.

U.S. Congress High‑importance

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Politics: American High‑importance

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	Chicago Top‑importance
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This article is within the scope of WikiProject Law, an attempt at providing a comprehensive, standardised, pan-jurisdictional and up-to-date resource for the legal field and the subjects encompassed by it.LawWikipedia:WikiProject LawTemplate:WikiProject Lawlaw articles Top This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

This article has been mentioned by multiple media organizations: Jose Antonio Vargas (September 17, 2007). "On Wikipedia, Debating 2008 Hopefuls' Every Facet". The Washington Post. The Bryant Park Project, NPR . On The Media , NPR. Eve Fairbanks (April 9, 2008). "Wiki Woman". The New Republic. Jesse Brown (April 10, 2008). "Hillary's Wiki Defender". Search Engine, CBC Radio One. This Week..., CNN . John J. Miller (April 21, 2008). "Liberal Web". National Review. Kelly Heyboer (May 28, 2008). "Clinton's entry in Wikipedia has a watchdog". The Star-Ledger. Paul Murnane (May 28, 2008). "NJ Man Appoints Himself Wikipedia Watchdog". WCBS Newsradio 880. Noam Cohen (November 9, 2008). "Updating a Reference Site on the Fly". The New York Times. Adrian Bridgwater (January 22, 2009). "Obama Wikipedia page under possible security attack". ZDNet . Aaron Klein (March 8, 2009). "Wikipedia scrubs Obama eligibility". WorldNetDaily. Joshua Rhett Miller (March 9, 2009). "Obama's Wikipedia Page Distances President from Wright and Ayers". Fox News Channel . Mark Coleman (March 10, 2009). "Barack Obama 'receives preferential treatment on Wikipedia', report claims". The Daily Telegraph. Noam Cohen (July 19, 2009). "Wikipedia May Be a Font of Facts, but It's a Desert for Photos". The New York Times. Staff (August 17, 2009). "The 50 most-viewed Wikipedia articles in 2009 and 2008". The Daily Telegraph. "Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger says online encyclopedia scrapped neutrality, favors lefty politics". Fox News. 2020-05-21. Retrieved 2020-05-22. The first example pointed out by the site's co-founder is that President Barack Obama's page "completely fails to mention many well-known scandals" such as Benghazi, the IRS scandal, the AP phone records scandal and the so-called "Fast and Furious" operation.

Bookmarks: Wikipedia:General sanctions/Obama article probation Wikipedia:General sanctions/Obama article probation/Requests for enforcement/Archive1 Talk:Barack Obama/Historical diffs Talk:Barack Obama/weight Talk:Barack Obama/race

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This article has been viewed enough times to make it onto the all-time Top 100 list. It has had 155 million views since December 2007. This article has been viewed enough times in a single week to appear in the Top 25 Report 6 times. The weeks in which this happened: January 20 to 26, 2013 July 24 to 30, 2016 November 6 to 12, 2016 January 15 to 21, 2017 November 1 to 7, 2020 November 8 to 14, 2020 This article has been viewed enough times in a single year to make it into the Top 50 Report annual list. This happened in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020. Daily pageviews of this article A graph should have been displayed here but graphs are temporarily disabled. Until they are enabled again, visit the interactive graph at pageviews.wmcloud.org Section sizes Section size for Barack Obama (56 sections) Section name Byte count Section total (Top) 11,032 11,032 Early life and career 13,917 73,677 Education 29,940 29,940 Family and personal life 21,839 21,839 Religious views 7,981 7,981 Legal career 17 1,655 Civil rights attorney 1,638 1,638 Legislative career 23 28,149 Illinois Senate (1997–2004) 10,912 10,912 2004 U.S. Senate campaign 5,159 5,159 U.S. Senate (2005–2008) 12,055 12,055 Presidential campaigns 27 22,509 2008 13,244 13,244 2012 9,238 9,238 Presidency (2009–2017) 123 136,435 First 100 days 5,323 5,323 Domestic policy 13,145 74,979 Racial issues 8,049 8,049 LGBT rights 3,177 8,968 Same-sex marriage 5,791 5,791 Economic policy 21,828 21,828 Environmental policy 8,995 8,995 Health care reform 13,994 13,994 Foreign policy 9,785 56,010 War in Iraq 5,520 5,520 Afghanistan and Pakistan 4,298 9,564 Death of Osama bin Laden 5,266 5,266 Relations with Cuba 4,247 4,247 Israel 7,618 7,618 Libya 6,895 6,895 Syrian civil war 4,217 4,217 Iran nuclear talks 3,681 3,681 Russia 4,483 4,483 Cultural and political image 3,921 17,112 Job approval 7,349 7,349 Foreign perceptions 5,409 5,409 Thanks, Obama 433 433 Post-presidency (2017–present) 18,630 18,630 Legacy and recognition 13,104 14,904 Presidential library 619 619 Awards and honors 1,111 1,111 Eponymy 70 70 Bibliography 69 5,471 Books 1,134 1,134 Audiobooks 216 216 Articles 4,052 4,052 See also 98 1,099 Politics 474 474 Other 64 64 Lists 463 463 References 48,761 50,415 Bibliography 1,654 1,654 Further reading 2,179 2,179 External links 229 7,941 Official 463 463 Other 7,249 7,249 Total 391,208 391,208

There is a request, submitted by Catfurball, for an audio version of this article to be created. For further information, see WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia. The rationale behind the request is: "Important".

I Find it Weird that his Page is Only Semi-Protected. It should Probably be Extended-Confirmed Protection. This is Because Some Troll User might Change his Birthplace to Kenya or something. 216.87.237.81 (talk) 22:00, 6 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

In short, WP don't protect articles because of what may happen. More at

WP:PROTECTION. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 22:33, 6 January 2024 (UTC)[reply

]

Page protection is not done as prevention, only in response to disruption. EvergreenFir (talk) 22:33, 6 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

38.81.150.88 (talk) 02:25, 8 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

At the beginning of the page, the page reads: "Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961), commonly known as Barack Obama is an American politician..." I think that the part saying "commonly known as Barack Obama" should be removed because the page previously said at the start that his name is Barack Obama, but referred to him by his full name of "Barack Hussein Obama II."

 Done – Muboshgu (talk) 02:33, 8 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Is it just me, or is the IPA audio very quiet. If anyone else says so I'll increase the volume. Coulomb1 (talk) 02:00, 29 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It is actually quieter than I think appropriate; I had to turn the volume up a bit to hear it properly. I support turning up the volume on it. OverzealousAutocorrect (talk) 00:01, 2 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The beginning of the article says: "A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president in U.S. history." I think instead it should read: "As a member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president in U.S. history." 91.136.184.190 (talk) 20:45, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The current sentence is better, IMO. O3000, Ret. (talk) 20:50, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed, these are distinct clauses that are not related to each other in the way "as a" would imply. VQuakr (talk) 20:36, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. The current sentence is grammatically correct. No need to change it. A. Randomdude0000 (talk) 00:45, 11 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Currently the article says that he has been placed in the middle to upper tier of presidents. Having looked at the rankings, it seems more accurate to simply say he has been generally ranked in the upper tier. Only two of the ten rankings place him outside the top third of American presidents and the word "generally" leaves room for exceptions of that degree. Alternatively, the article could be changed to say he has been placed in the first or second quartile of US presidents but this phrasing would be a bit less conventional. c.f. Lyndon B. Johnson who has received similar rankings and whose article simply states "historians and scholars rank Johnson in the upper tier".IRN-Dumas (talk) 18:07, 19 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

As per what I think would be consensus NO I'm not saying this is fact but for birth place their should be a note on something because some "not all" think that Obama is not born in usa for more info Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories Watttyt (talk) 16:23, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

See

WP:FRINGE. A. Randomdude0000 (talk) 16:40, 23 February 2024 (UTC)[reply

]

The page preview of this article does not show the article details, but displays a slang term repeated multiple times. I am new to Wikipedia, so I don't know how to edit this. Also, this is a semi-protected page. Anoop.rvn (talk) 01:37, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It was vandalism, since fixed. Acroterion (talk) 01:47, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I can still see it. Tried in different browsers after clearing cache. Am I trying anything wrong? Anoop.rvn (talk) 02:00, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

No, the cache should have cleared, but I can verify that it's corrected on Wikipedia's end. Maybe your ISP has it cached in the vandalized version? Acroterion (talk) 02:09, 11 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States—becoming the first African American to serve in that office—on January 20, 2009.

The son of a white American mother and a black Kenyan father, Obama grew up in Hawaii. Leaving the state to attend college, he earned degrees from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago, where he met and married Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in 1992. Their two daughters, Malia Ann and Natasha (Sasha), were born in 1998 and 2001, respectively. Obama was elected to the Illinois state senate in 1996 and served there for eight years. In 2004, he was elected by a record majority to the US Senate from Illinois and, in February 2007, announced his candidacy for president. After winning a closely fought contest against New York Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, Obama handily defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee for president, in the general election.

When President Obama took office, he faced very significant challenges. The economy was officially in a recession, and the outgoing administration of George W. Bush had begun to implement a controversial "bail-out" package to try to help struggling financial institutions. In foreign affairs, the United States still had troops deployed in difficult conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During the first two years of his first term, President Obama was able to work with the Democratic-controlled Congress to improve the economy, pass health-care reform legislation, and withdraw most US troops from Iraq. After the Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in 2010, the president spent significant time and political effort negotiating, for the most part unsuccessfully, with congressional Republicans about taxes, budgets, and the deficit. After winning reelection in 2012, Obama began his second term focused on securing legislation on immigration reform and gun control, neither of which he was able to achieve. When the Republicans won the Senate in 2014, Obama refocused on actions that he could take unilaterally, invoking his executive authority as president. In foreign policy, Obama concentrated during the second term on the Middle East and climate change.

Obama left the presidency, at age fifty-five, after his constitutionally limited two terms ended on January 20, 2017. He announced plans to remain in Washington, DC, until his younger daughter finished high school and, as a former president, to play a restrained but active role in public affairs. He also devoted energy to raising money and planning for the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Illinois. 64.190.226.43 (talk) 22:54, 21 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a

"change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Jamedeus (talk) 23:14, 21 April 2024 (UTC)[reply

]