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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the
3 Illinois House of Representatives resolve to congratulate
4 Barack Obama for his ascendency to the office of United States
5 President; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in
7 Honolulu, Hawaii; his father, Barack Obama, Sr., was born of
8 Luo ethnicity in Nyanza Province, Kenya; his mother, Ann
9 Dunham, grew up in Wichita, Kansas; and
 
10     WHEREAS, In 1967, Barack Obama and his family moved to
11 Jakarta, Indonesia; after four years of attending school in
12 Jakarta, he returned to Hawaii to live with his maternal
13 grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, and later his mother;
14 when he was in the fifth grade, he enrolled at the esteemed
15 Punahou Academy, graduating with honors in 1979; and
 
16     WHEREAS, After high school, Barack Obama studied at the
17 Occidental College in Los Angeles, California for two years; he
18 then transferred to Columbia University in New York, graduating
19 in 1983 with a degree in political science; and
 
20     WHEREAS, After working at Business International
21 Corporation, a company that provided international business

 

 

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1 information to corporate clients, and NYPIRG, Barack Obama
2 moved to Chicago in 1985; in Chicago, he worked as a community
3 organizer with low-income residents in Chicago's Roseland
4 community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development on
5 the South Side; and
 
6     WHEREAS, In 1988, Barack Obama entered Harvard Law School;
7 in February of 1990, he was elected the first African-American
8 editor of the Harvard Law Review; in 1991, he graduated from
9 Harvard magna cum laude; after law school, he returned to
10 Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer, joining the firm
11 of Miner, Barnhill & Galland; he also taught at the University
12 of Chicago Law School and he helped organize voter registration
13 drives during Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign; and
 
14     WHEREAS, Barack Obama's advocacy work for the less
15 fortunate led him to run for the Illinois State Senate; he was
16 elected in 1996 from the south side neighborhood of Hyde Park;
17 as a State Senator, he worked with both Democrats and
18 Republicans in drafting legislation on ethics, expanding
19 health care services, and the creation of early childhood
20 education programs for the poor; he also created a state
21 earned-income tax credit for the working poor and worked with
22 law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of
23 interrogations and confessions in all capital cases; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, In 2000, Barack Obama made an unsuccessful
2 Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives
3 seat held by four-term incumbent candidate Bobby Rush; not one
4 to rest on his laurels, he decided to run for the U.S. Senate
5 open seat vacated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald in 2004;
6 receiving 70 percent of the vote, he once again achieved
7 victory with the largest electoral victory in Illinois history;
8 upon winning the election, he became only the third African
9 American elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction; and
 
10     WHEREAS, Immediately going into action after he was sworn
11 into office on January 4, 2005, Barack Obama partnered with
12 Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana on a bill that
13 expanded efforts to destroy weapons of mass destruction in
14 Eastern Europe and Russia and with Republican Sen. Tom Corburn
15 of Oklahoma to create a website that tracks all federal
16 spending; he was also the first to raise the threat of avian
17 flu on the Senate floor, spoke out for victims of Hurricane
18 Katrina, pushed for alternative energy development, and
19 championed improved veterans' benefits; he also worked with
20 Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin to eliminate gifts of
21 travel on corporate jets by lobbyists to members of Congress;
22 and
 
23     WHEREAS, In February of 2007, Barack Obama made headlines
24 and history when he announced his candidacy for the 2008

 

 

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1 Democratic presidential nomination; after a successful primary
2 bid, he went on to achieve victory against opponent John
3 McCain, once again making history as the first African-American
4 President in history; and
 
5     WHEREAS, In 1988, Barack Obama met his wife, Michelle, when
6 he was a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley &
7 Austin; they were married in October of 1992; together, they
8 have two daughters, Malia and Sasha; and
 
9     WHEREAS, Barack Obama's incredible success in government
10 makes him a shining beacon of Illinois' Lincoln legacy and a
11 role model for the people of this State, the nation, and the
12 world; therefore, be it
 
13     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
14 NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
15 congratulate Barack Obama for his ascendency to the office of
16 United States President and give him our best wishes for his
17 bright future; and be it further
 
18     RESOLVED, That we recognize both the momentous occasion of
19 his election and recognize the significant barriers of progress
20 that have been breached by this paradigm shift in politics; and
21 be it further
 

 

 

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1     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
2 presented to Barack Obama as a symbol of our esteem and
3 respect.