U.S.-Russian Relations Under President Obama

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has become the first African American in the history of the country to win the presidential race. Obama secured his election after victories in Florida and California. In addition, the Democratic candidate won the states of Washington, Oregon, Hawaii and New Mexico. With these results the victory became unreachable for his rival, Republican Sen. John McCain.

Obama received 338 electoral votes. To become the 44th president of the country he had to ensure support of at least 270 out of 538 electors. U.S. elections follow a “the winner takes it all” system. The candidate who has the majority of votes in a state takes all the electoral votes of this state.

Barack Obama understands the role and place of Russia in the American foreign policy, said Celeste Yollander, an advisor in Obama’s electoral campaign, on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

“Obama will undoubtedly be standing up for American interest but he will be able to find a pragmatic base for cooperation with Russia,” Yollander said to a request to talk about the possible directions of the next U.S. president in relation to Russia.

“The main objective of the new president will be working with Russia on nuclear non-proliferation, especially focusing on Iran,” Yollander said. “He will be giving due to Europe’s role in cooperation with Russia.”

According to a Levada Center sociologists’ poll, Russians sympathize more with Barack Obama than John McCain. When the poll was conducted from October 24 to 29 in Russia’s eight largest cities, 27 percent of respondents supported Obama. Only 15 percent were in favor of the Republican candidate.

Answering the question as to what U.S. political party Russia communicates best with, more than a third of the respondents said it was the Democratic party (39 percent), and 11 percent said Republicans. However, the sociologists note that half of Russians could not answer this question.

The first African-American president

His full name is Barack Hussein Obama and he was born on Aug. 4, 1961 in Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii. His father is Kenyan and his mother is a white American. His parents separated in 1963. In 1976 Obama moved to Indonesia and in 1980 he returned to Hawaii, where he graduated from a private high school. He got accepted into the Western College in Los Angeles and later transferred to Columbia University, which he graduated from in 1983 with an International Affairs degree. In 1991 he graduated from Harvard law school. He practiced law and worked in a charity organization, which assisted the poor.

Obama’s political career started in the Illinois Senate, where he was representing the Democratic Party over the eight-year period (1997-2004). He became nationally famous in 2004 after his speech during the Democratic Convention.

In January 2005 he was elected to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate, becoming the fifth black senator over the last 150 years. He participated in Foreign Relations, Veterans affairs, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees, as well as a Governmental Affairs committee. He is an author and co-author of numerous bills and resolutions.

On Feb. 10, 2007, during a rally in Springfield, Ill., Obama officially announced his decision to run in the presidential race. Obama chose Sen. Joe Biden as a vice-presidential candidate. After he was accepted as a Democratic presidential candidate during the Democratic Convention on Aug. 28, 2008, he became the first African American in the history of the United States to lead the presidential candidates list of one of the major political parties of the country.

Obama is an active supporter of human rights and he intends to support the middle class and decrease the gap between the rich and the poor. He wants to make education more affordable for the majority of Americans and secure his fellow countrymen with affordable housing. He also plans to cut tax rates for working families and carry out a healthcare reform. He is a moderate on immigration reform and he voted for programs assisting immigrants. Obama supports legal abortion, including late-term partial birth abortions. He strives to decease discrimination against homosexuals but he is against same-sex marriage. He opposes the death penalty.

One of his priorities in foreign affairs is the pullout of American troops from Iraq (within 16 months from his inauguration) and nuclear non-proliferation.

Unlike McCain who called for excluding Russia from the G8, Obama did not make any harsh statements and called for improving cooperation with Russia during his speech about “the new strategy in the new world” on July 15, 2008. However, he stood up for re-consideration of relations with Russia, including Russia’s joining the WTO, due to the Russian-Georgian conflict.

He is an author of books “Dreams From My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope”. He received Grammy awards for the audio versions of his books in 2006 and 2008. Both books have become bestsellers.

For the last 20 years Obama has been a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ. However, in May 2008 he left it due to the scandalous remarks of his pastor Jeremy Wright, whom he considered his spiritual leader for a long time.

Wife – Michelle Robinson, a lawyer. He has two daughters.