Barack Obama was born in Honolulu Hawaii in 1961. A former community organizer and lawyer, he was a protégé of thinkers such as Saul Alinsky and Bill Ayers. He served in the state senate of Illinois from 1997 to 2004, and became a senator of Illinois in 2005. In 2004, he catapulted to the national scene given his keynote address to the DNC. Defeating rivals such as Hilary Clinton and John McCain, he ultimately became the 44th President of the United States. Inaugurated in the midst of an economic crisis, noteworthy legislation includes the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (aka the Stimulus), the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the Affordable Care and Reinvestment Act (aka Obamacare). Lack of confidence in such measures to fix the ailing economy has culminated in low approval ratings and the rise of the Tea Party, a populous movement dedicated to the protest of big government. Thus far under the Obama Administration, unemployment has remained stubbornly high, the national debt has spiked to more than double of what it once was, and record numbers of individuals have fallen below the poverty line. If midterm and special election results is any indicator, Obama's leadership style has made both himself and his party unusually vulnerable from an electoral standpoint.