...faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts... [you] still experience the same greed, resentment, lust, and anger that everyone else experienced... the lines between sinner and saved [are] more fluid; the sins of those who come to church are not so different from the sins of those who don't... You [need] to come to church precisely because you [are] of this world, not apart from it; rich, poor, sinner, saved you [need] to embrace Christ precisely because you had sins to wash away... that religious commitment did not require me to suspend critical thinking, disengage from the battle for economic and social justice, or otherwise retreat from the world...

He helped set up a job training program a college preparatory tutoring program and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens. Legislative career: 1997–2008


State Senator: 1997–2004

Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996 succeeding State Senator Alice Palmer as Senator from Illinois's 13th District which at that time spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park – Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn. Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.

He then defeated Republican nominee John McCain in the general election and was inaugurated as president on January 20 2009. military involvement in the Iraq War increased troop levels in Afghanistan signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia ordered U. He was re-elected president in November 2012 defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney and was sworn in for a second term on January 20 2013.