what did barack obama do before he took office?
Illinois State Senator
contradiction
 In May 2007 , three months after her husband declared his presidential candidacy , Obama reduced her professional responsibilities by 80 percent to support his presidential campaign . Early in the campaign , she had limited involvement in which she traveled to political events only two days a week and rarely traveled overnight ; by early February 2008 her participation had increased significantly , attending thirty @-@ three events in eight days . She made several campaign appearances with Oprah Winfrey . She wrote her own stump speeches for her husband 's presidential campaign and generally spoke without notes . 

contradiction
 At 11 : 35 p.m. , Obama appeared on major television networks : 

entailment
 After his inauguration , Obama announced to a joint session of Congress in February 2009 his intent to work with Congress to construct a plan for healthcare reform . By July , a series of bills were approved by committees within the House of Representatives . On the Senate side , from June to September , the Senate Finance Committee held a series of 31 meetings to develop a healthcare reform bill . This group — in particular , Democrats Max Baucus , Jeff Bingaman , and Kent Conrad , and Republicans Mike Enzi , Chuck Grassley , and Olympia Snowe — met for more than 60 hours , and the principles that they discussed , in conjunction with the other committees , became the foundation of the Senate 's healthcare reform bill . 

entailment
 From April to October 1992 , Obama directed Illinois 's Project Vote , a voter registration campaign with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars ; it achieved its goal of registering 150 @,@ 000 of 400 @,@ 000 unregistered African Americans in the state , leading Crain 's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of " 40 under Forty " powers to be . 

contradiction
 During an interview in 1996 , Michelle Obama acknowledged that there was a " strong possibility " her husband would begin a political career , but said she was " wary " of the process due to it meaning that their lives would become " an open book " while she was private . 
