Decision 2008: Where do you stand?

The cost of being an American is currently higher than ever.From the $3 trillion war that's costing every household around $100 a month to the rising price of food necessities, citizens are struggling to keep themselves from drowning in debt, reported Barackobama.com.

With everything growing higher except paychecks, it's easy to understand why so many people have lost faith in the government.

Despite the strains many Americans are facing, presidential candidate Barack Obama (D-Ill.) still has faith that together, the people of the U.S. can find a way to dig themselves out of debt and build a more prosperous, fair America.

"Yes, we can."

Once used by the senator in a speech, the above phrase has become a common slogan adopted by his supporters.

"I'm asking you to believe not just in my ability to bring change in Washington," Obama said on his Web site. "I'm asking you to believe in yours."

The question remaining to be answered is whether or not the American people have as much faith in Obama as he says he has in them.

With 171 more delegates and 15 more contest wins than Clinton, Obama's lead shows many people do believe in his potential, despite criticism he's received on his lack of long-term experience, reported his Web site.

However, while many know the message of hope he carries, few are aware of where the charismatic leader came from.

Born in Hawaii to an 18-year-old Kansas woman and a Kenyan man visiting the United States as a college student, Obama grew up in a much different world than his opponents, Republican John McCain and fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton.

According to an article in TIME magazine by Amanda Ripley titled, "A Mother's Story," Obama was born at a time when interracial marriages were illegal in most states across the country.

After his mother, S. Ann Soetoro, dropped out of college to raise Obama, his father got accepted to Harvard with plans to take his knowledge and return to Kenya. Understanding his motives did not include her or her son, Soetoro divorced Obama Sr. and began trying to work out a way to survive as a single mother.

"She could've filled her son's head with well-founded resentment for his absent father, but that is not what happened," said Ripley. "When her son was almost 2, Ann returned to college. Money was tight. She collected food stamps and relied on her parents to help take care of young Barack."

Eventually, Soetoro met another man and married him. Obama's life shifted once again when his mother moved them to Indonesia, immersing him in yet another unfamiliar lifestyle, said Ripley.

Growing up in Indonesia, Obama didn't have the comforts most Americans were used to, such as electricity, paved streets and equality.

"He attracted attention since he was not only a foreigner but also chubbier than the locals. But he seemed to shrug off the teasing, eating tofu and tempeh like all the other kids, playing soccer and picking guavas from the trees," said Bambang Sukoco, Obama's former neighbor in Indonesia. "He didn't seem to mind that the other children called him 'Negro.'"

During his time living in Indonesia, Obama's mother read him books on African Americans and civil rights, said Ripley. Obama believes her acceptance of all cultures and weariness of religious establishments were passed on to him.

"She wasn't ideological. I inherited that, I think, from her. She was suspicious of can't," said Obama in the article. "She had a healthy skepticism of religion as an institution. And as a consequence, so did I."

At 14, Ripley said Obama moved back to Hawaii to live with his grandparents and attend a prestigious private school to which he'd won a scholarship.

Obama later graduated from Columbia University and moved to Chicago to provide community service to impoverished areas, his Web site reported.

"I originally came to Chicago to work on behalf of communities that needed help rebuilding after the devastation of steel plants that had closed on the far south side of Chicago," he said. "But the best education I received was working with people in the community on a grassroots basis because what it taught me was that ordinary people when they are working together can do extraordinary things."

After seeing how much change could be ignited through the work of a community-based group, Obama's Web site reported he understood how much could be accomplished through politics.

Accepted to Harvard, Obama received his degree from its law school, along with the position as the first African-American in charge of the Harvard Law Review.

"I knew that I wanted to reengage in community when I got back," Obama said on his Web site. "So rather than take the path of corporate law or some administration job in Washington, I came back (and) ran a voter registration project by Project Vote. We registered 150,000 new voters."

Obama also started a civil rights practice where he concentrated on working on cases involving voting rights, along with becoming a professor at the University of Chicago, where he taught constitutional law.

He ran for the senate in Illinois in 2004 and was successfully elected, becoming the third African American to become a senator since Reconstruction. Obama was the only candidate among his opponents who was against the war in Iraq.

During his career as a senator, Obama has fought to create legislature that involved the approval of both parties, rather than just his. Among his work, his Web site reported he has passed laws to keep weapons out of the hands of terrorists, promote energy efficiency and provide more information for citizens about what's really going on in the government.

Obama's hard work has taken him to the race for the presidency. Through a campaign that's received most of its funding through grassroots donations, many consider the amount of public support he holds to be undeniable.