Obama: A political journey — at warp speed

CHICAGO — Every year, the dedicated teacher would put together a bulletin board for Black History Month, honoring famous achievers.

There was Martin Luther King Jr., of course. Thurgood Marshall, the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice. George Washington Carver, the inventor and scientist.

Several years ago, Loretta Augustine-Herron added a little-known face to the board at her Mississippi school. It was a photo of a friend she had worked closely with in Chicago who was just launching his political career.

His name was Barack Obama.

"Who is he?" the kids would ask.

"Just remember the name," she'd tell them. "Just remember the name. You need to know who this is because he's going to be president one day."

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The mileposts are familiar by now:

The exotic childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia. The teen years struggling with his (Kenyan father, white mother) identity. The humble beginnings in Chicago. The success at high-powered Harvard. The legislative career in a sleepy state capital. The improbable leap from freshman U.S. senator to presidential candidate.

Finally, on Tuesday, 47-year-old Barack Hussein Obama Jr. will be sworn in as the nation's 44th president, his hand resting upon the burgundy velvet, gilt-edged Bible used by Abraham Lincoln.

The odyssey that brought him to the White House has been extraordinary, in so many ways. Those who've witnessed his journey or helped to shape it remember the big and small moments; together, they recite the story of the unlikely politician who is about to become the most powerful man on Earth.

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As a big brother, Barack Obama sometimes took on the role of father.

His half-sister, Maya, was just 16 when her father, Lolo Soetoro, died and Obama — nine years her senior — tried to fill the void.

They lived thousands of miles apart. But Maya would visit him in Chicago or New York, and he would introduce her to museums and art galleries, to jazz, classical and flamenco music, to different neighborhoods. And when it came time for her to check out college campuses, her older brother escorted her across around the country.

"He wanted me to see how big the world is," she says.

The big brother she'd tease — "Don't touch the 'fro," he'd warn as a teen when she tried to mess with his hair — became a source of comfort and advice.

"He made sure I thought about things carefully, and considered them thoughtfully and let things sit in my mouth and brain for a while," says Maya Soetoro-Ng.

And in life's big moments, he proved to be a constant.

"I always had him there to offer guidance — where I should look for work and what I should look for in a life partner," she says. "He helped me to heal in disappointment and with the loss of our mother ... he helped remind me all that she had given us."

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