Obama 50th birthday

US President Barack Obama has turned his 50th birthday celebration into a 2012 election campaign fundraising drive after weeks of damaging debt showdown with Republicans. Obama, who critics have accused of being weak and ineffectual during the recent debt battle, visited his hometown of Chicago on the eve of his birthday for a celebrity-studded bash and sought to recapture the energy of his last presidential campaign. The president, who turned 50 today, on Tuesday signed a legislation to raise the nation's debt limit by USD 2.4 trillion expected to cover debt payments through the end of 2012, while cutting federal deficits, and compromising with Republican demands in a bipartisan package.