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Barack Obama was President from 2009-2017
Barack Obama was President from 2009-2017
January 20, 2009 - January 19, 2017
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2009-2013
November 4, 2008
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On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election, defeating the Republican nominee John McCain. Obama, a Democrat, became the first black president in U.S. history. His campaign ran on the slogans "Change We Can Believe in" and "Yes We Can". His Vice President was Joe Biden.
February 17, 2009
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Upon becoming president, Obama inherited an economy that was in the midst of a financial crisis and looked ready to fall into a depression. Unemployment was rising, businesses and banks were failing, and Americans were defaulting on their home loans. In response, Obama signed into law the American Recovery Act, in order to simulate the economy. The act pumped $800 billion into the economy to create infrastructure jobs, protect jobs in education, police departments, and local government, fund renewable energy research, and lower taxes for most Americans. The act also increased support for people on food stamps, the elderly, and those in public housing.
May 26, 2009
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On May 26, 2009, Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. She would become the first Latinx justice to the Court and only the 3rd woman. Obama would follow this up by nominating Elena Kagan to the Court the next year, making her the 4th women to ever serve on the Court.
March 23, 2010
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In 2010, Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, better known as "Obamacare", into law. The act reformed the U.S. healthcare system by expanding access to health insurance, requiring health insurance companies to cover people with preexisting conditions, expanded Medicaid, and created a website called Healthcare.gov for people to use to buy insurance if their employer did not provide it. The law was very controversial and received no Republican support in Congress, who saw it as a government take-over of the healthcare system. By 2014, the law had led to more than 20 million additional Americans getting health insurance, though it did not reduce the overall cost of healthcare.
November 2, 2010
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In the midterm elections of 2010, the Republican Party took back the House of Representatives, ending unified Democratic Party control of the federal government and dealing Obama a significant blow. Republicans gained 63 seats. Many saw the result as a reaction to Obamacare and the Recovery Act due to their high cost and unpopularity among Republican voters. Republicans in the House would now seek to prevent Obama from passing key items on his agenda.
December 22, 2010
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On December 22, 2010, Obama signed into law the repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy in the military. The policy had prohibited LGBT soldiers from serving openly in the armed forces and would discharge them if their status was revealed. Obama repealed the law and LGBT members could now serve openly without fear of persecution. In 2012, Obama would also come out in support of legalizing same-sex marriage.
May 2, 2011
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On May 2, 2011, Obama ordered the military to carryout a raid in Pakistan on the suspected safe house of Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden was the leader of Al-Qaeda and responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks which killed nearly 3,000 Americans. In a nighttime raid, Navy Seals entered the compound and killed Bin Laden. Celebrations broke out across the U.S. following the death of Bin Laden.
December 18, 2011
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On December 18, 2011, the U.S. combat mission in Iraq ended, fulfilling one of Obama's campaign promises. The war began in 2003 under George W. Bush.
July 15, 2012
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Having failed to get Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, Obama announced a new immigration policy in 2012 called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or better known as DACA. It would allow the children of undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S., get an education, and receive a work permit. It is estimated that DACA has allowed more than 600,000 children to stay in the U.S.
June 2014
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In 2014, the terrorist group ISIS won a series of battles in Iraq and Syria, taking over significant swaths of the country. They gained international attention for their extreme views and brutality, which included videos of public executions, their practice of enslaving people, and the forced marriages and rape of women. Obama began conducting a large scale bombing campaign against ISIS targets and armed Iraqi and Syrian forces to fight ISIS on the ground. The war against ISIS would continue throughout Obama's presidency.
July 14, 2015
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In 2015, after years of negotiation, the U.S. and key allies signed the Iran Agreement. In the agreement, Iran agreed to end its nuclear weapons programs and submit to weapons inspections. In turn, the U.S. agreed to unfreeze Iranian bank accounts in U.S. The U.S. had frozen the Iranian accounts in 1979 after the Iranian Revolution. Obama hailed the agreement as proof that diplomacy could work. It is considered by many to be the greatest foreign policy achievement of the Obama presidency.
March 16, 2016
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On March 16, 2016, Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court to replace recently deceased conservative justice Antonin Scalia. If successful, it would have been Obama's 3rd Supreme Court selection. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked the nomination, instead indicating he would wait until a new president came into office to allow the seat to be filled. This was one of the greatest set-backs of the Obama presidency, preventing him from adding a more liberal justice to the Supreme Court.
April 22, 2016
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In the last year of his presidency, Obama signed on to the Paris Climate Agreement. The agreement came after years of negotiation by the U.S. and other major countries who produced high carbon emissions which caused climate change. The agreement calls for all countries to reduce their carbon emissions in order to combat climate change and save the planet from increased droughts, elevated sea levels, intensified weather patterns, and wild fires.