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| Barack Obama |
Biography of Barack Obama - the 44th President of the United States
Name : Barack Obama
Occupation : U.S.
President, Lawyer, U.S. Senator
Birth
Date : August 4, 1961
(age 54)
Education ; Harvard
Law School, Occidental College,
Columbia University, Punahou Academy
Place
of Birth : Honolulu, Hawaii
Full
Name : Barack Hussein Obama
II
Zodiac
Sign : Leo
Barack
Hussein Obama II was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His mother,
Ann Dunham, was born on an Army base in Wichita, Kansas, during World War II.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dunham's father, Stanley, enlisted
in the military and marched across Europe in General George Patton's army.
Dunham's mother, Madelyn, went to work on a bomber assembly line. After the
war, the couple studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal
Housing Program and, after several moves, ended up in Hawaii.
Obama's
father, Barack Obama Sr., was born of Luo ethnicity in Nyanza Province, Kenya.
Obama Sr. grew up herding goats in Africa and, eventually earned a scholarship
that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams of going to college in
Hawaii. While studying at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Obama Sr. met
fellow student Ann Dunham, and they married on February 2, 1961. Barack was
born six months later.
As
a child, Obama did not have a relationship with his father. When his son was
still an infant, Obama Sr. relocated to Massachusetts to attend Harvard
University and pursue a Ph.D. Obama's parents officially separated several
months later and ultimately divorced in March 1964, when their son was two.
Soon after, Obama Sr. returned to Kenya.
In
1965, Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, a University of Hawaii student from
Indonesia. A year later, the family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, where Obama's
half-sister, Maya Soetoro Ng, was born in 1970. Several incidents in Indonesia
left Dunham afraid for her son's safety and education so, at the age of 10,
Obama was sent back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents. His
mother and half-sister later joined them.
Barack Obama Education
While
living with his grandparents, Obama enrolled in the esteemed Punahou Academy,
He excelled in basketball and graduated with academic honors in 1979. As one of
only three black students at the school, Obama became conscious of racism and
what it meant to be African-American. He later described how he struggled to
reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage with his own sense of
self: "I noticed that there was nobody like me in the Sears, Roebuck
Christmas catalog. . .and that Santa was a white man," he wrote. "I
went into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror with all my senses and
limbs seemingly intact, looking as I had always looked, and wondered if
something was wrong with me."
Obama
also struggled with the absence of his father, who he saw only once more after
his parents divorced, when Obama Sr. visited Hawaii for a short time in 1971.
"[My father] had left paradise, and nothing that my mother or grandparents
told me could obviate that single, unassailable fact," he later reflected.
"They couldn't describe what it might have been like had he stayed."
Ten
years later, in 1981, tragedy struck Obama Sr. when he lost both of his legs in
a serious car accident. Confined to a wheelchair, he also lost his job. In
1982, Obama Sr. was involved in yet another car accident while traveling in
Nairobi. This time, however, the crash was fatal. Obama Sr. died on November
24, 1982, when Obama was 21 years old. "At the time of his death, my father
remained a myth to me," Obama later wrote, "both more and less than a
man."
After
high school, Obama studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years.
He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, graduating in 1983
with a degree in political science. After working in the business sector for
two years, Obama moved to Chicago in 1985. There, he worked on the impoverished
South Side as a community organizer for low-income residents in the Roseland
and the Altgeld Gardens communities.
Barack Obama Law
Career
It
was during this time that Obama, who said he "was not raised in a
religious household," joined the Trinity United Church of Christ. He also
visited relatives in Kenya, and paid an emotional visit to the graves of his
biological father and paternal grandfather. "For a long time I sat between
the two graves and wept," Obama wrote. "I saw that my life in
America—the black life, the white life, the sense of abandonment I'd felt as a
boy, the frustration and hope I'd witnessed in Chicago—all of it was connected
with this small plot of earth an ocean away."
Returning
from Kenya with a sense of renewal, Obama entered Harvard Law School in 1988.
The next year, he joined the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin as a summer
associate and Michelle Robinson, a young lawyer assigned to be Obama's
adviser. Not long after, the couple
began dating. In February 1990, Obama was elected the first African-American
editor of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in
1991.
After
law school, Obama returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer with
the firm of Miner, Barnhill & Galland. He also taught constitutional law
part-time at the University of Chicago Law School between 1992 and 2004—first
as a lecturer and then as a professor—and helped organize voter registration
drives during Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. On October 3, 1992, he
and Michelle were married. They moved to Kenwood, on Chicago's South Side, and
welcomed two daughters several years later: Malia (born 1998) and Sasha (born
2001).
Entry
Into Illinois Politics
Obama
published an autobiography, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and
Inheritance, in 1995. The work received high praise from literary figures such
as Toni Morrison and has since been printed in more than 25 languages,
including Chinese, Swedish and Hebrew. The book had a second printing in 2004
and was adapted for a children's version. The audiobook version of Dreams,
narrated by Obama, received a Grammy Award for best spoken word album in 2006.
Obama's
advocacy work led him to run for a seat in the Illinois State Senate. He ran as
a Democrat and won election in 1996. During his years as a state senator, Obama
worked with both Democrats and Republicans to draft legislation on ethics, as well
as expand health care services and early childhood education programs for the
poor. He also created a state earned-income tax credit for the working poor. As
chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee Obama
worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of
interrogations and confessions in all capital cases after a number of death-row
inmates were found to be innocent.
In
2000, Obama made an unsuccessful Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of
Representatives seat held by four-term incumbent candidate Bobby Rush.
Undeterred, he created a campaign committee in 2002 and began raising funds to
run for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2004. With the help of political
consultant David Axelrod, Obama began assessing his prospects for a Senate win.
Following
the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Obama was an early opponent of President George W.
Bush's push to go to war with Iraq. Obama was still a state senator when he
spoke against a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq during a
rally at Chicago's Federal Plaza in October 2002. "I am not opposed to all
wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars," he said. "What I am opposed to is
the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend
warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our
throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne."
Despite his protests, the Iraq War began in 2003.
U.S.
Senate Career
Encouraged
by poll numbers, Obama decided to run for the U.S. Senate open seat vacated by
Republican Peter Fitzgerald. In the 2004 Democratic primary, he defeated
multimillionaire businessman Blair Hull and Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes
with 52 percent of the vote. That summer, he was invited to deliver the keynote
speech in support of John Kerry at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in
Boston. Obama emphasized the importance of unity and made veiled jabs at the
Bush administration and the diversionary use of wedge issues.
After
the convention, Obama returned to his U.S. Senate bid in Illinois. His opponent
in the general election was supposed to be Republican primary winner Jack Ryan,
a wealthy former investment banker. However, Ryan withdrew from the race in
June 2004 following public disclosure of unsubstantiated sexual deviancy
allegations by his ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan.
In
August 2004, diplomat and former presidential candidate Alan Keyes accepted the
Republican nomination to replace Ryan. In three televised debates, Obama and
Keyes expressed opposing views on stem cell research, abortion, gun control,
school vouchers and tax cuts. In the November 2004 general election, Obama
received 70 percent of the vote to Keyes' 27 percent, the largest electoral
victory in Illinois history. With his win, Obama became only the third
African-American elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.
Sworn
into office on January 3, 2005, Obama partnered with Republican Senator Richard
Lugar of Indiana on a bill that expanded efforts to destroy weapons of mass
destruction in Eastern Europe and Russia. Then, with Republican Senator Tom
Coburn of Oklahoma, he created a website to track all federal spending. Obama
also spoke out for victims of Hurricane Katrina, pushed for alternative energy
development and championed improved veterans' benefits.
His
second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream,
was published in October 2006. The work discussed Obama's visions for the
future of America, many of which became talking points for his eventual
presidential campaign. Shortly after its release, the book hit No. 1 on both
the New York Times and Amazon.com best-seller lists.
2008
Presidential Election
In
February 2007, Obama made headlines when he announced his candidacy for the
2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He was locked in a tight battle with
former first lady and then-U.S. senator from New York Hillary Rodham Clinton.
On June 3, 2008, Obama became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee after
winning a sufficient number of pledged delegates during the primaries, and
Clinton delivered her full support to Obama for the duration of his campaign.
On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama defeated Republican presidential nominee John
McCain, 52.9 percent to 45.7 percent, to win election as the 44th president of
the United States—and the first African-American to hold this office. His
running mate, Delaware Senator Joe Biden, became vice president. Obama's
inauguration took place on January 20, 2009.
When
Obama took office, he inherited a global economic recession, two ongoing
foreign wars and the lowest-ever international favorability rating for the
United States. He campaigned on an ambitious agenda of financial reform,
alternative energy and reinventing education and health care—all while bringing
down the national debt. Because these issues were intertwined with the economic
well-being of the nation, he believed all would have to be undertaken simultaneously.
During his inauguration speech, Obama summarized the situation by saying,
"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious
and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But
know this, America: They will be met."
First
100 Days
Between
Inauguration Day and April 29, 2009, the Obama administration took action on
many fronts. Obama coaxed Congress to expand health care insurance for children
and provide legal protection for women seeking equal pay. A $787 billion
stimulus bill was passed to promote short-term economic growth. Housing and
credit markets were put on life support, with a market-based plan to buy U.S.
banks' toxic assets. Loans were made to the auto industry, and new regulations
were proposed for Wall Street. Obama also cut taxes for working families, small
businesses and first-time home buyers. The president also loosened the ban on
embryonic stem cell research and moved ahead with a $3.5 trillion budget plan.
Over
his first 100 days in office, President Obama also undertook a complete
overhaul of America's foreign policy. He reached out to improve relations with
Europe, China and Russia and to open dialogue with Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. He
lobbied allies to support a global economic stimulus package. He committed an
additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan and set an August 2010 date for
withdrawal of nearly all U.S. troops from Iraq. In more dramatic incidents, he
ordered an attack on pirates off the coast of Somalia and prepared the nation
for a swine flu outbreak. He signed an executive order banning excessive
interrogation techniques and ordered the closing of the military detention
facility at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay within a year (a deadline that ultimately
would not be met). For his efforts, the Nobel Committee in Norway awarded Obama
the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
2010
State of the Union
On
January 27, 2010, President Obama delivered his first State of the Union
speech. During his oration, Obama addressed the challenges of the economy,
proposed a fee for larger banks, announced a possible freeze on government
spending in the following fiscal year and spoke against the Supreme Court's
reversal of a law capping campaign finance spending. He also challenged
politicians to stop thinking of re-election and start making positive changes.
He criticized Republicans for their refusal to support any legislation and
chastised Democrats for not pushing hard enough to get legislation passed. He
also insisted that, despite obstacles, he was determined to help American
citizens through the nation's current domestic difficulties. "We don't
quit. I don't quit," he said. "Let's seize this moment to start anew,
to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more."
Challenges
and Successes
In
the second part of his first term as president, Obama faced a number of
obstacles and scored some victories as well. In spite of opposition from
Congressional Republicans and the populist Tea Party movement, Obama signed his
health care reform plan, known as the Affordable Care Act, into law in March
2010. The new law prohibited the denial of coverage based on pre-existing
conditions, allowed citizens under 26 years old to be insured under parental
plans, provided for free health screenings for certain citizens and expanded
insurance coverage and access to medical care to millions of Americans.
Opponents of the Affordable Care Act, which foes dubbed "Obamacare,"
asserted that it added new costs to the country's overblown budget, violated
the Constitution with its requirement for individuals to obtain insurance and
amounted to a “government takeover” of health care
On
the economic front, Obama worked to steer the country through difficult
financial times. After drawn-out negotiations with Republicans who gained
control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2010 mid-term elections, he
signed the Budget Control Act of 2011 in an effort to rein in government
spending and prevent the government from defaulting on its financial
obligations. The act also called for the creation of a bipartisan committee to
seek solutions to the country's fiscal issues, but the group failed to reach
any agreement on how to solve these problems.
Also
in 2011, Obama signed a repeal of the military policy known as "Don't Ask,
Don't Tell," which prevented openly gay troops from serving in the U.S.
Armed Forces. In March 2011, he approved U.S. participation in NATO airstrikes
to support rebels fighting against the forces of Libyan dictator Muammar
al-Qaddafi, and in May he also gave the green light to a covert operation in
Pakistan that led to the killing of infamous al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by
a team of U.S. Navy SEALs.
Obama
gained a legal victory in June 2012 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the
Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, which required citizens to purchase
health insurance or pay a tax. In a 5-4 decision, the court decided the health
care law’s signature provision fell within the taxation power granted to
Congress under the Constitution. Voting with the majority were two associate
justices appointed by Obama—Sonia Sotomayor (confirmed in 2009) and Elena Kagan
(confirmed in 2010).
2012
Re-Election
As
he did in 2008, during his campaign for a second presidential term, Obama
focused on grassroots initiatives. Celebrities such as Anna Wintour and Sarah
Jessica Parker aided the president's campaign by hosting fund-raising events.
"I
guarantee you, we will move this country forward," Obama stated in June
2012, at a campaign event in Maryland. "We will finish what we started.
And we'll remind the world just why it is that the United States of America is
the greatest nation on Earth."
In
the 2012 election, Obama faced Republican opponent Mitt Romney and Romney's
vice-presidential running mate, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan. On November 6,
2012, Obama won a second four-year term as president by receiving nearly five
million more votes than Romney and capturing more than 60 percent of the
Electoral College.
Nearly
one month after President Obama's re-election, the nation endured one of its
most tragic school shootings to date when 20 children and six adults were shot
to death at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on
December 14, 2012. Two days after the attack, Obama delivered a speech at an
interfaith vigil for the victims in Newtown and discussed a need for change in
order to make schools safer while alluding to implementing stricter gun-control
measures. "These tragedies must end," Obama stated. "In the
coming weeks, I'll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow
citizens—from law enforcement, to mental-health professionals, to parents and
educators—in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this, because
what choice do we have? We can't accept events like these as routine. Are we
really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that
the politics are too hard?"
Obama
achieved a major legislative victory on January 1, 2013, when the
Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved a bipartisan agreement
on tax increases and spending cuts, in an effort to avoid the looming fiscal
cliff crisis (the Senate voted in favor of the bill earlier that day). The
agreement marked a productive first step toward the president's re-election
promise of reducing the federal deficit by raising taxes on the extremely
wealthy—individuals earning more than $400,000 per year and couples earning
more than $450,000, according to the bill. Prior to the bill's passage, in late
2012, tense negotiations between Republicans and Democrats over spending cuts
and tax increases became a bitter political battle until Vice President Joe
Biden managed to hammer out a deal with Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell. Obama pledged to sign the bill into law.
Second
Term
Barack
Obama officially began his second term on January 21, 2013, when U.S. Chief
Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office. The inauguration was held
on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and civil-rights activist Myrlie Evers-Williams,
the widow of Medgar Evers, gave the invocation. James Taylor, Beyoncé Knowles
and Kelly Clarkson sang at the ceremony, and poet Richard Blanco read his poem
"One Today."
In
his inaugural address, Obama called the nation to action on such issues as
climate change, health care and marriage equality. "We must act, knowing
that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today's victories
will be only partial and that it will be up to those who stand here in four
years and 40 years and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once
conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall," Obama told the crowd
gathered in front of the U.S. Capitol building.
The
Obamas attended two official inauguration balls, including one held at the
Walter E. Washington Convention Center. There the first couple danced to the Al
Green classic "Let's Stay Together," sung by Jennifer Hudson. Alicia
Keys and Jamie Foxx also performed.
After
the inauguration, Obama led the nation through many challenges—none more
difficult, perhaps, than the terrorist bombings of the Boston Marathon on April
15, 2013, which killed three people and left more than 200 injured. At a
memorial service in Boston three days after the bombings, he told the wounded,
"Your country is with you. We will all be with you as you learn to stand
and walk and, yes, run again. Of that I have no doubt. You will run
again." And he applauded the city’s response to the tragedy. "You’ve
shown us, Boston, that in the face of evil, Americans will lift up what’s good.
In the face of cruelty, we will choose compassion."
In
the same month, Obama also found his efforts for gun-control measures thwarted
in Congress. He had supported legislation calling for universal background
checks on all gun purchases and a ban on sales of assault weapons and high-capacity
magazines. When the bill was blocked and withdrawn, Obama called it “a pretty
shameful day for Washington.”
By
June, Obama had suffered a significant drop in his approval ratings in a
CNN/ORC International poll. In the wake of allegations of the Internal Revenue
Service targeting conservative political organizations seeking tax-exempt
status and accusations of a cover-up in the terrorist killings of U.S.
Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three others at a diplomatic post
in Benghazi, Libya, Obama’s approval rating declined to only 45 percent—his
lowest rating in more than 18 months.
Experts
also attributed the ratings slide to new revelations about the extent of the
U.S. National Security Agency’s surveillance program. Obama defended the NSA's
email monitoring and telephone wiretapping during a visit to Germany that June.
"We are not rifling through the emails of German citizens or American
citizens or French citizens or anyone else,” he said. "The encroachment on
privacy has been strictly limited." Obama stated that the program had
helped stop roughly 50 threats.
In
early July 2013, President Obama made history when he joined former President
George W. Bush in Africa to commemorate the 15th anniversary of al-Qaeda’s
first attack on American targets, the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. The
event marked the first meeting between two U.S. presidents on foreign soil in
commemoration of an act of terrorism.
Later
that month, Obama spoke out about the outrage that followed a Florida jury’s
decision to acquit George Zimmerman in the murder of African-American teen
Trayvon Martin. "When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this
could have been my son,” the president remarked at a White House press
conference. “Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35
years ago." Obama explained that this particular case was a state matter,
but he discussed how the federal government could address some of the
legislative and racial issues highlighted by the incident.
International
Challenges
Obama
found himself grappling with an international crisis in late August and
September 2013 when it was discovered that Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad had
used chemical weapons against civilians. While saying that thousands of people,
including over 400 children, had been killed in the chemical attacks, Obama
called Syria's actions "a serious national security threat to the United
States and to the region, and as a consequence, Assad and Syria needs to be
held accountable."
The
president worked to persuade Congress and the international community at large
to take action against Syria, but found a majority on Capitol Hill opposed to
military involvement. Obama then announced an alternative solution on September
10, 2013, by stating that if al-Assad agreed with the stipulations outlined in
a proposal made by Russia to give up its chemical weapons, then a direct strike
against the nation could be avoided. Al-Assad acknowledged the possession of
chemical weapons and ultimately accepted the Russian proposal.
Later
that month, Obama made diplomatic strides with Iran. He spoke with Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani on the phone, which marked the first direct contact
between the leaders of the two countries in more than 30 years. This groundbreaking
move by Obama was seen by many as a sign of thawing in the relationship between
the United States and Iran. "The two of us discussed our ongoing efforts
to reach an agreement over Iran's nuclear program," reported Obama at a
press conference in which he expressed optimism that a deal could be reached to
lift sanctions on Iran in return for that country’s willingness to halt its
nuclear development program.
Domestic
Policies and Problems
Obama
found himself struggling on the domestic front in October 2013. A dispute over
the federal budget and Republican desires to defund or derail the Affordable
Care Act caused a 16-day shutdown of the federal government. After a deal had
been reached to end the shutdown, Obama used his weekly address to express his
frustration over the situation and his desire for political reform: "The
way business is done in Washington has to change. Now that these clouds of
crisis and uncertainty have lifted, we need to focus on what the majority of
Americans sent us here to do—grow the economy, create good jobs, strengthen the
middle class, lay the foundation for broad-based prosperity, and get our fiscal
house in order for the long haul."
The
Affordable Care Act continued to come under fire in October after the failed
launch of HealthCare.gov, the website meant to allow people to find and
purchase health insurance. Extra technical support was brought in to work on
the troubled website, which was plagued with glitches for weeks. The health
care law was also blamed for some Americans losing their existing insurance
policies, despite repeated assurances from Obama that such cancellations would
not occur. According to the Chicago Tribune, Obama insisted that the insurance
companies—and not his legislation—caused the coverage change. "Remember,
before the Affordable Care Act, these bad-apple insurers had free rein every
single year to limit the care that you received, or used minor pre-existing
conditions to jack up your premiums, or bill you into bankruptcy,” he said.
Under
mounting pressure, Obama found himself apologizing regarding some health care
changes. In an interview with NBC News, he said of those who lost their
insurance plans, "I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this
situation based on assurances they got from me." Obama pledged to find a
remedy to this problem, saying, "We are going to do everything we can to
deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of
this."
Managing
Foreign Crises
The
fall of 2013 brought Obama additional challenges in the area of foreign
relations. In October 2013, German Chancellor Angela Merkel revealed that the
NSA had been listening in to her cell phone calls. "Spying among friends
is never acceptable," Merkel told a summit of European leaders. In the
wake of these controversies, Obama saw his approval rating drop to a new low in
November 2013. Only 37 percent of Americans polled by CBS News approved of the
job he was doing as president, while 57 percent disapproved of his handling of
the job.
Echoes
of the Cold War also returned after civil unrest and protests in the capital
city of Kiev led to the downfall of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's
administration in February 2014. Russian troops crossed into Ukraine to support
pro-Russian forces and the annexation of the province of Crimea. In response,
Obama ordered sanctions targeting individuals and businesses considered by the
U.S. government to be Ukraine agitators or involved in the Crimean crisis.
"In 2014 we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the
heads of democratic leaders," Obama stated. The president said the
sanctions were taken in close coordination with European allies and gave the
U.S. "the flexibility to adjust our response going forward based on
Russia's actions.”
In
addition to the ongoing troubles in Ukraine, tensions between Israelis and
Palestinians erupted into violence in Gaza during the summer of 2014. At the
same time, tens of thousands of Central American children were being
apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border after making the perilous crossing alone.
Many Republicans called for the rapid deportation of these illegal immigrants,
while others considered the situation a humanitarian crisis. Another of the
president's woes came from the legislative branch. Speaker of the House John
Boehner launched an effort to sue Obama for overstepping his executive powers
with some of his actions regarding the Affordable Care Act.
In
August 2014, Obama ordered the first airstrikes against the self-proclaimed
Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which had seized large swathes of
Iraq and Syria and conducted high-profile beheadings of foreign hostages. The
following month, the U.S. launched its first attacks on ISIS targets in Syria,
although the president pledged to keep combat troops out of the conflict.
Several Arab countries joined in the airstrikes against the extremist Islamic
militant group. "The only language understood by killers like this is the
language of force,” Obama said in a speech to the United Nations. “So the United
States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of
death."
Presidency
After 2014 Elections
That
November, Obama had to cope with new challenges on the home front. Republicans
made an impressive showing on Election Day and gained a majority in the Senate,
meaning that Obama would have to contend with Republicans controlling both
houses of Congress for the final two years of his term.
Obama
flexed his presidential power in December by moving to reestablish diplomatic
relations with Cuba for the first time in more than 50 years. The policy change
came after the exchange of American citizen Alan Gross and another unnamed
American intelligence agent for three Cuban spies. In a speech at the White
House, Obama explained that the dramatic shift in Cuban policy would
"create more opportunities for the American and Cuban people and begin a
new chapter among the nations of the Americas."
In
renewing diplomatic ties with Cuba, Obama announced plans "to increase
travel, commerce and the flow of information to and from Cuba." The
long-standing U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, however, remained in effect and
could only be removed with the approval of Congress. Obama may not be able to
sway Congress to agree on this policy shift as leading Republicans—including
Boehner, McConnell and Florida Senator Marco Rubio—all spoke out against
Obama's new Cuba policies.
In
his 2015 State of the Union address, Obama declared that the nation was out of
recession. "America, for all that we've endured; for all the grit and hard
work required to come back . . . know this: The shadow of crisis has
passed," he said. He went on to share his vision for ways to improve the
nation through free community college programs and middle-class tax breaks.
With
Democrats outnumbered by Republicans in both the House and the Senate, Obama
threatened to use his executive power to prevent any tinkering by the
opposition on his existing policies. "We can’t put the security of
families at risk by taking away their health insurance, or unraveling the new
rules on Wall Street, or refighting past battles on immigration when we’ve got
to fix a broken system," he said. "And if a bill comes to my desk
that tries to do any of these things, I will veto it."
Not
long after his State of the Union address, Obama traveled to India to meet with
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to several news reports, Obama and Modi
had reached a "breakthrough understanding" regarding India's nuclear
power efforts. Obama told the Indian people in a speech given in New Delhi that
"we can finally move toward fully implementing our civil nuclear
agreement, which will mean more reliable electricity for Indians and cleaner,
non-carbon energy that helps fight climate change." This agreement would
also open the door to U.S. investment in India's energy industry.
Supreme
Court Victories
The
summer of 2015 brought two major U.S. Supreme Court wins for the Obama
administration. The court upheld part of the president's Affordable Care Act
regarding health care tax subsidies. Without these tax credits, buying medical
insurance might have become too costly for millions of Americans.
On
June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court also made marriage equality a reality with its
5-4 decision to overturn an earlier 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that
same-sex marriage bans in several states were constitutional. By reversing this
earlier decision, the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal throughout the
country. President Obama, who became the first president to voice support for
same-sex marriage in May 2012, praised the court for affirming "that the
Constitution guarantees marriage equality. In doing so, they've reaffirmed that
all Americans are entitled to the equal protection of the law. That all people
should be treated equally, regardless of who they are or who they love."
In
his speech, Obama also said that the court's decision "is a consequence of
the countless small acts of courage of millions of people across decades who
stood up, who came out, who talked to parents—parents who loved their children
no matter what. Folks who were willing to endure bullying and taunts, and
stayed strong . . . and slowly made an entire country realize that love is
love."
On
the same day as this landmark decision, President Obama grappled with an
incident of racial violence by speaking at the funeral of Reverend Clementa
Pinckney, one of the nine African-Americans killed by a young white man during
a Bible study meeting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
In his eulogy for Pinckney, Obama said that the church’s late pastor
"embodied the idea that our Christian faith demands deeds and not just
words."
Iran
Nuclear Deal
In
July 2015, Obama announced that, after lengthy negotiations, the United States
and five world powers had reached an agreement with Iran over its nuclear
program. The deal would allow inspectors entry into Iran to make sure the
country kept its pledge to limit its nuclear program and enrich uranium at a
much lower level than would be needed for a nuclear weapon. In return, the U.S.
and its partners would remove the tough sanctions imposed on Iran and allow the
country to ramp up sales of oil and access frozen bank accounts.
As
the administration began its effort to lobby Congress to endorse the deal, Obama
made his first trip as president back to his father’s homeland of Kenya. In
addition to having dinner with three-dozen relatives, some of whom he met for
the very first time, Obama proudly proclaimed to a packed arena, “I am proud to
be the first American president to come to Kenya—and of course I’m the first
Kenyan-American to be president of the United States.”
Clean
Power Plan
In
August 2015, the Obama administration announced The Clean Power Plan, a major
climate change plan aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the first-ever
national standards to limit carbon pollution from coal-burning power plants in
the United States. President Obama called the plan the "single most
important step that America has ever made in the fight against global climate
change."
The
plan calls for aggressive Environmental Protection Agency regulations including
requiring existing power plants to cut carbon dioxide emissions 32 percent from
2005 levels by 2030 and use more renewable energy sources like wind and solar
power. Under the regulations, states will be allowed to create their own plans
to reduce emissions and are required to submit initial plans by 2016 and final
versions by 2018.
Critics
quickly voiced loud opposition to the plan including Kentucky Senator Mitch
McConnell, the Republican majority leader, who sent a letter to every governor
in the United States urging them not to comply with the regulations. States and
private companies, which rely on coal production for their economic
livelihoods, are also expected to legally challenge the plan.
Despite
the backlash from those sectors, President Obama remained steadfast in his bold
action to address climate change. "We've heard these same stale arguments
before," he said in an address from the White House. "Each time they
were wrong."
He
added: "We're the first generation to feel the impact of climate change
and the last generation that can do something about it."
2015
Paris Climate Conference
In
November 2015, Obama further demonstrated his commitment to environmental
issues as a primary player in the international COP21 summit held outside of
Paris, France. Addressing the gathered representatives of nearly 200 countries,
Obama acknowledged the United States’ position as the second-largest climate
polluter and the nation’s primary responsibility to do something about it. The
resulting Paris Agreement requires all participating nations to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit the rise of global temperatures
over the ensuing century and also to allocate resources for the research and
development of alternative energy sources. President Obama praised the
agreement for establishing the “enduring framework the world needs to solve the
climate crisis” and pledged that the United States would cut its emissions more
than 25 percent by 2030.
Gun
Control
Entering
his final year as President of the United States, in early January 2016 Obama
held a press conference to announce a new series of executive orders related to
gun control. Citing examples such as the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook
elementary school, the president shed tears as he called on Congress and the
gun lobby to work with him to make the country safer. His measures, which have
met with vehement opposition from members of both the Republican and Democratic
Parties, as well as gun advocacy groups such as the NRA, would implement more
thorough background checks for gun buyers, stricter governmental oversight and
enforcement of gun laws, better information sharing regarding mental health
issues as related to gun ownership and investment in gun safety technology.
According to a 2015 Gallup poll, most Americans favor some kind of stricter
regulations of gun sales.
Final
State of the Union
In
what is likely to be one of his last major speeches as president, on January
12, 2016, Barack Obama delivered his final State of the Union address.
Diverging from the typical policy-prescribing format, Obama’s message for the
American people was centered around themes of optimism in the face of
adversity, asking them not to let fears about security or the future get in the
way of building a nation that is “clear-eyed” and “big-hearted.” This did not
prevent him from taking thinly disguised jabs at Republican presidential
hopefuls for what he characterized as their “cynical” rhetoric, making further
allusions to the “rancor and suspicion between the parties” and his failure as
president to have not been able to do more to bridge that gap. But Obama also
took the opportunity to tout his accomplishments, citing the Affordable Care
Act, diplomatic progress with Iran and Cuba, the legalization of gay marriage
and profound economic recovery as among them.
