Obama's presidency has generally been regarded favorably, and evaluations of his presidency among historians,
political scientists, and the general public place him among the
upper tier of American presidents. Obama left office and retired in January 2017 and currently resides in Washington, D.C.[3][4]
A December 2019 Gallup poll
found that Obama was the most admired man in America for a record 12th consecutive year.[5]
In late August 1961, a few weeks after he was born, Barack and his mother moved to the University of Washington in Seattle, where they lived for a year. During that time, the
elder Obama completed his undergraduate degree in economics in
Hawaii, graduating in June 1962. He left to attend graduate school on a scholarship at Harvard University, where he earned an M.A. in economics. Obama's parents divorced in March
1964.[22] Obama Sr. returned to Kenya in 1964,
where he married for a third time and worked for the Kenyan government as the Senior Economic Analyst in the
Ministry of Finance.[23] He visited his son in
Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971,[24]
before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old.[25] Recalling his early childhood, Obama
said, "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as
milk—barely registered in my mind."[19] He
described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.[26]
Obama started in St. Francis Pre-Education from age three to five. From age six to ten, he then attended local Indonesian-language schools: Sekolah Dasar
Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School) for two years and Sekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng
01 (State Elementary School Menteng 01/Besuki school) for one and a half years, supplemented by
English-language Calvert School homeschooling by his
mother.[29][30] As a result of those four years in Jakarta, he was able to speak Indonesian fluently as a child.[31][32][33] During his time in
Indonesia, Obama's step-father taught him to be resilient and gave him "a pretty hardheaded assessment of how the
world works."[34]
In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal
grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham. He attended Punahou School—a private college preparatory school—with the aid
of a scholarship from fifth grade until he graduated from high school in 1979.[35] In his youth, Obama went by the nickname
"Barry."[36] Obama lived with his mother and
half-sister, Maya Soetoro, in Hawaii for three years
from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Hawaii.[37] Obama chose to stay in Hawaii with his
grandparents for high school at Punahou when his mother
and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975 so his mother could begin anthropology field work.[38] His mother spent most of the next two
decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo in 1980 and earning a PhD
degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for ovarian and uterine cancer.[39]
Obama later reflected on his years in Honolulu and wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered—to experience a
variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect—became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the
values that I hold most dear."[40] Obama has
also written and talked about using alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I
was out of my mind."[41] Obama was also a
member of the "choom gang," a self-named group of friends who spent time together and occasionally smoked
marijuana.[42][43]
Obama poses in the Green Room of the White House
with wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia, 2009.
In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little
mini-United Nations," he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher."[53] Obama has a half-sister with whom he was
raised (Maya Soetoro-Ng) and seven other half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family—six of them living.[54] Obama's mother was survived by her
Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham,[55] until her death on November 2, 2008,[56] two days before his election to the
Presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011.[57] In Dreams from My Father, Obama
ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate
States of America during the American Civil
War. He also shares distant ancestors in common with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, among others.[58][59][60]
Obama is a supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and he
threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a
senator.[61] In 2009, he threw out the
ceremonial first pitch at the All-Star Game while wearing a
White Sox jacket.[62] He is also primarily a
Chicago Bears football fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was
a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and rooted for them
ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days
after he took office as president.[63] In 2011, Obama invited the 1985 Chicago Bears to the White House; the
team had not visited the White House after their Super Bowl
win in 1986 due to the Space
Shuttle Challenger disaster.[64] He
plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team,[65] and he is left-handed.[66]
Obama lived with anthropologist Sheila Miyoshi Jager
while he was a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s.[67] He proposed
to her twice, but both Jager and her parents turned him down.[67][68] The
relationship was not made public until May 2017, several months after his presidency had ended.[68]
In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was
employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin.[69] Robinson was assigned for three months
as Obama's adviser at the firm, and she joined him at several group social functions but declined his initial
requests to date.[70] They began dating later
that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.[71] After suffering a miscarriage, Michelle
underwent in vitro fertilisation to conceive
their children.[72] The couple's first
daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998,[73]
followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), in 2001.[74] The Obama daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory
Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the Sidwell Friends School.[75] The Obamas have two Portuguese Water Dogs; the first, a male named Bo, was a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.[76] In 2013, Bo was joined by Sunny, a female.[77]
In 2005, the family applied the proceeds of a book deal and moved from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a
$1.6 million house (equivalent to $2.1 million in 2019) in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago.[78] The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale
of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's
subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.[79]
In December 2007, Money Magazine estimated
Obama's net worth at $1.3 million (equivalent to $1.6 million in 2019) .[80] Their 2009 tax return showed a household
income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales
of his books.[81][82] On his 2010 income of $1.7 million,
he gave 14% to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 to Fisher House Foundation, a charity assisting
wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.[83][84] Per his 2012 financial disclosure, Obama
may be worth as much as $10 million.[85]
In early 2010, Michelle spoke about her husband's smoking habit and said Barack had quit smoking.[86][87]
On his 55th birthday, August 4, 2016, Obama penned an essay in Glamour, in which he described how his
daughters and the presidency have made him a feminist.[88][89][90]
Religious views
Obama is a Protestant Christian whose religious views
developed in his adult life.[91] He
wrote in The Audacity of Hope that he "was
not raised in a religious household." He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as being detached
from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person ... I have ever known." He described his
father as a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and
his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful." Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came
to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change."[92]
In January 2008, Obama told Christianity Today:
"I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that
faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life."[93] On September 27, 2010, Obama released a
statement commenting on his religious views saying, "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they
weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she
didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of
Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters'
keeper, treating others as they would treat me."[94][95]
Two years after graduating from Columbia, Obama moved from New York to Chicago when he was hired as director of the
Developing Communities Project, a
church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side. He worked there as a community
organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.[51][101] He helped set up a job training
program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[102] Obama also worked as
a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel
Foundation, a community organizing institute.[103] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first
time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for the
first time.[104][105]
In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to
work on his first book.[113][114] He then taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law
School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996,
and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004.[115]
From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project
Vote, a voter registration campaign
with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000
unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name
Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.[116]
He joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and
neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004. In 1994, he was listed as one
of the lawyers in Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 94 C 4094 (N.D. Ill.).[117] This class action lawsuit was filed in 1994 with Selma
Buycks-Roberson as lead plaintiff and alleged that Citibank Federal Savings Bank had engaged in practices forbidden
under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and
the Fair Housing Act.[118] The case was settled out of court.[119] Final judgment was issued on May 13,
1998, with Citibank Federal Savings Bank agreeing to pay attorney fees.[120] His law license became inactive in
2007.[121][122]
From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago—which in 1985 had been the
first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project—and of the Joyce Foundation.[51] He served on the board of
directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge
from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.[51]
State Senator Obama and others celebrate the naming of a street in Chicago after ShoreBank co-founder Milton Davis in 1998.
Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996,
succeeding Democratic State Senator Alice
Palmer from Illinois's 13th District, which, at that time, spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park–Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn.[123] Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan
support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws.[124][125] He sponsored a law that increased tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for
childcare.[126] In 2001, as
co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at
averting home foreclosures.[127][128]
In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats,
after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.[132] He sponsored and led unanimous,
bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial
profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois
the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.[126][133][134][135] During his 2004 general election
campaign for the U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police
organizations in enacting death
penalty reforms.[136] Obama resigned
from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate.[137]
Results of the 2004 U.S. Senate race in Illinois; Obama won the counties in blue.
In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race. He created a campaign
committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002.
Obama formally announced his candidacy in January 2003.[138]
Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush
administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq.[139] On October 2, 2002, the day President
Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution
authorizing the Iraq War,[140] Obama addressed the first
high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War
rally,[141] and spoke
out against the war.[142] He
addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd "it's not too late" to stop the war.[143]
Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter
Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol
Moseley Braun to not participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary
contests involving 15 candidates.[144] In the
March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within the
national Democratic Party, started
speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir, Dreams from My Father.[145] In July 2004, Obama delivered
the keynote address at the 2004
Democratic National Convention,[146]
seen by nine million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party.[147]
Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June
2004.[148] Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace
Ryan.[149] In the November 2004 general
election, Obama won with 70% of the vote.[150]
Official portrait of Obama as a member of the United States Senate
Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005,[151] becoming the only Senate member of the
Congressional Black Caucus.[152]CQ Weekly characterized him as a "loyal
Democrat" based on analysis of all Senate votes from 2005 to 2007. Obama announced on November 13, 2008, that he
would resign his Senate seat
on November 16, 2008, before the start of the lame-duck session, to focus on his transition
period for the presidency.[153]
Obama sponsored legislation that would have required nuclear plant owners to notify state and local authorities of
radioactive leaks, but the bill failed to pass in the full Senate after being heavily modified in committee.[158] Regarding tort reform, Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and
the FISA
Amendments Act of 2008, which grants immunity from civil liability to telecommunications companies complicit
with NSA warrantless
wiretapping operations.[159]
Obama and U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) visit a Russian
facility for dismantling mobile missiles (August 2005)[160]
Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for
personality-disorder military discharges.[168] This amendment passed the full Senate
in the spring of 2008.[169] He sponsored the
Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting
divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which was never enacted but later incorporated
in the Comprehensive
Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010;[170] and co-sponsored legislation to reduce
risks of nuclear terrorism.[171] Obama also sponsored
a Senate amendment to the State
Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for
soldiers with combat-related injuries.[172]
Committees
Obama speaks with a soldier stationed in Iraq, 2006.
Numerous candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential
primaries. The field narrowed to a duel between Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton after early contests, with the race
remaining close throughout the primary process but with Obama gaining a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range
planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus
states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules.[182] On June 7, 2008, Clinton
ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.[183]
Outgoing President George W. Bush meets with
President-elect Obama in the Oval Office on November 10,
2008.
On August 23, Obama announced his selection of Delaware Senator
Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate.[184] Obama selected Biden from a
field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.[184] At the Democratic National Convention in
Denver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to
endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention
speeches in his support.[185] Obama
delivered his acceptance speech, not at the center where the Democratic National Convention was held, but at Invesco Field at Mile High to a crowd of
approximately 84,000 people; the speech was viewed by over 38 million people worldwide.[186][187][188]
During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records,
particularly in the quantity of small donations.[189] On June 19, 2008,
Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public
financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976.[190]
2008 electoral vote results
John McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate, and he selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. The two candidates engaged
in three presidential
debates in September and October 2008.[191] On November 4,
Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by
McCain.[192] Obama won 52.9%
of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7%.[193] He became the first African American
to be elected president.[194] Obama delivered
his victory speech before
hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant
Park.[195]
Obama greets former Governor Mitt Romney in the Oval Office on November 29, 2012, in their first meeting
since Obama's re-election victory over Romney.
On April 4, 2011, Obama announced his reelection campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he
posted on his website and filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission.[196][197][198] As the incumbent president he ran
virtually unopposed in the Democratic Party presidential
primaries,[199] and on
April 3, 2012, Obama had secured the 2778 convention delegates needed to win
the Democratic nomination.[200]
On November 6, 2012, Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270
required for him to be reelected as president.[202][203][204] With 51.1% of the popular vote,[205] Obama became the first Democratic
president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win the
majority
of the popular vote twice.[206][207] Obama addressed supporters and
volunteers at Chicago's McCormick Place after his
reelection and said: "Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not
ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both
parties."[208][209]
The inauguration of Barack Obama as
the 44th President took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office, Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S.
military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.[210] He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp,[211] but Congress prevented the closure by
refusing to appropriate the required funds[212][213][214] and preventing moving any Guantanamo
detainee into the U.S. or to other countries.[215] Obama reduced the secrecy given to
presidential records.[216] He also revoked
President George W. Bush's restoration of President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City Policy prohibiting federal aid to
international family planning organizations that perform or provide counseling about abortion.[217]
Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his Presidency. He nominated Sonia Sotomayor on May 26, 2009 to replace retiring Associate
JusticeDavid Souter; she was confirmed on August
6, 2009,[221] becoming the first Supreme
Court Justice of Hispanic descent.[222] Obama nominated Elena Kagan on May 10, 2010 to replace retiring Associate
Justice John Paul Stevens. She was confirmed on August
5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three justices for the first time in
American history.[223]
On March 30, 2010, Obama signed the Health Care and
Education Reconciliation Act, a reconciliation bill that ended
the process of the federal government giving subsidies to private banks to give out federally insured loans,
increased the Pell Grant scholarship award, and made changes
to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[224][225]
In a major space policy
speech in April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction at NASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return of human spaceflight to the moon and development of the
Ares I rocket, Ares V rocket and Constellation program, in favor of funding Earth
science projects, a new rocket type, and research and development for an eventual manned mission to Mars, and
ongoing missions to the International Space
Station.[226]
President Obama's 2011 State of the Union
Address focused on themes of education and innovation, stressing the importance of innovation economics to make the United States
more competitive globally. He spoke of a five-year freeze in domestic spending, eliminating tax breaks for oil
companies and reversing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, banning congressional earmarks, and reducing healthcare costs. He promised
the United States would have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015 and be 80% reliant on "clean" electricity.[227][228]
On October 30, 2009, Obama lifted the ban on travel to the United States by those infected with HIV, which was celebrated by Immigration Equality.[230]
As a candidate for the Illinois state senate in 1996, Obama had said he favored legalizing same-sex marriage.[235] By the time of his Senate run
in 2004, he said he supported civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex partners but opposed same-sex
marriages.[236] In 2008, he
reaffirmed this position by stating "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay
marriage."[237] On May 9, 2012, shortly after
the official launch of his campaign for re-election as president, Obama said his views had evolved, and he publicly
affirmed his personal support for the legalization of same-sex marriage, becoming the first sitting U.S. president
to do so.[238][239]
The White House was illuminated in rainbow colors on the
evening of the Supreme Court same-sex marriage ruling, June 26, 2015.
During his second inaugural address
on January 21, 2013,[209] Obama
became the first U.S. President in office to call for full equality for gay Americans: "Our journey is not complete
until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law—for if we are truly created equal,
then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well." This was the first time that a president
mentioned gay rights or the word "gay"
in an inaugural address.[240][241]
In 2013, the Obama Administration filed briefs that urged the Supreme Court to rule in favor of
same-sex couples in the cases of Hollingsworth v.
Perry (regarding same-sex marriage)[242] and United States v. Windsor (regarding the
Defense of Marriage Act).[243] Then, following the Supreme
Court's 2015 decision in Obergefell v.
Hodges (ruling same-sex marriage to be a fundamental right), Obama asserted that, "This decision
affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts: When all Americans are treated as equal we are
all more free."[244]
On July 30, 2015, the White House Office of National AIDS Policy revised its strategy for addressing the disease,
which included widespread testing and linkage to healthcare, which was celebrated by the Human Rights Campaign.[245]
Obama intervened in the troubled automotive
industry[254] in March 2009, renewing
loans for General Motors and Chrysler to continue operations while reorganizing. Over the
following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including the sale of Chrysler to Italian
automaker Fiat[255] and a reorganization of GM giving
the U.S. government a temporary 60% equity stake in the company, with the Canadian government taking a 12% stake.[256] In June 2009, dissatisfied with the
pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment.[257]
He signed into law the Car Allowance Rebate
System, known colloquially as "Cash for Clunkers," which temporarily boosted the economy.[258][259][260]
The Bush and Obama administrations authorized spending and loan guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.
These guarantees totaled about $11.5 trillion, but only $3 trillion had been spent by the end of November
2009.[261] Obama and the Congressional Budget Office predicted the
2010 budget deficit would be
$1.5 trillion or 10.6% of the nation's gross
domestic product (GDP) compared to the 2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion or 9.9% of GDP.[262][263] For 2011, the administration predicted
the deficit would shrink to $1.34 trillion, and the 10-year deficit would increase to $8.53 trillion or
90% of GDP.[264] The most recent increase in
the U.S. debt ceiling to $17.2 trillion
took effect in February 2014.[265] On August
2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the
bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2011. The
legislation enforces limits on discretionary spending until 2021, establishes a procedure to increase the debt
limit, creates a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with
a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and establishes automatic
procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with the new joint
select committee does not achieve such savings.[266] By passing the legislation, Congress
was able to prevent a U.S.
governmentdefault on its obligations.[267]
US employment statistics (unemployment rate and monthly
changes in net employment) during Obama's tenure as U.S. President[268][269]
As it did throughout 2008, the unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.0% and averaging
10.0% in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7% in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell
to 9.6% in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year.[270] Between February and
December 2010, employment rose by 0.8%, which was less than the average of 1.9% experienced during comparable
periods in the past four employment recoveries.[271] By November 2012, the
unemployment rate fell to 7.7%,[272]
decreasing to 6.7% in the last month of 2013.[273] During 2014, the unemployment rate
continued to decline, falling to 6.3% in the first quarter.[274] GDP growth returned in the third
quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate of 1.6%, followed by a 5.0% increase in the fourth quarter.[275] Growth continued in 2010, posting
an increase of 3.7% in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year.[275] In July 2010, the Federal Reserve noted that economic activity
continued to increase, but its pace had slowed, and chairman Ben Bernanke said the economic outlook was "unusually
uncertain."[276] Overall, the economy
expanded at a rate of 2.9% in 2010.[277]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and a
broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth.[278][279] The CBO released a report stating
that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1 million,[279][280][281][282] while conceding that "It is impossible
to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package."[278] Although an April 2010,
survey of members of the National Association for
Business Economics showed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in
two years, 73% of 68 respondents believed the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment.[283] The economy of the United States has
grown faster than the other original NATO members by a wider margin
under President Obama than it has anytime since the end of World War II.[284] The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development credits the
much faster growth in the United States to the stimulus plan of the US and the austerity measures in the European
Union.[285]
On September 30, 2009, the Obama administration proposed new regulations on power plants, factories, and oil
refineries in an attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to curb global warming.[290][291]
On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshore drilling
rig at the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, causing a major sustained oil leak. Obama visited the
Gulf, announced a federal investigation, and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after
a review by Secretary of the
InteriorKen Salazar and concurrent Congressional
hearings. He then announced a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and leases, pending
regulatory review.[292] As multiple efforts
by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident,
and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government.[293]
In July 2013, Obama expressed reservations and said he "would reject the Keystone XL pipeline if it increased carbon
pollution" or "greenhouse emissions."[294][295] Obama's advisers called for a halt to
petroleum exploration in the Arctic
in January 2013.[296] On February 24, 2015,
Obama vetoed a bill that would have authorized the pipeline.[297] It was the third veto of Obama's
presidency and his first major veto.[298]
Obama emphasized the conservation of federal lands during his term in office. He used his
power under the Antiquities Act to create 25 new national monuments during his
presidency and expand four others, protecting a total of 553,000,000 acres (224,000,000 ha) of federal lands
and waters, more than any other U.S. president.[299][300][301][302]
Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the White House, March 23, 2010.
Obama called for Congress to pass legislation
reforming health care in the United
States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal.[303] He proposed an expansion
of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, to cap premium increases, and to allow people to retain their
coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900 billion over 10 years and include a
government insurance plan, also known as the public option, to compete with the
corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also
make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage for pre-existing conditions, and require every
American to carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies
that offer expensive plans.[304][305]
On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system,
which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009.[303] After much public debate
during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech
to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over the proposals.[307] In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on
using federal funds for stem cell research.[308]
On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House.[309][310] On December 24, 2009, the Senate
passed its own bill—without a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39.[311] On March 21, 2010, the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to
212.[312] Obama signed the bill into law on
March 23, 2010.[313]
The ACA includes health-related
provisions, most of which took effect in 2014, including expanding Medicaid eligibility for people making up to 133% of the
federal poverty level (FPL) starting in 2014,[314] subsidizing insurance
premiums for people making up to 400% of the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010) so their maximum
"out-of-pocket" payment for annual premiums will be from 2% to 9.5% of income,[315][316] providing incentives for businesses to
provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions,
establishing health insurance exchanges,
prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for medical research. According to White House and CBO figures, the
maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their income relative to the
federal poverty level.[315][317]
Percentage of Individuals in the United States without Health Insurance, 1963–2015 (Source: JAMA)[318]
The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for
those in high-income brackets, taxes on indoor tanning, cuts to the Medicare Advantage program in favor of traditional
Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies;[319] there is also a tax penalty for those
who do not obtain health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons.[320] In March 2010, the CBO estimated that
the net effect of both laws will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143 billion over the first decade.[321]
The law faced several legal challenges, primarily based on the argument that an individual mandate requiring
Americans to buy health insurance was unconstitutional. On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5–4 vote in
National
Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius that the mandate was constitutional under the U.S.
Congress's taxing authority.[322]
In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby the
Court ruled that "closely-held" for-profit corporations could be exempt on religious grounds under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
from regulations adopted under the ACA that would have required them to pay for insurance that covered certain
contraceptives. In June 2015, the Court ruled 6–3 in King
v. Burwell that subsidies to help individuals and families purchase health insurance were authorized
for those doing so on both the federal exchange and state exchanges, not only those purchasing plans "established by
the State," as the statute reads.[323]
Prior to June 2014, Obama offered substantial support for a broadly-based "All of the above" approach to domestic energy policy, which Obama has maintained since his first
term and which he last confirmed at his State of the
Union speech in January 2014 to a mixed reception by both parties. In June 2014, Obama made indications that
his administration would consider a shift towards an energy policy more closely tuned to the manufacturing industry
and its impact on the domestic economy.[324]
Obama's approach of selectively combining regulation and incentive to various issues in the domestic energy policy,
such as coal mining and oil fracking, has received mixed commentary for not being as responsive to the needs of the
domestic manufacturing sector as needed, following claims that the domestic manufacturing sector utilizes as much as
a third of the nation's available energy resources.[325][326]
On January 16, 2013, one month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School
shooting, Obama signed 23 executive orders and outlined a series of sweeping proposals regarding gun control.[327] He urged Congress to reintroduce an expired ban on military-style assault weapons, such as those used in several recent
mass shootings, impose limits on ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, introduce background checks on all gun sales,
pass a ban on possession and sale of armor-piercing bullets, introduce harsher penalties for gun-traffickers,
especially unlicensed dealers who buy arms for criminals and approving the appointment of the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for the first time since 2006.[328] On January 5, 2016, Obama announced
new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers.[329] In a 2016 editorial in the New York
Times, Obama compared the struggle for what he termed "common-sense gun reform" to women's suffrage and other civil rights movements in American history.[330]
Obama called the November 2, 2010
election, where the Democratic Party lost 63 seats in, and control of, the House of Representatives,[331] "humbling" and a "shellacking."[332] He said that the results came because
not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery.[333]
In 2005 and 2006, Obama criticized certain aspects of the Patriot
Act for infringing too much on civil liberties and sought as Senator to strengthen civil liberties
protections.[337][338][339] In 2006, he voted to reauthorize a
revised version of the Patriot Act, saying the law was not ideal but that the revised version had strengthened civil
liberties.[339] In 2011, he signed a
four-year renewal of the Patriot Act.[340]
Following the 2013
global surveillance disclosures by whistleblowerEdward Snowden, Obama condemned the leak as
unpatriotic,[338] but called for
increased restrictions on the NSA to address violations of privacy.[341][342] The changes which Obama ordered have
been described as "modest" however.[343]
In February and March 2009, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
made separate overseas trips to announce a "new era" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the
terms "break" and "reset" to signal major changes from the
policies of the preceding administration.[344] Obama
attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab satellite TV network, Al Arabiya.[345]
On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and
government of Iran.[346][347] In April, Obama gave a speech in Ankara, Turkey, which was well received by many Arab
governments.[348] On June 4, 2009, Obama
delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt calling
for "A New Beginning" in relations between the Islamic
world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.[349]
International
trips made by President Barack Obama during his terms in office
On June 26, 2009, Obama responded to the Iranian government's actions towards protesters following Iran's 2009 presidential election by
saying: "The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous. We see it and we condemn it."[350] While in Moscow on July 7, he
responded to Vice President Biden's comment on a possible Israeli military strike on Iran by saying: "We have said
directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in an international setting in a way that does
not create major conflict in the Middle East."[351]
In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue building Jewish
housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East
Jerusalem.[353][354] During the same month, an agreement
was reached with the administration of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new pact reducing
the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about a third.[355] Obama and Medvedev signed the New START treaty in April 2010, and the U.S. Senate ratified it in December 2010.[356]
In December 2011, Obama instructed agencies to consider LGBT rights when issuing financial
aid to foreign countries.[357] In August
2013, he criticized Russia's law that discriminates against gays,[358] but he stopped short of
advocating a boycott of the upcoming 2014 Winter
Olympics in Sochi, Russia.[359]
In December 2014, Obama announced that he intended to normalize relationships between Cuba and the United States.[360] The countries' respective "interests
sections" in one another's capitals were upgraded to embassies on July 20, 2015.
In March 2015, Obama declared that he had authorized U.S. forces to provide logistical and intelligence support to
the Saudis in their military
intervention in Yemen, establishing a "Joint Planning Cell" with Saudi Arabia.[361][362] In 2016, the Obama administration
proposed a series of arms deals
with Saudi Arabia worth $115 billion.[363] Obama halted the sale of guided
munition technology to Saudi Arabia after Saudi warplanes
targeted a funeral in Yemen's capital
Sanaa, killing more than 140 people.[364]
Before leaving office, Obama said German Chancellor Angela
Merkel had been his "closest international partner" throughout his tenure as president.[365]
On February 27, 2009, Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months. His remarks were
made to a group of Marines preparing for
deployment to Afghanistan. Obama said, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission
in Iraq will end."[366] The Obama
administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troop's levels
from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of about 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010,
the last U.S. combat brigade exited Iraq. Remaining troops transitioned from combat operations to counter-terrorism and the training, equipping, and
advising of Iraqi security forces.[367][368] On August 31, 2010, Obama announced
that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over.[369] On October 21, 2011 President Obama
announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be "home for the holidays."[370]
By the end of 2014, 3,100 American ground troops were committed to the conflict[374] and 16,000 sorties were flown over the
battlefield, primarily by U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots.[375]
In early 2015, with the addition of the "Panther Brigade" of the 82nd Airborne Division the number of U.S. ground
troops in Iraq surged to 4,400,[376] and by
July American-led coalition air forces counted 44,000 sorties over the battlefield.[377]
Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan.[378] He announced an
increase in U.S. troop levels to 17,000 military personnel in February 2009 to "stabilize a deteriorating situation
in Afghanistan," an area he said had not received the "strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently
requires."[379] He replaced the military
commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan,
with former Special Forces commander
Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in May 2009,
indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the
war.[380] On
December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan and
proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date;[381] this took place in July 2011. David Petraeus replaced McChrystal in June 2010, after
McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.[382] In February 2013, Obama said the U.S.
military would reduce the troop level in Afghanistan from 68,000 to 34,000 U.S. troops by February 2014.[383]
In October 2015, the White House announced a plan to keep U.S. Forces in Afghanistan indefinitely in light of the
deteriorating security situation.[384]
In June 2011, Obama said the bond between the United States and Israel is "unbreakable."[387] During the initial years of the Obama
administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including increased military aid,
re-establishment of the U.S.-Israeli Joint
Political Military Group and the Defense Policy Advisory Group, and an increase in visits among high-level
military officials of both countries.[388]
The Obama administration asked Congress to allocate money toward funding the Iron Dome program in response to the waves of Palestinian rocket attacks on
Israel.[389]
In 2013, Jeffrey Goldberg reported that, in Obama's
view, "with each new settlement announcement, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total
isolation."[390] In 2014, Obama
likened the Zionist movement to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. He
said both movements seek to bring justice and equal rights to historically persecuted peoples. He explained, "To me,
being pro-Israel and pro-Jewish is part and parcel with the values that I've been fighting for since I was
politically conscious and started getting involved in politics."[391] Obama expressed support for Israel's
right to defend itself during the 2014
Israel–Gaza conflict.[392] In 2015,
Obama was harshly criticized by Israel for advocating and signing the Iran Nuclear Deal; Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had advocated the
U.S. congress to oppose it, said the deal was "dangerous" and "bad."[393]
President Obama meets with Russian President Vladimir
Putin to discuss Syria and ISIS, September 29, 2015.
In February 2011, protests in Libya began against long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi as part of the Arab Spring. They soon turned violent. In March, as forces
loyal to Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya, calls for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including
Europe, the Arab League, and a resolution[400] passed unanimously by the U.S.
Senate.[401] In response to the unanimous
passage of United Nations
Security Council Resolution 1973 on March 17, Gaddafi—who had previously vowed to "show no mercy" to the
rebels of Benghazi[402]—announced an
immediate cessation of military activities,[403] yet reports came in that his forces
continued shelling Misrata. The next day, on Obama's orders, the
U.S. military took part in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities to protect
civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone,[404]
including the use of Tomahawk missiles, B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets.[405][406][407] Six days later, on March 25, by
unanimous vote of all its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of
the effort, dubbed Operation Unified
Protector.[408] Some
Representatives[409]
questioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its
cost, structure and aftermath.[410][411]
On August 18, 2011, several months after the start of the Syrian Civil War, Obama issued a written statement
that said: "The time has come for President Assad to
step aside."[412][413] This stance was reaffirmed in
November 2015.[414] In 2012, Obama authorized
multiple programs run by the CIA and the Pentagon to
train anti-Assad rebels.[415] The
Pentagon-run program was later found to have failed and was formally abandoned in October 2015.[416][417]
Starting with information received from Central Intelligence Agency operatives in July 2010, the CIA developed
intelligence over the next several months that determined what they believed to be the hideout of Osama bin Laden. He was living in seclusion in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles (56 km)
from Islamabad.[423] CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to President Obama
in March 2011.[423] Meeting with
his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound,
and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs.[423] The operation took place on
May 1, 2011, and resulted in the shooting death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers, computer drives and disks
from the compound.[424][425] DNA testing was one of
five methods used to positively identify bin Laden's corpse,[426] which was buried at sea
several hours later.[427]
Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were
spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square.[424][428]Reaction to the announcement
was positive across party lines, including from former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.[429]
In November 2013, the Obama administration opened negotiations
with Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons,
which included an interim agreement. Negotiations
took two years with numerous delays, with a deal being announced July 14, 2015. The deal, titled the "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,"
saw the removal of sanctions in exchange for measures that would prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons. While
Obama hailed the agreement as being a step towards a more hopeful world, the deal drew strong criticism from
Republican and conservative quarters, and from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.[430][431][432] In addition, the transfer of $1.7
billion in cash to Iran shortly after the deal was announced was criticized by the republican party. The Obama
administration said that the payment in cash was because of the "effectiveness of U.S. and international
sanctions."[433] In order to advance the
deal, the Obama administration shielded Hezbollah from the Drug Enforcement Administration's Project Cassandra investigation regarding drug
smuggling and from the Central Intelligence
Agency.[434][435]
President Obama meeting with Cuban President Raúl Castro
in Panama, April 2015
Since the spring of 2013, secret meetings were conducted between the United States and Cuba in the neutral locations
of Canada and Vatican City.[436] The Vatican first became involved in
2013 when Pope Francis advised the U.S. and Cuba to exchange prisoners as a gesture of goodwill.[437] On December 10, 2013, Cuban President
Raúl Castro, in a significant public moment, greeted
and shook hands with Obama at the Nelson Mandela
memorial service in Johannesburg.[438]
In December 2014, after the secret meetings, it was announced that Obama, with Pope Francis as an intermediary, had negotiated a
restoration of relations with Cuba, after nearly sixty years of détente.[439] Popularly dubbed the Cuban Thaw, The New Republic deemed the Cuban Thaw to be
"Obama's finest foreign policy achievement."[440] On July 1, 2015, President Barack
Obama announced that formal diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States would resume, and embassies
would be opened in Washington and Havana.[441] The countries' respective "interests
sections" in one another's capitals were upgraded to embassies on July 20 and August 13, 2015, respectively.[442]
Obama visited Havana, Cuba for two days in March 2016, becoming the first sitting U.S. President to arrive since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.[443]
Africa
Obama spoke in front of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on July 29, 2015, the first sitting
U.S. president to do so. He gave a speech encouraging the world to increase economic ties via investments and trade
with the continent, and lauded the progress made in education, infrastructure, and economy. He also criticized the lack of democracy and
leaders who refuse to step aside, discrimination against minorities (LGBT people, religious groups and ethnicities), and corruption. He
suggested an intensified democratization and free trade,
to significantly improve the quality of life for Africans.[444][445] During his July 2015 trip, Obama also
was the first U.S. president ever to visit Kenya,
which is the homeland of his father.[446]
Obama's family history, upbringing, and Ivy League education
differ markedly from those of African-American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through
participation in the civil rights movement.[451] Expressing puzzlement over questions
about whether he is "black enough," Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black
Journalists that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be
something wrong."[452] Obama acknowledged his
youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not
been passed to a new generation."[453]
Obama is frequently referred to as an exceptional orator.[454] During his
pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama delivered a series of weekly Internet
video addresses.[455] In his speeches as
president, Obama did not make more overt references to race relations than his predecessors,[456][457] but according to one study, he
implemented stronger policy action on behalf of African-Americans than any president since the Nixon era.[458]
Presidential approval ratings
According to the Gallup Organization, Obama began his
presidency with a 68% approval rating[459]
before gradually declining for the rest of the year, and eventually bottoming out at 41% in August 2010,[460] a trend similar to Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's first years in office.[461] He experienced a small poll bounce
shortly after the death of Osama bin Laden on
May 2, 2011. This bounce lasted until around June 2011, when his approval numbers dropped back to where they were
previously.[462][463] His approval ratings rebounded around
the same time as his reelection in 2012, with polls showing an average job approval of 52% shortly after his second
inauguration.[464] Despite approval ratings
dropping to 39% in late-2013 due to the ACA roll-out, they climbed to 50% in January 2015 according to Gallup.[465]
Polls showed strong support for Obama in other countries both before and during his presidency.[466][467] In a February 2009 poll conducted in
Western Europe and the U.S. by Harris
Interactive for France 24 and the International Herald Tribune, Obama
was rated as the most respected world leader, as well as the most powerful.[468] In a similar poll conducted by Harris
in May 2009, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their
hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn.[469][470]
On October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel
Committee announced that Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary
efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."[478] Obama accepted this
award in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 2009, with "deep gratitude
and great humility."[479] The
award drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures.[480][481][482][483] Obama's peace prize was called a
"stunning surprise" by The New York Times.[484] Obama is the fourth U.S. president to
be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office.[485] Obama's Nobel Prize has been viewed
skeptically in subsequent years, especially after the director of the Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad, said Obama's Peace Prize did not have
the desired effect.[486]
On March 2, 2017, the John F.
Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum awarded the annual Profile in Courage Award to Obama "for his
enduring commitment to democratic ideals and elevating the standard of political courage."[489] In his first public appearance out of
office, Obama appeared at a seminar at the University
of Chicago on April 24. The seminar was aimed at the engagement with a new generation as well as an appeal
for their participation in politics.[490] On
May 4, three days ahead of the French
presidential election, Obama publicly endorsed Emmanuel Macron: "He appeals to people's hopes and not
their fears, and I enjoyed speaking to Emmanuel recently to hear about his independent movement and his vision for
the future of France."[491] Macron went on to
win the election.
While in Berlin on May 25, Obama made a joint public appearance
with Chancellor Angela Merkel where he stressed inclusion
and for leaders to question themselves, Obama having been formally invited to Berlin while still in office as part
of an effort to boost Merkel's re-election campaign.[492] Obama traveled to Kensington Palace in England and met with Prince Harry on May 27, 2017; Obama tweeted afterward that
the two discussed their foundations and offering condolences in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing that occurred
five days prior.[493]
After President Trump announced his withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement on June 1, Obama released a statement
disagreeing with the choice: "But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this administration joins a
small handful of nations that reject the future; I'm confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up
and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we've got."[494]
Obama playing golf with the President of Argentina Mauricio
Macri, October 2017
After Senate Republicans revealed the Better Care Reconciliation Act of
2017, their discussion draft of a health care bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, on June 22, Obama
released a Facebook post calling the bill "a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the
richest people in America."[495] On September
19, while delivering the keynote address at Goalkeepers, Obama admitted his frustration with Republicans backing "a
bill that will raise costs, reduce coverage, and roll back protections for older Americans and people with
pre-existing conditions."[496]
Obama hosted the inaugural summit of the Obama
Foundation in Chicago on October 31. Obama intends for the foundation to be the central focus of his
post-presidency and part of his ambitions for his subsequent activities following his presidency to be more
consequential than his time in office.[499]
Obama has also been working on a Presidential memoir, in a reported $65 million deal with Penguin Random House.[500]
Obama went on an international trip from November 28 to December 2, 2017, and visited China, India and France. In
China, he delivered remarks at the Global Alliance of SMEs Summit in Shanghai and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.[501][502] He then went to India, where he spoke
at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit before meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over lunch. In addition, he held a town
hall for young leaders, organized by the Obama Foundation.[503][504] He also met with the Dalai Lama while in New Delhi.[505] He ended his five-day trip in France
where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron,
former President Francois Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and then spoke at an invitation-only event,
touching on climate issues.[506]
Barack and Michelle Obama signed a deal on May 22, 2018 to produce docu-series, documentaries and features for Netflix under the Obamas’ newly formed production company,
Higher Ground Productions. On the deal, Michelle said "I have always believed in the power of storytelling to
inspire us, to make us think differently about the world around us, and to help us open our minds and hearts to
others."[507][508] Higher Ground's first film, American Factory, was nominated for a Best Documentary Oscar in
2020.[509]
A package that contained a pipe bomb was sent to
Obama's home in Washington, D.C, on October 24, 2018. The package was intercepted by the Secret Service during
routine mail screenings. Similar packages were sent to several other Democratic leaders, mostly those who voiced
strong objections to the policies of Donald Trump and to CNN. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was addressed as the
sender of the package. On October 26, 2018, Cesar Sayoc was
arrested and faces five federal charges in Manhattan carrying a combined maximum sentence of 48 years behind bars in
relation to the pipe bombs.[510][511]
Job growth during the presidency of Obama compared to predecessors, as measured as cumulative percentage change from
month after inauguration to end of his term
As president, Obama advanced LGBT rights.[521]
In 2010, he signed the Don't
Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act, which brought an end to "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the U.S.
armed forces that banned open service from LGB
people; the law went into effect the following year.[522] In 2016, his administration brought an
end to the ban on transgender people serving openly in the
U.S. armed forces.[523][234] A Gallup poll, taken in the final days of Obama's term,
showed that 68% of Americans believed the U.S. had made progress in the situation for gays and lesbians during
Obama's eight years in office.[524]
Obama substantially escalated the use of drone strikes
against suspected militants and terrorists associated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban.[525][526] In 2016, the last year of his
presidency, the US dropped 26,171 bombs on seven different countries.[527][528] Obama left about 8,400 US troops in Afghanistan, 5,262 in Iraq, 503 in Syria, 133 in Pakistan,
106 in Somalia, seven in Yemen, and two in Libya at the end of his presidency.[529][530]
^
Barreto, Amílcar Antonio; Richard L. O'Bryant (November 12, 2013). "Introduction". American Identity
in the Age of Obama. Taylor & Francis. pp. 18–19. ISBN978-1-317-93715-9. Retrieved
May 8, 2017.
^ Reyes, B.J. (February 8,
2007). "Punahou left lasting impression
on Obama". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved February 10,2007. As a teenager, Obama went to
parties and sometimes sought out gatherings on military bases or at the University of Hawaii that were attended
mostly by blacks.
for analysis of the political impact of the quote and Obama's more recent admission that he smoked
marijuana as a teenager ("When I was a kid, I inhaled"), see:
Possley, Maurice (March 30, 2007). "Activism
blossomed in college". Chicago Tribune. p. 20. Archived
from the original on October 9, 2010. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
^ Obama, Barack (1998). "Curriculum
vitae". The University of Chicago Law School. Archived from the original on May 9, 2001. Retrieved October
1, 2006.
^ Obama (1995, 2004), p.
13. For reports on Obama's maternal genealogy, including slave owners, Irish connections, and common ancestors
with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Harry S. Truman, see: Nitkin, David; Harry Merritt
(March 2, 2007). "A
New Twist to an Intriguing Family History". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the
original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2008.
^ Branigin,
William (January 30, 2009). "Steelers Win
Obama's Approval". The Washington Post. But other than the Bears, the Steelers are probably the
team that's closest to my heart.
^ Obama (2006), pp.
327–332. See also: Brown, Sarah (December 7, 2005). "Obama
'85 masters balancing act". The Daily Princetonian. Archived from the original on February 20, 2009. Retrieved
February 9, 2009.
^ Harris, Marlys (December
7, 2007). "Obama's
Money". CNNMoney.com. Archived
from the original on April 24, 2008. Retrieved April 28, 2008. See also:Goldfarb, Zachary A (March 24, 2007).
"Measuring
Wealth of the '08 Candidates". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 28, 2008.
^ * "American
President: Barack Obama". Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. 2009. Archived from
the original on January 23, 2009.
Retrieved January 23, 2009. Religion: Christian
Miller, Lisa (July 18, 2008). "Finding his faith".
Newsweek. Archived
from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2010. He is now a Christian, having been
baptized in the early 1990s at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Sullivan, Amy (June 29, 2009). "The Obama's find a church
home—away from home". Time. Retrieved February 5,2010. instead of joining a congregation
in Washington, D.C., he will follow in George W. Bush's footsteps and make his primary place of worship
Evergreen Chapel, the nondenominational church at Camp David.
Kornblut, Anne E. (February 4, 2010). "Obama's
spirituality is largely private, but it's influential, advisers say". The Washington
Post. p. A6. Retrieved February 5, 2010. Obama prays privately ... And when he takes
his family to Camp David on the weekends, a Navy chaplain ministers to them, with the daughters
attending a form of Sunday school there.
^ Obama
(2006), pp. 202–208. Portions excerpted in: Obama, Barack (October 16, 2006). "My Spiritual Journey".
Time. Archived
from the original on April 30, 2008. Retrieved April 28,2008.
^ Garrett,
Major; Obama, Barack (March 14, 2008). "Obama talks to
Major Garrett on 'Hannity & Colmes'". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved November 10, 2012. Major Garrett,
Fox News correspondent: So the first question, how long have you been a member in good standing of that church?
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), presidential candidate: You know, I've been a member since 1991 or '92. And—but I have
known Trinity even before then when I was a community organizer on the South Side, helping steel workers find
jobs ... Garrett: As a member in good standing, were you a regular attendee of Sunday services? Obama: You
know, I won't say that I was a perfect attendee. I was regular in spurts, because there was times when, for
example, our child had just been born, our first child. And so we didn't go as regularly then.
"Obama strongly denounces former pastor". NBC News.
Associated Press. April 29, 2008. Retrieved November 10,2012. I have been a member of Trinity United
Church of Christ since 1992, and have known Reverend Wright for 20 years. The person I saw yesterday was
not the person [whom] I met 20 years ago.
Miller, Lisa (July 11, 2008). "Finding
his faith". Newsweek. Archived from the original on
July 20, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2012. He is now a Christian, having been baptized in the early
1990s at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Maraniss (2012), p. 557: It
would take time for Obama to join and become fully engaged in Wright's church, a place where he would be
baptized and married; that would not happen until later, during his second time around in Chicago, but
the process started then, in October 1987 ... Jerry Kellman: "He wasn't a member of the church
during those first three years, but he was drawn to Jeremiah."
Bob Secter; John McCormick (March 30, 2007). "Portrait
of a pragmatist". Chicago Tribune. p. 1. Archived from the
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