Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is a political American who served as the 44th President of the United States of America from January 20, 2009, to January 20, 2017. He was a senator for the state of Illinois from January 3, 2005, until his resignation on November 16, 2008. He is also the fifth African-American legislator in the United States Senate, third since the Reconstruction era. He was also the first African-American candidate to be nominated for the presidency by the Democratic Party and is the first to hold the presidential office.
He graduated from Columbia University and the prestigious Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review. Subsequently, he worked as a community organizer and pursued his career as a civil rights attorney, before being elected a senator from the state of Illinois, serving in that role from 1997 to 2004. He was a professor of constitutional law at the University of California School of Law. Chicago from 1992 to 2004. In 2000 he lost the electoral contest for a position in the United States House of Representatives., and after his previous failure, in January 2003 he announced his candidacy for the US Senate. In March 2004 he won the primary elections of the Democratic party, and in July of the same year, he delivered the opening speech of the Democratic National Convention, which prompted his candidacy. He was finally elected to the Senate in November 2004, with 70% of the votes in favor.
As a representative of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he and other senators pushed for the law to control conventional arms and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In the 110th Congress, he promoted legislation related to lobbying and electoral fraud, global warming, nuclear terrorism, and the care of military personnel returning to the United States from military missions inIraq and Afghanistan . Since announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama has emphasized ending the Iraq war , increasing energy independence and providing universal healthcare as top national priorities.
On February 10, 2007, he announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States and on June 3, 2008, he became the candidate of the Democratic Party . In the presidential election on November 4, 2008, became president-elect after defeating presidential candidate Republican John McCain, taking possession of his duties as 44th president on January 20, 2009. The October 9 of that year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomatic efforts on behalf of the nuclear disarmament, the achievement of a peace process in the Middle East and the promotion of the fight against climate change .
As president, during his tenure, he promoted economic policies such as the 2009 Reinvestment and Recovery Act or the 2010 Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Employment Creation Act. Other domestic policy initiatives have included the Patient Protection and Health Care laws. Affordable or the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or the repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy on homosexuality in the Army, all of 2010, as well as the Control Act of the 2011 Budget.
The presence of US troops in Afghanistan was increased, the new START III arms control treaty with Russia was signed, and the US military intervention in the Libyan conflict was ordered. On May 1, 2011, he announced to the media that a group of US Navy special forces (members of the DEVGRU of the Navy SEALS) had killed terrorist Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
On April 4, 2011, he announced the start of his presidential re-election campaign for 2012 and on November 6, he was re-elected to serve for a period of four more years, after beating Republican candidate Mitt Romney. During his second term, Obama promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans, military intervention in Iraq, and Ukraine in response to the advances made by ISIS and Russia respectively in 2014, the climate agreement in Paris, and the normalization of state relations. United with Cuba in 2015.
On January 20, 2017, he retired from the White House with one of the highest popularity ratings for an American president in decades.
Barack Obama: Biography
He was born on August 4, 1961, in the city of Honolulu, Hawaii. Son of Barack Obama Sr. , a Kenyan economist; and Stanley Ann Dunham, an American anthropologist, who met while attending the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, where her father was enrolled as a foreign student.
When he was two years old, his parents separated. After the divorce, his father returned to Kenya and was reunited with his son for the last time in 1971, before dying in a car accident in 1982. His mother married Lolo Soetoro, and in 1967 he moved in with his family to Indonesia, her new husband's country of origin.
Training and trajectory
Obama attended local schools in Jakarta until he was ten years old. He then returned to live in Honolulu with his maternal grandparents and in 1971 he was enrolled in the fifth grade at Punahou School, where he remained until his graduation from high school in 1979. His mother returned to Hawaii in 1972 and remained there for several years. , until in 1977, he traveled again to Indonesia to do his fieldwork. In 1995, Ann passed away from ovarian cancer. During the civil forum for the presidency, held at Saddleback Church, Obama admitted to having used marijuana, cocaine and alcohol in your teens.
After graduating from high school, he moved to Los Angeles and began his studies at Occidental College for a period of two years. Later, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, in the career of Political Science, with a specialization in International Relations. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts from Columbia in 1983, and then went on to work at Business International Corporation and the New York Public Interest Research Group.
After working for four years in New York, he moved to Chicago, where he was an active community organizer and director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a religious organization that originally had eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland ( Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale ) in the south of the city called south Side, from June 1985 to May 1988. in his role as director of the DCP, increased the number of staff from one to thirteen, the annual budget grew from 70 000 of 400 000 US dollars accomplishments also include helping to establish a job training program, college preparatory tutoring, and a tenant rights organization in Altgeld Gardens. Similarly, he worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, which is a community organizing institute. In mid-1988, he traveled to Europe for the first time for three weeks, then went to Kenya for five weeks, and met his close relatives through his father.
In late 1988, he entered Harvard Law School, and in his first year as a student, he was selected as editor of the Harvard Law Review, due to his qualifications and a writing contest. In his second year of career, he was elected president of that publication, and served as a full-time volunteer, serving as editor-in-chief, and supervising the staff of 80 editors. The fact that he was chosen in February 1990 as the first African-American president of the law supplement was widely reported by the media and detailed biographical reviews were made. summer periods, returning to Chicago where he worked as an associate of the law firm Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990. In 1991 returned to Chicago after graduating from Harvard with the title of Doctor in Jurisprudence or Juris Doctor (JD) and with the honorable mention magna cum laude.
The publicity he got for being the first black president of Harvard Law Review helped him secure a contract with a publishing company, which gave him an advance to start writing a book about race relations. In an effort to recruit him as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, he was offered a research grant and an office to work on his book. He had originally planned to complete the writing of his work in a year, but it took him longer as it evolved into a compilation of his personal memoirs. However, in order to work without interruption, Obama and his wife Michelle traveled to Bali, where he dedicated himself for several months solely to writing his book. In mid-1995, the manuscript was finally published under the title Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (in English Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance ).
From April to October 1992, he directed the non-profit organization called Project Vote, which was made up of a staff of ten workers and seven hundred volunteers, and through this project, he reached the goal of registering 150,000 out of 400,000 African-Americans who were not registered in the state of Illinois. His work on this project earned him being named in the weekly Crain Chicago Business in its 1993 list, as a future promise among the 40 under 40 (in English 40 under Forty ).
For a period of twelve years (1992-2004) he taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago School of Law; the first four years he served as a professor and then as a senior professor. In 1993, he joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland Law Firm, a twelve-attorney firm specializing in civil rights and urban economic development. He served as an associate during the first three years (1993-1996), then as an attorney-advisor in the period from 1996 to 2004, and his license to practice law degree was inactive in 2002.
Obama was a founding member of the board of directors of the youth leadership development organization known as Public Allies in 1992, but resigned shortly before his wife Michelle was promoted to CEO of the same company. In early 1993, he was a member of the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago philanthropic organization, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to finance the DCP project during the years 1993 to 2002. He also served in the board of directors of the charitable Joyce Foundation from 1994 to 2002. He was also a member of the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge., serving as founding president of the board of directors. He was also a board member of the following institutions: the Committee of Chicago law for civil rights under the law (in English Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law), the Technology Center neighborhood (in English Center for Neighborhood Technology), and finally the Lugenia Burns Hope Center foundation.
Barack Obama: Political career
State Legislature (1997-2004)
In 1996, he was elected Senator from the 13th District of Illinois, succeeding Alice Palmer. The jurisdiction of the thirteenth district extended into the South Side area, including the neighborhoods of Hyde Park and south of Kenwood to the South Shore and west of Chicago Lawn. Once elected, he garnered bipartisan support for legislative reform regarding health care and ethics laws, He also proposed a law to increase tax credits for low-wage workers, negotiated a reform to the social assistance project, and promoted increased subsidies for child care. As co-chair of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules in 2001, he supported Republican Governor George Ryan's proposal for a regulation of payday loans and a regulation of abusive practices of loans. financing of mortgage loans with the objective of preventing foreclosure legal proceedings. 2003, he sponsored and directed the unanimous and bipartisan approval of a law to control racial discrimination or " racial profiling " (in English, racial profiling or arbitrary detentions based on the racial characteristics of the suspect), which requires the police officers record the race of drivers they pull over, and another law that made Illinois the first state to enforce an order to videotape homicide interrogations.
He was re-elected to the Illinois Senate in 1998 and 2002. In 2000, he lost a Democratic Party primary race for a seat in the United States House of Representatives against his opponent Bobby Rush, by a margin of difference of two to one.
In January 2003, he became chairman of the Illinois Senate Health and Human Services Committee, after Democrats won a majority of seats in the upper house of Congress, leaving in the spent a decade as a minority. During his campaign for the general elections of the United States Senate in 2004, his work was accredited by the police institutions due to his active commitment to the enactment of reforms to the death penalty. However, that same year he resigned from his position in the Illinois Senate, after being elected as a representative of the Upper House in November.
Campaign for the United States Senate (2004)
In mid-2002, Obama considered running for a seat in the United States Senate. That fall he recruited political strategist David Axelrod and in 2003 he formally announced his own candidacy. The decisions made in the past by former Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald, who replaced his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun through a millionaire investment in his political campaign financed mostly with his own assets, generated a wide dispute in the primary elections between the Democratic and Republican parties, directly tarnishing the public image of fifteen candidates. Still, Obama's candidacy was favorably promoted thanks to Axelrod's publicity campaign, featuring images of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and the endorsement of the daughter of the late Illinois Senator Paul Simon. In the March 2004 primary votes, he received 52% of the votes, gaining a 30% advantage over his closest Democratic rival, Daniel Hynes.
In July of that year, Obama delivered a speech at the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. After describing his maternal grandfather's experiences as a World War II veteran and beneficiary of the New Deal economic measures in the Federal Housing Administration and the Service Men Readjustment Act, he proposed changing the economic priorities and government of the United States. He also questioned the George W. Bush administration regarding the Iraq war and highlighted his country's obligations to the soldiers. Through exemplifications of the history of theThe United States strongly criticized the biased views of the electorate and called on Americans to seek unity in diversity, expressing the phrase: “There is no conservative and liberal America; there is only the United States of America. The transmission of the speech by the most important news agencies of his country helped to achieve the recognition of the electorate as a national political figure, achieving a boost for his campaign for the Senate.
Meanwhile, Jack Ryan, winner of the Republican Party primaries, and Obama's supposed opponent in the Senate general election resigned from the race in June 2004. Three months before the election, Alan Keyes, resident for many years the state of Maryland, agreed to replace Ryan in the Republican nomination. Finally, in the general elections of November 2004, Obama received 70% of the votes, compared to 27% obtained by Keyes, establishing at that time the victory with the greatest margin of advantage in the history of Illinois in an electoral contest.
United States Senator (2005-2008)
Obama was inaugurated as a senator on January 4, 2005, becoming the fifth African-American senator in the history of the United States and the third to be popularly elected. He was the only member of the Senate to belong to the organization that represents black minorities in Congress, called the Congressional Black Caucus. The CQ Weekly publication classified him as a "loyal Democrat" based on the analysis of all his votes in the Senate during the period from 2005 to 2007. Following the same procedure for evaluating his votes in the Senate, the weekly National JournalHe called him the "most liberal" senator in 2007, in 2006 he was ranked 10th, and in 2005 he was 16th. In 2008 Congress.org placed him in eleventh place among the most powerful senators in the United States. On November 16, 2008, Obama resigned from the Senate to dedicate himself to the presidential transition period.
Legislation
In 2005, he voted in favor of the bill on energy independence, also cosponsored the so-called legislative proposal America safe and orderly immigration (in English, Secure America, and Orderly Immigration Act), and in 2006 supported the Law of the Wall Secure (Secure Fence Act). He also introduced two initiatives bearing his name, the first was Lugar-Obama that aimed to extend the concept of law Cooperative Threat Reduction Nunn-Lugar (in English, Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction), and include to it an amendment on the destruction of conventional weapons. The second proposal was called transparency law Coburn-Obama (in English, Coburn-Obama Transparency Act), by which the establishment of an authorized search engine on the Internet with the address www.USAspending.gov, allowing the public display federal spending at any time. On June 3, 2008, in collaboration with Senators Thomas R. Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain, he introduced a law known as the Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act. ), in order to maintain clarity in government spending.
It also favored the establishment of a law that requires nuclear plant owners to notify the state and local authorities of radioactive leaks. In December 2006, President Bush signed the law on the Promotion of Democracy, Security, and Relief in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, becoming the first law to be enacted and sponsored overwhelmingly by Obama. In January 2007 it supported the Law for an open government and honest leadership (in English, Honest Leadership and Open Government Act), being finally approved in September. addition, the proposed bill S.453, with the purpose of criminalizing corrupt practices in federal elections, and in 2007 he introduced the Law on the De-escalation of the Iraq War (in English, Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007).
Subsequently, he proposed an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act, with the goal of safeguarding soldiers discharged from the war-related post-traumatic stress disorder. Likewise, it co-sponsored the law to reduce the danger of nuclear terrorism and supported the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act, which enacted divestment in that country's energy sector, especially in the oil and natural gas industries. He also presented an amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, with the intention of providing one year of labor protection to the immediate family members of soldiers who are receiving medical care for their combat injuries.
commissions
In December 2006, Obama held various functions on Senate committees related to the environment and public works, international relations, and veterans' affairs. The following year, he left the commission for the environment and public works. He also undertook additional functions related to health, education, work, retirement, the national defense plan, and government affairs. He was also appointed chairman of the European affairs subcommittee. As a member of the International Relations Commission of the Senate, made official visits to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. also met with Mahmoud Abbas before he would become president of the National Authority Palestine, and in a speech at the University of Nairobi condemning corruption in the Kenyan government.
Barack Obama: Presidential campaigns
2008 presidential campaign
On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in front of the old state Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. The choice of location for the announcement site was symbolic because it was the place where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic speech House Divided (in English House Divided ) in 1858. Through its campaign emphasized the issues concerning ending the Iraq war, increasing energy independence, providing universal healthcare, identifying these issues as their top priorities.
The campaign raised 58 million dollars during the first half of 2007, of which 16.4 million came from small individual donations of less than $ 200. The 58 million dollars marked a record amount of fundraising for a presidential campaign, six months before the primary elections of the political party. In January 2008, his campaign set another record at $ 36.8 million, as it was the highest amount collected in a month by a presidential candidate in the Democratic primary elections.
During the primary votes of the Democratic party for the presidency in 2008, Obama obtained the same number of delegates in the state of New Hampshire as his rival the candidate Hillary Clinton, yet he surpassed his opponent in the votes or partisan assemblies of the states. from Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina. On Super Tuesday, or the day that most simultaneous elections are held in different states, he got twenty more delegates than Clinton. In the first months of 2008, he set a fundraising mark again, amassing about $ 90 million for his campaign compared to Clinton's $ 45 million. After Super Tuesday, in February, he won the primaries in the remaining eleven states. On March 4, he tied with Clinton in the races in the states of Vermont, Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island, with a narrow margin of votes, and ended the month with victories in Wyoming and Mississippi.
In late March, Jeremiah Wright, a former reverend at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, where Obama attended for twenty years, became embroiled in a controversy after the US news network ABC aired a video in which he was featured delivering racially and politically emotional sermons. From this event, Obama condemned Wright's comments and away from any association with its political campaign. During the controversy, delivered a speech titled A More Perfect Union (in English A More Perfect Union ), in which I spoke about racial issues. , he renounced his link with this church to prevent citizens from getting the negative impression that he supported the demonstrations of his former pastor.
In the months of April, May, and June, she won the primaries in the states of North Carolina, Oregon, and Montana, staying ahead in the counting of delegate votes compared to her opponents, while Hillary Clinton had won. in Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Puerto Rico, and South Dakota. During that period, he received the backing of a greater number of superdelegates than Clinton. On May 31, the Democratic National Committee agreed to bring together all the delegates from the states of Michigan and Florida during the national convention, and they were each given a half vote, narrowing the lead Obama had with his rival but increasing the vote count he needed to win the nomination presidential party. On Tuesday, June 3, 2008, surpassed in votes to Clinton, and that same day delivered a speech in Saint Paul, Minnesota. For her part, Clinton suspended the campaign on June 7 to join Obama's. As of this date, he began his competition in the presidential general elections against Senator John McCain, who was nominated by the Republican Party.
On June 19, he became the first presidential candidate from a majority party to reject public funding for his campaign in the general contest, since the system was created in 1976. On August 23, 2008, he selected the senator of Delaware State Joe Biden, as his running mate for the vice presidency. During the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, his long-time primary rival, Hillary Clinton, delivered a speech in which she expressed her full support for Obama's candidacy.
On August 28, Obama, in a speech in Denver and in front of 84,000 supporters, accepted the nomination as the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party and presented some details of his political goals.
After McCain was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, polls indicated that he had narrowed the gap with Obama. There were three presidential debates between Obama and McCain in September and October 2008. After discussions concludes, Obama took the lead in national polls and won the vote in most states actively in contention in their Presidential campaign.
On November 4, Barack Obama obtained 64.9% of the electoral votes and became the 44th president of the United States of America. After his victory in the presidential election, he delivered a speech in Chicago in front of hundreds of thousands of his supporters. also alluded to the speech of Martin Luther King "I have been at the top of the mountain" (in English "I've Been to the Mountaintop"), and declared, "The road ahead will belong. Our ascent will be steep. We may not get there in a year or perhaps a term, but the United States has never been so hopeful as on this night we will get there. "
Victory in the general elections
On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama defeated John McCain in the general election with 365 electoral votes to McCain's, and became the first African-American to be elected president of the United States. In his victory speech, he proclaimed that "change has come to America" in front of hundreds of his supporters in Chicago's Grant Park.
On January 8, 2009, the United States Congress met in a joint session to certify the electoral college votes for the 2008 presidential election. Based on the counting of electoral votes, Barack Obama was declared the president-elect of the United States, and Joseph Biden was declared the elected vice president of the United States.
2012 presidential campaign
On April 4, 2011, he officially announced the start of his re-election campaign for 2012 with a video posted on his website titled "It begins with us." On the same day, he presented the documents required for his re-election to the Federal Elections Commission. As president in office, had virtually no opposition in the presidential primaries of the Democratic Party, so that April 3, 2012, got 2778 delegates to secure the nomination. During the Democratic convention in Charlotte, Carolina of the North, former President Bill Clinton formally nominated Obama and Joe Biden as the candidates for the presidency and vice presidency of the Democratic party in the general elections, and whose opponents would be the Republicans, Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, and Paul Ryan, representative of Wisconsin.
On November 6, 2012, Obama managed to be reelected as president of the United States for a second term. Contradicting all forecasts and previous polls, according to which there was a technical tie between the two candidates, he achieved a loose difference of 30% in the number of delegates, 303 for Obama compared to 206 for Romney, and two percentage points of advantage (almost three million) in the popular vote count, 50% versus 48%.
Barack Obama: Presidency of the United States
First days
The presidential inauguration of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth president of the United States, and Joseph Biden as vice president, took place on January 20, 2009, at 12:05 pm ( EST ), in the United States Capitol. United. The theme of the ceremony was "A New Birth of Liberty", commemorating the second centenary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.
In his early days in office, Obama issued executive orders and memoranda opposing the policies of former President George W. Bush. First, it eliminated the prohibition known as the Mexico City Policy, and referred to by critics as the Global Gag Rule, which stipulates that all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive federal funds must refrain from promoting or performing services related to the abortion in other countries. In addition, he signed restrictive measures against lobbyists and pressure groups and demanded that government entities comply with the Freedom of Information Law in order to promote the transparency of his government. He also asked the US military to develop a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq and reduce secrecy practices in presidential records. It also ordered the closure of the Guantánamo detention center as soon as possible, with a maximum period until May 2010, and the immediate review of all detentions and proceedings against the prisoners held in this prison.
Domestic polic
On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed his first bill, which corresponds to the Salary Equity Act and which bears the name of Lilly Ledbetter, a victim of mobbing. Five days later, he signed a law to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and which will allow the medical coverage of four million uninsured children. In March he lifted the ban imposed by Bush on the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. Despite the controversy surrounding the use of stem cells, Obama proclaimed that the veto "... handcuffed scientists and impaired America's ability to compete with other countries." May 26, 2009, Obama announced the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, to replace David Souter in office. On August 6 of the same year, the Senate confirmed Sotomayor as a judge, becoming the first Hispanic woman to hold that position. In this way, she accompanies Ruth Bader Ginsburg in office and is in turn the third woman in the history of the Supreme Court.
On September 30, 2009, the Obama administration proposed new regulations for power plants, factories, and oil refineries in an effort to restrict greenhouse gas emissions and curb global warming. On 8 October the same year, Obama signed the Law on Hate Crimes Prevention Matthew Shepard-James Byrd, a measure that extends the law of hate crimes in 1969 to include crimes motivated by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability of the victims, be it a real or supposed fact. On May 9, 2012, shortly after the official launch of his campaign for reelection as president, said some of their points view had evolved and publicly expressed support for legalizing he performed the marriage of the same gender. Following this statement, Obama became the first president in office to announce his position on this matter.
Economic policy
On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the US $ 787 billion Economic Stimulus Act with the aim of remedying the effects of the economic recession caused by the subprime mortgage crisis (high-risk mortgage loans) by investing in the public health, education, urban infrastructure, and energy sectors. Among other things, the financial rescue plan will grant various tax breaks, tax incentives and direct assistance to individuals. The law was approved by Congress after arduous negotiations with the House of Representatives and the Senate. The economic plan will be carried out over the next few years and establishes that during the first year (2009) approximately 25% of the total figure will be invested. In June Obama, dissatisfied with the slow pace of investment, summoned his cabinet and asked for federal spending to be accelerated in the coming weeks to meet the deadlines set.
In March, Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner presented a "public-private investment program" to fight the financial crisis, through which the government will expedite two trillion dollars for the purchase of assets and loans, preventing the depreciation of reserves that it has kept the credit market frozen and delayed economic recovery. On March 23, The New York Times reported that "investors received the news with great euphoria, and there was a surge in stock indices as soon as the stock market opened."
On April 14, 2009, Obama supported his administration's measures to revive economic growth and consolidate the financial sector. In his economic report, he noted that his plan against the recession shows signs of progress but that it will continue to be a difficult year. Even so, he highlighted the suspension of layoffs in schools and police departments, a rebound in jobs related to green sectors and an increase in mortgage refinancing.
Sanitary reform
Obama asked Congress to pass health care reform, a key promise in his campaign, and a legislative goal that aims to expand health coverage to all US citizens. July 14, 2009, House Democrats introduced a health reform bill, and Obama expected Congress to authorize the plan before the end of the year. One of the components of the health system reform project is the creation of optional insurance for those who do not have the possibility of accessing private insurance, through which it seeks to reduce costs and improve the quality of public health. On September 9, during the extraordinary session of Congress, he delivered a speech in which he defended his proposal, he also denied all the rumors that arose in summer by the opposition and indicated that the project has a cost of approximately 900 billion dollars in a ten year period. On March 21, 2010, the House of Representatives finally approved health care reform - with amendments such as a ban on using federal funds to finance abortions - by 219 votes in favor and 212 against.
Education reform
On March 30, 2010, President Obama signed the Health Care and Educational Reconciliation Act of 2010, which ended the role of private banks in lending secured federal student loans. By making loans directly to students, it was estimated that the government will save 68 billion taxpayer dollars over the next few years. Secured federal student loans will be distributed by the Department of Education. The law also increased the number of scholarships awarded each year, doubling its previous funding. As of 2014, the law allows borrowers to limit the amount they spend on student loans each year to 10% of their discretionary income and have their balance paid off if they have faithfully paid off their loan balance for more than 20 years. Additionally, the law is intended to make it easier for parents to qualify for Grad PLUS loans, and to invest billions of dollars in poor and minority schools and $ 2 billion in community colleges.
Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshore drilling rig at the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, causing a significant loss of oil. The good operator, BP, initiated a containment and cleanup plan and began drilling two relief wells with the intention of stopping the flow. Obama visited the Gulf of Mexico on May 2, due to visits from members of his cabinet, and again on May 28 and June 4. He began a federal investigation and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety regulations, after a review by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and concurrent hearings in Congress.. On May 27, it announced a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and leases, pending a regulatory review. As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and the public voiced a confusing criticism about various aspects of the incident and voiced a desire for greater involvement from Obama and the federal government.
2010 midterm elections
In the 2010 Congressional elections on November 2 where the Democratic Party lost many seats and control of the House of Representatives. He said the results came from the fact that not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery.
Foreign policy
In February and March, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, made travel abroad separately to announce a "new era" in foreign relations of the United States with Russia and Europe, using the terms "Break" and "resume" to denote major policy changes from the previous administration. Obama gave his first interview as president to the Arab television channel, Al-Arabiya, a fact that was interpreted as an attempt to get closer to the leaders of those countries.
On March 19, he continued his approach to the Muslim world, with a video New Year's message to the people and government of Iran. This attempt at rapprochement was rejected by the Iranian leaders. In April, he delivered a speech in Ankara, Turkey, which was well-received by many Arab governments. On June 4, 2009, he 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 peace in the Middle East.
On June 26, 2009, in response to the Iranian government's actions towards protesters after the 2009 Iranian presidential elections, Obama said: “The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous. We see it and we condemn it. On July 7, while in Moscow, he responded to a comment by Vice President Biden about a possible Israeli military attack on Iran, saying: “We have told the Israelis directly that it is important to try to resolve this in an international context of a so that it doesn't create major conflict in the Middle East.
On September 24, 2009, Obama became the first president of the United States to chair a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
In March 2010, he took a public stand against the plans of the government of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to continue building Jewish housing projects in neighborhoods inhabited predominantly by Arabs in East Jerusalem. During the same month, an agreement with the administration reached the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, to replace the Treaty on Strategic Arms Reduction 1991, with a new pact to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, long-range the arsenals of both countries by roughly a third.
Iraq and Afghanistan War
During his presidential transition, Obama announced that he would keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who was assigned to that position by George W. Bush, in his cabinet. Within a few days of his presidency, he promoted a change in the United States' war strategy by increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan and reducing the number of troops in Iraq. In the same way on February 27, 2009, announced that the combat mission in Iraq will end on August 31, 2010, and that the total withdrawal of US troops will take place in that country in 2011.
On May 11, 2009, Obama replaced Army General David McKiernan as the top commander in Afghanistan with former Special Forces commander General Stanley A. McChrystal, believing that McChrystal's experience would help bring security to the Afghans and would facilitate the use of counter-insurgency tactics. However, McChrystal resigned on June 23, 2010, due to the publication in Rolling Stone magazine of harsh criticism by the general and his team of the Obama Administration, for its management and direction of the war in Afghanistan, being replaced by General David Petraeus.
Israel
During the first years of the Obama administration, the United States increased military cooperation in Israel, including one of the largest numbers of troops in the country, also increased military aid, and reestablished various Israeli military and political groups. A large number of military officers from both countries were reported to be making an unusual number of trips between the two countries, including former Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Part of the military aid increased in 2010 to finance shielding for Israeli defense missiles. Before the government, Michael Mullen entered the government as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffHe had not visited Israel in over a decade, but in 2010 he made two trips, making a total of four.
In 2011, Obama's ambassador to the United Nations vetoed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, the only country on the Security Council to do so.
Libya
In March 2011, forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi were advancing on rebel troops in Libya and formal requests for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including Europe, the Arab League, and a resolution passed by the Senate. of the United States. In response to Resolution 1973 of the United Nations Security Council on 17 March, Gaddafi, who previously promised to attack "without mercy" to the citizens of Benghazi - Announced the immediate cessation of all military activities, however, it was learned that his army continued to bombard Misurata. The next day, on Obama's orders, the United States military took the lead role in airstrikes on Libyan government air forces to protect civilians and enforce the no-fly zone, including the use of missile BGM-109 Tomahawk, Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit, and more fighter jets. Six days later, on March 25, by the unanimous vote of the 28 members of the NATO , the international organization took the leadership of the operations, referred to by the organization as Operation Unified Protector. Some Congressmen and academics questioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action.
Reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba
On December 17, 2014, President Obama reestablished relations with Cuba after a dialogue with his Cuban counterpart Raúl Castro, after more than half a century of relations of differences. The process of normalization of relations between the two countries was called the Cuban thaw, highlighting Obama's visit to Cuba. In addition, he recalled that the United States already maintains relations with China and Vietnam, although he emphasized that there is no hope for democracy on the island, in turn, thanked Pope Francis for having mediated. In turn, prisoners were exchanged. From Cuba to the American spy Alan Gross and the United States agreed to release three of " the five " prisoners in the United States.
Agreement with Iran
On April 2, 2015, President Obama reached a historic agreement with Iran on the nuclear issue that has been so controversial for some years between the United States and Iran. With the preliminary nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration has just taken a historic step, leaving behind 35 years of ice with Iran and laying the foundations for a new scenario of alliances in the Middle East. Obama is convinced that it is the best way to guarantee security and the best way to avoid a new war in the Middle East. At the same time, the president said that the work has not yet been done, the agreement has not been signed (it was supposed to be signed until June). Obama warned that "if Iran violates the agreement, the US can re-apply the sanctions." In addition, the president added that it is not a simple pact between his Administration and Iran; but a pact between Iran, the United States, and the major world powers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that such an agreement, rather than blocking Iran's path to actually create paving, can lead to a terrible war, and suggests a final agreement that leaves no room for Iran to build. the bomb. “Israel will not accept an agreement that allows a country that wants to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons. Furthermore, Israel calls for any final agreement with Iran to include a clear and unambiguous recognition by Tehran of Israel's right to exist, ”declared the prime minister of Israel.
War on terror
After an extensive investigation by the US intelligence services based on information provided by the Pakistani intelligence services in July 2010, the CIA found the alleged location of Osama bin Laden in a house located in Abbottabad, a town 60 miles away. miles from Islamabad. CIA Director Leon Panetta reported all the evidence found to President Obama in a session on March 14, 2011. In subsequent meetings over the course of six weeks between Obama and his Homeland Security cabinet, the President rejected the plan for a bombing and on the contrary authorized a ground operation to be carried out by the SEAL special forces unit. The operation known as "Geronimo", was carried out on May 2, 2011, in which Bin Laden's life was killed and documents, hard drives, USB memory sticks and computers were stolen.
On May 1, 2011, at 22:40 (GMT -05: 00), Obama announced at a press conference that Osama bin Laden was assassinated through a military operation he led in Pakistan and that his body is under custody.
According to an article in The New York Times, Obama has continued his predecessor George W. Bush's war on terror through drone attacks on alleged leaders and militants of Al Qaeda and associated jihadist groups in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan
The war against the Islamic State
On August 8, 2014, President Obama announced on national television and to the world the entry of the United States into the conflict that Iraq is experiencing with the Islamic State through the air and non-ground support because according to his arguments he does not want to repeat the events of the Iraq war, according to Obama, the North American nation should not remain indifferent to Iraq's request for help in the face of bloody events and should carry out said military actions in order to protect Christian and Yazidi minorities and in addition to protecting establishments and US military bases settled in Iraq, in addition, Iraq was being occupied by the Islamic State which in turn also occupied part of Syria.
On September 10, 2014, Obama declared war on the Islamic State and announced the creation of an international coalition in order to act against the Islamic State.
On September 22, 2014, as Obama had said and after a decision by the head of CENTCOM General Lloyd Austin, the United States bombed the capital of the Islamic State in Syria known as Raqqa together with its allies, carried out by Tomahawk fighters, bombers, and missiles fired from warships.
Syrian civil war
During the Syrian civil war, the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad wanted to be overthrown and the rebels are still fighting to overthrow him; so the Obama administration backed with arms and training to Syrian rebels after years still continue to fight a civil war that began in 2011 after the so-called Arab Spring began in 2010.
Barack Obama: Political vision
Since he was a state senator from Illinois, Obama has always opposed President Bush's administrative policies on Iraq. When he and Congress authorized war through a joint resolution on October 2, 2002, Obama organized the first high-profile protest in opposition to the conflict, and expressed his disappointment at the impending war situation in the square of the Kluczynski Federal Building. In Chicago. On March 16, 2003, Bush issued an ultimatum of 48 hours to Saddam Hussein so that it left Iraq before the American invasion to this country, and again Obama directed a concentration against the warlike conflict and incited the public to stop the war with the slogan "It is not yet too late."
During his electoral campaign, he commented that if he were elected president, he would have to enact budget cuts in the range of tens of billions of dollars; it would stop investment in the "unlikely" missile shields for defense; it was not to use space as a "potential weapon"; it would minimize the development of future combat systems, and it would collaborate in the elimination of all nuclear weapons. It even promoted the end of the development of nuclear weapons and the reduction of US nuclear reserves up to that point. Other of his campaign promises included banning the production of fissile material and seeking negotiations with Russia.to withdraw the high alert status of ICBMs.
In November 2006 he called for a "phase of reorganization of US troops in Iraq" and prompted an opening to diplomatic dialogue with Syria and Iran. In March of the following year, he delivered a speech in front of the United States and Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is a lobby in favor of the State of Israel, and said that the main way to prevent the development of nuclear weapons by Iran was through diplomatic dialogue, without ruling out military action. He indicated that if he were elected president, he would commit to direct diplomacy with Iran, without preconditions. In August 2007, he detailed his strategy to fight global terrorism, stating: "It was a terrible mistake not to have acted" against the Al Qaeda leadership meeting, which took place in the tribal areas of Pakistan and which was confirmed by the US intelligence service. He also expressed that as president he would not miss such an opportunity, even without the support of the Pakistani government.
He subsequently called for stronger and more authoritarian action to combat genocide in the Darfur region of western Sudan, and his first appeal to the authorities on this matter was published in December 2005 in the US newspaper Washington Post, in the section of opinions, and then participated in the mass rally called "Saving Darfur" (in English "Save Darfur") in April 2006. For its part, it has divested $ 180,000 of its personal assets in shares related to the stock market stock of Sudan and has urged companies doing business with Iran to withdraw their investments with that country. In the publication of Foreign Affairs magazine from July to August 2007, he called for a foreign policy with a global vision on the war with Iraq and the renewal of the moral, military, and diplomatic leadership of the United States. He then declared "We cannot withdraw from the world and neither threaten it into submission," on the contrary, he asked Americans to "guide the world by feats and by setting a good example."
In economic affairs, he defended Franklin D. Roosevelt's welfare policies known as the New Deal and opposed Republican proposals to establish private accounts for social security. In the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, he voiced opposition to the government's disregard for the growing division of social class and called on members of the Democratic and Republican parties to take action to restore a network of social containment for the poor. Shortly after he announced his presidential campaign, he said he supported universal healthcare in the U.S. It has also proposed to reward the performance of teachers through the merit payment system, assuring the labor unions that the changes will be implemented through a collective bargaining agreement.
In September 2007, he blamed lobbyists for distorting the United States tax code. With the help of his plan, he would eliminate income taxes on seniors with earnings of less than $ 50,000 per year, repeal tax cuts, capital gains, and dividend subsidies to individuals with income of more than 250,000. In addition, it would eliminate corporate tax evasions, raise the income limit on social security taxes, restrict tax havens+--+-, and simplify tax returns by submitting information previously collected by the Public Treasuryregarding salary and bank transactions. In October of the same year, it announced its energy project and proposed the use of the administrative tool known as emissions trading to restrict emissions of carbon or greenhouse gases. In parallel, he presented a program lasting ten years, which aims to reduce the dependence of the United States on oil imports through investment in new energy sources. indicated that all pollution credits must be auctioned, with no credit exemptions for gas companies, oil companies, spending on energy development revenue, and the cost of economic transition.
He also encouraged Democrats to reach out to evangelists and other religious groups. In December 2006, met with Senator Sam Brownback at the World Summit on AIDS and the Church (in English Global Summit on AIDS and the Church), which was organized by religious leaders Kay and Rick Warren. Together, Obama, Warren, and Brownback, HIV tests were conducted, as he had done four months ago in Kenya, and urged other characters of public life "to do the same" and that "not feel ashamed of that.mPrior to the conference, eighteen anti-abortion groups published an open letter referring to Obama's legal support for this cause and stated: “In the strongest possible terms, we oppose Rick Warren's decision to ignore the clear position in favor of death promoted by Senator Obama and the fact of having invited him in spite of everything to the Church of Saddleback. In June 2007, he addressed 8,000 members of the United Church of Christ and challenged "the would-be leaders of the Christian right for being so enthusiastic about capitalizing on divisions."
In January 2016, during his last State of the Union address in front of Congress, he explained that part of his failures in achieving his presidential campaign promises during his tenure was due in large part to the political divisions between the parties of the country. In his opinion, this could have been solved with a figure with greater mediating capacity and he referred to former leaders such as Lincoln and Roosevelt. In his report, he criticized some positions of the Republican Party regarding the war against the Islamic State, the national political and economic system, although at the same time he offered his commitment with the Republicans to agree on a more efficient judicial system, the approval of a greater number of free trade agreements in the Pacific; and the establishment of initiatives to reduce poverty and the opioid crisis, and the generation of a retraining program for the unemployed. It also promoted the search for innovation as a vital opportunity for the society for the sake of progress; proposed the end of gerrymandering in order to improve the electoral situation; and reaffirmed its position taken against the Islamic State, which it classified as a threat to the country, although it stated that this position does not necessarily require the deployment of US troops in Iraq and Syria.
One method that political scientists use to measure the level of ideology is to compare the annual ratings made by the political organizations Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) with the ratings made by the American Conservative Union (ACU). Based on his years in Congress, Obama has a conservative life assessment average of 7.67% by ACU and a liberal life assessment average of 90% by ADA.
Barack Obama: Family and private life
Obama met his wife, Michelle Robinson, in June 1989, when he was hired as a summer associate at the Sidley Austin law firm. Robinson, was assigned for three months as his counsel at the law firm and shared some social gatherings with Obama, but she initially rejected his proposals to start a romantic relationship. However, at the end of the summer they both began a courtship, got engaged in 1991, and married on October 3, 1992. The couple's first daughter was born in 1998, and they baptized her with the name of Malia Ann. In 2001 their second daughter, Natasha, was born.
Using the proceeds from the sale of one of his books, the family moved in 2005 from his apartment, located in the neighborhood of Hyde Park in Chicago, his current residence, located in the neighborhood of Kenwood and valued at $ 1.6 million. The purchase of adjacent land by the wife of a property developer and family friend Tony Rezko, and the sale of part of the property to Obama, attracted media attention due to the indictment and subsequent conviction. on charges of political corruption by Rezko. In December 2007, the American magazine Money estimated the Obama family's net worth at $ 1.3 million. The 2007 tax return revealed a family income of $ 4.2 million also in 2006 revenues were more than $ 1 million and in 2005 of 1.6 million, which came mostly from the sale of their books.
In an interview in 2006 she highlighted the diversity of her extended family, saying, “Michelle could tell you that when we meet for Christmas or Thanksgiving, it is like the United Nations in a small size. I have relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I also have relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher. Obama has seven half-siblings of Kenyan origin on his father's side, six of whom are alive. In addition, she has a stepsister by her mother's side and her second husband, from Indonesia, named Maya Soetoro-Ng. Soetoro-Ng is married to a Canadian Chinese. From his school years, Obama is fluent in the Indonesian language at the conversational level. She is also interested in the Spanish language and her daughters are learning it.
For her part, her grandmother Madelyn Dunham, a native of Kansas, survived her mother until her death on November 2, 2008, just before the presidential election. In the autobiographical book entitled Dreams from My Father (In English, Dreams from My Father ), linked his family history on the maternal side to possible ties with ancestors Amerindians, and established the possibility of being a distant relative of Jefferson Davis, president of the southern confederation during the American Civil War.
One of his hobbies is basketball, and he was once a member of his high school team in the sport. Before he announced his presidential candidacy, he launched a highly publicized campaign to quit smoking. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune newspaper, he said: “I have resigned periodically in recent years. I have a strict request from my wife that states that in stressful moments of the campaign not succumb.
In his book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (in English, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream ), explained that "was not raised in a religious home." In addition, he described that his mother was raised by non-religious parents, and specified that they were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists alienated from religion; however, he stated that his mother was "in many ways the most spiritually conscious person he has ever known." In turn, he indicated that his Kenyan father was raised in the Islamic faith, but that he "confirmed to be an atheist"When he met his mother and said that his Indonesian stepfather was a man" who saw religion as particularly useless. " Barack in the book also explained that through his work as a community organizer in his early twenties and his collaboration with black minority churches, he came to understand "the power of the African American religious tradition to stimulate social change ”, showing respect for Christian religions.
Barack Obama: Cultural and political image
Obama's family background, his early life, his upbringing, and his upbringing are in stark contrast to the biographical backgrounds of other African-American politicians who began their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement. During a meeting with the Association of Black Journalists(National Association of Black Journalists) in August 2007, said he was puzzled by questions about whether he is "black enough" and said the debate is not about his physical appearance or his record of helping with problems that concern him. to black voters, but "we're still locked into that concept that if white people like us something must be wrong."
In December 2006, the newspaper Wall Street Journal had the headline "The man from nowhere" (in English, "The Man from Nowhere"), where Peggy Noonan, author of the speeches of Ronald Reagan advised commentators on the Establishment (a pejorative term for the ruling class ) to avoid getting excited about Obama's still an early political career. Echoing John F. Kennedy's Inaugural AddressObama recognized his youthful image, and noted during his campaign in October 2007: "I would not be here if the time and the torch had not been given to a new generation."
An important part of Obama's political image is the belief that his rhetoric and actions toward political reform coincide with his political intelligence, which often includes a measure of expediency. In July 2008, the article in the American magazine The New Yorker, written by political journalist Ryan Lizza, stated: “Obama campaigns in favor of reforming a fractured political process, yet he has always played politics by following the existing rules. , and not as I would like them to exist.
Many political commentators cited Obama's international appeal as a determining factor in his public image. Not only several polls have shown strong support for him in other countries, but Obama also established close relationships with prominent foreign politicians and government officials even before he submitted his presidential candidacy. In particular with the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, whom he met during his visit to London in 2005, also with the leader of the Italian Democratic Party Walter Veltroni, who visited Obama in the Senate office in 2005, and the French Head of state Nicolas Sarkozy, who in turn visited him in 2006 in Washington.
In December 2008, the US magazine Time chose Barack Obama as the character of the year due to his historic candidacy and election, which was referred to in the publication as "The safe march of seemingly impossible achievements."
The Uruguayan writer Carlos Maggi considered that with Obama a "serene revolution" was taking place in the United States.
Barack Obama: Awards
Nobel Peace Prize
On October 9, 2009, the Nobel Committee leader Thorbjørn Jagland announced that the Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to President Barack Obama "for his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation among peoples" standing out for his "vision of a world without nuclear weapons ”. Obama was one of 205 nominees, winning a gold medal, a diploma, and $ 1.4 million. On December 10 of that year, he attended the award ceremony for the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, where he accepted his award and expressed "deep gratitude and great humility."
Obama is the third president of the United States to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize during his tenure, the other two winners were Theodore Roosevelt who won the award in 1906, and Woodrow Wilson who won in 1919. Other Nobel Prize winners of Peace were former President Jimmy Carter in 2002, former Vice President Charles Dawes in 1925, and former Vice President Al Gore, who shared the award in 2007 with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of The United Nations.
Other awards
Barack Obama received the Collar of the King Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia in 2009 and the Presidential Medal of Distinction (Israel).
Barack Obama: Literary work
- Obama, Barack (1995). Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. New York: Three Rivers Press.
- Obama, Barack (2006). The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. New York: Crown Publishers.
- Obama, Barack, and Lisa Rogak (2007). Barack Obama in His Own Words. New York: Carroll & Graf.
- Obama, Barack (2007). The State of Black America 2007 Portrait of the Black Male: Prologue. Silver Spring: Beckham Publications Group.
- Obama, Barack (2007). Renewing American Leadership: America Cannot Meet This Century's Challenges Alone; The World Cannot Meet Them Without America. New York: Foreign Affairs-New York.
- Obama, Barack (2008). Barack Obama: What He Believes In - From His Own Works. New York: Arc Manor.
- Obama, Barack, and John McCain (2008). Barack Obama vs. John McCain - Side by Side Senate Voting Record for Easy Comparison. New York: Arc Manor.
- Obama, Barack (2008). Change We Can Believe In Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise. New York: Three Rivers Press.
