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“The next day, Obama became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison when he went to the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in Oklahoma. His purpose was clear: “I’m going to shine a spotlight on this issue, because while the people in our prisons have made some mistakes — and sometimes big mistakes — they are also Americans, and we have to make sure that as they do their time and pay back their debt to society that we are increasing the possibility that they can turn their lives around.”

-I have been utterly shocked to learn of another action Obama has been the first president to do. To visit a federal prison is a statement to the world that America can and will change. Obama may be the first of many changes that will happen in the future. What change he will bring is still being shown in his presidency. Visiting some of the most wanted and ruthless men and women in America shows his care for the justice and equality he believes America can bring. He did not visit the jail just to prove something to the inmates, but rather to prove his concern for everyone in the society.

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“But ask other black pioneers about their experiences, and they agree on this: Being first is never easy, but life afterward can be just as hard — both for the person who broke the barrier and the country at large.”

-This quote has led me to think about what will result from Obama’s impact on the political world after his presidential career ends. Will all the things he stands for and fought for be disregarded or perhaps even put down? Maybe the next president will disagree with Obama, his ideals, and what he worked for to change America. Although he has sent a message to the world that America is a place of freedom and diversity, will we continue to show that image in the next presidency? I feel that the next president will have to either accept or reject the change Obama has done for the nation.

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“Beginning with the 2012 shooting death of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, the nation reopened an intense debate on the continued horror of institutional racism evidenced by a string of high-profile deaths of black men, women, boys and girls at the hands of law enforcement.”

-This quote has surprised me in several ways. I at first thought that the idea of racism among police was not something new, however this quote shows that racism has spurred as of late. I am surprised that the media gave this case and other similar cases as much hype as they did, considering the rich and violent history between black and white people. Perhaps the fact that an African-American man is president has changed the view of "black" people in our society.

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“I’m Muslim, I’m disloyal to the country, etc., which unfortunately is pretty far out there and gets some traction in certain pockets of the Republican Party, and that have been articulated by some of their elected officials, what I’d say there is that that’s probably pretty specific to me and who I am and my background, and that in some ways I may represent change that worries them.”

-This attack on Obama for his questionable status as an American shows how people can hate change in America. Obama states that he stands for a change. I am intrigued and curious as to what changes Obama may stand for. He explains how he has been the face of change in America, and the backlash he’s received from the public may be a result of their fear. I feel that the change Obama stands for is not any type to be fearful of or hate. I believe we should look forward to a more equal America with more respect for people with different ideas from our own. Obama and his backlash show the importance of overlooking differences for the common goal of a nation.

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As Obama took office in 2008, he tool over America, who was fighting Iraq and Afghanistan, and faced an economy in severe recession. Obama opposed George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq in 2003. He planned to withdraw as many soldiers as possible from both wars. Obama's other war-related campaign promise was to step up the U.S. military commitment in Afghanistan in order to keep the extremist Al-Qaeda from regaining power. He was determined to establish peaceful relations between all possible foreign nations. He traveled abroad to other nations more in his first year than any other president.

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Osama bin Laden, the founder and head of the Islamist group Al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1:00 am by United States Navy SEAL's of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group. The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a CIA-led operation. Obama led and authorized the special-ops assault against Al-Qaeda.

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Obamacare was arguable very successful. National healthcare and insurance has been the leading economic issue of America for the past few decades. Vox news describes it as, "the single defining goal of American progressiveness for more than a century." After failed attempts for free health insurance from Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, and Kennedy, Obama was able to made marginally progress through Obamacare. On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, which established that the national government would handle nation-wide health care.

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In 2008 the world economy faced its most dangerous crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930's. The event began in 2007, when sky-high home prices in the United States finally turned decisively downward, spread quickly, first to the entire U.S. financial sector and then to financial markets overseas. The casualties in the United States included large mortgage lending and companies. During this crisis, Democratic candidate Barack Obama responded with delivered a series of speeches and aired a new campaign ad blaming the economic meltdown on “bad decisions made in favor of big corporate special interests instead of America’s working families.” Obama seized upon Wall Street’s implosion as a means of reinvigorating their faltering campaign, and influencing the 2008 presidential election.

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Before leaving New York to study in Harvard, Obama worked for four years in Chicago both politically and socially. After spending an additional year in New York as a researcher with Business International Group, a global business consulting firm, Obama accepted an offer to work as a community organizer in Chicago's largely poor and black South Side. Obama's main assignment as an organizer was to launch the church-funded Developing Communities Project and, in particular, to organize residents of Altgeld Gardens to pressure Chicago's city hall to improve conditions in the poorly maintained public housing project. All of his work and funds were marginally successful, but shows the steps Obama is taking towards improving the political society of America.

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Barack Obama II was born to Barack Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham. They met at Hawaii University. However, Obama's father left him to work in Kenya. His mother remarried to Lolo Soetoro of Indonesia. Obama lived with his mother and stepfather for his early life. After studying in New York and Los Angeles, During a summer internship at Chicago's Sidley and Austin law firm after his first year at Harvard, Obama met Michelle Robinson, a South Side native and Princeton University and Harvard Law School graduate who supervised his work at the firm. They grew to love one another and married in 1992. The Obamas settled in Chicago's racially integrated, middle-class Hyde Park neighborhood, where their first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998 and their second daughter, Natasha (called Sasha), was born in 2001

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Barack Hussein Obama II, born August 4, 1961, lived out his early life in Honolulu, Hawaii. He lived with his mother who, after divorcing with Barack Obama Sr., remarried. She and Barack later moved to Indonesia with his stepfather. Two years later, Barack moved back to Hawaii where he graduated from Punahou School in 1979. After High School, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attend Oriental College for two years. When his studies in Oriental College finished, he moved to New York where he practiced political science at Columbia University. After four years at Columbia University and four years in Chicago, Obama was accepted into Harvard Law School in 1988. In February 1990, his second year at Harvard, he was elected president of the law review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the law review's staff of 80 editors. This gave him his first spotlight in his long line of political work.