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"It is a visit that so many have waited so long for, the first black leader of the world’s most powerful nation paying homage to a global icon of black struggle. Together the two men and their presidencies seemed to represent the triumph of two great liberation movements: the American struggle for civil rights and the international fight against South African apartheid. It was Mandela’s struggle and writings that had persuaded a young Obama to take his first steps into political activism during his years at Occidental College and at Harvard Law School in the early 1990s."
- To me, this quote is very expected yet surprising. It is expected for me because Obama is inspired by such a monumental civil rights leader and because Nelson stood up for black civil rights but it is surprising to me that Mandela was the one that got him into political activism because he is not even from the United States. I instead, expected someone like Martin Luther King Jr. or some other historical figure that had impacted civil rights in the United States. I also definitely agree with the beginning of the quote, when it says, "It is a visit that so many have waited so long for, the first black leader of the world's most powerful nation paying homage to a global icon of black struggle." It seems like the visit to South Africa to Nelson's prison was very expected, since Nelson Mandela was a powerful figure in civil rights, especially black civil rights, and Barack Obama was the most powerful leader in the world, who would be looked up to in times of distress and when injustice came.

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“'In recent years the eyes of more Americans have been opened to this truth,' Obama said. 'Partly because of cameras, partly because of tragedy, partly because the statistics cannot be ignored, we can’t close our eyes anymore.'"
- I like how Obama addresses the issue as something that has been going on for a very long time (which is it has). This statement shows that these tragic events have been happening a long time because of racial discrimination, even after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. It shows that this entire time, these events have been consistently happening and were just nonchalantly swept under the rug, but have been revealed due to cameras and the undeniable numbers rising. America cannot just pretend that these things never happen, but acknowledge them and learn from them.

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Between the U.S. and Cuba, connections were very isolated. A US president hadn't visited Cuba since 1959, which was more than half a century. There had been grudges between the 2 countries, but Obama decided to make something different. Obama decided to make changes and create real connections with Cuba. To convince Cuba, he even brought his family along, his wife, Michelle, and his daughters. He challenged the Cuban president, Raul Castro, many questions in front of the questions, that forced him to talk about certain issues. Due to Obama's visit, Cuba may be very likely to a more open place in the future.

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"'There are places and moments in America where this nation’s destiny has been decided. Many are sites of war — Concord and Lexington, Appomattox, Gettysburg. Others are sites that symbolize the daring of America’s character — Independence Hall and Seneca Falls, Kitty Hawk and Cape Canaveral. Selma is such a place,' Obama said, standing on the Edmund Pettus Bridge."
- I feel like what Obama said here was very eye-opening and gave me awe. I like how he talks about how past events shape the today of America. Many people would rather ignore the bad events, like the Great Depression, 9/11, slavery, and praise and recognize the good ones, like Independence Day, winning WWII, etc. Obama wants to acknowledge all events that have happened and perhaps have the country learn from them. He wants people to know that the United States has had encountered some obstacles and speed bumps, and that every major event, whether positive or negative, is a part of American history.

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"Obama’s first-term caution on race matters was punctured by his controversial remarks that police 'acted stupidly' in the mistaken identity arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard University’s prominent African American studies professor, in 2009. Four years later he entered the breach once more by proclaiming that if he had a son, 'he’d look like Trayvon.'"
- I think Obama reacted and responded very appropriately. The police, were in fact, stupid to arrest Gates because the police were assuming that Gates was a different black man who had broken the law.This was based purely off the police's stupidity and the fact that they assumed he was the criminal because they were both black. I feel like Obama's ethnicity is a very contributing in a good way to help him in his presidency. He tried to console the victims with Trayvon's relatives and relate to them. If he was not black, it would have been hard to do so.  I think the fact that he said his son would have looked like Trayvon (if he had a son) was very powerful. It brought forth black racism to light, and so the Black Lives Matter movement started.

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Obama plans to use the power of his American diplomacy to try to get Iran to change, especially to stop their terrorism support, their forbidden nuclear program, and their threats to Israel. Obama and Joe Biden thought of a deal to try to stop Iran's bad intentions. The deal is that if Iran gives up their terrorism support and their nuclear program, then the US will give different offers and incentives that any countries would want like economic investments. However, if they do not, then the economic pressure will rise and political isolation will be more strict. This way, Iran will be forced to make a decision and hopefully make change.

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The Republican Party has had a lot of issues with the president of the United States. From the decision of the Affordable Care Act (they weren't going to support the bill until their problems were addressed) , to the Wall Street issue with John McCain, Obama always came on top.
-In one instance was when Antonin Scalia, the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, died. It is the president's job to nominate a new person into office, but the Republican Party stated that they would refuse the president's nominee and that the new upcoming  president should choose instead. This was a problem, because it is the president's duty to choose a new person (could get sued if he didn't). Obama is has the right to do that as well since the American people chose to get Barack Obama as their new president, well knowing that Obama had the power to nominate a Supreme Court member.

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Barack Obama passing more affordable national health care (Obamacare), was a huge milestone, whether people liked it or not. 7 different presidents had tried to achieve national health care before Obama, who were Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Theodore Carter, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.  All these presidents have tried and failed, Democrats and Republicans, but Obama came on top. It caused a lot of controversy between many people. It was officially called the Affordable Care Act, and made healthcare more affordable. It also required companies to pay health-care for certain employees.

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Ever since the fateful day of September 11th, Osama Bin Laden became a symbol of fear and terrorism. He managed to slip by the US intelligence and military and brought great frustration to 3 presidents. When killing the terrorist, there was an operation where Navy Seals went into his bedroom and shot him. In an interview, he talks about how he his grateful that he can finally say, "We got the man who caused thousands of death here in the United States," and was aware of the difficulty of sending soldiers into such a dangerous realm.

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In 1994, Senator Alice Palmer left a seat open in the Illinois Senate to run in the House of Representatives. Barack Obama took the chance to run for the position, and found a way to disqualify other competitors from the race by their fake signatures. He got the position with no competition. He slowly climbed positions and eventually ran for the presidency in 2008. After he won over John McCain, he gave a victory speech in Chicago. This received a lot of attention from popular political people and their recognized Barack Obama as a legitimate individual. After that, he quickly grew in popularity.

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- Barack did not have much of a connection with his father, as his father left the family to study at Harvard, and Barack later at 2 had his parents divorced.
- He struggled not having a father, and only saw Barack (his father) once besides when he was very young. Ten years after that, his Obama Sr. lost his legs in a car accident and the year after that, died in yet another car accident.
-When living with his grandparents, he enrolled in the respectable Punahou Academy (high school). At the school, he became a target of racism, especially since he was 1 of only 3 black students that were at the school. Despite this, he graduated with academic honors in 1979 and was very skilled at basketball.

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-His parents were Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr. and they had  their child in Hawaii. His father was black and his mother was white despite growing racism.
-Later, young Barack's parents divorced. He later went to live in Kenya.
-is mother married Lolo Soetoro. He lived with his new family in Indonesia.
-He moved back to Hawaii with his maternal grandparents and his mother and half-sister later joined him.