# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A new spinal implant, an automated page turner and a more efficient way to make energy from algae. Those are among the projects that young scientists shared with President Barack Obama at the White House Science Fair on Monday.

"I want to thank you for inspiring me," Obama said in remarks at the science fair. "Keep exploring. Keep dreaming. Keep asking why. Don't settle for what you already know. Never stop believing in the power of your ideas, your imagination, your hard work to change the world. "

The president gave special notice to a group of 6-year-old Girl Scouts from Tulsa, Oklahoma, the youngest scientists of the day, who built a page-turning device out of Legos to help individuals who are paralyzed or have arthritis. He said the "Supergirls" stressed to him that the device is just a prototype.

About 20 young scientists were honored on Monday, including Sophia Sánchez-Maes of Las Cruces, New Mexico, a high school senior who has studied algae as a potential fuel source, and Harry Paul of Port Washington, New York, who is now in his first year at Tufts and designed a new type of spinal implant after undergoing multiple surgeries for his own spine curvature.

In his remarks, the president touched on the issue of immigration, noting that at least two of the young scientists present were first-generation Americans and pushing to increase diversity in science, technology, engineering and math fields.

"We get the most out of all our nation's talent -- and that means reaching out to boys and girls, men and women of all races and all backgrounds," Obama said. "Science is for all of us. And we want our classrooms and labs and workplaces and media to reflect that."

He noted some achievements his administration has made in expanding Internet access and adding more money for STEM education, and he challenged Congress to continue funding research so the young scientists have future opportunities in their fields.

"And my federal budget promotes a significant increase in the kinds of research that needs to happen. Unfortunately, some of the budgets coming out of Congress don't make those same commitments," he said.

More photos from the event are below:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Obama To Young Scientists: 'Keep Asking Why'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A new spinal implant, an automated page turner and a more efficient way to make energy from algae. Those are among the projects that young scientists shared with President Barack Obama at the White House Science Fair on Monday. "I want to thank you for inspiring me," Obama said in remarks at the science fair.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina

1:14 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Raleigh! (Applause.) Thank you so much. Thank you. (Applause.) Well, it is good to be back in North Carolina. (Applause.) If you have a seat, go ahead and have a seat. Now, if you don't have a seat, don't. (Laughter.)

It is good to be here at the home of the Wolfpack. (Applause.) I want to thank your chancellor, Randy Woodson, for the introduction and the great work that he's doing on behalf of students all across the system. I want to recognize my Secretary of Energy, Ernie Moniz, who is here. Give him a big round of applause -- he's doing good work. (Applause.) Your Governor, Pat McCrory, is here. (Applause.) The Mayor of Raleigh, Nancy McFarlane. (Applause.) The Mayor of Chapel Hill, Mark Kleinschmidt. (Applause.) The Mayor of Durham, Bill Bell. (Applause.) And we've got Congressman Mike McIntyre doing great work. (Applause.) Your Senator, Kay Hagan, couldn't be here, but I wanted to thank her publicly for the great work she's doing. (Applause.)

And I want to thank all the students for coming out. We're doing this event nice and early so it doesn't run up against the Wake game. (Applause.) I've learned a few things as President, and one of them is not to compete with college basketball down here on Tobacco Road. You don't do that. (Applause.)

Now, this is actually my second stop in Raleigh-Durham. I just took a tour of a company called Vacon, where workers design the drives that power everything from elevators to the giant fans that help cool buildings like this one -- although I think we're kind of saving money on this -- (laughter) -- which is the smart thing to do.

So this company is making these engines and these systems more efficient, saving businesses big bucks on energy costs, improving the environment. Those savings get passed on to customers, puts money in people's pockets. And growing companies that need the products that Vacon makes, they're benefitting enormously. So it's a good-news story. But in a global economy, that company, just like every company in America, has to keep inventing and innovating in order to stay on the cutting edge. And that's where all of you come in.

Here at NC State, you know something about innovation. You've got one of the largest undergraduate engineering programs in the country. That's worth cheering for. (Applause.) I'm a lawyer by training, and that is nice. But we need more engineers. (Applause.)

Companies like Cisco and IBM, they come to this school when they're looking to hire because of the quality of the engineering program. And over at Centennial Campus -- (applause) -- some very smart people experiment in state-of-the-art facilities to figure out everything from how to design better fireproof fabrics to how to better protect our computer systems.

So the reason I came here today is because we've got to do more to connect universities like NC State with companies like Vacon to make America the number-one place in the world to open new businesses and create new jobs. We want to do that here in North Carolina, and we want to do this all across America. (Applause.)

Now, it's been more than five years since a devastating recession cost this country millions of jobs, and it hurt North Carolina pretty tough. But everyone here knows that even before the recession hit, the middle class had been hitting -- getting hit on the chin for years before that. Here in North Carolina, factories were shutting their doors, jobs were getting shipped overseas. Wages and incomes were flat-lining, so even if you had a job you didn't see your standard of living going up very much. Meanwhile the cost of everything from college tuition to groceries did go up.

So when I took office, we decided to focus on the hard work of rebuilding our economy on a new foundation for growth and prosperity, and to make sure that everybody had a chance to get ahead. And thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of the American people, the good news is the economy is growing stronger. (Applause.) Our businesses have now created more than 8 million new jobs since we hit bottom. Because of an all-of-the-above strategy for American energy, for the first time in nearly two decades we produce more oil here in the United States than we buy from the rest of the world. That hasn't happened in a very long time. (Applause.) We now generate more renewable energy than ever before, more natural gas than anybody on the planet. (Applause.) We're lowering energy costs, reducing pollution.

Health care costs are growing at their slowest rate in 50 years. For the first time since the 1990s, health care costs eat up a smaller chunk of our economy, and part of that, yes, has to do with the Affordable Care Act. (Applause.) And so over time, that means bigger paychecks for middle-class families, bigger savings for companies that are looking to hire. And along with all this, since I took office we've cut our deficits by more than half. (Applause.)

So we've made progress. And that's what I mean when I say this can be a breakthrough year for America. The pieces are all there to start bringing back more of the jobs that we've lost over the past decade. A lot of companies around the world are starting to talk about bringing jobs back to the United States, bringing jobs back to places like North Carolina -- partly because we got cheap energy costs, we've got the best workers in the world, we've got the best university systems in the world -- (applause) -- and we've got the largest market in the world.

So the pieces are there to restore some of the ground that the middle class has lost in recent decades, start raising wages for American families. But it requires us to take action. This has to be a year of action.

And here in North Carolina, you're doing your part to create good jobs that pay good wages. Congress has to do its part, too -- because restoring the American Dream of opportunity for everyone who's willing to work for it is something that should unite the country. That shouldn't divide the country. That's what we should be aspiring to -- that everybody has a shot if they're willing to work hard and take responsibility. (Applause.)

So in the short term, one thing Congress could do is listen to the majority of the American people and restore the unemployment insurance for Americans who need it. (Applause.) And let me just make an aside here. North Carolina still has a higher-than-average unemployment rate, so this is important to this state. Folks aren't looking for a handout. They're not looking for special treatment. There are a lot of people who are sending our resumes every single day, but the market -- the job market is still tough in pockets around the country, and people need support, a little help, so they can look after their families while they're looking for a new job. (Applause.) So Congress should do the right thing and extend this vital lifeline for millions of Americans.

Of course, that's just short term. Long term, the challenge of making sure everybody who works hard can get ahead in today's economy is so important that we can't wait for Congress to solve it. Where I can act on my own without Congress, I'm going to do so.

And today, I'm here to act -- to help make Raleigh-Durham, and America, a magnet for the good, high-tech manufacturing jobs that a growing middle class requires and that are going to continue to keep this country on the cutting edge. (Applause.)

So we've already got some success to build on. Manufacturing is a bright spot in this economy. For decades we'd been losing manufacturing jobs. But now our manufacturers have added over the last four years more than 550,000 new jobs, including almost 80,000 manufacturing jobs in the last five months alone. So we want to keep that trend going. We want to build on the kind of work that's being done in places like NC State to develop technology that leads to new jobs and entire new industries.

So a little over a year ago, we launched America's first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio. And what it was is a partnership; it includes companies and colleges. They came up with a joint plan. They were focusing on developing 3D printing technology and training workers with the skills required to master that technology.

Now, that was a great start. We got one going and some of the folks from Youngstown are here today, and we congratulate them on the great work they're doing. But here's the problem: We created one; in Germany, they've already got about 60 of these manufacturing innovation hubs. So we've got some catching up to do. I don't want the next big job-creating discovery, the research and technology to be in Germany or China or Japan. I want it to be right here in the United States of America. I want it to be right here in North Carolina. (Applause.)

So what I said was in my State of the Union address last year, I said to Congress, let's set up a network of at least 15 of these manufacturing hubs all across America, focusing on different opportunities where we can get manufacturing innovation going, create jobs, make sure that the research is tied to businesses that are actually hiring, and those synergies are going to grow the economy regionally and ultimately across the whole country.

And last summer, as part of our push to create middle-class jobs, I said, you know what, let's not settle on 15, let's just go ahead and do 45. Republicans and Democrats in the House and the Senate introduced bills that would get this going -- that's good. But they haven't passed the bills yet. So I want to encourage them to continue to pass the bills that would create 45 of these manufacturing hubs. In the meantime, I'm directing my administration to move forward where we can on our own.

So today, after almost a year of competition, I'm pleased to announce America's newest high-tech manufacturing hub -- which is going to be focused on the next generation of power electronics -- is going to be based right here in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Applause.) That's good news. That's good news. (Applause.) That's good news. It's great. (Applause.)

So just like the hub in Youngstown, what we're calling the Next Generation Power Electronics Innovation Institute is bringing together leading companies, universities, and federal research all together under one roof. Folks at this hub are going to develop what are called "wide bandgap semiconductors."

Now, I was just schooled on all this. (Laughter.) I'm not sure that I'm fully qualified to describe the technical elements of this. Raise your hand if you know what that is. (Laughter.) See, we've got some. (Laughter.) For all you non-engineers out there, here's what it means in the simplest terms. Semiconductors, obviously, are at the heart of every piece of the electronics that we use every day -- your smartphone, your television set, these days everything. Public research helped develop them decades ago, and then that research allowed commercialization, new products, new services, and obviously not only improved the economy, but greatly enhanced our lives. So we want companies to run with the ball also, but first we've got to make sure that we're also doing the research and linking it up to those companies.

Wide bandgap semiconductors, they're special because they lose up to 90 percent less power; they can operate at higher temperatures than normal semiconductors. So that means they can make everything from cell phones to industrial motors to electric cars smaller, faster, cheaper. There are going to be still applications for the traditional semiconductors, but these can be focused on certain areas that will vastly improve energy efficiency, vastly improve the quality of our lives. And the country that figures out how to do this first, and the companies that figure how to do this best, they're the ones that are going to attract the jobs that come with it.

So this manufacturing hub, right here, focused in North Carolina --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: GoPack!

THE PRESIDENT: GoPack! (Laughter and applause.) This hub is going to make it easier for these wide bandgap semiconductors to go from the drawing board to the factory floor to the store shelves -- or not necessarily the store shelves, because what I just saw, for example, were these really big pieces of equipment that are attached to utility companies or help windmills translate the power they're generating actually get transmitted to where they're going to be finally used. It's going to bring together chip designers and manufacturers with companies like Vacon and Delphi that stand to benefit from these new technologies. And this will help big companies, but it's also going to help small companies, because they're going to be able to use equipment they otherwise wouldn't be able to afford to test and prototype new products. And of course, American workers will be able to come right here, to North Carolina, to learn the skills that companies are looking for. And the next generation of manufacturing will be an American revolution.

So in the coming weeks, we're going to be launching two more of these innovation hubs; we've already got them all planned out. One is going to focus on digital design and manufacturing; another is going to be developing lightweight metals that could transform everything from wind turbines to military vehicles. And together, they're going to help build new partnerships in areas that show potential. They'll help to lift up our communities. They'll help spark the technology and research that will create the new industries, the good jobs required for folks to punch their ticket into the middle class.

And that's what America is all about. We have always been about research, innovation, and then commercializing that research and innovation so that everybody can benefit. And then we start selling our stuff all around the world, we start exporting it. And we create good jobs, and middle-class families then are able to buy the products that result from this innovation. And you get a virtuous cycle where everybody is doing better, and nobody is left behind. And that's what we can do if we pull together the way those companies and universities have pulled together as part of this bid.

Now, this is going to be a long haul. We're not going to turn things around overnight. A lot of jobs were lost in the textile industry and furniture-making. But the great news is, is that ultimately, because our people are good and smart and hardworking and willing to take risks, we are going to be able to start bringing those jobs back to America. And that's what we do. (Applause.) When times get tough, we don't give up. We get up. We innovate. We adapt. We keep going. We look to the future. (Applause.)

And I want all of you to know, North Carolina, that as long as we keep working together and fighting together and doing what it takes to widen the circle of opportunity for more Americans so nobody is left behind -- if you work hard, if you are responsible, then you can go out there, get a skill, train yourself, find a job, support a family. If we work together, and that's our focus, there's nothing we can't achieve. (Applause.) There's no limit to how far we can go.

So congratulations, North Carolina State. Congratulations, Raleigh. Let's get to work. God bless you. God bless America. (Applause.)

END
1:31 P.M. EST

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Remarks by the President on the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center North Carolina State University Raleigh, North Carolina 1:14 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Raleigh! (Applause.) Thank you so much. Thank you. (Applause.) Well, it is good to be back in North Carolina. (Applause.) If you have a seat, go ahead and have a seat.

# data[].attributes.body
Integrity

accountability

empathy

humility

resilience

vision

influence

positivity

# data[].attributes.body
Quote #1 "Keep exploring. Keep dreaming. Keep asking why. Don't settle for what you already know. Never stop believing in the power of your ideas, your imagination, your hard work to change the world" - Barack Obama

Quote #2 "When times get tough, we don't give up. We get up".

# data[].attributes.body
Since Obama was elected back in 2008 his family and himself have changed the way black Americans view themself in society.  They were always treated differently and felt like the nation refused to love them back. With Obama in the White House they were provided with improving health care and economic and educational opportunities. He worked to fix the criminal justice system and the workforce to treat all people of colour fairly with the same opportunities as everyone else.

Start at 3:26 ---- End at 4:10

# data[].attributes.body
Determination ↓ took action to reduce student loans and eliminated bank involvment in new students

Integrity

Conflict Management/Influencal

Motivational

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In March 2012, we compiled a list of what were, at the time, President Barack Obama's greatest achievements, to accompany our cover story, " The Incomplete Greatness of Barack Obama." Today, at the end of his second term, Obama's legacy is far more complete. Indeed, items from the original list-such as increasing national service opportunities, creating the Race to the Top education reform program, and expanding stem cell research-fell off in order to make room for new ones.

But his legacy is also under threat. Donald Trump and the new Republican-dominated Congress have pledged to undo much of what the president has achieved, including repealing the Affordable Care Act and reversing important executive actions on immigration and climate change. So it is with this caveat that we offer the following updated list of Obama's top accomplishments.

1. Passed Health Care Reform

After five presidents over the course of a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. More than twenty million Americans have gained coverage since the passage of the law, which provides subsidies for Americans to buy coverage, expands Medicaid eligibility, and prohibits insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. The uninsured rate has dropped from 16 percent in 2010 to 9 percent in 2015. The law also mandates free preventive care, allows young people to stay on their parents' policies up to age twenty-six, and imposes a ban on annual and lifetime caps on benefits.

2. Rescued the Economy

Signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid the most severe downturn since the Great Depression. As of October 2016, the economy had added 15.5 million new jobs since early 2010 and set a record with seventy-three straight months of private-sector job growth. The unemployment rate, which hit a sustained peak of about 10 percent in 2009, has dropped to 4.6 percent as of November 2016.

3. Passed Wall Street Reform

Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, allows the government to take them into receivership if they pose a threat to the economy, and limits their ability to trade with customers' money for their own profit. Dodd-Frank also created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to crack down on abusive lending and financial services. By the end of fiscal year 2016, the CFPB had handled nearly one million consumer complaints and taken actions that resulted in $11.7 billion in relief for more than twenty-seven million consumers.

4. Negotiated a Deal to Block A Nuclear Iran

Led six nations in reaching an agreement with Iran that requires the country to end its nuclear weapons program and submit to a rigorous International Atomic Energy Agency inspections regime in exchange for lifting global sanctions. The deal-which resulted from first toughening sanctions against Iran-also blocked Iran's pathways to building a bomb, slowing down the development time for a weapon from three months to one year if Iran were to break its commitments.

5. Secured U.S. Commitment to a Global Agreement on Climate Change

Provided key leadership to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which produced the
2015 Paris Agreement, a commitment by 197 nations to reduce global carbon emissions and limit the global rise in temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius.

6. Eliminated Osama bin Laden

In 2011, ordered the Special Forces raid of the secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was retained.

7. Ended U.S. Combat Missions in Iraq and Afghanistan

After an initial troop surge in Afghanistan, brought home 90 percent of the nearly 180,000 troops who were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan when he took office, leaving only a small contingent of forces to assist the Iraqi and Afghani militaries against insurgents and the Taliban. The withdrawal from Iraq created the vacuum that ISIS has filled. But, recently, without redeploying ground troops, the U.S. has helped the Iraqi military in reversing ISIS's gains.

8. Turned Around the U.S. Auto Industry

In 2009, injected $62 billion (on top of the $13.4 billion in loans from the George W. Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. By December 2014, the car companies had repaid $70.4 billion of the funds, and the Center for Automotive Research estimated that 2.5 million jobs were saved.

9. Repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell''

Ended the 1990s-era restriction and formalized a new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.

10. Supported Federal Recognition of Same-Sex Marriages

Decided in 2011 that the federal government would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which restricted federal marriage recognition to opposite-sex couples. In June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key portions of the law as unconstitutional, allowing married same-sex couples to finally receive federal protections like Social Security and veteran benefits.

11. Reversed Bush Torture Policies

Two days after taking office, signed an executive order banning the so-called "enhanced interrogation" techniques used by the CIA under President Bush and considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush administration legal opinions supporting the use of these techniques.

12. Established Rules to Limit Carbon Emissions from Power Plants

Finalized a "Clean Power Plan" in 2015 through new EPA regulations, setting the first-ever carbon pollution standards for existing power plants. When fully implemented in 2030, the new rules will result in a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to 2005.

13. Normalized Relations with Cuba

In 2014, took steps to open diplomatic and commercial ties with Cuba, ending the failed Cold War policy of isolation. In March 2016, direct mail flights to Cuba resumed for the first time in fifty years. American tourists may also now freely visit the country.

14. Put Medicare on Sounder Financial Footing

Slowed the growth of health care spending through cost-saving measures enacted as part of the ACA, ensuring the solvency of Medicare's principal trust fund through 2028.

15. Protected DREAMers from Deportation

Took executive action in June 2012 to protect undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children
(so-called DREAMers) from deportation and allow them to apply for work permits.

16. Established Net Neutrality

Directed the Federal Communications Commission to issue a rule classifying internet service providers as a public utility and forcing them to treat all web traffic the same, regardless of source. After years of litigation, a federal court upheld the FCC's rule, meaning providers can't favor certain websites or block others.

17. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court

Nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor (the first Hispanic person and third woman to serve on the Court) in 2009 and Elena Kagan (the fourth woman) in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively.

18. Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards

Released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon for cars and light-duty trucks by model year 2025.

19. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant Funding

As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed a measure ending the decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. As a result, all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. More than half of the savings ($36 billion over ten years) is dedicated to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.

20. Improved America's Image Abroad

With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. (and the corresponding loss of "soft power") during the Bush years. Favorable opinion toward the United States rose during Obama's first term in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent, and have stayed high ever since.

21. Left His Mark on the Federal Judiciary

Appointed more than 300 judges to federal district and appeals courts, in line with other two-term presidents, tipping the balance to majority Democrat appointed. A majority of judges on nine of the thirteen appeals courts are now Democratic appointees-compared to just one when Obama took office. Appointed a record number of female (138) and minority (120) judges to the federal bench, as well as eleven openly gay or lesbian judges.

22. Diversified the Federal Bureaucracy

Appointed women and people of color to fill more than half of appointments to policy positions requiring Senate confirmation, including seventeen of thirty-one Cabinet positions.

23. Passed Fair Sentencing Act

Signed 2010 legislation that reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine possession from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1. Successfully lobbied the United States Sentencing Commission to apply those measures retroactively, which contributed to the largest decrease in the federal prison population in over thirty years.

24. Revived the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division

Through then Attorney General Eric Holder, announced a major overhaul of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division in 2009 to bring back federal civil rights enforcement, which had atrophied under President Bush. Among other priorities, the division stepped up its efforts against housing and employment discrimination, strengthened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, and put renewed focus on cracking down on discriminatory policing practices.

25. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection

Signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which designates more than two million acres as wilderness, creates thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protects over 1,000 miles of rivers. By designating new national monuments and other measures, permanently protects over 548 million acres, more than any other president.

26. Gave the FDA the Power to Regulate Tobacco

Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in 2009. Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels. It also bans the sale of "light" cigarettes and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.

27. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense

Cut the Reagan-era "Star Wars" missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of a sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.

28. Kick-started Clean Energy Investment

As part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion in research on smart grids, energy-efficient electric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels. Launched a clean energy incubator within the Argonne National Laboratory and encouraged $4 billion in commitments by foundations, institutional investors, and other private-sector stakeholders to boost their investments in clean energy technology.

29. Reduced the Threat from Nuclear Weapons

Initiated the biannual Nuclear Security Summit to address the global threat posed by nuclear terrorism and advance a common approach to strengthening nuclear security. As a result, weapons-usable highly enriched uranium has been removed from sixteen countries. Signed and won ratification of a 2011 treaty with Russia to limit each country to 1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400). The treaty also reestablished a monitory and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009.

30. Passed Credit Card Reforms

Signed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.

31. Cut Veteran Homelessness by Half

In 2010, launched the nation's first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness, Opening Doors, which has led to a 47 percent decline in the number of homeless veterans since 2010 and aims to end youth homelessness by 2020.

32. Enacted Government Surveillance Reform

Signed the 2015 USA Freedom Act, which bans the governmental collection of bulk data, creates a special panel to provide technical and legal advice to the court administering the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and provides greater transparency for FISA court opinions. The ACLU noted that the legislation marked the first time since 1978 that Congress has "taken steps to restrict, rather than expand, its government surveillance authority."

33. Expanded Overtime Pay

Updated a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act to ensure overtime pay for employees making up to $47,476 a year, thereby expanding overtime protections to 4.2 million workers. The new rules were set to go into effect in December 2016, but were blocked in November by a federal judge in Texas.

34. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges

Through the Department of Education, issued "gainful employment" regulations in 2011, cutting off commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more than 25 percent of former students aren't paying off their loans or if former students spend more than 12 percent of their average total earnings servicing student loans. In June 2016, regulators voted to shut down the nation's largest accreditor of for-profit colleges, cutting off federal aid to hundreds of for-profits.

35. Cut the Deficit

Reduced the federal deficit from 9.8 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3.2 percent in 2016, one benefit of a strengthening economy.

36. Created the College Scorecard

Through the Department of Education, developed a comprehensive database in 2015 that allows prospective college students to compare potential schools based on costs, graduation rates, debt, and post-college earnings.

37. Improved School Nutrition

Signed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010, championed by Michelle Obama, mandating a $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional standards for school lunches. New rules double the amount of fruits and vegetables, and require only whole grains, in foods served to students.

38. Expanded the Definition of Hate Crimes

Signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, applying existing hate crime laws to crimes based on a victim's sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, religion, or national origin.

39. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide

Through 2009 EPA regulations, declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate
its production.

40. Strengthened Women's Right to Fair Pay

Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if it happened years ago. Under previous law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits ran out 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the victims never knew about it.

41. Secured the Removal of Chemical Weapons from Syria

Forced an agreement by Syrian leader Bashar Assad in 2013 to destroy the country's stockpile of chemical weapons in accordance with the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention. In 2016, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed the destruction of thousands of tons of mustard gas and other toxic chemicals. (There is evidence, however, that Assad has recently continued to use chlorine gas against rebels and civilians in Aleppo.)

42. Protected LGBTQ Americans From Employment Discrimination

Signed an executive order in 2014 prohibiting federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating against their workers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

43. Reduced Discrimination Against Former Prisoners in Federal Hiring

Signed an executive order to "ban the box" in federal hiring and contracting. Government employers can't ask about criminal records at the beginning of the application process, giving applicants with a criminal history a fairer shot.

44. Won Major Victories Against Housing and Mortgage Discrimination

Through the Justice Department, reached a record $335 million settlement against Countrywide Financial Corporation and a $175 million settlement against Wells Fargo for their practices of charging higher interest and fees to African American and Latino borrowers prior to the financial crisis, in addition to numerous other suits pursued on behalf of borrowers. In 2015, the administration successfully argued before the Supreme Court that victims of housing discrimination suing for bias only need to show "disparate impact," not an intent to discriminate, to win their case.

45. Expanded Broadband Coverage

Obtained approval from the FCC to shift $8 billion in subsidies away from landlines and toward broadband
internet access for lower-income rural families. By 2016, 98 percent of Americans had access to fast 4G/LTE broadband.

46. Expanded Health Coverage for Children

Signed the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act in 2009, expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover an additional four million children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.

47. Improved Food Safety

Signed the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which increased the Food and Drug Administration's budget by $1.4 billion and expanded its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing the number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the safety practices of countries exporting food products to the U.S.

48. Let the Space Shuttle Die and Killed the Planned Moon Mission

Allowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, and dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off funding for the even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build a moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, designed to investigate Mars's potential to support life.

49. Rebuilt and Fortified the Gulf Coast post-Katrina

Completed a $14.5 billion system in 2011 to rebuild the levees in New Orleans and protect it from a 100-year storm.

50. Avoided Scandal

Became the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to serve two terms with no serious personal or political scandal.
[Ryan Cooper and Siyu Hu contributed to the 2012 version of this article.]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Obama's Top 50 Accomplishments, Revisited | Washington Monthly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The comprehensive legacy of the 44th President.

# data[].attributes.body
He was very successful president and had over 50 top accompliments.
- Obama's was the sixth president to have attempted to create universal health insurance in the last century but he was the only one that succeeded.
- If it wasn't for Obama then the Economy would still be dealing with the recovery of the Great Depression. He signed a $787 billion dollar recovery act that increased the economy to reach 15.5 million new jobs since 2010. Resulting in that the rate of unemployment dropped from a 10 percent in 2009 to a 4 percent as of 2016.

# data[].attributes.body
Barack Obama was the 44th President of the United States and the first ever African-American president in the US. He was then named 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate only nine months after we was elected.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

Oslo, October 9, 2009

To cite this section
MLA style: The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2020. Tue. 15 Sep 2020. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2009/press-release/>

Back to top

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

# data[].attributes.body
BARACK OBAMA

# data[].attributes.body
US President
Democratic Party