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Because President Obama belongs to the Democrat party, he sometimes faces extreme opposition from the Republican party. One time, the majority leader of the Republicans, Mitch McConnell, has said that he wanted to make Obama a one term planet, (though this did not happen). Because of the opposition from the Republicans, Obama has had many confrontations over multiple issues. However, despite these confrontations, Obama continues to do what he believes is right, and he does not allow the Republicans to get in his way. Sometimes, President Obama gives Republicans a counterargument to what they are saying.

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At the start of President Obama's first term, the effects of the Great Recession, one of the worst economical crisis ever, could still be felt. As time went on, other countries began to feel the effects of the Great Recession as jobs were beginning to be lost in many countries and continued to being lost in the U.S.
-As a result of the loss of so many jobs, President Obama had to react, which led to the creation of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which would help to create more jobs.
-Also, Obama and his administration worked with the Federal Reserve and the FDIC  in order to repair the financial system.
-In addition, the Obama administration worked to stop the foreclosures on many houses by stabilizing the house market.
-Obama, in order to help the U.S. auto industry, gave bailouts to GM and Chrysler, who were effectively bankrupt after the Great Recession.
These actions that Obama and his administration took shows how Obama responded to the Great Recession.

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During the Obama presidency, foreign policies were a very important issue. 2 of the new foreign policies that were made by President Obama were called the Iran Nuclear Deal and the Cuban Deal. In the Iran Nuclear Deal,
- Iran would be prevented from making nuclear weapons for the next year or so. If the Iran Nuclear Deal hadn't taken place, Iran could have made a nuclear weapon in the  2 or 3 months at the signing of the Nuclear Deal.
-Also, because of the Deal, Iran's nuclear program would be  under constant surveillance.
- In return, some of Iran's economic sanctions would be taken away, which would help improve Iran's economy. On the other hand, the economic sanctions could come back should Iran choose to violate the deal.
Another important foreign policy Since 1961, the U.S. and Cuba have not been very diplomatic with each other because Cuba transferred U.S. territory that was worth 1 billion dollars. This led to the U.S. placing a trade embargo on Cuba in 1961. However, that has changed since December 17, 2014 when Obama announced that the U.S. would be more diplomatic to Cuba. In the following timeline, it is shown how the U.S. and Cuba began to reopen diplomatic relations together.
- On Jan 15, 2015, plans were made for family visits to Cuba, trips for government officials and journalists, and trips for educational, cultural, and religious reasons.
-On July 20, 2015, diplomatic relations were officially reestablished.
- Then, the U.S. Embassy reopened in Havana on August, 14, 2015.
-Later, commercial air travel began between the U.S. and Cuba on December 17, 2015.
-Finally, on March 20, 2016, Obama visits Cuba.
In this way, Obama made big changes in his foreign policy by making the Iran Nuclear Deal and reopening diplomatic ties to Cuba.

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Also known as the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare was the Obama administration's health insurance plan. On March 23rd, 2010, Obama signed Obamacare into law, and this was upheld by the Supreme Court. Obamacare's purpose is to give a quality, affordable health care, which would reduce health care spending. To do so, Obamacare makes many reforms, such as consumer protections, regulations, subsidies, taxes, and insurance exchanges, to make both private and public health insurance more affordable, better, and more available. However, Obamacare does not replace Private Insurance or Medicaid, and it only regulates health insurance that practices badly. In this way, Obama made a good health plan

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Some of Obama's Quotes in his Presidency

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Some of Obama's Quotes in his Presidency

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“Selma teaches us, too, that action requires that we shed our cynicism. For when it comes to the pursuit of justice, we can afford neither complacency nor despair.”

This quote is interesting because  it is true that in order to do something, we have to stop thinking that people are selfish. If we don’t, we will only despair, which will hinder us from achieving our goals. Therefore, we need optimism to complete our goal, and the perfect example of optimism accomplishing our goal is Selma when many Africans made the march to Selma. The march to Selma allowed the African Americans to gain the rights they have today, because they were optimistic that eventually, they will receive their rights through peace. Therefore, Selma is a perfect example of how optimism can accomplish your goals.

"There are places and moments in America where this nation’s destiny has been decided."

This quote of Obama’s is very interesting because it is known that events always lead to other events. Events always lead to other events because everything has to start with something. Without starting somewhere, other things cannot begin to form. For instance, there are important events that lead to other important events, such as the March of Selma. Because of the March of Selma, Africans were able to gain the same rights of those of white people, which is why this quote is interesting.

“I always tell young people, in particular, do not say that nothing has changed when it comes to race in America, unless you’ve lived through being a black man in the 1950s or ’60s or ’70s. It is incontrovertible that race relations have improved significantly during my lifetime and yours.”

Obama might be somewhat unclear in his meaning because while  race relations have improved dramatically in the past 50 years, I do not understand why being a black man in the 50s, 60s, and 70s would be an excuse that nothing has changed. The improvements on race relation is undeniable, because Africans have been able to gain many rights, which makes them to equal to white people. Why would older Africans say that nothing has changed? However, Obama could be referring to the racism that is still present here in America because some people still feel that Africans are inferior to white people, which is why some, such as law enforcement, treat Africans poorly. Either way, Obama is addressing a very important issue about racism.

“Since my first campaign, I’ve talked about how, in too many cases, our criminal justice system ends up being a pipeline from underfunded, inadequate schools to overcrowded jails,"
This quote of Obama's is very surprising because Obama makes an interesting thought about the criminal justice system being a type of a pipeline from inadequate schools to overcrowded jails. However, this logic does make sense  because when the education for kids is not up to par, children tend to pick a path in life that could eventually become one that is criminal in nature. This quote of Obama also shows that the government needs to pay more attention to the schools, or more children could potentially end up having a criminal career, which was something that Obama has been trying to do. He tries to strengthen our education system, and this helps lower the amount of children who would lead a dangerous life.

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During his 2nd term as President, Obama accomplished even more.
- Obama had to deal with the growing issue of immigration laws, so he used his executive powers to allow more illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. without the fear of deportation.
- Also, he, along with other countries, made the Iran deal. By making the Iran deal, Obama and other countries were able to keep Iran from creating nuclear weapons in exchange for the removal of some sanctions, which would help with Iran's economy. However, many other countries, such as the U.S., are monitoring Iran because if Iran still decides to make a nuclear weapon, the U.S. and other countries would know and would put sanctions back into place.
- Besides the Iran deal, Obama has reopened the U.S. to Cuba over time. Ultimately, he changed his foreign policy, so both countries can be diplomatic to each other.
-On December 12th, 2015, Obama and 195 other countries agreed to limit green house gases in order to slow down global warming in the Paris deal.
-In his 2nd term, the terrorist group known as ISIL became a growing threat, so Obama authorized an air campaign on ISIL, stating that he will not put soldiers on the ground.
-Obama signed education reforms, which changed the education system dramatically.
-Obama was also the president who legalized same-sex marriage, which was an issue that was disputed for many years.
-Throughout Obama's 2nd term, Obama withdrew the most U.S. soldiers from Afghanistan.
As Obama's 2nd and last term begins to wind down, it it shown clearly that Obama has achieved much throughout his presidency.

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Obama achieved many things during his first term.
- In his first term, he nominated 2 woman to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor on August 6, 2009 and Elena Kagan on August 5, 2010. In doing so, Obama elected Elena Kagan as the first Hispanic Justice to the Supreme Court.
- In 2009, in response to the Great Recession, he passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which would save and create many jobs. He even helped GM and Chrysler by loaning them money, which led to a million jobs being saved.
- In order to fulfill a promise in his presidential campaign, Obama repealed the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" act on Dec. 20, 2010, which allowed gay people to serve openly in the military.
-Obama was aware of global warming, so he made a goal that by 2015, we will have 1 million plug in electric vehicles. To entice people to buy evs, the Obama administration made subsidies in evs and federal incentives.
- Obama also was the President who authorized the raid Osama bin Laden's compound on May 1, 2011. Originally, the pain was to bomb bin Laden's compound, but the plan was rejected by Obama. Instead, he allowed Navy Seals to raid the compound, which led to bin Laden's death.
- In 2010, Obama created the Affordable Care Act, making health insurance more accessible to those with less money. Through this Act, Obama became the first president to create a good health plan to all Americans.
-During some parts of his 1st term, such as 2011, Obama has stated that Assad, the President of Syria, "must go." To do that, Obama made an effort to train anti-Assad rebels, but this effort was abandoned in his 2nd term in 2015.

Despite these accomplishments, Obama still had more things to come as he later began his second term as the U.S. President.

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Before finally committing to the campaign, Obama took advice from many before deciding that he would run for President. First, he announced on Feb. 10 in Springfield. While he announced, he decided not to have Reverend Wright of the Trinity Church, which Obama attended, to speak. However, quotes from the Reverend's sermons were exposed to the public during Obama's campaign, creating controversy. To address the controversy, Obama created a speech, addressing the issue of race. His speech was well-received, and after that, his campaign faced no major controversy. Also, on August 23rd, Obama chose Joe Biden as his Vice President running mate. In terms of his opponents, Hillary Clinton was Barack Obama's biggest opponent, but he won due to better planning, which resulted in Clinton endorsing Obama. On the Republican side, John McCain became the Republican candidate, but on Election Day, Obama won with 365 votes.
On April 4th, 2011, Obama announced that he would run for reelection. In this campaign, Obama kept his incumbent Vice President, Joe Biden, for his possible 2nd term. In the 2012 Campaign, President Obama faced virtually no adversaries from the Democrats side, which allowed him to secure the required amount of delegates to win the Democratic nomination. On the other hand, President Obama and Joe Biden faced Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan from the Republicans. On Election day, Obama won 332 electoral votes, which allowed him to win the election.

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Campaign for  and Tenure as U.S. Senator

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Campaign for  and Tenure as U.S. Senator

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Obama, after his defeat from Bobby Rush, decided to campaign for U.S. Senator. In his commercials, he used his experience as a community organizer and his experience in the Harvard Law Review. These experiences appealed to black and whites alike, and he won in 2004. During his tenure as a U.S. senator, he had many accomplishments.
- created a 2 year plan with his team to raise his popularity among the public should he decide to run for President.
-was one of the people who cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.
-Along with other senators, Obama introduced the strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008
- Also, as a U.S. senator, he showed that he could communicate well with conservatives.
Obama's tenure as a U.S. senator held many accomplishments, though his achievements would continue to grow as he became the U.S. president.

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During his time as community organizer, Obama decided to visit Kenya. Once he landed in Kenya, he met many of his relatives from his father's side. This visit helped to clarify Obama's self-identity because as a half-white and half-African person, he sometimes felt unsure of who he was.
In his second trip to Kenya, Obama went there with his then fiancee, Michelle Robinson. At Kenya, he asked for his grandmother's approval to marry Michelle.
In 2006, Obama visited Kenya for the 3rd time as a senator. There, he addressed many Kenyans to promote more awareness about AIDS. Most importantly though, Obama was back to visit the place where his father was from again. By doing these 2 things, Obama would begin to raise more awareness about himself, which would benefit him if he chose to run for the U.S. presidency in 2008.
The most recent trip to Kenya was in 2015, but now, Obama is the President of the U.S. Therefore, he could not leave the capital to meet with his family member, though he still met with his sister. During this trip, Obama addressed corruption, gay rights, and tribalism in Kenya.
All these trips might have had different purposes for political or personal reasons. However, all of them connected Obama back to his father's homeland.

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Barack Obama, during his tenure as a state senator in Illinois, decided that he wanted the congressional seat of Bobby Rush, though many had advised Barack that he would not win. However, because Bobby Rush was more experienced than Obama, Obama tried to reach the new generations of African Americans and other people. However, Rush's son was murdered, which resulted in Obama placing his campaign on hold, and while Obama was on vacation with his family, Obama missed a very important vote. Because he missed the vote, Obama was criticized, and on top of that, President Clinton endorsed Bobby Rush. Ultimately, Barack lost in 2000. However, this loss taught Obama what were his mistakes and to not repeat them.

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Barack and Michelle Obama had met when both were one of the few African associates at a law firm, where Barack worked as a summer associate. While they had intended to keep their relationship professional, they eventually got married on October, 1992. From this marriage, Barack and Michelle Obama had 2 daughters: Malia Ann Obama, who was born on July 4th, 1998, and Natasha Obama, who was born on July 10th, 2001.

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Obama returned to Chicago, despite being offered a great amount of money. When he was back at Chicago, he was elected to take the state senate seat left by Alice Palmer. As a Illinois State Senator, Obama would
- reform ethics and health care laws.
- was an advocate for tax credits for low-income people
-made a deal for welfare reform
-promoted more childcare
In these ways, Obama was a successful state senator from 1997 to 2004.

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Eventually, Obama decided to go to Harvard Law because he felt that he still couldn't lift people out of poverty as a city organizer. At Harvard, one of his accomplishments was becoming the first African president of the Harvard Law Journal. Also, Obama took part in protests at Harvard, sometimes making the occasional speech to speak out. When Obama finally graduated, he graduated with a JD degree with magna cum laude.

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At the age of 23, Obama was hired by Chicago to become a city organizer from June 1985 to May 1988. As a community organizer, Obama's job would be to organize the African Americans in the South side of Chicago. For example, he created a job training program for adults, a summer job program for teens, a college preparatory program, and a tenants' rights organization, which would lead to the removal of asbestos from old houses. Also, Obama worked to get help from churches in varieties of projects, though many of his projects had very little success. On the other hand, by being a city organizer, Obama was still making an effort to make "change," which is most noticeably shown in his work for a summer-job program and his removal of asbestos from old houses.

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While Barack Obama was still an infant, his father left his family to go to attend colleges such as Harvard while Obama's mother took him with her to the University of Washington for a year. Finally, both parents became divorced in March, 1964. In 1963, Obama's mother met Lolo Soetoro, and they soon married on March 15, 1965. Later, Lolo had to return to Indonesia, and he was followed by Obama and his mother after 16 months.  For the next six years, Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, where his half-sister was born. At Indonesia, he lived in the Tebet and Meteng subdistrict, and for school, he attended St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School and Besuki Public School. However, in 1971, he went back to his grandparents in Hawaii, where he decided to attend the Punahou School until he graduated. After graduating from high school, Obama went to Occidental College and later transferred to Columbia College.  However, Obama made his first public speech while attending Occidental College in February, 1981. At Columbia, he majored in political science and received his BA in 1983.

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Barack Obama was born in Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital on Honolulu Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. Born to Stanley Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr., he would later become the first President born in Hawaii.