Barack Obama was born August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His accomplishments as a public servant preceded his law degree from Harvard Law School. He worked as a community organizer in Chicago for a church based organization and was a consultant for a foundation to promote education among poverty-stricken children. His legislative career began as an Illinois State Senator in 1996. He championed health care laws and gained vast bipartisan support for his subsidiaries for children. He also pushed for regulations against banks to prevent unnecessary foreclosures. In his time at the US Senate, Obama cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act, supported the Iran Sanctions, supported Iraq De-escalation Act, FISA Amendements and worked in the Foreign Affairs committee.
Obama’s career peaked upon his 2008 Presidential Elections win. Upon doing so, he became the first black President in the history of the US and the 44th President. The first bill he signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 to bridge the gender wage gap. He approved the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) thus allowing 4 million previously uninsured children to have access to healthcare. Upon his election, the United States was at the greatest economic downturns since the Great Depression. In order to save the US economy, Obama signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur growth and reverse one of the largest recessions in American history. In order to prevent another financial disaster, Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to regulate banks and ensure that Wall Street doesn’t have too much power. Through doing so, he limited banks from using consumers’ money for their profits. Obama’s economic policies extended to saving the American auto industry through bailing out GM and Chrysler. He also ended the war in Iraq and began the withdrawal of Afghanistan, thus ending the trillions of dollars’ worth of campaign initiated by Bush. He eliminated Osama Bin Laden, defeated Gaddafi through establishing a coalition of Western and Arab governments thus preventing a humanitarian crisis, reversed Bush’s torture policies and reestablished human rights leadership, created the Race to the Top for competitive students to earn scholarships from a 4-billion-dollar fund. In order to save countries from the adverse financial effects of 2009, Obama established $500 billion worth of lines of credit thus saving currencies and trade. Obama envisioned US foreign policy through initiating the Asia Pivot with emphasis on allies such as Japan and South Korea to counter Chinese influence and the region while also positively engaging China. Through tightening sanctions on Iran, Obama was able to successfully prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. In 2016, Obama then pushed for the Iran Deal which was successfully in ensuring that Iran will never get a nuclear bomb.
In addition to such policies, Obama signed Acts to push for LGBT rights and it was under his presidency that same-sex marriage was legalized. Obama’s environmental policies extended to signing the Paris Agreement and countering global warming through extensive investments in renewable energy. Obama also recommended the FEC to preserve net neutrality. In 2016, Obama normalized relations with Cuba and removed the Cuban sanctions. One of the finest accomplishments of the Obama presidency is that it’s free of any scandals. Two terms of an Obama Presidency have resulted in a record level 4.9 percent unemployment and revitalized growth.
