Barack Obama is a good president.

Barack Obama was quick to resolve some of the major issues the country had with Bush Administration, namely the war in Iraq. In his first few days in office, Obama issued executive orders directing the US military to begin withdrawing the military from Iraq. He also signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or the SCHIP, which allowed to to cover an additional 4 million uninsured children. In March of 2009, Obama removed the funding limitation instituted by Bush on stem-cell research and has insured that it will be kept under strict government regulations. Nevertheless, from this introduction alone, we can infer that Obama cares about the lives and welfare of the American people (Iraq, SCHIP) and promotes new and innovative science that has a high potential the improve the quality of life of millions, maybe billions, of Americans (stem cell research). Economic Policy: Bush left a massive and ,quite frankly, disgusting mess for Obama to clean up. Bush doubled the national debt, failed to find the WMDs he was so keen to find in Iraq, and sparked the flame of hatred towards the US all over the Middle East and the Islamic world in general with his extremely aggressive War of Terror program. Moreover, when Obama took office in 2008, America was in the middle of what came to be known as the Great Recession, which resulted from the crash of the housing market as well as US government housing policies. In response to this economic crisis, Obama passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus package, in an attempt to revive the economy. This program increased government spending in health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals. Increased spending in health care ensured that the sick would remain treated in spite of the harsh economic situation, funds towards education made sure important programs were not cut, tax breaks increased consumer spending, and increased care to individuals promoted also promoted consumer spending and assisted the unemployed in the search for new jobs. Obama also saved American automotive giants GM and Chrysler from bankruptcy, saving millions of jobs as well as preventing an economically disastrous domino effect, which would have involved the entire American automotive industry collapsing. They are alive and well today, and have resumed their status as economic giants, which by definition means more jobs for Americans. Obama also introduced the Car Allowance Rebate System, or "Clash for Clunkers", which gave the economy a substantial boost. Throughout Obama's presidency, unemployment has dropped from a high of 10.3% in 2009 to 6.3% in 2014, and according the the Federal Reserve, economic activity is continually increasing. The Congressional Budget Office, or the CBO, has credited Obama's stimulus plan for the growth of the economy as well as the increase in the number of employed workers by 1-2.1 million people. In April 2010, the National Association for Business Economics reported that jobs had increased for the first time in two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 6547 when Obama first came into office; in 2014, that number rose to over 17,000. To summarize, because of Obama's stimulus package, unemployment has dropped significantly, jobs have been created, and the economy is flourishing.Domestic Policy:The Affordable Care Act, or Obama Care, is one of the most heavily criticized health insurance policies in American history. However, most of these critics are Republican, which is rather ironic since Obama Care is heavily modeled off of the Republican health care plan, namely Romney's. Obama Care has covered 24 million previously uninsured people and has dropped the number of the uninsured from 18% to 13.4%. Obama Care has also been predicted by the GOP to a "job killer", but has, in fact, created more than 9 million private sector jobs. Obama Care has also disallowed insurance companies from withholding coverage not only due to pre-existing conditions but also due to errors in the application form. It also provides a tax incentive for small businesses to cover their employees, which can pay for up to 50% of the insurance cost. All in all, Obama Care has largely been a success despite the overload and crashing of its website, and has made medical insurance cheap and easy to acquire for millions upon millions of Americans.Obama has also repealed the military's discriminatory "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy which barred homosexuals from enlisting. In 2013 the Obama administration urged the Supreme Court to rule in favor gay marriage in two important cases, that is, Hollingsworth v. Perry and United States v. Windsor and is the first administration to openly support LGBT rights. Obama has also brought the number of women serving in the Supreme Court up to three in the first two years of his presidency, one of whom, Sonia Sotomayor, is the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. In 2009, Obama signed into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which extended the definition of hate crimes to those motivated by gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability. Overall, Obama has created an environment of tolerance and racial/gender equality in American society as well as in government, the latter of which has been dominated mostly by white males.To summarize, Obama's domestic policies have helped millions of Americans receive access to medical insurance and have created an atmosphere of tolerance and equality in American society and government.Foreign Policy:Obama has been criticized to a large extent on his handling of foreign policy, especially his take of the War on Terror. However, if one steps back and looks at the facts, we can see that Obama, in comparison to most of the past presidents, is actually doing quite well. Obama authorized the operation that resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden, something George Bush Jr. failed to do. He has managed to do this while at the same time pulling troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, which is quite difficult to do. Obama has also been criticized for ordering the killings of American citizens abroad as well as collateral damage resulting from drone strikes. There are a number of half truths in this statement that I will address namely:1. These American citizens labeled very dangerous by the military and were doing things that caused them to be labeled as terrorist threats. In fact, their status as American citizens not only does not help them but hurts them, as they are now considered treasonous. 2. The use of drones has been heavily criticized, but it removes the human cost from these operations and puts American lives out of danger.3. Obama is actually doing pretty well in terms of collateral damage. George Bush Jr.'s military operations has resulted in more than 600,000 collateral deaths. Lyndon B. Johnson and FDR in their respective wars are responsible for hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties. Obama sits somewhere around the low 1000's-2000's. I agree that's 1000 too many, but in comparison to other presidents, Obama is doing half bad in terms of collateral damage.There have also been many baseless accusations that Obama is a Communist/Muslim/Socialist/Kenyan-Born/Gun-Confiscator/Former-Drug-Dealer. I well address these one by one to put these aside because quite frankly I don't want to waste my time arguing with ignorance. I am not saying that my opponent would make these claims, I just want to make sure that these trivial arguments do not resurface.1. Obama is Communist: Whoever says this doesn't know what a communist is. Communism is the socioeconomic ideology that seeks to eliminate social classes and currency to create social order, or a utopia (as described by Karl Marx). The income disparity right now is one of the highest in American history. Morevoer, America does not have the best relations with some of the most prominent communist countries like Cuba, China, and North Korea at the moment.2. Obama is a secret Musilim: Even if Obama was a Muslim, that does not mean anything in terms of whether or not he is a good president. Morevoer, most of the Islamic countries in the Middle East only use "Obama" when the word "Kill" precedes it.3. Obama is a socialist: Again, those who say this don't know what a socialist is. Socialism is a socioeconomic ideal in which means of production is owned by the government, that is, the government regulates industry. In fact, America has been practicing a form of socialism since the 16th Amendment (Government can tax income), which has been deemed "Capitalist Socialism".4. Kenyan-Born: Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate exists. Frankly, there are more interesting things to talk about.5. Gun Confiscator: The 2nd Amendment which guarantees a right to bear arms was written during a time when owning a musket made you as equipped as the average soldier. Now we have weapons ranging from fully automatic machine guns to heat seeking guided missiles. I, for one, do not want Joe Schmo off the street to have access to these big guys.6. Former Drug Dealer: What, because he's black? There is zero evidence for this claim, and I am honestly quite shocked that I see this accusation almost everywhere.TL,DR: Obama is a good president because he has single handedly reformed our disfunctional health care system, promoted scientific advancements, created an enviroment of social tolerance, and killed Osama Bin Laden, all of which preceding presidents have utterly been unable to accomplish.Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org...http://www.chicagotribune.com...http://en.wikipedia.org...http://foreignpolicy.com...http://www.hhs.gov...