He continued the financial bailout that George W. Bush started, giving billions of dollars to car companies and banks so that they would not go bankrupt. He signed an act written by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd which would regulate Wall Street (the financial industry) to try to prevent another recession like this from happening again.
Obama said he would change the health care system in the United States in order to make healthcare more affordable for Americans. He signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) in 2010. This brought health care reform to the United States.
Obama received the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on October 9, 2009. He noted that his efforts were humble, but he donated the prize money to several charities.
Though his popularity was very high (around 70% approval) when he entered office, his approval ratings fell to 45% percent during the year of 2010. He received much criticism from Republicans, conservatives, libertarians, and members of the Tea Party because they believe that the federal government is becoming too big and spending too much money and that his programs are not the best for the country.
Obama made a plan to slowly withdraw troops from Iraq, ending the War in Iraq by the end of 2011, while adding more troops to Afghanistan to help the United States win the War in Afghanistan. He also decided that the United States should help in the war against Libya. He has said several times that he wants to improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world. Obama reduced US participation in the Iraq War and continued the war on terror which resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011. Obama started a no-fly-zone policy on the Libyan civil war that ended in October 2011 with the killing of Muammar al-Gaddafi.
With rising economic deficits (the amount of money the government borrows each month) under his administration, he called for taxes to be increased on the rich. He criticized his Republican opponents for wanting to cut welfare benefits for the poor rather than raising taxes to help pay down the debt.
He signed the Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 in 2010, allowing openly gay men and openly lesbian women in the armed forces. On May 9, 2012, he became the first sitting US President to openly support legalizing same-sex marriage.
On December 14, 2012, after the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut occurred, Obama had said, "We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics". On December 21, 2012, Obama and his White House staff observed a moment of silence because of the school shooting in Connecticut.
Before his second term began, there has been debating of guns because of the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that happened on December 14, 2012, as well as shootings in the past.
On April 4, 2011 Obama said that he would run for re-election for a second term in 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his website and filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission. He was officially nominated as his party's nominee on September 6, 2012. Mitt Romney was officially nominated as his opponent by the Republican party on August 30, 2012. While the election results were very close, Obama easily won the electoral college votes he needed to win a second term. Obama and Romney spent more than $2 billion on advertising during the election campaign.
On December 21, 2012, Obama nominated John Kerry for United States Secretary of State during his second term. Kerry was sworn in on February 1, 2013.
Main article: Second inauguration of Barack Obama
Obama was inaugurated for a second term privately (only his family members could see) on January 20, 2013 at the White House. The next day, January 21, 2013, he was inaugurated again, this time in public, at the United States Capitol. This was because January 20, 2013 was on a Sunday.
The start of his second term in 2013 had a few setbacks. With the NSA, people were upset at the Obama administration that the government was possibly listening to their phone calls. His party (the Democrats) also lost the Congressional elections. Because of disagreements between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, neither side was getting anything done and Obama resulted in using his Executive Order (his power as president) to help reform things like the immigration system.
He visited South Africa in late June 2013. Prior to visiting South Africa, he visited Senegal. He visited Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned. He did not meet with Nelson Mandela.
The United States government shutdown occurred on October 1, 2013. On October 17, 2013, Obama signed a bill which ended the United States government shut down.
Obama awarded several people, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and media mogul Oprah Winfrey for the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 20, 2013. He has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to many people, such as Stephen Hawking, Sandra Day O'Connor, Chita Rivera, Loretta Lynn and George H. W. Bush.
On December 5, 2013, he gave a four and a half minute speech of Nelson Mandela after Mandela's death was announced. On December 9, 2013, he departed Washington, D.C. to go to South Africa for Mandela's memorial service. On December 10, 2013, Obama spoke at the memorial service of Nelson Mandela in Soweto, South Africa.
He supported increasing the minimum wage, requiring women to be paid the same as men at the same job and has called for the first 2 years of college to be fully government-funded for students who study full-time and get good grades.
Obama supported LGBT members, and successfully convinced the courts in 2015 that same-sex marriage should be legal in the United States.
Obama was also concerned about climate change, and promoted the Paris Agreement on climate change.
After the death of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, Obama nominated Merrick Garland to replace him on March 16, 2016, but the nomination expired because the Senate refused to hold a vote for him.
As it is not possible for a person to be president for three terms, Obama could not run for president again. He was replaced by Republican Donald Trump in early 2017. He left office with a 60% approval rating.
Even though he is not the president anymore, Obama still owns a house in Washington, D.C.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, spend time making speeches and attending events. They also run a charity called the Obama Foundation, and own Higher Ground Productions, a company which makes movies. The company was hired by Netflix to make documentaries. One of their documentaries, "American Factory", won an Academy Award for being the best documentary of 2019.
He released his presidential memoir, "A Promised Land", on November 17, 2020.
In May 2020, Obama criticized President Trump for his response of the coronavirus pandemic, saying that it is "an absolute chaotic disaster".
Craig Brown (footballer born 1940)
Craig Brown CBE (born 1 July 1940 in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. He is currently the manager of Scottish Premier League club Aberdeen after he left Motherwell in December 2010.
Scott Brown (Scottish footballer)
Scott Brown (born 25 June 1985 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish association football player, currently playing for Scottish Premier League club Celtic. Brown, who started his professional career with Hibernian, is a regular in the Scottish national team. His transfer to Celtic from Hibs in the summer of 2007 broke the record for the biggest transfer fee paid between two Scottish clubs.
Seven-arm octopus
The seven-arm octopus ("Haliphron atlanticus"), also known as the septopus or the heptopus, is claimed to be the largest octopus. The claim is based on a partial specimen, and the estimation is of a 4 metre length and a weight of 75 kg. The North Pacific giant octopus is its rival in size.