Barack Obama

In 2008, Barack Obama made history by securing not only the Democratic nomination in that year's presidential election but also control over the executive branch as a whole. Although previous presidents - such as Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson - had pursued numerous pieces of admirable legislation designed to help black Americans, there had never actually been a black president. This remained true even when Johnson nominated the first black cabinet member (Robert Weaver of the Department of Housing and Urban Development) and the first black Supreme Court member (Thurgood Marshall). Obama, however, changed this. He was the very first black man to serve a full term in the White House, even obtaining reelection in 2012! Many Americans have thankfully been able to see Obama as more than just a black man. They have seen him for many of the policies he passed as president too. But his unique racial status still makes him a significant president and no one has forgotten that status. But did the Obama Administration do more for America besides the already-notable achievement of showing black Americans how far they could get in life despite centuries of oppression?

When Obama took the oath of office on January 20, 2009, the country was descending into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, aside from arguably the stagflation endured by Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter. When the average price of a home began to increase in 1994, Americans started buying homes so that they could repair the structure, wait for prices to expand further, and then sell the property to collect a profit. Banks then entered a period of financial ecstasy, as people relied on mortgages to access these homes in the first place. Around the turn of the millennium, banks started selling mortgage-backed securities to one another, which were essentially just hundreds or even thousands of different mortgages - which were abundant due to the housing bubble - all bundled into one asset. To produce more mortgage-backed securities, banks would start giving mortgages to anyone who applied, even if they had a poor credit history. In 2007, the giant wave of irresponsible mortgages caused an equally-large wave of mortgage defaults. This fact destroyed faith in the housing market, causing a major recession to begin in September 2008.

Early into his tenure, Obama gave significant financial aid to many companies in the automobile industry which were on the brink of collapse. In doing this, Obama ensured that the employees of said companies could maintain their occupation and thus ability to participate in the economy. He also prevented those corporations from going bankrupt, allowing people to continue buying their cars and thus contributing to additional economic growth. Because of these bail-out packages, Obama helped mitigate the economic turmoil and thus spur on financial recovery. Other factors, of course, were important in the economy's recovery, but the aid programs were beneficial as well. Obama also implemented reforms that lowered the odds of future economic crises. For instance, in 2010, Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Act. The Dodd-Frank Act protected people's deposits by banning banks from investing in hedge funds, i.e. cliques of stock brokers securing shares in risky financial ventures that could either fail horribly or succeed wonderfully. The Dodd-Frank Act also set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect Americans from predatory financial practices and the Financial Stability Oversight Council to prevent single companies from becoming so big their termination would jeopardize the whole economy. Unfortunately, Donald Trump went on to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act.

Aside from the Dodd-Frank Act, Obama instituted other positive economic policies. The crown jewel of these was the Affordable Care Act, often nicknamed "Obamacare". Signed on March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act regulated health insurances by prohibiting them from denying someone service on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. It also required that at least 80% of the money made by health insurance companies was dedicated to actually covering the medical bills of their clients. Finally, the law gave tax cuts to any corporation that provided free health insurance to their employees. Through these provisions, the Affordable Care Act and Obama's approval of it made health insurance much better and much more available to ordinary Americans.

Obama also was one of the most dedicated environmentalists to serve in the Oval Office. For instance, he launched one of the first anti-pollution campaigns ever enacted by a US president. During the early 1990s, George HW Bush initiated an extremely successful campaign to curb acid rain. Following in his footsteps, Obama launched a campaign to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, thus countering climate change and global warming. In 2015, during his second term, Obama also signed the Paris Climate Accords. Sponsored by many other countries including China and huge swathes of the entire West, the Paris Climate Accords included a pledge by all signing nations to reduce CO2 emissions by 25% by January 1, 2030. Sadly, Trump withdrew from this agreement as well, though Joe Biden revived US participation as one of his first actions as president.

That said, Obama's treatment of the environment contained one fatal flaw: His response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. In April 2010, an explosion took place off the coast of Louisiana. The explosion destroyed a nearby oil facility, causing its contents to leak out into the Ocean. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill proved to be one of worst oil spill in recorded history, at least up until that point. While Obama did attempt to address the crisis, he didn't dedicate adequate resources to quelling the issue. Immense environmental damage was sustained and Obama failed to prevent it from growing any worse. For this reason, Obama can't rank any further. Obama's foreign policy also had a few significant flaws: He increased the use of drone warfare, even when utilized against civilians, and supported Saudi Arabian atrocities in Yemen. While Obama definitely deserves credit for withdrawing US troops from the Iraq War, thus ending an unnecessary war of imperialism launched by the lies of George W. Bush, he also deserves criticism for eventually re-deploying soldiers to the region.

Despite some issues regarding the Middle East, most of Obama's foreign policy was quite excellent. Disregarding the anger and scorn of hawkish Congressmen and right-wing pundits, Obama worked to improve relations between the US and Venezuela, China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba. In order to fix diplomatic strain with Havana, Obama worked to loosen America's embargo against Cuba, a barbaric relic of the Cold War that did nothing except worsen life for ordinary Cubans who had no control over their totalitarian government. In 2015, Obama signed the Iran Nuclear Deal. Under the Iran Nuclear Deal, all US sanctions against Iran were terminated, which dramatically improved living standards for the Iranian people. In exchange for the shedding of these sanctions, Iran agreed to place dramatic limits on its nuclear arms program. The Iran Nuclear Deal, I believe, was one of the greatest geopolitical agreements brokered in recent history. It provided material relief to average Iranians and drastically reduced Iran's nuclear arsenal, advancing world peace in the process. Trump withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal, just like with the Paris Climate Accords. Despite his best efforts, Biden has not been able to restore US involvement.

Returning to domestic policy, Obama increased the personal liberty of the American working class. On October 26, 2001, George W. Bush signed the PATRIOT Act (short for "Providing Appropriate Tools Required for Intercepting and Obstructing Terrorism" Act) in response to 9/11. The law violated the Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans from unwarranted searches and seizures, by permitting the federal government to monitor the private conversations and correspondence of US citizens in the name of fighting terrorism. A warrant wasn't even required! While parts of the PATRIOT Act are still in effect today, Obama repealed large swathes of it with the USA Freedom Act. On January 19, 2017, his final full day in office, Obama pardoned 1,900 non-violent drug offenders, an act that arguably could be viewed as a step toward the legalization of marijuana and other policies that would reduce excess federal interference in people's personal lives.

For a long period preceding Obama's tenure, gay people were totally barred from serving in the US military. By the inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1993, this was starting to change. Many Americans, especially queer citizens, began to believe that gay people should be allowed to work in the armed forces. Meanwhile, other Americans remained steadfast in their belief that it would be immoral and wicked to let gay people serve. Clinton, in an attempted compromise between the two sides, instituted Don't Ask Don't Tell. Under this policy, gay people were allowed to serve in the military, but could not be open about their orientation. In 2011, Obama signed the Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act, which abolished both the Don't Ask Don't Tell tradition and the overall ban on gay soldiers. Once the law fully took effect, gay people were allowed to openly serve in the US military.

Ultimately, I feel confident in saying that Obama was one of America's greatest presidents. He not only served as a symbol for how far American race relations had come since the eras of slavery and Jim Crow, but also as a competent, skilled executive. He helped the economy recover from the Great Recession, implemented important financial and industrial regulations, fought climate change, helped thaw many of the rivalries between the US and its bitter enemies, brokered the Iran Nuclear Deal that quelled the threat Iran posed to international peace, pardoned several nonviolent prisoners, paid his dues to Americans' Constitutional rights by gutting the PATRIOT Act, and let gay people openly serve in the military. Many of these accomplishments have led to noticeable improvements in the lives of both United States citizens and people across the globe.