Kelli glover biography of barack obama

To address the financial crisis he inherited, he passed a stimulus bill, bailed out the struggling auto industry and Wall Street, and gave working families a tax cut. In the foreign policy arena, Obama opened up talks with Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela and set a withdrawal date for American troops in Iraq. No Americans were lost in the operation, which gathered evidence about Al-Qaeda.

Barack Obama was re-elected for a second term in , beating out Republican Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan. The midterm elections proved challenging, as Republicans gained a majority in both houses of Congress. His second term was marked by several international events. In , Obama came out strongly against the use of chemical weapons on civilians by Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, avoiding a direct strike on Syria when al-Assad agreed to accept a Russian proposal that it relinquish its chemical weapons.

Perhaps the defining moment of his international diplomacy was his work on the Iran Nuclear Deal , which allowed inspectors into Iran to ensure it was under the pledged limit of enriched uranium in return for lifting economic sanctions. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States. Your Profile. Email Updates.

Barack Obama. Why Was the Election of Important? Bush had begun to implement a controversial "bail-out" package to try to help struggling financial institutions. In foreign affairs, the United States still had troops deployed in difficult conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the first two years of his first term, President Obama was able to work with the Democratic-controlled Congress to improve the economy, pass health-care reform legislation, and withdraw most US troops from Iraq.

After the Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in , the president spent significant time and political effort negotiating, for the most part unsuccessfully, with congressional Republicans about taxes, budgets, and the deficit. After winning reelection in , Obama began his second term focused on securing legislation on immigration reform and gun control, neither of which he was able to achieve.

When the Republicans won the Senate in , Obama refocused on actions that he could take unilaterally, invoking his executive authority as president. In foreign policy, Obama concentrated during the second term on the Middle East and climate change. Obama left the presidency, at age fifty-five, after his constitutionally limited two terms ended on January 20, He announced plans to remain in Washington, DC, until his younger daughter finished high school and, as a former president, to play a restrained but active role in public affairs.

And yet, in hindsight, his political ascent makes almost perfect sense. Because his presidency ended so recently, and due to his young age, it could be three decades or more before the definitive biography of Obama is written. To wrap up this six-year journey through the best biographies of the presidents I read three books on Barack H.

Unfortunately, the degree of satisfaction a reader achieves by patiently navigating its ten chapters is inadequate compensation for the persistently tedious experience. Garrow makes no discernible effort to separate mundane details from consequential facts and there are few, if any, overarching themes or theses. Individual moments of merit are numerous, but are overshadowed by long stretches which seem aimless or inconsequential.

As a reference on his pre-presidency this book is, in some ways, commendable. But as a presidential biography it proves a mind-numbing exercise in patience and pointless perseverance — 2 stars Full review here. It also ends somewhat abruptly — just as Obama is leaving Chicago to attend Harvard Law and well before the start of his political career.

But it is extremely well-researched, quite well written and, in the end, paints a compelling portrait of the 44th president as he approaches the end of his third decade of life. February 17, at pm. Steve said:. In the summer of , the Supreme Court upheld part of the Act regarding health care tax subsidies. Without these tax credits, buying medical insurance might have become too costly for millions of people.

Kelli glover biography of barack obama

The latest Supreme Court decision about the Affordable Care Act began in when Congressional Republicans dropped the individual mandate tax penalty to zero. Texas and 17 other Republican states quickly sued to strike down the Affordable Care Act, mainly based on their opposition to its individual mandate. A Texas federal judge ruled in favor of the suit, saying that because there was no longer a tax, the law was unconstitutional.

The case was sent to an appeals court. A final ruling came in June when the U. Supreme Court voted , , to uphold the Affordable Care Act on the grounds that the objecting states were not required to pay anything under the mandate provision and thus had no standing to bring the challenge to court. As of January , nearly On May 2, an elite team of U.

There were no American casualties, and the team was able to collect invaluable intelligence about the workings of al-Qaeda. Armed Forces. He became the first president to voice support for same-sex marriage in May As he did in , during his campaign for a second presidential term, Obama focused on grassroots initiatives. Representative Paul Ryan.

On November 6, , Obama won a second term as president, capturing more than 60 percent of the Electoral College. Obama officially began his second term on January 21, , when U. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office. In his second inaugural address, Obama called the nation to action on such issues as climate change, health care, the federal deficit, and marriage equality.

Obama stated that the program had helped stop roughly 50 threats. However, the president suffered a significant drop in his approval ratings, to 45 percent, partially due to the revelations. In August , Obama ordered the first airstrikes against the Islamic State on targets in Syria, though the president pledged to keep combat troops out of the conflict.

Several Arab countries joined the airstrikes against the extremist group. However, U. As of December , more than 1, people have died, according to military officials. Outside watchdog organizations, like Airwars, estimate the number of casualties could be as many as several thousand. In September , Obama made diplomatic strides with Iran. He spoke with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the phone, which marked the first direct contact between the leaders of the two countries in more than 30 years.

This groundbreaking move by Obama was seen by many as a sign of thawing in the relationship between the United States and Iran. In July , Obama announced that, after lengthy negotiations, the United States and five world powers had reached an agreement with Iran. The deal allowed inspectors entry into Iran to make sure the country kept its pledge to limit its nuclear program and enrich uranium at a much lower level than would be needed for a nuclear weapon.

In return, the United States and its partners removed the tough sanctions imposed on Iran and allowed the country to ramp up sales of oil and access frozen bank accounts. That year, Obama also traveled to India and reached a civilian nuclear agreement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that opened the door to U. Elsewhere, Obama moved to reestablish diplomatic ties with Cuba in December He and Cuban President Raul Castro announced the normalizing of diplomatic relations between the countries for the first time since The policy change came after the exchange of American citizen Alan Gross and another unnamed American intelligence agent for three Cuban spies.

However, the long-standing U. Kennedy , remained in effect. On March 20, , Obama became the first sitting American president to visit Cuba since , as part of his larger program to establish greater cooperation between the two countries. Just prior to the trip, on March 10, , Obama met at the White House with newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the first official visit by a Canadian leader in nearly 20 years.

In August , the Obama administration announced the Clean Power Plan, a major climate change policy that included the first national standards to limit carbon pollution from coal-burning power plants and called for more renewable energy from sources like wind and solar power. Ultimately, the plan never took effect after facing backlash and lawsuits from business groups, companies, 27 states, and Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell , who was then the Republican minority leader.

In February , the Supreme Court ruled, , to block the plan by putting a hold on regulations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, mostly from coal power plants. Obama also worked to respond to climate change on the global level. The agreement requires all participating nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit the rise of global temperatures and also to allocate resources for the research and development of alternative energy sources.

Obama pledged that the United States would cut its emissions more than 25 percent by On October 5, , the United Nations announced the Paris Climate Agreement had been ratified by a sufficient number of countries—including China and the United States, the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases—to allow it to take effect starting on November 4, Both justices were confirmed under a Democratic-majority Senate.