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Personal Illinois State Senator and U.S. Senator from Illinois 44th President of the United States Tenure
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Barack Obama,President of the United States from 2009 to 2017, served as aU.S. senator fromIllinois from 2005 to 2008 and as anIllinois state senator from 1997 to 2004. A member of theDemocratic Party, he made hispresidential run in2008. He was elected President in 2008 and re-elected in2012.
Obama has declared his position on many political issues through his public comments and legislative records. TheObama Administration stated that its general agenda was to "revive the economy, provide affordable and accessible health care to all, strengthen our public education and social security systems, define a clear path toenergy independence and tackle climate change, end theWar in Iraq responsibly and finish our mission in Afghanistan, and work with our allies to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon."[1]
President Obama was first inaugurated in January 2009, in the depths of theGreat Recession and thesubprime mortgage crisis that began in 2007. His presidency continued theTroubled Asset Relief Program andauto industry rescue begun during thePresidency of George W. Bush and immediately enacted an $800 billion stimulus program, theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which included a blend of additional spending and tax cuts. By early 2011, the economy began creating jobs consistently each month, a trend which continued through the end of his tenure.[2]
Obama followed with the 2010Affordable Care Act. By 2016, the law covered approximately 23 million people with health insurance via a combination of state healthcare exchanges and an extension ofMedicaid.[3] It lowered the rate of those without health insurance from approximately 16% in 2010 to 9% by 2015.[4] Throughout his administration, healthcare costs continued moderating; for example, healthcare premiums for those covered by employers rose by 69% between 2000 and 2005, but only by 27% from 2010 to 2015.[5] By 2017, nearly 70% of those on the exchanges could purchase insurance for less than $75 per month after subsidies.[6] The law was evaluated multiple times by theCongressional Budget Office (CBO), which scored it as a moderate deficit reducer, as it included tax hikes primarily on high income taxpayers (roughly the Top 5%) and reductions in future Medicare cost increases, offsetting subsidy costs.[7] No House Republicans, and only a few in the Senate, voted for the law.[2]
To address the excesses in the banking sector that precipitated the2008 financial crisis, Obama signed into law theDodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010, which limited bank risk-taking and overhauled the outdated regulatory regime ineffective in monitoring the non-depository orshadow banking sector at the core of the crisis, which had outgrown the traditional depository banking sector. The Act also created theConsumer Financial Protection Bureau, but did not breakup the largest banks (which had grown even larger due to forced mergers during the crisis) nor separate investment and depository banking, as theGlass–Steagal Act had done. Only a few Republicans voted for the law.[2]
TheGreat Recession had caused federal government revenues to fall to their lowest level relative to the economy's size in 50 years. At the same time, safety net expenditures (including automatic stabilizers such as unemployment compensation and disability payments) and stimulus measures caused expenditures to rise considerably. This drove theUnited States federal budget deficit higher, creating significant debt concerns. This caused several bruising debates with the Republican Congress. President Obama signed theAmerican Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which included the expiration of theBush tax cuts for high income earners and implemented a sequester (cap) on spending for the military and other discretionary categories of spending. Compared against a baseline where the Bush tax cuts were allowed to expire on schedule in 2010 for all income levels, this law significantly increased future deficits. Compared against the previously years, it reduced the deficit and limited future cost increases. Along with the recovering economy, the law even lowered the deficit back to the historical average relative to GDP by 2014.[2]
With the economy recovering and major budget legislation behind him, President Obama began shifting to another priority: income and wealthinequality. From 1950 to 1979, the Top 1% earned roughly a 10% share of the income. However, this had risen to 24% by 2007, due to a combination of globalization, automation, and policy changes that had weakened workers' bargaining position in relation to capital (owners).[8] He referred to the widening income gap as the "defining challenge of our time" during 2013.[9] His tax increases on higher-income taxpayers lowered the share of after-tax income received by the Top 1% from 17% in 2007 to 12% by 2015,[8] while job creation remained robust.
Wealth inequality had also risen similarly, with the share of wealth owned by the Top 1% rising from 24% in 1979 to 36% by 2007.[8] While U.S. household net worth rose to nearly 30% from its pre-crisis peak from 2007 to 2016, much of this gain went to the wealthiest Americans, as it had before Obama became president. By 2015, the wealth share owned by the Top 1% reached 42%.[10]
President Obama also tried addressing inequality before taxes (i.e., market income), with infrastructure investment to create middle-class jobs and a federally-mandated increase in the minimum wage. However, the Republican Congress defeated these initiatives, but many states actually did increase their minimum wages, due in part to his support.[2]
President Obama's energy policy can be understood by looking at the different investments in clean energy that was evident in theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[specify]
At Andrews Air Force base on March 31, 2010, President Obama announced a "Comprehensive Plan for Energy Security", stating that "moving towards clean energy is about our security. It's also about our economy. And it's about the future of our planet."[11] His plan included raising fuel efficiency standards. He also announced a decision to double the number of hybrid vehicles in the federal government's fleet and one to expanddomestic offshore oil and gas exploration in Alaska, the easternGulf of Mexico, and off theeast coast of the United States.[12]
Obama proposed cuts of $1 billion, or 3%, to theFederal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for 2013. More money would be given to state and local programs under Obama's proposal.[13]
Obama's overall foreign policy philosophy has been postulated as the "Obama Doctrine" byWashington Post columnistE. J. Dionne, which the columnist describes as "a form ofrealism unafraid to deploy American power but mindful that its use must be tempered by practical limits and a dose of self-awareness."[15] An op-ed article inThe New York Times byDavid Brooks identified Obama as a person having enormous respect for and being deeply influenced by the philosophy ofReinhold Niebuhr.[16]
Obama'sfirst major speech onforeign policy was delivered to theChicago Council on Global Affairs on April 23, 2007. He identified the problems that he believes the current foreign policy has caused, and the five ways the United States can lead again, focused on "common security", "common humanity", and remaining "a beacon of freedom and justice for the world":[17]
During that speech, Obama called for an expansion of theU.S. Armed Forces "by adding 65,000 soldiers to theArmy and 27,000Marines", an idea previously introduced byDefense SecretaryRobert Gates.
In a Washington, D.C., speech entitled "A New Strategy for a New World"[18] delivered July 15, 2008, Obama stated five main foreign policy goals:
United Stateselectronic surveillance reached what was at the time an all-time high under Obama, with increased monitoring of emails, text messages and phone conversations.[19]
The Almanac of American Politics (2008) rated Obama's overall social policies in 2006 as moreconservative than 21% of theU.S. Senate, and moreliberal than 77% of the Senate (18% and 77%, respectively, in 2005).[20]
In 2010, Obama signed theDon't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which ended a policy of not allowing gays, lesbians and bisexuals to state their sexual orientation openly in the military. In May 2012, he became the first sitting U.S. president to announce his support for legalizingsame-sex marriage.[21]
During his secondinaugural address on January 21, 2013, Obama called for full equality for people who are LGBT: "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well." This was a historic moment, being the first time that a president mentionedgay rights or the wordgay in an inaugural address.[22][23]
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