Ensiklopedia Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Obama | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2012 | |
| 44th President of the United States | |
| In office January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017 | |
| Vice President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | George W. Bush |
| Succeeded by | Donald Trump |
| United States Senator from Illinois | |
| In office January 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Peter Fitzgerald |
| Succeeded by | Roland Burris |
| Member of the Illinois Senate from the 13th district | |
| In office January 8, 1997 – November 4, 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Alice Palmer |
| Succeeded by | Kwame Raoul |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Barack Hussein Obama II August 4, 1961 Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | |
| Parent(s) | |
| Relatives | Family of Barack Obama |
| Residence(s) | Kalorama (Washington, D.C.) |
| Education | Punahou School |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation |
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| Awards | List of honors and awards |
| Signature |  |
| Website | |
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Pre-presidency 44th President of the United States
Policies Appointments First term
Second term
show Presidential campaigns Post-presidency Others  | ||
Barack Hussein Obama II (/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/ (
listen) bə-RAHK hoo-SAYN oh-BAH-mə;[1][2] born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the United States.[3] He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. After graduating from Columbia University in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, he enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating, he became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Turning to elective politics, he represented the 13th district in the Illinois Senate from 1997 until 2004, when he ran for the U.S. Senate. Obama received national attention in 2004 with his March Senate primary win, his well-received July Democratic National Convention keynote address, and his landslide November election to the Senate. In 2008, a year after beginning his campaign, and after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama was elected over Republican nominee John McCain in the general election and was inaugurated alongside his running mate Joe Biden, on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, he was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a decision that drew a mixture of praise and criticism.
Obama signed many landmark bills into law during his first two years in office. The main reforms include: the Affordable Care Act (ACA or "Obamacare"), although without a public health insurance option; the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act served as economic stimuli amidst the Great Recession. After a lengthy debate over the national debt limit, he signed the Budget Control and the American Taxpayer Relief Acts. In foreign policy, he increased U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan, reduced nuclear weapons with the United States–Russia New START treaty, and ended military involvement in the Iraq War. In 2011, Obama ordered the drone-strike killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen and suspected al-Qaeda operative, leading to controversy. He ordered military involvement in Libya for the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1973, contributing to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. He also ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.
After winning re-election by defeating Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013. During this term, he promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans. His administration filed briefs that urged the Supreme Court to strike down same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional (United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges); same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide in 2015 after the Court ruled so in Obergefell. He advocated for gun control in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, indicating support for a ban on assault weapons, and issued wide-ranging executive actions concerning global warming and immigration. In foreign policy, he ordered military interventions in Iraq and Syria in response to gains made by ISIL after the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, promoted discussions that led to the 2015 Paris Agreement on global climate change, oversaw and ultimately apologized for the deadly Kunduz hospital airstrike, continued the process of ending U.S. combat operations in Afghanistan in 2016, initiated sanctions against Russia following the invasion in Ukraine and again after interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, brokered the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal with Iran, and normalized U.S. relations with Cuba. Obama nominated three justices to the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan were confirmed as justices, while Merrick Garland was denied hearings or a vote from the Republican-majority Senate. Obama left office on January 20, 2017, and continues to reside in Washington, D.C.[4][5]
During Obama's terms as president, the United States' reputation abroad, as well as the American economy, significantly improved.[6] Obama's presidency has generally been regarded favorably, and evaluations of his presidency among historians, political scientists, and the general public frequently place him among the upper tier of American presidents. Since leaving office, Obama has remained active in Democratic politics, including campaigning for candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, appearing at the 2020 Democratic National Convention and campaigning for Biden during the 2020 presidential election. Outside of politics, Obama has published three bestselling books: Dreams from My Father (1995), The Audacity of Hope (2006) and A Promised Land (2020).[7]
Early life and career
Obama was born on August 4, 1961,[8] at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, Hawaii.[9][10][11] He is the only president born outside the contiguous 48 states.[12] He was born to an American mother and a Kenyan father. His mother, Ann Dunham (1942–1995), was born in Wichita, Kansas; she was mostly of English descent.[13] In July 2012, Ancestry.com found a strong likelihood that Dunham was descended from John Punch, an enslaved African man who lived in the Colony of Virginia during the seventeenth century.[14][15] Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr. (1934–1982),[16][17] was a married[18][19][20] Luo Kenyan from Nyang'oma Kogelo.[18][21] Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was a foreign student on a scholarship.[22][23] The couple married in Wailuku, Hawaii, on February 2, 1961, six months before Obama was born.[24][25]
In late August 1961, a few weeks after he was born, Barack and his mother moved to the University of Washington in Seattle, where they lived for a year. During that time, Barack's father completed his undergraduate degree in economics in Hawaii, graduating in June 1962. He left to attend graduate school on a scholarship at Harvard University, where he earned an M.A. in economics. Obama's parents divorced in March 1964.[26] Obama Sr. returned to Kenya in 1964, where he married for a third time and worked for the Kenyan government as the Senior Economic Analyst in the Ministry of Finance.[27] He visited his son in Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971,[28] before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old.[29] Recalling his early childhood, Obama said: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind."[23] He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.[30]
In 1963, Dunham met Lolo Soetoro at the University of Hawaii; he was an Indonesian East–West Center graduate student in geography. The couple married on Molokai on March 15, 1965.[31] After two one-year extensions of his J-1 visa, Lolo returned to Indonesia in 1966. His wife and stepson followed sixteen months later in 1967. The family initially lived in the Menteng Dalam neighborhood in the Tebet district of South Jakarta. From 1970, they lived in a wealthier neighborhood in the Menteng district of Central Jakarta.[32]
Education
At the age of six, Obama and his mother had moved to Indonesia to join his stepfather. From age six to ten, he attended local Indonesian-language schools: Sekolah Dasar Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School) for two years and Sekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng 01 (State Elementary School Menteng 01) for one and a half years, supplemented by English-language Calvert School homeschooling by his mother.[34][35] As a result of his four years in Jakarta, he was able to speak Indonesian fluently as a child.[36][37][38] During his time in Indonesia, Obama's stepfather taught him to be resilient and gave him "a pretty hardheaded assessment of how the world works."[39]
In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham. He attended Punahou School—a private college preparatory school—with the aid of a scholarship from fifth grade until he graduated from high school in 1979.[40] In his youth, Obama went by the nickname "Barry".[41] Obama lived with his mother and half-sister, Maya Soetoro, in Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Hawaii.[42] Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin anthropology field work.[43] His mother spent most of the next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo in 1980 and earning a PhD degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for ovarian and uterine cancer.[44]
Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear."[45] Obama has also written and talked about using alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind."[46] Obama was also a member of the "choom gang", a self-named group of friends who spent time together and occasionally smoked marijuana.[47][48]
After graduating from high school in 1979, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College on a full scholarship. In February 1981, Obama made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to participate in the disinvestment from South Africa in response to that nation's policy of apartheid.[49] In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half-sister Maya, and visited the families of college friends in Pakistan and India for three weeks.[49] Later in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City as a junior, where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations[50] and in English literature[51] and lived off-campus on West 109th Street.[52] He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7 GPA. After graduating, Obama worked for about a year at the Business International Corporation, where he was a financial researcher and writer,[53][54] then as a project coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group on the City College of New York campus for three months in 1985.[55][56][57]
Family and personal life
In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations," he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher."[58] Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised (Maya Soetoro-Ng) and seven other half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family—six of them living.[59] Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham,[60] until her death on November 2, 2008,[61] two days before his election to the presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011.[62] In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He also shares distant ancestors in common with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, among others.[63][64][65]
Obama lived with anthropologist Sheila Miyoshi Jager while he was a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s.[66] He proposed to her twice, but both Jager and her parents turned him down.[66][67] The relationship was not made public until May 2017, several months after his presidency had ended.[67]
In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin.[68] Robinson was assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, and she joined him at several group social functions but declined his initial requests to date.[69] They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.[70] After suffering a miscarriage, Michelle underwent in vitro fertilization to conceive their children.[71] The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998,[72] followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), in 2001.[73] The Obama daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the Sidwell Friends School.[74] The Obamas had two Portuguese Water Dogs; the first, a male named Bo, was a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.[75] In 2013, Bo was joined by Sunny, a female.[76] Bo died of cancer on May 8, 2021.[77]
Obama is a supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and he threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator.[78] In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the All-Star Game while wearing a White Sox jacket.[79] He is also primarily a Chicago Bears football fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after he took office as president.[80] In 2011, Obama invited the 1985 Chicago Bears to the White House; the team had not visited the White House after their Super Bowl win in 1986 due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.[81] He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team,[82] and he is left-handed.[83]
In 2005, the Obama family applied the proceeds of a book deal and moved from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house (equivalent to $2.1 million in 2020) in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago.[84] The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.[85]
In December 2007, Money Magazine estimated Obama's net worth at $1.3 million (equivalent to $1.6 million in 2020).[86] Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.[87][88] On his 2010 income of $1.7 million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 to Fisher House Foundation, a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.[89][90] Per his 2012 financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $10 million.[91]
Religious views
Obama is a Protestant Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life.[92] He wrote in The Audacity of Hope that he "was not raised in a religious household." He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as being detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person ... I have ever known", and "a lonely witness for secular humanism." He described his father as a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful." Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change."[93]
In January 2008, Obama told Christianity Today: "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life."[94] On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views, saying:
Obama met Trinity United Church of Christ pastor Jeremiah Wright in October 1987 and became a member of Trinity in 1992.[97] During Obama's first presidential campaign in May 2008, he resigned from Trinity after some of Wright's statements were criticized.[98] Since moving to Washington, D.C., in 2009, the Obama family has attended several Protestant churches, including Shiloh Baptist Church and St. John's Episcopal Church, as well as Evergreen Chapel at Camp David, but the members of the family do not attend church on a regular basis.[99][100][101]
In 2016, he said that he gets inspiration from a few items that remind him "of all the different people I've met along the way", adding: "I carry these around all the time. I'm not that superstitious, so it's not like I think I necessarily have to have them on me at all times." The items, "a whole bowl full", include rosary beads given to him by Pope Francis, a figurine of the Hindu deity Hanuman, a Coptic cross from Ethiopia, a small Buddha statue given by a monk, and a metal poker chip that used to be the lucky charm of a motorcyclist in Iowa.[102][103]
Law career
Community organizer and Harvard Law School
Two years after graduating from Columbia, Obama moved from New York to Chicago when he was hired as director of the Developing Communities Project, a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.[56][104] He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[105] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.[106] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for the first time.[107][108]
| External video | |
|---|---|
 Derrick Bell threatens to leave Harvard, April 24, 1990, 11:34, Boston TV Digital Archive[109] Student Barack Obama introduces Professor Derrick Bell starting at 6:25. |
Despite being offered a full scholarship to Northwestern University School of Law, Obama enrolled at Harvard Law School in the fall of 1988, living in nearby Somerville, Massachusetts.[110] He was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year,[111] president of the journal in his second year,[105][112] and research assistant to the constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe while at Harvard for two years.[113] During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.[114] After graduating with a JD degree magna cum laude[115] from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago.[111] Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention[105][112] and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations,[116] which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father.[116]
University of Chicago Law School and civil rights attorney
In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book.[116][117] He then taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004.[118]
From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote, a voter registration campaign with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.[119]
He joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004.[failed verification] In 1994, he was listed as one of the lawyers in Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 94 C 4094 (N.D. Ill.).[120] This class action lawsuit was filed in 1994 with Selma Buycks-Roberson as lead plaintiff and alleged that Citibank Federal Savings Bank had engaged in practices forbidden under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Fair Housing Act.[121] The case was settled out of court.[122] Final judgment was issued on May 13, 1998, with Citibank Federal Savings Bank agreeing to pay attorney fees.[123]
From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago—which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project—and of the Joyce Foundation.[56] He served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.[56] Obama's law license became inactive in 2007.[124][125]
Legislative career
Illinois Senate (1997–2004)
Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding Democratic State Senator Alice Palmer from Illinois's 13th District, which, at that time, spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park–Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn.[126] Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws.[127][128] He sponsored a law that increased tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.[129] In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.[130][131]
He was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was re-elected again in 2002.[132][133] In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary race for Illinois's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.[134]
In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.[135] He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.[129][136][137][138] During his 2004 general election campaign for the U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.[139] Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate.[140]
2004 U.S. Senate campaign
In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race. He created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002. Obama formally announced his candidacy in January 2003.[141]
Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq.[142] On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War,[143] Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally,[144] and spoke out against the war.[145] He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd "it's not too late" to stop the war.[146]
Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun to not participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving 15 candidates.[147] In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir, Dreams from My Father.[148] In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention,[149] seen by nine million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party.[150]
Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.[151] Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan.[152] In the November 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory for a Senate candidate in Illinois history.[153] He took 92 of the state's 102 counties, including several where Democrats traditionally do not do well.
U.S. Senate (2005–2008)
Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005,[154] becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus.[155] He introduced two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction concept to conventional weapons;[156] and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending.[157] On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with Senators Tom Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain—introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.[158] He also cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.[159]
In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.[160][161] In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007.[162][163]
Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges.[165] This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008.[166] He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which was never enacted but later incorporated in the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010;[167] and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.[168] Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.[169]
Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006.[170] In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.[171] He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs.[172] As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before Abbas became President of the Palestinian National Authority, and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi in which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government.[173]
Obama resigned his Senate seat on November 16, 2008, to focus on his transition period for the presidency.[174]
Presidential campaigns
2008
On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois.[175][176] The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "House Divided" speech in 1858.[175][177] Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and reforming the health care system,[178] in a campaign that projected themes of hope and change.[179]
Numerous candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries. The field narrowed to a duel between Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton after early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process but with Obama gaining a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules.[180] On June 7, 2008, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.[181]
On August 23, 2008, Obama announced his selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate.[182] Obama selected Biden from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.[182] At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in his support.[183][184] Obama delivered his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High stadium to a crowd of about eighty-four thousand; the speech was viewed by over three million people worldwide.[185][186][187]
During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations.[188] On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976.[189]
John McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate, and he selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. Obama and McCain engaged in three presidential debates in September and October 2008.[190] On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain.[191] Obama won 52.9 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7 percent.[192] He became the first African-American to be elected president.[3] Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant Park.[193] He is one of the three United States senators moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House, the others are Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy.[194]
2012
On April 4, 2011, Obama filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission and then announced his reelection campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his website.[195][196][197] As the incumbent president, he ran virtually unopposed in the Democratic Party presidential primaries,[198] and on April 3, 2012, Obama secured the 2778 convention delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.[199]
At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Obama and Joe Biden were formally nominated by former President Bill Clinton as the Democratic Party candidates for president and vice president in the general election. Their main opponents were Republicans Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.[200]
On November 6, 2012, Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him to be reelected as president.[201][202][203] With 51.1 percent of the popular vote,[204] Obama became the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win the majority of the popular vote twice.[205][206] Obama addressed supporters and volunteers at Chicago's McCormick Place after his reelection and said: "Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties."[207][208]
Presidency (2009–2017)
First 100 days
The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office, Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.[209] He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp,[210] but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required funds[211][212][213] and preventing moving any Guantanamo detainee.[214] Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records.[215] He also revoked President George W. Bush's restoration of President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City policy which prohibited federal aid to international family planning organizations that perform or provide counseling about abortion.[216]
Domestic policy
The first bill signed into law by Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing the statute of limitations for equal-pay lawsuits.[217] Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover an additional four million uninsured children.[218] In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era policy that had limited funding of embryonic stem cell research and pledged to develop "strict guidelines" on the research.[219]
Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his presidency. He nominated Sonia Sotomayor on May 26, 2009, to replace retiring Associate Justice David Souter; she was confirmed on August 6, 2009,[220] becoming the first Supreme Court Justice of Hispanic descent.[221] Obama nominated Elena Kagan on May 10, 2010, to replace retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens. She was confirmed on August 5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three for the first time in American history.[222]
On March 11, 2009, Obama created the White House Council on Women and Girls, which formed part of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, having been established by Executive Order 13506 with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to the welfare of American women and girls.[223] The council was chaired by Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett.[224] Obama also established the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault through a government memorandum on January 22, 2014, with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to sexual assault on college and university campuses throughout the United States.[224][225][226] The co-chairs of the Task Force were Vice President Joe Biden and Jarrett.[225] The Task Force was a development out of the White House Council on Women and Girls and Office of the Vice President of the United States, and prior to that the 1994 Violence Against Women Act first drafted by Biden.[227]
In a major space policy speech in April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction at NASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return of human spaceflight to the moon and development of the Ares I rocket, Ares V rocket and Constellation program, in favor of funding Earth science projects, a new rocket type, research and development for an eventual crewed mission to Mars, and ongoing missions to the International Space Station.[228]
On January 16, 2013, one month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Obama signed 23 executive orders and outlined a series of sweeping proposals regarding gun control.[229] He urged Congress to reintroduce an expired ban on military-style assault weapons, such as those used in several recent mass shootings, impose limits on ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, introduce background checks on all gun sales, pass a ban on possession and sale of armor-piercing bullets, introduce harsher penalties for gun-traffickers, especially unlicensed dealers who buy arms for criminals and approving the appointment of the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for the first time since 2006.[230] On January 5, 2016, Obama announced new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers.[231] In a 2016 editorial in The New York Times, Obama compared the struggle for what he termed "common-sense gun reform" to women's suffrage and other civil rights movements in American history.[232]
In 2011, Obama signed a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act.[233] Following the 2013 global surveillance disclosures by whistleblower Edward Snowden, Obama condemned the leak as unpatriotic,[234] but called for increased restrictions on the NSA to address violations of privacy.[235][236]
LGBT rights and same-sex marriage
On October 8, 2009, Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a measure that expanded the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.[237] On October 30, 2009, Obama lifted the ban on travel to the United States by those infected with HIV. The lifting of the ban was celebrated by Immigration Equality.[238] On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which fulfilled a promise made in the 2008 presidential campaign[239][240] to end the don't ask, don't tell policy of 1993 that had prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces.[241] In 2016, the Pentagon ended the policy that barred transgender people from serving openly in the military.[242]
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As a candidate for the Illinois state senate in 1996, Obama stated he favored legalizing same-sex marriage.[243] During his Senate run in 2004, he said he supported civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex partners but opposed same-sex marriages.[244] In 2008, he reaffirmed this position by stating "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage."[245] On May 9, 2012, shortly after the official launch of his campaign for re-election as president, Obama said his views had evolved, and he publicly affirmed his personal support for the legalization of same-sex marriage, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so.[246][247] During his second inaugural address on January 21, 2013,[208] Obama became the first U.S. president in office to call for full equality for gay Americans, and the first time that a president mentioned gay rights or the word "gay" in an inaugural address.[248][249] In 2013, the Obama administration filed briefs that urged the Supreme Court to rule in favor of same-sex couples in the cases of Hollingsworth v. Perry (regarding same-sex marriage)[250] and United States v. Windsor (regarding the Defense of Marriage Act).[251]
Economic policy
On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening worldwide recession.[252] The act includes increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals.[253] In March 2009, Obama's Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, took further steps to manage the financial crisis, including introducing the Public–Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to $2 trillion in depreciated real estate assets.[254]
Obama intervened in the troubled automotive industry[255] in March 2009, renewing loans for General Motors (GM) and Chrysler to continue operations while reorganizing. Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including the sale of Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat[256] and a reorganization of GM giving the U.S. government a temporary 60 percent equity stake in the company.[257] In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment.[258] He signed into law the Car Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as "Cash for Clunkers", which temporarily boosted the economy.[259][260][261]
The Bush and Obama administrations authorized spending and loan guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the Department of the Treasury. These guarantees totaled about $11.5 trillion, but only $3 trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009.[262] On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2011. The legislation enforced limits on discretionary spending until 2021, established a procedure to increase the debt limit, created a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and established automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee did not achieve such savings.[263] By passing the legislation, Congress was able to prevent a U.S. government default on its obligations.[264]
The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.0 percent and averaging 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year.[265] Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8 percent, which was less than the average of 1.9 percent experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries.[266] By November 2012, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent,[267] decreasing to 6.7 percent in the last month of 2013.[268] During 2014, the unemployment rate continued to decline, falling to 6.3 percent in the first quarter.[269] GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate of 1.6 percent, followed by a 5.0 percent increase in the fourth quarter.[270] Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year.[270] In July 2010, the Federal Reserve noted that economic activity continued to increase, but its pace had slowed, and chairman Ben Bernanke said the economic outlook was "unusually uncertain".[271] Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9 percent in 2010.[272]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth.[275][276] The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1 million,[276][277][278][279] while conceding that "it is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package."[275] Although an April 2010, survey of members of the National Association for Business Economics showed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in two years, 73 percent of 68 respondents believed the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment.[280] The economy of the United States has grown faster than the other original NATO members by a wider margin under President Obama than it has anytime since the end of World War II.[281] The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development credits the much faster growth in the United States to the stimulus plan of the U.S. and the austerity measures in the European Union.[282]
Within a month of the 2010 midterm elections, Obama announced a compromise deal with the Congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of the 2001 and 2003 income tax rates, a one-year payroll tax reduction, continuation of unemployment benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount for estate taxes.[283] The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858 billion Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on December 17, 2010.[284]
In December 2013, Obama declared that growing income inequality is a "defining challenge of our time" and called on Congress to bolster the safety net and raise wages. This came on the heels of the nationwide strikes of fast-food workers and Pope Francis' criticism of inequality and trickle-down economics.[285] Obama urged Congress to ratify a 12-nation free trade pact called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.[286]
Environmental policy
On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshore drilling rig at the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, causing a major sustained oil leak. Obama visited the Gulf, announced a federal investigation, and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and concurrent Congressional hearings. He then announced a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and leases, pending regulatory review.[287] As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government.[288] Prior to the oil spill, on March 31, 2010, Obama ended a ban on oil and gas drilling along the majority of the East Coast of the United States and along the coast of northern Alaska in an effort to win support for an energy and climate bill and to reduce foreign imports of oil and gas.[289]
In July 2013, Obama expressed reservations and said he "would reject the Keystone XL pipeline if it increased carbon pollution [or] greenhouse emissions."[290][291] On February 24, 2015, Obama vetoed a bill that would have authorized the pipeline.[292] It was the third veto of Obama's presidency and his first major veto.[293]
In December 2016, Obama permanently banned new offshore oil and gas drilling in most United States-owned waters in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans using the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Act.[294][295][296]
Obama emphasized the conservation of federal lands during his term in office. He used his power under the Antiquities Act to create 25 new national monuments during his presidency and expand four others, protecting a total of 553,000,000 acres (224,000,000 ha) of federal lands and waters, more than any other U.S. president.[297][298][299][300]
Health care reform
Obama called for Congress to pass legislation reforming health care in the United States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal.[301] He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, cap premium increases, and allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900 billion over ten years and include a government insurance plan, also known as the public option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage for pre-existing conditions, and require every American to carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans.[302][303]
On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009.[301] After public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over the proposals.[305] In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on using federal funds for stem cell research.[306]
On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House.[307][308] On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39.[309] On March 21, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to 212.[310] Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010.[311]
The ACA includes health-related provisions, most of which took effect in 2014, including expanding Medicaid eligibility for people making up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) starting in 2014,[312] subsidizing insurance premiums for people making up to 400 percent of the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010) so their maximum "out-of-pocket" payment for annual premiums will be from 2 percent to 9.5 percent of income,[313][314] providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions, establishing health insurance exchanges, prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for medical research. According to White House and CBO figures, the maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their income relative to the federal poverty level.[313][315]
The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for those in high-income brackets, taxes on indoor tanning, cuts to the Medicare Advantage program in favor of traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies;[317] there is also a tax penalty for those who do not obtain health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons.[318] In March 2010, the CBO estimated that the net effect of both laws will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143 billion over the first decade.[319]
The law faced several legal challenges, primarily based on the argument that an individual mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance was unconstitutional. On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5–4 vote in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius that the mandate was constitutional under the U.S. Congress's taxing authority.[320] In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby the Court ruled that "closely-held" for-profit corporations could be exempt on religious grounds under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act from regulations adopted under the ACA that would have required them to pay for insurance that covered certain contraceptives. In June 2015, the Court ruled 6–3 in King v. Burwell that subsidies to help individuals and families purchase health insurance were authorized for those doing so on both the federal exchange and state exchanges, not only those purchasing plans "established by the State", as the statute reads.[321]
Foreign policy
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In February and March 2009, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a "new era" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms "break" and "reset" to signal major changes from the policies of the preceding administration.[322] Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab satellite TV network, Al Arabiya.[323] On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and government of Iran.[324][325] On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt calling for "A New Beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.[326] On June 26, 2009, Obama condemned the Iranian government's actions towards protesters following Iran's 2009 presidential election.[327]
In 2011, Obama ordered a drone strike in Yemen which targeted and killed Anwar al-Awlaki. Awlaki was an American imam suspected of being an Al-Qaeda organizer and supporter. Awlaki became the first U.S. citizen to be targeted and killed by a U.S. drone strike without the rights of due process being afforded. The killing lead to significant controversy and may have increased Awlaki's influence. His teenage son and young daughter, also Americans, were later killed in separate US military actions, although they were not targeted specifically.[328][329]
In March 2015, Obama declared that he had authorized U.S. forces to provide logistical and intelligence support to the Saudis in their military intervention in Yemen, establishing a "Joint Planning Cell" with Saudi Arabia.[330][331] In 2016, the Obama administration proposed a series of arms deals with Saudi Arabia worth $115 billion.[332] Obama halted the sale of guided munition technology to Saudi Arabia after Saudi warplanes targeted a funeral in Yemen's capital Sanaa, killing more than 140 people.[333]
War in Iraq
On February 27, 2009, Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months.[334] The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troop's levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of about 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last U.S. combat brigade exited Iraq. Remaining troops transitioned from combat operations to counter-terrorism and the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces.[335][336] On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over.[337] On October 21, 2011, President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be "home for the holidays."[338]
In June 2014, following the capture of Mosul by ISIS, Obama sent 275 troops to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. ISIS continued to gain ground and to commit widespread massacres and ethnic cleansing.[339][340] In August 2014, during the Sinjar massacre, Obama ordered a campaign of U.S. airstrikes against ISIS.[341] By the end of 2014, 3,100 American ground troops were committed to the conflict[342] and 16,000 sorties were flown over the battlefield, primarily by U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots.[343] In early 2015, with the addition of the "Panther Brigade" of the 82nd Airborne Division the number of U.S. ground troops in Iraq increased to 4,400,[344] and by July American-led coalition air forces counted 44,000 sorties over the battlefield.[345]
War in Afghanistan
Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan.[346] He announced an increase in U.S. troop levels to 17,000 military personnel in February 2009 to "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan", an area he said had not received the "strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires".[347] He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan, with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war.[348] On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan and proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date;[349] this took place in July 2011. David Petraeus replaced McChrystal in June 2010, after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.[350] In February 2013, Obama said the U.S. military would reduce the troop level in Afghanistan from 68,000 to 34,000 U.S. troops by February 2014.[351] In October 2015, the White House announced a plan to keep U.S. Forces in Afghanistan indefinitely in light of the deteriorating security situation.[352]
Israel
During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including increased military aid, re-establishment of the U.S.-Israeli Joint Political Military Group and the Defense Policy Advisory Group, and an increase in visits among high-level military officials of both countries.[353] The Obama administration asked Congress to allocate money toward funding the Iron Dome program in response to the waves of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.[354] In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.[355][356] In 2011, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements, with the United States being the only nation to do so.[357] Obama supports the two-state solution to the Arab–Israeli conflict based on the 1967 borders with land swaps.[358]
In 2013, Jeffrey Goldberg reported that, in Obama's view, "with each new settlement announcement, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total isolation."[359] In 2014, Obama likened the Zionist movement to the civil rights movement in the United States. He said both movements seek to bring justice and equal rights to historically persecuted peoples, explaining: "To me, being pro-Israel and pro-Jewish is part and parcel with the values that I've been fighting for since I was politically conscious and started getting involved in politics."[360] Obama expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.[361] In 2015, Obama was harshly criticized by Israel for advocating and signing the Iran Nuclear Deal; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had advocated the U.S. congress to oppose it, said the deal was "dangerous" and "bad".[362]
On December 23, 2016, under the Obama Administration, the United States abstained from United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as a violation of international law, effectively allowing it to pass.[363] Netanyahu strongly criticized the Obama administration's actions,[364][365] and the Israeli government withdrew its annual dues from the organization, which totaled $6 million, on January 6, 2017.[366] On January 5, 2017, the United States House of Representatives voted 342–80 to condemn the UN Resolution.
TERJEMAHAN:
Barack Obama
Barack Obama | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presiden Amerika Serikat ke-44 | |
| Masa jabatan 20 Januari 2009 – 20 Januari 2017 | |
| Wakil Presiden | Joe Biden |
| Pendahulu | George W. Bush |
| Pengganti | Donald Trump |
| Senator Amerika Serikat dari Illinois | |
| Masa jabatan 3 Januari 2005 – 16 November 2008 | |
| Pendahulu | Peter Fitzgerald |
| Pengganti | Roland Burris |
| Anggota Senat Illinois dari Distrik ke-13 | |
| Masa jabatan 8 Januari 1997 – 4 November 2004 | |
| Pendahulu | Alice Palmer |
| Pengganti | Kwame Raoul |
| Informasi pribadi | |
| Lahir | Barack Hussein Obama II 4 Agustus 1961[1] Honolulu, Hawaii, A.S.[2] |
| Partai politik | Demokrat |
| Suami/istri | Michelle Robinson (3 Oktober 1992–sekarang) |
| Anak | Malia (l. 1998) Sasha (l. 2001) |
| Ibu | Kezia Obama Ann Dunham Ruth Nidesand Jael Otieno[3][4][5][6] |
| Bapak | Barack Obama, Sr. Lolo Soetoro |
| Tempat tinggal | Chicago, Illinois |
| Almamater | Occidental College Universitas Columbia (B.A.) Harvard Law School (J.D.) |
| Profesi | Pengacara Profesor hukum konstitusi Penggerak masyarakat Penulis |
| Penghargaan | Hadiah Nobel Perdamaian |
| Tanda tangan |  |
| Situs web | www |
 | Artikel ini adalah bagian dari seri tentang Barack Obama |
|---|---|
Barack Hussein Obama II (lahir 4 Agustus 1961) adalah seorang politikus Amerika yang menjabat sebagai Presiden Amerika Serikat ke-44. Ia merupakan orang Afrika Amerika pertama yang menempati jabatan tersebut.
Lahir di Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama merupakan lulusan Universitas Columbia dan Harvard Law School, tempat ia menjadi presiden Harvard Law Review. Ia dulunya seorang penggerak masyarakat di Chicago sebelum mendapat gelar hukumnya. Ia bekerja sebagai jaksa hak-hak sipil di Chicago dan mengajar hukum konstitusi di University of Chicago Law School sejak 1992 sampai 2004. Ia tiga kali mewakili Distrik ke-13 di Senat Illinois mulai tahun 1997 hingga 2004, namun tidak lolos ke tahap Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Amerika Serikat tahun 2000.
Pada tahun 2004, Obama mendapat perhatian nasional saat berkampanye mewakili Illionis di Senat Amerika Serikat melalui kemenangannya pada pemilu pendahuluan Partai Demokrat bulan Maret, pidatonya di Konvensi Nasional Demokrat bulan Juli, dan pemilihannya sebagai Senat pada bulan November. Ia memulai kampanye presidennya tahun 2007, dan pada tahun 2008, setelah kampanye pendahuluan melawan Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama memenangkan mayoritas suara delegasi dalam pemilu pendahuluan partai Demokrat untuk dijadikan calon presiden. Ia kemudian mengalahkan calon dari Partai Republik John McCain dalam pemilihan umum presiden tahun 2008, dan dilantik sebagai presiden pada tanggal 20 Januari 2009. Sembilan bulan kemudian, Obama dinyatakan sebagai pemenang Hadiah Nobel Perdamaian 2009. Ia terpilih lagi sebagai presiden pada November 2012, mengalahkan Mitt Romney dari Partai Republik, dan dilantik untuk kedua kalinya pada tanggal 20 Januari 2013.[8]
Pada masa jabatan pertamanya, Obama mengesahkan undang-undang stimulus ekonomi sebagai tanggapan terhadap resesi 2007–2009 di Amerika Serikat dalam bentuk American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 dan Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Inisiatif besar dalam negeri lainnya pada masa pemerintahannya adalah Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010; Budget Control Act of 2011; dan American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Di bidang kebijakan luar negeri, Obama mengakhiri keterlibatan militer A.S. dalam Perang Irak, menambah jumlah tentara di Afganistan, menandatangani perjanjian pengendalian senjata New START bersama Rusia, memerintahkan intervensi militer A.S. di Libya, dan melaksanakan operasi militer yang berujung pada kematian Osama bin Laden. Pada bulan mei 2012, ia menjadi presiden A.S. pertama yang mendukung pengesahan pernikahan sesama jenis secara terbuka.
Masa muda dan karier
Obama lahir pada tanggal 4 Agustus 1961 di Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital (sekarang Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children) di Honolulu, Hawaii,[2][9][10] dan menjadi Presiden pertama yang lahir di Hawaii.[11] Ibunya, Stanley Ann Dunham, lahir di Wichita, Kansas, dan merupakan keturunan bangsa Inggris.[12] Ayahnya, Barack Obama, Sr., adalah seorang anggota suku Luo dari Nyang’oma Kogelo, Kenya. Orang tua Obama bertemu pada tahun 1960 di kelas bahasa Rusia di University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, tempat ayahnya kuliah sebagai penerima beasiswa asing.[13][14] Keduanya menikah di Wailuku, Maui, pada tanggal 2 Februari 1961,[15][16] dan terpisah ketika ibu Obama pindah bersama putranya yang baru lahir ke Seattle, Washington, pada akhir Agustus 1961 agar bisa berkuliah di University of Washington selama satu tahun. Sementara itu, Obama, Sr. menyelesaikan program S1 ekonominya di Hawaii pada Juni 1962, kemudian mengikuti program S2 di Harvard University dengan beasiswa. Orang tua Obama bercerai pada bulan Maret 1964.[17] Obama Sr. pulang ke Kenya tahun 1964, lalu menikah kembali; ia hanya sekali menjenguk Barack di Hawaii, yaitu pada tahun 1971.[18] Ia meninggal dunia akibat kecelakaan lalu lintas tahun 1982.[19]
Pada tahun 1963, Dunham bertemu Lolo Soetoro, seorang mahasiswa East–West Center asal Indonesia yang mengambil program S2 dalam bidang geografi di University of Hawaii. Mereka menikah di Molokai pada tanggal 15 Maret 1965.[20] Setelah dua tahun perpanjangan visa J-1-nya, Lolo pulang ke Indonesia tahun 1966, diikuti istri dan putra tirinya 16 bulan kemudian pada tahun 1967. Mereka awalnya menetap di Menteng Dalam, Tebet, Jakarta Selatan, kemudian pindah ke permukiman elit di Menteng, Jakarta Pusat, pada tahun 1970.[21] Sejak usia 6 sampai 10 tahun, Obama bersekolah di Sekolah Katolik St. Fransiskus dari Assisi selama dua tahun dan Sekolah Dasar Besuki selama satu setengah tahun, ditambah pendidikan rumahan dengan bantuan Calvert School.[22]
Pada tahun 1971, Obama kembali ke Honolulu untuk tinggal bersama orang tua ibunya, Madelyn dan Stanley Dunham, dan dengan bantuan beasiswa ia mengenyam pendidikan di Punahou School, sebuah sekolah persiapan perguruan tinggi, mulai kelas lima sampai lulus tahun 1979.[23] Obama tinggal dengan ibu dan adiknya di Hawaii selama tiga tahun mulai 1972 sampai 1975, sementara ibunya menjalani program S2 antropologi di University of Hawaii.[24] Ibu dan adiknya pulang ke Indonesia tahun 1975 untuk melaksanakan kerja lapangan antropologi, sementara Obama memilih untuk tetap tinggal di Hawaii bersama kakek neneknya agar bisa bersekolah di Punahou.[25] Ibunya menghabiskan hampir dua dasawarsa di Indonesia, bercerai dengan Lolo tahun 1980 dan mendapatkan gelar PhD tahun 1992, sebelum meninggal dunia tahun 1995 di Hawaii pasca-pengobatan kanker ovarium dan kanker rahim.[26]
Tentang masa kecilnya, Obama mengingat kembali, "Bahwa ayahku tidak seperti orang-orang di sekitarku—ia hitam bagaikan ter, ibuku putih bagaikan susu—nyaris tidak terpikirkan olehku."[14] Ia menjelaskan perjuangannya sebagai sosok pemuda dewasa yang ingin menyatukan berbagai sudut pandang sosial terhadap warisan multirasialnya.[27] Merenungkan masa kecilnya di Honolulu, Obama menulis: "Kesempatan yang Hawaii tawarkan—untuk menyaksikan berbagai macam budaya dengan suasana yang saling menghargai—menjadi bagian tak terpisahkan dari pandangan duniaku, sekaligus menjadi dasar nilai-nilai yang aku pegang erat."[28] Obama juga menulis dan berbicara tentang pemakaian alkohol, ganja, dan kokain saat ia masih muda untuk "menyingkirkan pertanyaan siapa aku dari pikiran saya".[29] Obama sempat menjadi anggota "choom gang", sebuah kelompok pertemanan yang menghabiskan waktu bersama-sama dan sering menghirup marijuana.[30][31] Pada acara Civil Forum on the Presidency tahun 2008, Obama menyatakan penyesalannya karena pernah mengonsumsi obat-obatan terlarang saat SMA.[32]
Setelah SMA, Obama pindah ke Los Angeles tahun 1979 untuk menuntut ilmu di Occidental College. Pada bulan Februari 1981, ia berpidato di hadapan publik untuk pertama kalinya, meminta Occidental melakukan divestasi dari Afrika Selatan sebagai respon terhadap kebijakan apartheid di sana.[33] Pada pertengahan 1981, Obama berkunjung ke Indonesia untuk menemui ibu dan adiknya, Maya, kemudian menemui keluarga teman-teman kuliahnya di Pakistan dan India selama tiga minggu.[33] Kemudian pada 1981, ia pindah ke Columbia University di New York City dan mendapatkan gelar dalam ilmu politik dengan kekhususan hubungan internasional[34] dan lulus dengan gelar Bachelor of Arts pada tahun 1983. Ia bekerja selama satu tahun di Business International Corporation,[35] kemudian di New York Public Interest Research Group.[36][37]
Penggerak masyarakat Chicago dan Harvard Law School
Dua tahun setelah lulus, Obama bekerja sebagai direktur Developing Communities Project (DCP), sebuah organisasi masyarakat berbasis gereja yang awalnya terdiri dari 8 paroki Katoli Roseland, West Pullman, dan Riverdale di South Side, Chicago. Ia bekerja di sana sebagai penggerak masyarakat pada bulan Juni 1985 sampai Mei 1988.[37][38] Ia membantu membuat program pelatihan kerja, program tutorial persiapan masuk perguruan tinggi, dan organisasi hak-hak penyewa di Altgeld Gardens.[39] Obama juga bekerja sebagai konsultan dan instruktur untuk Gamaliel Foundation, sebuah institut penggerak masyarakat.[40] Pada pertengahan 1988, untuk pertama kalinya ia berkunjung ke Eropa selama tiga minggu, lalu lima minggu di Kenya untuk bertemu dengan saudara-saudara ayahnya.[41][42] Ia kembali berkunjung ke Kenya pada tahun 1992 bersama tunangannya, Michelle, dan adiknya, Auma.[41][43] Obama datang lagi ke Kenya pada Agustus 2006 untuk mengunjungi tempat kelahiran ayahnya, yaitu sebuah desa dekat Kisumu di pedesaan barat Kenya.[44]
Pada akhir 1988, Obama masuk Harvard Law School. Ia terpilih sebagai editor Harvard Law Review pada akhir tahun pertamanya,[45] dan presiden jurnal pada tahun kedua.[39][46] Sepanjang musim panas, ia pulang ke Chicago, lalu bekerja sebagai jaksa di firma hukum Sidley Austin tahun 1989 dan Hopkins & Sutter tahun 1990.[47] Setelah lulus dengan gelar J.D. secara magna cum laude[48] dari Harvar tahun 1991, ia pulang ke Chicago.[45] Pemilihan Obama sebagai presiden Harvard Law Review berkulit hitam pertama menjadi perhatian media nasional[39][46] dan berujung pada ditandatanganinya kontrak penerbitan buku karya Obama tentang hubungan antarras,[49] yang berubah menjadi memoar pribadi. Buku karya Obama tersebut diterbitkan pada pertengahan 1995 dengan judul Dreams from My Father.[49]
University of Chicago Law School dan jaksa hak sipil
Pada tahun 1991, Obama menjabat sebagai Dosen Tamu Hukum dan Pemerintahan di University of Chicago Law School selama dua tahun sambil menyelesaikan buku pertamanya.[49][50] Ia kemudian mengajar di University of Chicago Law School selama 12 tahun (sebagai Dosen pada 1992 sampai 1996 dan Dosen Senior pada 1996 sampai 2004), mengajarkan hukum konstitusi.[51]
Mulai bulan April sampai Oktober 1992, Obama memimpin Project Vote di Illinois, yaitu kampanye registrasi pemilih dengan sepuluh staf dan 700 pendaftar sukarela; proyek ini berhasil mendaftarkan 150.000 dari 400.000 warga Afrika-Amerika tak terdaftar di negara bagian Illinois sampai-sampai Crain's Chicago Business memasukkan Obama dalam daftar "40 under Forty" pada tahun 1993.[52]
Tahun 1993, ia bergabung dengan Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, sebuah firma hukum 13 jaksa yang bergerak di bidang litigasi hak-hak sipil dan pembangunan ekonomi masyarakat. Obama menjadi jaksa pembantu di sana pada tahun 1993 sampai 1996, kemudian of counsel tahun 1996 sampai 2004. Lisensi hukumnya tidak aktif lagi pada tahun 2007.[53][54]
Sejak 1994 hingga 2002, Obama menjabat sebagai anggota dewan direktur Woods Fund of Chicago, yang pada 1985 menjadi yayasan pertama yang mendanai Developing Communities Project; dan dewan direktur Joyce Foundation.[37] Ia menjabat sebagai anggota dewan direktur Chicago Annenberg Challenge mulai tahun 1995 sampai 2002, kemudian sebagai presiden pendiri dan ketua dewan direktur mulai tahun 1995 sampai 1999.[37]
Karier legislatif: 1997–2008
Senator negara bagian: 1997–2004
Obama terpilih sebagai anggota Senat Illinois pada tahun 1996, menggantikan Alice Palmer sebagai Senator dari Distrik ke-13 Illinois yang pada waktu itu mencakup permukiman South Side Chicago dari Hyde Park – Kenwood ke selatan hingga South Shore dan barat hingga Chicago Lawn.[55] Setelah terpilih, Obama mendapat dukungan dari kedua partai untuk undang-undang reformasi hukum etika dan pelayanan kesehatan.[56] Ia memperkenalkan hukum penambahan kredit pajak untuk pekerja berpenghasilan rendah, menegosiasikan reformasi kesejahteraan, dan mempromosikan peningkatan subsidi perawatan anak.[57] Tahun 2001, selaku ketua bersama Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama mendukung peraturan pinjaman upah dan pemberian pinjaman gadai predator usulan Gubernur Ryan dari Partai Republik yang bertujuan menghindari penyitaan rumah.[58]
Obama terpilih kembali sebagai Senator Illinois pada tahun 1998, mengalahkan Yesse Yehudah dari Partai Republik, lalu terpilih lagi pada tahun 2002.[59] Tahun 2000, ia kalah dalam pemilu pendahuluan Demokrat untuk distrik kongres ke-1 Illinois di Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Amerika Serikat. Pemilu tersebut dimenangkan oleh petahana Bobby Rush yang sudah menjabat empat kali dengan margin suara dua banding satu.[60]
Pada Januari 2003, Obama menjadi ketua Komite Pelayanan Kesehatan dan Masyarakat Senat Illinois setelah Demokrat merebut kembali suara mayoritas pasca menjadi minoritas selama satu dasawarsa.[61] Ia memperkenalkan dan memimpin pengesahan undang-undang dwipartai yang mengawasi pemrofilan ras dengan meminta polisi mencatat ras pengemudi yang mereka tahan, serta undang-undang yang menjadikan Illinois negara bagian pertama yang mewajibkan interogasi pelaku pembunuhan direkam.[57][62] Selama kampanye pemilu Senat A.S. 2004, perwakilan polisi memuji Obama atas keterlibatan aktifnya bersama organisasi polisi dengan menerapkan reformasi hukuman mati.[63] Obama mengundurkan diri dari Senat Illinois pada bulan november 2004 setelah terpilih menjadi anggota Senat Amerika Serikat.[64]
Kampanye Senat A.S.
Bulan Mei 2002, Obama mengadakan pemungutan suara untuk menilai prospeknya pada pemilu Senat A.S. 2004; ia membuat panitia kampanye, menggalang dana, dan bekerja sama dengan konsultan media politik David Axelrod pada Agustus 2002. Obama secara resmi mencalonkan diri pada bulan Januari 2003.[65]
Obama adalah salah seorang penentang pertama invasi Irak 2003 yang dicanangkan oleh pemerintahan George W. Bush.[66] Pada tanggal 2 Oktober 2002, saat Presiden Bush dan Kongres menyetujui resolusi bersama yang mengizinkan dilancarkannya Perang Irak,[67] Obama mengadakan kampanye anti-Perang Irak pertama di Chicago dan berpidato di sana.[68][69] Ia mengadakan kampanye anti-perang lainnya pada bulan Maret 2003 dan berkata bahwa "belum terlambat" untuk menghentikan perang.[70]
Keputusan petahana dari Partai Republik Peter Fitzgerald dan pendahulunya dari Partai Demokrat Carol Moseley Braun untuk tidak berpartisipasi dalam pemilihan umum berujung pada persaingan pemilihan pendahluan Demokrat dan Republik secara terbuka yang melibatkan 15 orang kandidat.[71] Pada pemilihan pendahuluan Maret 2004, Obama menang dengan selisih yang tidak diduga-duga—yang menjadikannya bintang satu malam di Partai Demokrat nasional, sehingga memunculkan spekulasi tentang masa depannya sebagai presiden serta penerbitan ulang memoarnya, Dreams from My Father.[72] Pada Juli 2004, Obama menyampaikan pidatonya di Konvensi Nasional Demokrat 2004[73] yang ditonton oleh 9,1 juta orang. Pidatonya disambut hangat dan menaikkan statusnya di Partai Demokrat.[74]
Calon pesaing Obama pada pemilihan umum, yaitu pemenang pemilihan pendahuluan dari Partai Republik Jack Ryan, keluar pada bulan Juni 2004.[75] Enam minggu kemudian, Alan Keyes menerima pencalonan Republik untuk menggantikan Ryan.[76] Pada pemilihan umum November 2004, Obama memenangkan 70 persen suara.[77]
Senator A.S.: 2005–2008
Obama disumpah sebagai seorang senator pada tanggal 3 Januari 2005,[78] dan menjadi satu-satunya anggota Senat dari Congressional Black Caucus.[79] CQ Weekly menyebutnya sebagai seorang "Demokrat setia" berdasarkan analisis seluruh suara Senat tahun 2005–2007. Pada 13 November 2008, Obama mengumumkan akan mengundurkan diri dari jabatan Senatnya terhitung 16 November 2008, sebelum dimulainya sesi lame-duck, untuk berfokus pada masa transisinya sebagai presiden.[80]
Undang-undang
Obama turut mensponsori Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.[81] Ia memperkenalkan dua inisiatif yang diberi nama dirinya: Lugar–Obama, yang memperluas konsep pengurangan risiko bersama Nunn–Lugar menjadi senjata api konvensional;[82] dan Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, yang mengizinkan pembuatan USAspending.gov, mesin pencari anggaran federal di Internet.[83] Tanggal 3 Juni 2008, Senator Obama—bersama Senator Tom Carper, Tom Coburn, dan John McCain—memperkenalkan RUU kelanjutannya, yaitu Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.[84]
Obama mensponsori RUU yang mewajibkan pemilik PLTN memberitahu kebocoran radioaktif kepada otoritas negara bagian dan wilayah setempat, namun gagal disahkan secara bulat setelah diubah besar-besaran oleh komite.[85] Mengenai reformasi kerugian, Obama memberi suaranya untuk Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 dan FISA Amendments Act of 2008, yang memberikan imunitas kewajiban sipil kepada perusahaan-perusahaan telekomunikasi yang mematuhi operasi penyadapan tanpa surat perintah NSA.[86]
Pada bulan Desember 2006, Presiden Bush mengesahkan Undang-Undang Pemulihan, Keamanan, dan Pengenalan Demokrasi Republik Demokratik Kongo, yang menandai UU federal pertama yang disahkan dan disponsori Obama.[88] Bulan Januari 2007, Obama dan Senator Feingold memperkenalkan peraturan jet perusahaan dalam Honest Leadership and Open Government Act yang disahkan bulan September 2007.[89] Obama juga memperkenalkan Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, sebuah RUU yang mengkriminalisasi praktik penipuan dalam pemilihan umum federal,[90] dan Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007.[91] Tidak satupun yang disahkan.
Kemudian pada tahun 2007, Obama memperkenalkan amendemen terhadap Defense Authorization Act yang berisi tentang penambahan perlindungan bagi pensiunan militer yang menderita gangguan kepribadian.[92] Amanddemen ini disahkan Senat dengan suara bulat pada musim semi 2008.[93] Ia memperkenalkan pula Iran Sanctions Enabling Act yang mendukung divestasi dana pensiun negara dari industri minyak dan gas Iran, yang tidak disahkan komite; serta mensponsori bersama UU pengurangan risiko terorisme nuklir.[94] Obama juga mensponsori amendemen Senat terhadap State Children's Health Insurance Program yang memberikan perlindungan kerja selama satu tahun untuk para anggota keluarga yang merawat tentara-tentara terluka akibat pertempuran.[95]
Komite
Obama mengemban tugas di Komite Senat untuk Hubungan Luar Negeri, Lingkungan dan Pekerjaan Umum dan Urusan Veteran sepanjang Desember 2006.[96] Pada Januari 2007, ia keluar dari komite Lingkungan dan Pekerjaan Umum dan melaksanakan tugas tambahan di Komite Kesehatan, Pendidikan, Buruh, dan Pensiun dan Keamanan Dalam Negeri dan Urusan Pemerintahan.[97] Ia juga menjadi Ketua subkomite Senat untuk Urusan Eropa.[98] Selaku anggota Komite Hubungan Luar Negeri Senat, Obama melakukan serangkaian kunjungan resmi ke Eropa Timur, Timur Tengah, Asia Tengah, dan Afrika. Ia bertemu dengan Mahmoud Abbas sebelum menjadi Presiden Otoritas Nasional Palestina dan berpidato di Universitas Nairobi sambil mengutuk korupsi di tubuh pemerintahan Kenya.[99]
Kampanye presiden
Kampanye presiden 2008
Pada tanggal 10 Februari 2007, Obama menyatakan pencalonannya sebagai Presiden Amerika Serikat di depan gedung Old State Capitol di Springfield, Illinois.[100][101] Pemilihan tempat pengumuman itu dianggap simbolis karena di situ Abraham Lincoln menyampaikan pidato bersejarahnya yang berjudul "House Divided" tahun 1858.[100][102] Obama menekankan isu pengakhiran Perang Irak secepat mungkin, meningkatkan kebebasan energi, dan menyediakan layanan kesehatan universal,[103] dalam kampanye yang mengusung tema "harapan" dan "perubahan".[104]
Banyak kandidat yang ikut bertarung dalam pemilihan pendahuluan presiden Partai Demokrat. Persaingan besar ini berakhir dengan duel antara Obama dan Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton dan berlangsung ketat sepanjang proses pemilihan pendahuluan. Akan tetapi, Obama tetap unggul dalam jumlah delegasi karena perencanaan jangka panjang yang baik, penggalangan dana kelas atas, dominasi di negara-negara bagian kaukus, serta pemanfaatan peraturan alokasi delegasi yang sangat rapi.[105] Pada 7 Juni 2008, Clinton mengakhiri kampanyenya dan mendukung Obama.[106]
Tanggal 23 Agustus, Obama mengumumkan penunjukan Senator Delaware Joe Biden sebagai pasangan kampanye sekaligus calon wakil presidennya.[107] Biden dipilih dari sejumlah calon yang meliputi mantan Gubernur Indiana dan Senator Evan Bayh dan Gubernur Virginia Tim Kaine.[108] Pada Konvensi Nasional Demokrat 2008 di Denver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton meminta para pendukungnya memilih Obama dan ia serta Bill Clinton menyampaikan pidato dukungan untuk Obama.[109] Obama menyampaikan pidato penerimaan pencalonannya, bukan di tengah arena Konvensi Nasional Demokrat, tetapi di Invesco Field at Mile High di hadapan sekitar 75.000 orang; pidato tersebut ditonton oleh lebih dari 38 juta orang di seluruh dunia.[110][111]
Selama proses pemilihan pendahuluan dan pemilihan umum, kampanye Obama mencetak sejumlah rekor penggalangan dana, terutama dalam jumlah sumbangan kecil.[112] Pada 19 Juni 2008, Obama menjadi kandidat presiden partai besar pertama yang menolak pendanaan publik dalam pemilu sejak sistem tersebut dicetuskan tahun 1976.[113]
John McCain dicalonkan sebagai kandidat dari Partai Republik dan keduanya mengikuti tiga debat presiden pada bulan September dan Oktober 2008.[114] Tanggal 4 November, Obama memenangkan pemilu dengan 365 suara elektoral dibandingkan dengan 173 suara yang diperoleh McCain.[115] Obama memenangkan 52,9% suara rakyat dibandingkan dengan 45,7% yang diterima McCain.[116] Ia menjadi orang Afrika Amerika pertama yang menduduki jabatan presiden.[117] Obama menyampaikan pidato kemenangannya di hadapan ratusan ribu pendukungnya di Grant Park, Chicago.[118]
Kampanye presiden 2012
Pada tanggal 4 April 2011, Obama mengumumkan kampanye pemilihannya kembali untuk pemilu 2012 dalam sebuah video berjudul "It Begins with Us" di situs webnya dan mengirim berkas pemilu ke Federal Election Commission.[120][121][122] Sebagai presiden petahana, ia secara virtual tidak punya saingan pada pemilihan pendahuluan presiden Partai Demokrat,[123] dan pada 3 April 2012, Obama berhasil mendapat dukungan dari 2778 delegasi konvensi yang dibutuhkan untuk memenangkan pencalonan Demokrat.[124]
Pada Konvensi Nasional Demokrat 2012 di Charlotte, North Carolina, mantan Presiden Bill Clinton secara resmi mencalonkan Obama dan Joe Biden sebagai kandidat dari Partai Demokrat untuk menjadi presiden dan wakil presiden pada pemilihan umum mendatang, melawan Mitt Romney, mantan gubernur Massachusetts, dan Anggota DPR Paul Ryan dari Wisconsin dari Partai Republik.[125]
Pada tanggal 6 November 2012, Obama memeroleh 332 suara elektoral, melebihi batas minimal 270 yang dibutuhkan agar bisa terpilih lagi sebagai presiden.[126][127][128] Dengan 51% suara rakyat, Obama menjadi presiden Demokrat pertama sejak Franklin D. Roosevelt yang dua kali mendapatkan mayoritas suara rakyat.[129][130] Presiden Obama berpidato di hadapan para pendukung dan relawannya di McCormick Place, Chicago, setelah pemilihannya kembali dan berkata: "Malam ini kalian memilih tindakan, bukan politik seperti biasanya. Kalian memilih kami untuk berfokus pada pekerjaan kalian, bukan kami. Dan dalam beberapa minggu dan bulan selanjutnya, saya berusaha menghubungi dan bekerja sama dengan para pemimpin dari kedua partai."[131]
Pemerintahan
Hari-hari pertama
Pelantikan Barack Obama sebagai Presiden ke-44 dilaksanakan pada tanggal 20 Januari 2009. Pada hari-hari pertamanya menjabat, Obama mengeluarkan sejumlah perintah eksekutif dan memorandum presiden yang ditujukan pada militer A.S. untuk menyusun rencana penarikan tentara dari Irak.[132] Ia memerintahkan penutupan kamp penahanan Teluk Guantanamo,[133] tetapi Kongres mencegahnya dengan menolak pencairan dana yang diperlukan.[134][135][136] Obama mengurangi tingkat kerahasiaan catatan presiden.[137] Ia juga mencabut penerapan kembali Mexico City Policy era Presiden Ronald Reagan oleh Presiden George W. Bush yang melarang bantuan federal untuk organisasi perencanaan keluarga internasional yang melakukan atau memberi bantuan konseling tentang aborsi.[138]
Kebijakan dalam negeri
Rancangan undang-undang pertama yang disahkan oleh Obama adalah Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 yang memperlonggar persyaratan batasan tuntutan hukum upah setara.[139] Lima hari kemudian, ia menandatangani perizinan kembali State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) untuk mengasuransikan sekitar 4 juta anak.[140] Pada bulan Maret 2009, Obama menghapus kebijakan era Bush yang membatasi pendanaan penelitian sel batang embrionik dan berjanji membuat "panduan ketat" mengenai penelitian tersebut.[141]
Obama menunjuk dua wanita untuk menjabat di Mahkamah Agung pada dua tahun pertama masa pemerintahannya. Sonia Sotomayor, yang dicalonkan Obama tanggal 26 Mei 2009 untuk menggantikan Hakim Pembantu David Souter, resmi menjabat pada 6 Agustus 2009[142] dan menjadi Hakim Mahkamah Agung Hispanik pertama.[143] Elena Kagan, yang dicalonkan Obama tanggal 10 Mei 2010 untuk menggantikan Hakim Pembantu John Paul Stevens, resmi menjabat pada 5 Agustus 2010 sehingga untuk pertama kalinya sepanjang sejarah Amerika Serikat pejabat wanita di Mahkamah Agung berjumlah tiga orang.[144]
Pada tanggal 30 September 2009, pemerintahan Obama mengusulkan peraturan baru khusus pembangkit listrik, pabrik, dan penyulingan minyak untuk membatasi emisi gas rumah kaca dan memperlambat pemanasan global.[145][146]
Tanggal 8 Oktober 2009, Obama menandatangani Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, sebuah peraturan yang memperluas hukum kebencian federal Amerika Serikat 1969 agar mencakup juga kejahatan yang dilakukan karena jenis kelamin, orientasi seksual, identitas gender, atau kecacatan korban baik yang dipersepsikan maupun yang benar-benar dialami.[147][148]
Pada 30 Maret 2010, Obama menandatangani Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, sebuah rancangan undang-undang rekonsiliasi yang mengakhiri proses pemberian subsidi oleh pemerintah federal kepada bank-bank swasta untuk menghapus pinjaman yang dijamin pemerintah, menambah pemberian beasiswa Pell Grant, dan mengubah Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[149][150]
Pada pidato kebijakan antariksa bulan April 2010, Obama mengumumkan rencana perubahan arah di NASA, badan antariksa Amerika Serikat. Ia mengakhiri rencana peluncuran kembali penerbangan antariksa manusia ke Bulan dan pengembangan roket Ares I, Ares V dan program Constellation, agar bisa mendanai proyek-proyek ilmu Bumi, jenis roket baru, dan penelitian dan pengembangan misi berawak ke Mars, serta misi yang sedang berlangsung ke Stasiun Luar Angkasa Internasional.[151]
Tanggal 22 Desember 2010, Obama mengesahkan Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 yang memenuhi janji kampanye presiden Obama pada tahun 2008[152][153] untuk mengakhiri kebijakan Don't ask, don't tell tahun 1993 yang mencegah kaum gay dan lesbian berdinas secara bebas di Angkatan Bersenjata Amerika Serikat.[154]
2011 State of the Union Address yang disampaikan Presiden Obama berfokus pada pendidikan dan inovasi, menekankan pentingnya ekonomi inovasi supaya Amerika Serikat semakin bersaing di panggung dunia. Ia membicarakan kebuntuan pengeluaran dalam negeri selama lima tahun, penghapusan pengecualian pajak bagi perusahaan minyak dan membatalkan potongan pajak bagi orang-orang kaya A.S., melarang earmark, dan mengurangi biaya layanan kesehatan. Ia berjanji bahwa Amerika Serikat akan mempunyai satu juga kendaraan listrik pada tahun 2015 dan 80%-nya akan bergantung pada listrik "bersih".[155][156]
Selaku kandidat senator Illinois, Obama pernah berkata pada tahun 1996 bahwa ia ingin melegalisasi pernikahan sesama jenis;[157] namun saat berkampanye untuk menjadi senator A.S. tahun 2004, ia menyatakan meski ia mendukung persatuan sipil dan hubungan serumah untuk kaum penyuka sesama jenis, karena alasan strategis ia menentang pernikahan sesama jenis.[158] Pada tanggal 9 Mei 2012, sesaat setelah peluncuran resmi kampanyenya untuk pemilihan kembali sebagai presiiden, Obama mengatakan pandangannya telah berubah dan ia secara terbuka mendukung legalisasi pernikahan sesama jenis. Ia menjadi presiden menjabat A.S. pertama yang melakukan hal tersebut.[159][160]
Kebijakan ekonomi
Pada tanggal 7 Februari 2009, Obama mengesahkan American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, sebuah paket stimulus ekonomi senilai $787 miliar untuk membantu pemulihan ekonomi akibat memburuknya resesi global.[161] Undang-undang ini mencakup peningkatan pengeluaran pemerintah untuk layanan kesehatan, infrastruktur, pendidikan, berbagai pengecualian dan insentif pajak, dan bantuan langsung individu,[162] yang dilaksanakan dalam kurun beberapa tahun.
Pada bulan Maret, Menteri Keuangan Obama, Timothy Geithner, mengambil sejumlah keputusan untuk menangani krisis keuangan, termasuk memperkenalkan Public-Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets yang berisi peraturan batas pembelian aset real estat terbengkalai sampai $2 triliun.[163] Obama mengintervensi industri otomotif bermasalah[164] pada Maret 2009, memperbarui pinjaman untuk General Motors dan Chrysler supaya terus beroperasi sambil melakukan reorganisasi. Pada bulan-bulan selanjutnya, Gedung Putih menetapkan persyaratan untuk kebangkrutan yang dialami kedua perusahaan tersebut, termasuk penjualan Chrysler ke pabrik mobil Italia Fiat[165] dan reorganisasi GM yang memberikan pemerintah A.S. saham sementara sebesar 60% di perusahaan tersebut dan 12% untuk pemerintah Kanada.[166] Bulan Juni 2009, tidak puas dengan kemajuan stimulus ekonomi, Obama meminta kabinetnya mempercepat investasi.[167] Ia mengesahkan Car Allowance Rebate System, dikenal dengan sebutan "Cash for Clunkers", yang berhasil mempercepat ekonomi untuk sementara.[168][169][170]
Meski jaminan pengeluaran dan pinjaman dari Federal Reserve dan Departemen Keuangan yang diizinkan pemerintahan Bush dan Obama senilai $11,5 triliun, hanya $3 triliun yang dikeluarkan pada akhir November 2009.[171] Akan tetapi, Obama dan Congressional Budget Office memperkirakan bahwa defisit anggaran 2010 akan mencapai $1,5 triliun atau 10,6% dari produk domestik bruto Amerika Serikat dibandingkan dengan defisit sebesar $1,4 triliun atau 9,9% dari PDB pada tahun 2009.[172][173] Untuk tahun 2011, pemerintahan Obama memperkirakan defisit akan sedikit turun hingga $1,34 triliun, sementara defisit 10 tahun akan naik hingga $8,53 triliun atau 90% dari PDB.[174] Kenaikan batas utang A.S. terbaru sebesar $16,4 triliun disahkan pada tanggal 26 Januari 2012.[175] Pada tanggal 2 Agustus 2011, setelah Kongres panjang lebar membicarakan perlunya menaikkan batas utang Amerika Serikat, Obama mengesahkan RUU dwipartai Budget Control Act of 2011. UU ini memberlakukan batasan pengeluaran rahasia sampai 2021, menetapkan prosedur penaikan batas utang, membentuk Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction untuk merencanakan pengurangan defisit lebih lanjut dengan tujuan mencapai penghematan anggaran sebesar $1,5 triliun dalam kurun 10 tahun, dan menetapkan prosedur otomatis untuk mengurangi pengeluaran sampai $1,2 triliun jika UU yang berawal dengan komite gabungan pilihan baru tersebut gagal mencapai penghematan yang ditetapkan.[176] Dengan mengesahkan UU ini, Kongres mampu mencegah gagal bayar obligasi oleh pemerintah A.S..[177]
Seperti 2008, tingkat pengangguran naik pada tahun 2009 dan mencapai puncaknya pada bulan Oktober di level 10,0% dan rata-rata 10,0% pada kuartal keempat. Setelah menurun hingga 9,7% pada kuartal pertama 2010, tingkat pengangguran turun sampai 9,6% pada kuartal kedua dan tetap stabil sampai akhir tahun.[180] Antara Februari dan Desember 2010, jumlah lapangan kerja naik 0,8%, kurang dari rata-rata 1,9% pada masa-masa perbandingan dalam empat pemulihan lapangan kerja sebelumnya.[181] Per November 2012, tingkat pengangguran turun hingga 7,7%.[182] Pertumbuhan PDB kembali naik pada kuartal ketiga 2009 hingga 1,6%, diikuti peningkatan sebesar 5,0% pada kuartal keempat.[183] Pertumbuhan berlanjut pada tahun 2010 dengan peningkatan sebesar 3,7% pada kuartal pertama dengan sedikit perbedaan hingga akhir tahun.[183] Pada Juli 2010, Federal Reserve menyatakan bahwa meski aktivitas ekonomi terus meningkat, kemajuannya melambat, dan Ketua Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke mengatakan bahwa masa depan ekonomi "malah tidak jelas."[184] Secara keseluruhan, ekonomi nasional mengalami kenaikan sebesar 2,9% pada tahun 2010.[185]
Congressional Budget Office dan sejumlah ekonom memuji rencana stimulus Obama untuk pertumbuhan ekonomi.[186][187] CBO merilis laporan yang menyatakan RUU stimulus ini menaikkan jumlah lapangan kerja hingga 1–2,1 juta orang,[187][188][189][190] sambil mengakui bahwa "Mustahil mengetahui berapa banyak lapangan kerja yang tercipta jika paket stimulus tidak ada."[186] Meski dalam survei anggota National Association for Business Economics bulan April 2010 menunjukkan kenaikan jumlah lapangan kerja (terhadap survei yang sama pada bulan Januari) untuk pertama kalinya dalam dua tahun, 73% dari 68 responden percaya bahwa RUU stimulus tersebut tidak berdampak apapun terhadap lapangan kerja.[191]
Satu bulan setelah pemilu pertengahan 2010, Obama mengumumkan persetujuan dengan fraksi Repulik di Kongres berupa perpanjangan sementara nilai pajak penghasilan 2001 dan 2003 selama dua tahun, pengurangan pajak gaji selama satu tahun, kelanjutan tunjangan pengangguran, dan jumlah nilai dan pengecualian baru untuk pajak properti.[192] Persetujuan ini ditentang oleh sejumlah pihak dari kedua kubu partai dan Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 senilai $858 miliar disetujui dengan suara mayoritas di kedua partai sebelum disahkan Obama pada 17 Desember 2010.[193]
Reformasi layanan kesehatan
Obama meminta Kongres mengesahkan UU yang mereformasi layanan kesehatan di Amerika Serikat, salah satu janji kampanye dan tujuan legislatif utamanya.[194] Ia merencanakan perluasan cakupan asuransi kesehatan hingga orang-orang yang belum terasuransikan, membatasi kenaikan premi, dan mengizinkan masyarakat memeroleh kembali jaminan mereka saat keluar atau ganti pekerjaan. Rencananya adalah menganggarkan $900 miliar selama 10 tahun dan membuat rencana asuransi pemerintah yang disebut opsi publik untuk bersaing dengan sektor asuransi perusahaan sebagai komponen utama menekan biaya dan memperbaiki kualitas layanan kesehatan. Pengasuransi juga dilarang menolak orang sakit ataupun menolak mengasuransikan mereka atas kondisi tidak jelas, dan mewajibkan setiap warga Amerika Serikat memiliki asuransi kesehatan. Rencana ini juga meliputi pemotongan pengeluaran kesehatan dan pembebanan pajak kepada perusahaan-perusahaan asuransi yang menawarkan rencana asuransi yang mahal.[195][196]
Tanggal 14 Juli 2009, fraksi Demokrat di DPR memperkenalkan rencana 1.017 halaman untuk merombak sistem layanan kesehatan A.S. yang Obama harapkan disetujui Kongres pada akhir 2009.[194] Setelah banyak dibicarakan masyarakat ketika reses musim panas 2009, Obama menyampaikan pidato di sidang gabungan Kongres pada tanggal 9 September yang berisi kekhawatirannya tentang rencana tersebut.[197] Pada Maret 2009, Obama mencabut larangan pemakaian dana federal untuk penelitian sel batang.[198]
Tanggal 7 November 2009, sebuah RUU layanan kesehatan yang berisi opsi publik disetujui oleh DPR.[199][200] Tanggal 24 Desember 2009, Senat menyetujui RUU-nya sendiri—tanpa opsi publik—dengan suara partai 60–39.[201] Tanggal 21 Maret 2010, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act yang disetujui Senat pada bulan Desember disetujui oleh DPR dengan suara 219 banding 212.[202] Obama mengesahkan RUU ini pada tanggal 23 Maret 2010.[203]
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act berisi peraturan kesehatan yang harus dilaksanakan dalam kurun empat tahun, termasuk perluasan cakupan Medicaid hingga orang-orang berpendapatan 133% dari tingkat kemiskinan federal (FPL) terhitung tahun 2014,[204] menyubsidi premi untuk orang-orang berpendapatan 400% dari FPL ($88.000 untuk keluarga empat orang pada tahun 2010) sehingga pembayaran "di luar kantung" maksimal untuk premi tahunan akan naik dari 2 menjadi 9,5% dari pendapatan mereka,[205][206] memberikan insentif untuk pengusaha agar menyediakan tunjangan layanan kesehatan, melarang penolakan asuransi dan penolakan klaim berdasarkan kondisi yang sudah ada, membentuk pertukaran asuransi kesehatan, melarang batas asuransi tahunan, dan mendukung penelitian medis. Menurut laporan Gedung Putih dan Congressional Budget Office, pangsa maksimum pendapatan yang harus dibayarkan pelanggan asuransi akan bervariasi tergantung pendapatan mereka yang relatif terhadap tingkat kemiskinan federal.[205][207]
Biaya pelaksanaan peraturan ini ditutupi oleh pajak, retribusi, dan penghematan biaya, seperti pajak Medicare baru untuk orang-orang berpendapatan tinggi, pajak jemur dalam ruangan, pemotongan anggaran program Medicare Advantage untuk dialihkan ke Medicare biasa, dan pembebanan tarif untuk peralatan medis dan perusahaan obat-obatan;[208] ada pula penalti pajak untuk orang-orang yang tidak memiliki asuransi kesehatan, kecuali mereka dikecualikan akibat pendapatan rendah atau alasan lain.[209] Pada Maret 2010, Congressional Budget Office memperkirakan bahwa dampak bersih dari kedua hukum tersebut berupa pengurangan defisit federal sebesar $143 miliar pada periode dasawarsa pertama.[210]
Hukum ini disambut sejumlah tuntutan hukum yang kebanyakan didasarkan pada pendapat bahwa keputusan seseorang yang mewajibkan warga Amerika Serikat membeli asuransi kesehatan bersifat tidak konstitusional. Pada tanggal 28 Juni 2012, Mahkamah Agung memutuskan dengan suara 5–4 di sidang National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius bahwa Commerce Clause tidak mengizinkan pemerintah mewajibkan masyarakat membeli asuransi kesehatan, tetapi keputusan tersebut bersifat konstitusional sesuai perizinan perpajakan Kongres Amerika Serikat.[211]
Kebocoran minyak Teluk Meksiko
Pada 20 April 2010, sebuah ledakan menghancurkan instalasi pengeboran lepas pantai di Prospek Macondo di Teluk Meksiko dan mengakibatkan kebocoran minyak luar biasa. Operator pengeboran lepas pantai ini, BP, melaksanakan rencana pembendungan dan pembersihan dan mulai mengebor dua sumur pembantu untuk menghentikan aliran tersebut. Obama mengunjungi kawasan Teluk Meksiko pada tanggal 2 Mei, 28 Mei, dan 4 Juni bersama sejumlah anggota kabinetnya. Tanggal 22 Mei, ia menyatakan dimulainya investigasi federal dan membentuk komisi dwipartai untuk merekomendasikan standar keselamatan baru setelah dilakukan tinjauan oleh Menteri Dalam Negeri Ken Salazar dan sidang Kongres. Tanggal 27 Mei, ia mengumumkan moratorium izin dan sewa pengeboran laut dalam baru selama 6 bulan sambil menunggu hasil tinjauan peraturan.[212] Setelah berbagai upaya BP gagal, sejumlah pihak di media dan publik mengungkapkan ketidakjelasan sekaligus kritik atas beragam aspek kecelakaan ini, serta menginginkan Obama dan pemerintah federal terlibat lebih jauh dalam penanganannya.[213]
Pengendalian senjata api
Pada tanggal 16 Januari 2013, satu bulan setelah penembakan Sekolah Dasar Sandy Hook, Presiden Obama mengusulkan serangkaian rencana pengendalian senjata api secara cepat, meminta Kongres mengesahkan kembali larangan senjata api "bergaya militer" seperti yang dipakai di beberapa kasus penembakan massal terakhir, menerapkan pembatasan magasin peluru menjadi 10 butir, melaksanakan pemeriksaan latar belakang semua pembeli senjata api, melarang kepemilikan dan penjualan peluru tembus rompi antipeluru, menerapkan hukuman berat bagi penyelundup senjata, khususnya penjual tak berlisensi yang membeli senjata api untuk pelaku kriminal dan menyetujui penunjukan kepala badan federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives untuk pertama kalinya sejak 2006.[214]
Pemilihan pertengahan 2010
Obama menyebut pemilu 2 November 2010 yang berakhir dengan Partai Demokrat kehilangan 63 kursi yang didudukinya sekaligus kendali mayoritas di DPR[215] sebagai hal yang "memalukan" dan "merugikan".[216] Ia mengatakan hasilnya seperti itu karena belum banyak warga Amerika Serikat yang sudah merasakan dampak pemulihan ekonomi.[217]
Kebijakan luar negeri
Pada bulan Februari dan Maret, Wakil Presiden Joe Biden dan Menteri Luar Negeri Hillary Rodham Clinton melakukan serangkaian perjalanan terpisah ke luar negeri untuk mengumumkan "era baru" dalam hubungan luar negeri A.S. dengan Rusia dan Eropa. Mereka memakai kata "break" dan "reset" untuk menyebut perubahan besar dari kebijakan era pemerintahan sebelumnya.[218] Obama berusaha berkomunikasi dengan para pemimpin Arab dengan mengadakan wawancara pertamanya dengan jaringan televisi Arab, Al Arabiya.[219]
Tanggal 19 Maret, Obama melanjutkan pendekatannya dengan umat Muslim dengan merilis video ucapan Selamat Tahun Baru untuk rakyat dan pemerintah Iran.[220] Upaya ini tidak digubris oleh pemerintah Iran.[221] Pada bulan April, Obama berpidato di Ankara, Turki, dan disambut hangat oleh sejumlah pemerintah di kawasan Arab.[222] Tanggal 4 Juni 2009, Obama menyampikan pidato di Universitas Kairo, Mesir, yang berisi tentang dimulainya "awal baru" dalam hubungan antara dunia Islam dan Amerika Serikat dan mempromosikan perdamaian di Timur Tengah.[223]
Tanggal 26 Juni 2009, menanggapi tindakan pemerintah Iran terhadap pengunjuk rasa pasca-pemilu presiden Iran 2009, Obama mengatakan, "Kekerasan yang dilakukan terhadap mereka sangat biadab. Kami mengetahuinya dan kami mengutuknya."[224] Tanggal 7 Juli, saat di Moskwa, ia menjawab komentar Wakil Presiden Biden tentang kemungkinan serangan militer Israel ke Iran, "Kami telah berkata langsung kepada pemerintah Israel bahwa penting sekali untuk mencoba dan menyelesaikan masalah ini secara bersama-sama sehingga tidak menciptakan konflik besar di Timur Tengah."[225]
Tanggal 24 September 2009, Obama menjadi presiden menjabat A.S. pertama yang menghadiri pertemuan Dewan Keamanan Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa.[226]
Pada bulan Maret 2010, Obama menentang secara terbuka rencana pemerintahan Perdana Menteri Israel Benjamin Netanyahu untuk terus melaksanakan proyek perumahan Yahudi di permukiman-permukiman Arab di Yerusalem Timur.[227][228] Pada bulan itu juga, Obama membuat perjanjian dengan pemerintahan Presiden Rusia Dmitry Medvedev untuk mengganti Perjanjian Pengurangan Senjata Strategis 1991 dengan pakta baru yang mengurangi jumlah senjata nuklir jarak jauh mereka sebesar sepertiga dari total persediaannya.[229] Perjanjian New START tersebut ditandatangani oleh Obama dan Medvedev pada April 2010 dan disahkan oleh Senat A.S. bulan Desember 2010.[230]
Tanggal 6 Desember 2011, ia menginstruksikan semua badan pemerintahan mempertimbangkan hak-hak LGBT saat mengeluarkan bantuan keuangan ke negara asing.[231]
Perang Irak
Pada tanggal 27 Februari 2009, Obama mengumuman bahwa operasi pertempuran di Irak akan berakhir dalam 18 bulan. Pernyataannya ditujukan kepada sekelompok Marinir yang hendak ditempatkan di Afghanistan. Obama mengatakan, "Saya katakan dengan jelas: pada 31 Agustus 2010, misi pertempuran kita di Irak akan berakhir."[232] Pemerintahan Obama memperkirakan penarikan pasukan tempur akan rampung pada Agustus 2010, mengurangi jumlah tentara dari 142.000 orang menjadi satu pasukan transisi berkekuatan 50.000 orang di Irak sampai akhir 2011. Pada 19 Agustus 2010, brigade tempur AS terakhir keluar dari Irak. Tentara yang tersisa dialihkan dari operasi pertempuran ke kontra-terorisme dan pelatihan, perlengkapan, dan pendidikan pasukan keamanan Irak.[233][234] Tanggal 31 Agustus 2010, Obama menyatakan bahwa misi tempur Amerika Serikat di Irak telah berakhir.[235] Tanggal 21 Oktober 2011, Presiden Obama mengumumkan bahwa seluruh tentara A.S. akan keluar dari Irak tepat pada waktunya supaya bisa "pulang saat musim liburan".[236]
Perang di Afghanistan
Pada awal masa pemerintahannya, Obama berupaya memperkuat keberadaan pasukan A.S. di Afghanistan.[237] Ia menyetujui penambahan jumlah tentara A.S. menjadi 17.000 orang pada Februari 2009 untuk "menstabilkan situasi yang memburuk di Afghanistan", sebuah daerah yang katanya belum menerima "perhatian, arahan, dan sumber daya strategis yang mereka sangat perlukan".[238] Ia mengganti komandan militer di Afghanistan, Jenderal David D. McKiernan, dengan mantan komandan Pasukan Khusus Letnan Jenderal Stanley A. McChrystal pada Mei 2009, menandakan bahwa pengalaman Pasukan Khusus McChrystal bisa membantu penerapan taktik-taktik kontra-penyergapan dalam perang.[239] Tanggal 1 Desember 2009, Obama mengumumkan penempatan 30.000 personel militer tambahan di Afghanistan.[240] Ia juga berencana mulai menarik tentara 18 bulan terhitung sejak tanggal tersebut.[241], namun baru terealisasi pada pemerintahan Joe Biden, 15 Agustus 2021. McChrystal digantikan oleh David Petraeus pada bulan Juni 2010 setelah staf McChrystal mengkritik personel Gedung Putih dalam sebuah artikel majalah.[242]
Israel
Obama berkata bahwa Amerika Serikat dan Israel memiliki hubungan yang "tak terpisahkan."[243] Pada tahun-tahun pertama pemerintahan Obama, Amerika Serikat meningkatkan kerja sama militernya dengan Israel, termasuk menambah bantuan militer, membentuk kembali U.S.-Israeli Joint Political Military Group dan Defense Policy Advisory Group, serta meningkatkan jumlah kunjungan petinggi militer antar kedua negara.[244] Pemerintahan Obama meminta Kongres mengalokasikan anggaran untuk mendanai program Kubah Besi sebagai respon terhadap serangan roket Palestina di Israel.[245]
Pada tahun 2011, Amerika Serikat memveto sebuah resolusi Dewan Keamanan PBB yang mengutuk pembangunan permukiman Israel dan hanya Amerika Serikat yang melakukan aksi ini.[246] Obama mendukung solusi dua negara terhadap konflik Arab–Israel sesuai perbatasan tahun 1967 dengan cara pertukaran tanah.[247]
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