Presidency of Barack Obama
| Presidency of Barack Obama | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 44th President of the United States |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 20, 2009 |
|
| Vice President |
Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | George W. Bush |
| Personal details |
|
| Born | Barack Hussein Obama II[1] August 4, 1961 (1961-08-04) (age 50) Honolulu, Hawaii, United States[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Michelle Obama (m. 1992) |
| Children | Malia (b.1998) Sasha (b.2001) |
| Residence | The White House |
| Alma mater | Occidental College Columbia University (B.A.) Harvard Law School (J.D.) |
| Profession | Community organizer Attorney Author Constitutional law professor United States Senator President of the United States |
| Religion | Christian,[2] former member of United Church of Christ[3][4] |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Official White House Website |
|
This article is part of a series
about Barack
Obama |
|
Obama being sworn in as President of the United
States.inauguration.[12]Inauguration
Obama
Barack Obama was inaugurated on
January 20, 2009. He officially assumed the presidency at 12:00 noon, EST,[13] and completed the oath of
office at 12:05 PM, EST. He delivered his inaugural
address immediately following his oath. After his speech, he went to the
President’s Room in the House Wing of the Capitol and signed three documents: a
commemorative proclamation, a list of Cabinet appointments, and a list of
sub-Cabinet appointments, before attending a luncheon with congressional and
administration leaders and invited guests.[14] To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the
birth of former President Abraham Lincoln, the same Bible that was used for Lincoln’s
inauguration was used in Obama’s inauguration.[15]
In administering the oath, Chief Justice John G. Roberts misplaced the word
“faithfully” and erroneously replaced the phrase “President of the United
States” with “President to the United States” before restating the phrase
correctly; since Obama initially repeated the incorrect form, some scholars
argued the President should take the oath again.[16] On January 21, Roberts
readministered the oath to Obama in a private ceremony in the White House Map
Room, making him the seventh U.S. president to retake
the oath; White House Counsel Greg Craig said Obama took
the oath from Roberts a second time out of an “abundance of caution”.[17]
First 100 days
of Barack Obama’s presidency
Expectations
Obama’s 100th day in office was April 29, 2009. In his first post-election
interview with 60
Minutes, Obama said that he has been studying Roosevelt’s first 100
days,[18] while adding, “The first hundred days is
going to be important, but it’s probably going to be the first thousand days
that makes the difference.”[19]
Obama’s first 100 days were highly anticipated ever since he became the
presumptive nominee.[20] Several news outlets created web pages
dedicated to covering the subject.[21] Commentators weighed in on challenges and
priorities within domestic, foreign, economic, and environmental policy.[22][23][24][25] CNN lists a number of economic issues that “Obama and
his team will have to tackle in their first 100 days”, foremost among which is
passing and implementing a recovery package to deal with the financial
crisis.[24] Clive Stafford Smith, a British human
rights lawyer, expressed hopes that the new president will close Guantanamo Bay detention
camp in his first 100 days in office.[23] After aides of
the president announced his intention to give a major foreign policy speech in
the capital of an Islamic country,
there were speculations in Jakarta that he might return to his former home
city within the first 100 days.[26]
The New
York Times devoted a five-part series, which was spread out over two
weeks, to anticipatory analysis of Obama’s first hundred days. Each day, the
analysis of a political expert was followed by freely edited blog postings from
readers. The writers compared Obama’s prospects with the situations of Franklin
D. Roosevelt (January 16, Jean Edward Smith),[27] John F. Kennedy
(January 19, Richard Reeves),[28] Lyndon B.
Johnson (January 23, Robert Dallek),[29] Ronald Reagan (January 27, Lou Cannon),[30] and Richard Nixon.
Legislation and
executive orders
Within minutes of taking the Oath of Office on January 20, Obama’s Chief
of Staff, Rahm
Emanuel, issued an order suspending last-minute federal regulations pushed
through by outgoing President George W. Bush, planning to review
everything still pending.[31] Due to the economic crisis, the President
enacted a pay freeze for Senior White House Staff making more than $100,000 per
year,[32]
as well as announcing stricter guidelines regarding lobbyists in an effort to
raise the ethical standards of the White House.[33] He asked for a waiver to
his own new rules, however, for the appointments of William
Lynn to the position of Deputy Defense Secretary, Jocelyn Frye to the
position of director of policy and projects in the Office of the First Lady, and
Cecilia Muñoz
to the position of director of intergovernmental affairs in the executive office
of the president, leading to some criticism of hypocrisy and violation of his
pledge for governmental openness.[34][35]
In his first week in office, Obama signed an executive order suspending all the
ongoing proceedings of Guantanamo military
commission and ordering the detention facility to be shut down within the
year.[36][37][38] He also signed Executive
Order 13491 – Ensuring Lawful Interrogations requiring the Army Field
Manual to be used as a guide for terror interrogations, banning torture and
other coercive techniques, such as waterboarding.[39] Obama also issued an executive order entitled
“Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel”, setting stricter limitations
on incoming executive branch employees and placing tighter restrictions on
lobbying in the White House.[40] Obama signed two Presidential
Memoranda concerning energy independence,
ordering the Department of
Transportation to establish higher fuel efficiency standards before 2011
models are released and allowing states to raise their emissions standards above
the national standard.[41] He also ended the Mexico City
Policy, which banned federal grants to international groups that provide abortion services or
counseling.[42][43]
In his first week he also established a policy of producing a weekly Saturday
morning video address available on Whitehouse.gov and YouTube,[44][45][46] much like those released
during his transition period.[47][48] The first address had been viewed by
600,000 YouTube viewers by the next afternoon.[49]
The first piece of legislation Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay
Act of 2009 on January 29, which revised the statute of limitations for
filing pay discrimination lawsuits. Lilly Ledbetter joined Obama and his wife,
Michelle, as he signed the bill, fulfilling his campaign pledge to nullify Ledbetter v.
Goodyear.[50] On February 3, he signed the Children’s
Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIP), expanding health care
from 7 million children under the plan to 11 million.[51]
 President Obama signs the ARRA into
law on February 17, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. Vice President Joe Biden stands behind him.  Obama addresses a joint session of
Congress, with Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. |
The American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was a focal point of Barack Obama‘s February 24, 2009 Address Before a Joint Session of Congress. |
| Problems listening to these files? See media help. |
|
After much debate, the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed by both House and Senate on February 13,
2009. Originally intended to be a bipartisan bill, the passage of the bill was
largely along party lines. No Republicans voted for it in the House, and three
moderate Republicans voted for it in the Senate (Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania).[52] The bill
combined tax breaks with spending on infrastructure projects, extension of
welfare benefits, and education.[53] The final cost of the bill was $787 billion,
and almost $1.2 trillion with debt service included.[54] Obama signed the Act into
law on February 17, 2009 in Denver, Colorado.[55]
On March 9, 2009, Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell
research,[56] and in doing so, called into question some
of George W.
Bush‘s signing statements. Obama stated that
he too would employ signing statements if he deems upon review that a portion of
a bill is unconstitutional,[57][58] and he has issued several signing
statements.[59]
Early in his presidency, Obama signed a law raising the tobacco tax 62 cents
on a pack of cigarettes.[60] The tax is to be “used to finance a
major expansion of health insurance for children”, and “help some [smokers] to
quit and persuade young people not to start”.[60]
Approval ratings and
opinion
2009
After his transition period, Obama entered office with an approval rating of
82%.[61]
At the end of his first week, 68% of respondents in a Gallup poll approved of how Obama was handling
his job, matching the early approval ratings of Dwight D. Eisenhower and trailing
only John F.
Kennedy in post-World
War II presidents.[62]
Throughout early February polls showed scattered approval ratings: 62% (CBS
News),[63]
64% (USA Today/Gallup), 66% (Gallup), and 76% in an outlier poll (CNN/Opinion
Research).[64][65] Gallup reported the congressional address
in late February boosted his approval from a term-low of 59% to 67%.[66]
Throughout autumn 2009, Rasmussen estimated Obama’s approval as fluctuating
between 45 and 52% and his disapproval between 48 and 54%;[67] as of November 11, Pew
Research estimated Obama’s approval between 51 and 55% and his disapproval
between 33 and 37% since July.[68]
Handling of the
economy
Rasmussen reported in mid-February 2009
that 55% of voters gave Obama good or excellent marks on his handling of the
economy.[69] In early March, a Wall Street
Journal survey of 49 economists gave Obama an average grade of 59 out of
100, with 42% of the respondents surveyed giving the administration’s economic
policies a grade below 60 percent. In comparison, only 30% of those same
economists considered the response of governments around the world to the global
recession to have been adequate.[70] In April, a Gallup poll showed trust in
Obama’s economic policy with 71% saying they had “a fair amount” or “a great
deal” of confidence in Obama’s handling of the economy, higher than for Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, or leaders
of Congress.[71] Another Gallup poll in June showed 55% of
Americans approved Obama’s overall handling of the economy, but 48% and 51%
disapproved of his handling of the federal budget deficit and controlling
federal spending, respectively.[72] A CBS News poll taken August 27–31 showed
53% of those polled approved of his handling of the economy.[73] A Rasmussen poll taken on
November 12 found 45% of Americans rating Obama’s handling of the economy as
poor and 39% rating him as doing a good or excellent job. They found 72% of
Democrats rated his handling of the economy as good or excellent, while only 10%
of Republicans and 27% of voters not affiliated with either party agreed.[74]
2010
On March 25, 2010, following his signing of landmark health care reform
legislation into law, Obama’s polling was revealed by Bloomberg to be 50%, with higher marks for
relations with other countries (58%) and his running of the war in Afghanistan
(54%). “Obama’s approval rating is roughly equal to what Bill Clinton had at
this point in his presidency, according to data maintained by Gallup (and)
higher than the 45 percent Ronald Reagan recorded in April 1982” and more
favorable than Democrats or Republicans office in 2010. They found Obama’s
approval rating was at 85% among Democrats, compared with 46% among independents
and 11% among Republicans.[75]
Fox News released the
results of two polls on April 8–9, 2010. The first showed a drop in Obama’s
approval rating to 43%, with 48% disapproving. In that poll, Democrats approved
of Obama’s performance 80–12%, while independents disapproved 49–38%.[76] The other
poll, which concentrated on the economy, showed disapproval of Obama’s handling
of the economy by a 53–42% margin, with 62% saying they were dissatisfied with
the handling of the federal deficit.[77] According to a Gallup Poll released April 10, 2010, President
Obama had a 45% approval rating, with 48% disapproving.[78] In a poll from Rasmussen
Reports, released April 10, 2010, 47% approved of the President’s
performance, while 53% disapproved.[79][80]
2011
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Major legislation
2009
- January 29: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
- February 4: Children’s
Health Insurance Reauthorization Act - February 11: DTV
Delay Act - February 17: American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act - March 30: Omnibus Public
Lands Management Act of 2009 - April 21: Edward M. Kennedy Serve
America Act - May 20: Fraud Enforcement and
Recovery Act - May 20: Helping Families
Save Their Homes Act of 2009 - May 22: Credit
Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009 - June 22: Family
Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act - August 6: Cash For Clunkers Extension Act
- October 22: Veterans
Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act - October 28: Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate
Crimes Prevention Act - October 28: National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 - October 30: Ryan White HIV/AIDS
Treatment Extension Act - November 6: Worker,
Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009
2010
- January 27: Emergency
Aid to American Survivors of Haiti Earthquake Act - March 4: Travel Promotion Act
- March 18: Hiring Incentives
to Restore Employment Act(HIRE Act) - March 23: Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act - March 30: Health
Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 - May 5: Caregivers
and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010 - May 17: Daniel Pearl Freedom of
the Press Act - July 1: Comprehensive
Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act - July 21: Dodd-Frank
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act - July 22: Unemployment
Compensation Extension Act of 2010 - July 22: Improper
Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 - August 10: SPEECH Act of 2010
- September 27: Small Business Jobs
and Credit Act of 2010 - December 9: Animal Crush Video
Prohibition Act of 2010 - December 13: Healthy, Hunger-Free
Kids Act of 2010 - December 17: Tax
Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 - December 22: Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell Repeal Act of 2010
2011
- January 2: James
Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 ([2]) - January 4: Food Safety and
Modernization Act, Pub.L. 111-353, [3] - January 7: National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 - August 2: Budget Control Act of 2011
MY POLITICS AS I SEE IT! 