Barack Obama
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Barack Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following a decisive victory over Republican nominee John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2012 presidential election, Barack Obama defeated Republican nominee Mitt Romney to win re-election. Barack Obama was succeeded by Republican Donald Trump, who won the 2016 presidential election. Barack Obama was the first African American president, the first multiracial president, the first non-white president, and the first president to have been born in Hawaii.
Obama's first-term actions addressed the global financial crisis and included a major stimulus package, a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts, legislation to reform health care, a major financial regulation reform bill, and the end of a major US military presence in Iraq. Barack Obama also appointed Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, the latter of whom became the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. Democrats controlled both houses of Congress until Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections. Following the elections, Barack Obama and Congressional Republicans engaged in a protracted stand-off over government spending levels and the debt ceiling. The Barack Obama administration's policy against terrorism downplayed Bush's counterinsurgency model, expanding air strikes and making extensive use of special forces, and encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. The Obama administration orchestrated the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011.
In his second term, Barack Obama took steps to combat climate change, signing a major international climate agreement and an executive order to limit carbon emissions. Barack Obama also presided over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed in his first term, and Barack Obama negotiated rapprochements with Iran and Cuba. The number of American soldiers in Afghanistan fell dramatically during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in Afghanistan throughout Obama's presidency. Republicans took control of the Senate after the 2014 elections, and Barack Obama continued to grapple with congressional Republicans over government spending, immigration, judicial nominations, and other issues.
