Asked By: Alan Turner Date: created: May 05 2024

How long has Biden been President

Answered By: Dylan Phillips Date: created: May 05 2024

Seal of the president Official website

Joe Biden ‘s tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who previously served as vice president under Barack Obama, took office following his victory in the 2020 presidential election over Republican incumbent president Donald Trump,

Upon his inauguration, he became the oldest president in American history, Biden entered office amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic crisis, and increased political polarization, On the first day of his presidency, Biden made an effort to revert President Trump’s energy policy by restoring U.S.

participation in the Paris Agreement and revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. He also halted funding for Trump’s border wall, an expansion of the Mexican border wall. On his second day, he issued a series of executive orders to reduce the impact of COVID-19, including invoking the Defense Production Act of 1950, and set an early goal of achieving one hundred million COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States in his first 100 days.

Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ; a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that temporarily established expanded unemployment insurance and sent $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans in response to continued economic pressure from COVID-19. He signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ; a ten-year plan brokered by Biden alongside Democrats and Republicans in Congress, to invest in American roads, bridges, public transit, ports and broadband access.

He appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court —the first Black woman to serve on the court. After The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Biden took executive actions, such as the signing of Executive Order 14076, to preserve and protect women’s health rights nationwide, against abortion bans in Republican led states.

  • Biden proposed a significant expansion of the U.S.
  • Social safety net through the Build Back Better Act, but those efforts, along with voting rights legislation, failed in Congress.
  • However, in August 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a domestic appropriations bill that included some of the provisions of the Build Back Better Act after the entire bill failed to pass.

It included significant federal investment in climate and domestic clean energy production, tax credits for solar panels, electric cars and other home energy programs as well as a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies. Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act, bolstering the semiconductor and manufacturing industry, the Honoring our PACT Act, expanding healthcare for US veterans, and the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act,

In late 2022, Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and codified same-sex and interracial marriage in the United States. In response to the debt-ceiling crisis of 2023, Biden negotiated and signed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which restrains federal spending for fiscal years 2024 and 2025, implements minor changes to SNAP and TANF, includes energy permitting reform, claws back some IRS funding and unspent money for COVID-19, and suspends the debt ceiling to January 1, 2025.

In foreign policy, Biden completed the withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan, declaring an end to nation-building efforts and shifting U.S. foreign policy toward strategic competition with China and, to a lesser extent, Russia. However, during the withdrawal, the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized control, leading to Biden receiving bipartisan criticism.

  • He responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russia as well as providing Ukraine with over $100 billion in combined military, economic, and humanitarian aid,
  • Biden also approved a raid which led to the death of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, the leader of the Islamic State, and approved a drone strike which killed Ayman Al Zawahiri, leader of Al-Qaeda.

Biden signed AUKUS, an international security alliance, together with Australia and the United Kingdom, Biden called for the expansion of NATO with the addition of Finland and Sweden, and rallied NATO allies in support of Ukraine, Biden began his term with over 50% approval ratings; however, these fell significantly after the withdrawal from Afghanistan and remained low as the country experienced high inflation and rising gas prices.

What was the turn out for the local elections 2023?

Green Party – The Green Party gained over 240 councillors across England, and won majority control of Mid Suffolk District Council, the party’s first ever council majority. Despite losing minority-control of Brighton and Hove City Council to Labour, the Greens became the largest party on seven other councils: East Hertfordshire District Council, Lewes District Council, Warwick, Babergh, East Suffolk, Forest of Dean and Folkestone & Hythe.2023 saw the party’s best ever results in a local election.

Asked By: Jordan Thompson Date: created: Mar 26 2024

What did Obama do for the country

Answered By: Xavier Peterson Date: created: Mar 28 2024

LGBT rights – The White House lit with the LGBT rainbow flag celebrating the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States, June 26, 2015 During his presidency, Obama, Congress, and the Supreme Court all contributed to a major expansion of LGBT rights.

  1. In 2009, Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.
  2. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded hate crime laws to cover crimes committed because of the victim’s sexual orientation.
  3. In December 2010, Obama signed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which ended the military’s policy of disallowing openly gay and lesbian people from openly serving in the United States Armed Forces,

Obama also supported the passage of ENDA, which would ban discrimination against employees on the basis of gender or sexual identity for all companies with 15 or more employees, and the similar but more comprehensive Equality Act, Neither bill passed Congress.

In May 2012, Obama became the first sitting president to support same-sex marriage, shortly after Vice President Joe Biden had also expressed support for the institution. The following year, Obama appointed Todd M. Hughes to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, making Hughes the first openly gay federal judge in US history.

In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, The Obama Administration filed an amicus brief in support of gay marriage and Obama personally congratulated the plaintiff.

  • Obama also issued dozens of executive orders intended to help LGBT Americans, including a 2010 order that extended full benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.
  • A 2014 order prohibited discrimination against employees of federal contractors on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

In 2015, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter ended the ban on women in combat roles, and in 2016, he ended the ban on transgender individuals openly serving in the military. On the international stage, Obama advocated for gay rights, particularly in Africa.

Asked By: Alexander Torres Date: created: Mar 12 2024

When did Biden run against Obama

Answered By: Francis Washington Date: created: Mar 15 2024

External links –

  • Transcript of Vice-Presidential nomination acceptance speech
  • Joe Biden.com, Campaign site
  • Joe Biden 2008 presidential campaign at Curlie
  • Spartan Internet Political Performance Index rank for Joe Biden by week
  • Joe Biden for President 2008
  • Joe Biden campaign news
  • Joe Biden’s presidential campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
  • Joe Biden’s presidential campaign contributions Archived April 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine at OpenSecrets.org
  • Online NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Archived December 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  • Washington Post Presidential Field

Who was President in 2010?

Political Career – In 1996, Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate from the thirteenth district. As a State Senator, he served as Democratic Spokesperson for Public Health and Welfare Committee and Co-Chairman of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, in addition to being a member of the Judiciary and Revenue Committees.

He also worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago from 1996 until 2004, teaching three courses per year. Obama was elected to a second term in the Illinois State Senate in November 1998. In 2000, Obama made his first run for the U.S. Congress when he sought the Democratic U.S. House seat in Illinois First District.

He lost to incumbent Representative Bobby Rush by a margin of more than 2-to-1. In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, held in Boston, Massachusetts. He was elected as the junior Senator from Illinois in November 2004.

While serving as U.S. Senator from Illinois, Obama completed his second book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, published in October 2006. On February 10, 2007, Obama formally announced his candidacy for President of the United States. He accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination at Invesco Stadium in Denver, Colorado on August 28, 2008.

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On November 4, 2008, Obama became the first African-American to be elected President. He resigned his seat in the U.S. Senate on November 16, 2008. Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009.

Who ran for President 1996?

Results

Presidential candidate Party Running mate
Vice-presidential candidate
William Jefferson Clinton (Incumbent) Democratic Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. (Incumbent)
Robert Joseph Dole Republican Jack French Kemp
Henry Ross Perot Reform Patrick Choate

Is Utah a red or blue state?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Presidential elections in Utah

Number of elections 32
Voted Democratic 8
Voted Republican 24
Voted other
Voted for winning candidate 23
Voted for losing candidate 9

Utah is a state in the Mountain West sub-region of the Western United States, Since its admission to the Union in January 1896, it has participated in 32 United States presidential elections, In the 1896 presidential election, first presidential election in which the state participated, Utah was won in a landslide by Democrat William Jennings Bryan, who received almost 83 percent of the state’s vote.

  1. However, the state would quickly swing towards the Republican Party in the years that followed, although it would remain a swing state at the presidential level well into the 1940s.
  2. In the 1912 election, Utah was one of only two states won by incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft,
  3. However, the state would vote for the Democratic nominee by a large margin in 1916, 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944, and by a narrow margin in 1948,

However, since the latter election, the state has become very heavily Republican and has only voted for a Democratic presidential nominee once (in 1964, amidst a national Democratic landslide). In the 1992 presidential election, Utah was one of only two states in which independent Ross Perot finished second, placing ahead of Democrat Bill Clinton,

Asked By: Graham Taylor Date: created: Oct 19 2023

Who became President 3 times

Answered By: Dominic Young Date: created: Oct 19 2023

Seal of the president (1894–1945) Library website

The third presidential term of Franklin D. Roosevelt began on January 20, 1941, when he was once again inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States, and the fourth term of his presidency ended with his death on April 12, 1945. Roosevelt won a third term by defeating Republican nominee Wendell Willkie in the 1940 United States presidential election,

  1. He remains the only president to serve for more than two terms.
  2. Unlike his first two terms, Roosevelt’s third and fourth terms were dominated by foreign policy concerns, as the United States became involved in World War II in December 1941.
  3. Roosevelt won congressional approval of the Lend-Lease program, which was designed to aid the United Kingdom in its war against Nazi Germany, while the US remained officially neutral.

After Germany began war against the Soviet Union in June 1941, Roosevelt extended Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union as well. In Asia, Roosevelt provided aid to the Republic of China, which was resisting an invasion by the Empire of Japan, In response to the July 1941 Japanese occupation of French Indochina, Roosevelt expanded a trade embargo to cut off oil that Japan urgently needed for its fleet.

When Roosevelt refused to end the embargo, on December 7, 1941, Japan launched an attack on the U.S. fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Isolationist sentiment in the US immediately collapsed and Congress declared war on Japan, After Germany declared war on the US, Congress declared war on it and Italy.

To win the war, the US, Britain and USSR assembled a large coalition of Allied Powers, The U.S. funded much of the war efforts of the other allies, and supplied munitions, food, and oil. In consultation with his Army and Navy and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Roosevelt decided on a Europe first strategy, which focused on defeating Germany before Japan.

  • In practice, however, in 1942 and 1943 the U.S.
  • Focused on fighting Japan.
  • In late 1942 U.S.
  • Began its ground campaign against Germany with an invasion of North Africa.
  • The German and Italian forces surrendered in May 1943, opening the way for the invasions of Sicily and Italy.
  • Meanwhile, the U.S.
  • Navy won a decisive victory over Japan in the Battle of Midway and began a campaign of island hopping in the Pacific.

In 1943, the Allies launched an invasion of Italy and continued to pursue the island hopping strategy. The top Allied leaders met at the Tehran Conference in 1943, where they began to discuss post-war plans. Among the concepts discussed was the United Nations, an intergovernmental organization championed by Roosevelt that would replace the League of Nations after the war.

  • In 1944, the U.S.
  • Launched a successful invasion of northern France and won a decisive naval victory over Japan in the Battle of Leyte Gulf,
  • By the time of Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, the U.S.
  • Had occupied portions of Germany and was in the process of capturing Okinawa,
  • Germany and Japan surrendered in May–August 1945 during the administration of Roosevelt’s successor Harry S.

Truman, who previously served as Roosevelt’s Vice President. Though foreign affairs dominated Roosevelt’s third and fourth terms, important developments also took place on the home front. The military buildup spurred economic growth, and unemployment fell precipitously.

  • The United States excelled at war production; in 1944, it produced more military aircraft than the combined output of Germany, Japan, Britain, and the Soviet Union.
  • The United States also established the Manhattan Project to produce the world’s first nuclear weapons,
  • As in Roosevelt’s second term, the conservative coalition prevented Roosevelt from passing major domestic legislation, though it did increase taxes to help pay for the war.

Congress also passed the G.I. Bill, which provided several benefits to World War II veterans. Roosevelt avoided imposing heavy-handed censorship or harsh crackdowns on war-time dissent, but his administration relocated and interned over a hundred thousand Japanese Americans,

  1. Roosevelt also prohibited religious and racial discrimination in the defense industry and established the Fair Employment Practice Committee, the first national program designed to prevent employment discrimination.
  2. Scholars, historians, and the public typically rank Roosevelt alongside Abraham Lincoln and George Washington as one of the three greatest U.S.

presidents,

Who was youngest President?

The youngest person to become U.S. president was Theodore Roosevelt, who, at age 42, succeeded to the office after the assassination of William McKinley. The youngest at the time of his election to the office was John F. Kennedy, at age 43.

Asked By: Aaron Adams Date: created: May 23 2024

Who was President first

Answered By: Joseph Richardson Date: created: May 23 2024

The biography for President Washington and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association. On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States.

“As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent,” he wrote James Madison, “it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles.” Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.

He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion. At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War.

The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him. From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself to a busy and happy life.

But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations. As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions. When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.

  • On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.
  • He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British.
  • He reported to Congress, “we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn.” Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly.

Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies–he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon realized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not functioning well, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787.

When the new Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President. He did not infringe upon the policy making powers that he felt the Constitution gave Congress. But the determination of foreign policy became preponderantly a Presidential concern. When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to accept entirely the recommendations of either his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, or his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was pro-British.

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Rather, he insisted upon a neutral course until the United States could grow stronger. To his disappointment, two parties were developing by the end of his first term. Wearied of politics, feeling old, he retired at the end of his second. In his Farewell Address, he urged his countrymen to forswear excessive party spirit and geographical distinctions.

Who won the last election UK?

The eighteenth and final general election to be held during the reign of Elizabeth II, who later died in 2022, it resulted in the incumbent Conservative Party receiving a landslide victory and majority of 80 seats.

Asked By: Antonio Rivera Date: created: Feb 11 2024

Are there any elections in London this year

Answered By: Jacob Brown Date: created: Feb 11 2024

In London, ‘all out’ elections take place every four years. This means that in 32 London boroughs every council seat is up for election on the same day: 5 May 2022. The City of London operates different electoral arrangements and it last held its local elections in March 2022.

How did Obama save the world?

He Championed the First Global Climate Agreement The Paris climate agreement, otherwise known as COP21, was the first global agreement for tackling climate change ever enacted. All previous attempts were stifled in some way, oftentimes by the US.

Who was the first black president?

Barack Obama The biography for President Obama and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association. Barack Obama served as the 44th President of the United States. His story is the American story — values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a strong family, hard work and education as the means of getting ahead, and the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others.

  1. When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, he became the first African American to hold the office.
  2. The framers of the Constitution always hoped that our leadership would not be limited to Americans of wealth or family connections.
  3. Subject to the prejudices of their time—many of them owned slaves—most would not have foreseen an African American president.

Obama’s father, Barack Sr., a Kenyan economist, met his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, when both were students in Hawaii, where Barack was born on August 4, 1961. They later divorced, and Barack’s mother married a man from Indonesia, where he spent his early childhood.

Before fifth grade, he returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents and attend Punahou School on scholarship. In his memoir Dreams from My Father (1995), Obama describes the complexities of discovering his identity in adolescence. After two years at Occidental College in Los Angeles, he transferred to Columbia University, where he studied political science and international relations.

Following graduation in 1983, Obama worked in New York City, then became a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, coordinating with churches to improve housing conditions and set up job-training programs in a community hit hard by steel mill closures.

In 1988, he went to Harvard Law School, where he attracted national attention as the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review, Returning to Chicago, he joined a small law firm specializing in civil rights. In 1992, Obama married Michelle Robinson, a lawyer who had also excelled at Harvard Law.

Their daughters, Malia and Sasha, were born in 1998 and 2001, respectively. Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, and then to the U.S. Senate in 2004. At the Democratic National Convention that summer, he delivered a much acclaimed keynote address.

Some pundits instantly pronounced him a future president, but most did not expect it to happen for some time. Nevertheless, in 2008 he was elected over Arizona Senator John McCain by 365 to 173 electoral votes. As an incoming president, Obama faced many challenges—an economic collapse, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the continuing menace of terrorism.

Inaugurated before an estimated crowd of 1.8 million people, Obama proposed unprecedented federal spending to revive the economy and also hoped to renew America’s stature in the world. During his first term he signed three signature bills: an omnibus bill to stimulate the economy, legislation making health care more accessible and affordable, and legislation reforming the nation’s financial institutions.

  • Obama also pressed for a fair pay act for women, financial reform legislation, and efforts for consumer protection.
  • In 2009, Obama became the fourth president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • In 2012, he was reelected over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by 332 to 206 electoral votes.
  • The Middle East remained a key foreign policy challenge.

Obama had overseen the killing of Osama bin Laden, but a new self-proclaimed Islamic State arose during a civil war in Syria and began inciting terrorist attacks. Obama sought to manage a hostile Iran with a treaty that hindered its development of nuclear weapons.

  • The Obama administration also adopted a climate change agreement signed by 195 nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming.
  • In the last year of his second term, Obama spoke at two events that clearly moved him—the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, and the dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“Our union is not yet perfect, but we are getting closer,” he said in Selma. “And that’s why we celebrate,” he told those attending the museum opening in Washington, “mindful that our work is not yet done.” Learn more about Barack Obama’s spouse,, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama pose with their daughters, Malia and Sasha : Barack Obama

What is the president for life?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mansu Hill Grand Monument in Pyongyang, depicting ” eternal leaders ” of North Korea, President Kim Il Sung and General Secretary Kim Jong Il, President for life is a title assumed by or granted to some presidents to extend their tenure up until their death.

  • The title sometimes confers on the holder the right to nominate or appoint a successor.
  • The usage of the title of ” president for life” rather than a traditionally autocratic title, such as that of a monarch, implies the subversion of liberal democracy by the titleholder (although republics need not be democratic per se ).

Indeed, sometimes a president for life can proceed to establish a self-proclaimed monarchy, such as Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henry Christophe in Haiti,

Asked By: Anthony Rivera Date: created: Sep 03 2024

Who did Obama fight against in 2008

Answered By: Herbert Smith Date: created: Sep 05 2024

NEW DELHI: Barack Hussein Obama served as the President of the United States twice – from 2008 to 2016 – while defeating John McCain and Republican challenger Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2016 presidential elections, respectively.2008 presidential election In the first term, Obama defeated Arizona Senator John McCain in November 2008 US presidential election.

Obama had 365 electoral ballots versus 173 for McCain. McCain secured the Republican nomination by March 2008, defeating former Governors Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and other challengers. Obama became the first African American ever to be elected to the presidency as well as being only the third sitting United States Senator elected president, joining Warren G.

Harding and John F Kennedy, After being diagnosed with brain cancer in 2017, McCain reduced his role in the Senate in order to focus on treatment. He died on August 25, 2018, at the age of 81.2012 presidential election In the second term, Obama defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney by taking several key battleground states.

Asked By: Keith Evans Date: created: Nov 24 2024

Who did Biden run against

Answered By: Thomas Edwards Date: created: Nov 24 2024

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Biden at his presidential kick-off rally in Philadelphia, May 2019 The electoral history of Joe Biden, the 46th and current president of the United States, began in 1970. Biden served as the 47th vice president (2009–2017), and as a United States senator from Delaware (1973–2009).

Biden is the oldest elected and serving president, the second Catholic president, after John F. Kennedy, and the first president from Delaware. A member of the Democratic Party, Biden was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970, and became the seventh-youngest senator in American history when he was elected to the U.S.

Senate from Delaware in 1972, at the age of 29. He was re-elected to the Senate six times, and was the fourth-most senior senator, He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in both 1988 and 2008, In January 2009, Biden resigned from the Senate, to serve as Barack Obama ‘s vice president, after they won the 2008 presidential election,

They were re-elected to a second term in 2012, Biden announced his candidacy in the 2020 presidential election on April 25, 2019. A total of 29 major candidates declared their candidacies for the primaries, the largest field of presidential candidates for any American political party since 1972; but over time, the field narrowed down to Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont,

Eventually, Sanders withdrew from the race, and Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee in April 2020. Biden reached the delegate threshold needed to secure the nomination in June 2020. He defeated incumbent president Donald Trump in the general election, with 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.

How many times did Obama run for president?

Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, has successfully run for president twice: Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign. Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign.

Asked By: Louis Flores Date: created: Feb 27 2024

What happened in 2008 in the United States

Answered By: Wyatt White Date: created: Feb 28 2024

Obama administration – The nation went into the 2008 election cycle having a Republican president and Democratic Congress both with extremely low approval ratings. New York Senator Hillary Clinton had the inside track for the nomination but faced an unexpected challenge from Barack Obama, the nearly unknown junior Senator from Illinois.

  1. The GOP nominated Arizona Senator John McCain,
  2. During the general election, Obama’s youthfulness, charisma, and widespread media support proved effective against McCain, seen as a stodgy Washington insider.
  3. In addition, his relatively advanced age (72) and injuries from captivity in the Vietnam War drew doubts over his health and stamina.
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Overall disillusionment with the Republican Party and George Bush’s administration did not help McCain’s cause, and his choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate also drew some controversy. Obama also drew some doubts over his inexperience and controversial associations with Weather Underground founder William Ayers and Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the pastor of an African-American church Obama had attended for years who was discovered to have made anti-white sermons.

The decisive event was the collapse of the national financial system over the summer, launching a severe worldwide depression On November 4, 2008, Obama defeated McCain 365 to 173 in the electoral vote and 52.9% to 45.7% in the popular vote to become the 44th president of the United States, making history in becoming the first African American to be elected to the highest executive office.

Part of the strong showing came from a surge of support from younger voters, African Americans, Hispanics and independents. Democrats made further gains in Congress, adding to the majorities they had won in 2006. Obama’s early policy decisions addressed a continuing global financial crisis and have included changes in tax policies, foreign policy initiatives and the phasing out of detention of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor sitting in front of the Oval Office fireplace. A domestic initiative passed by the 111th Congress and signed into law by President Obama was the Affordable Care Act, an important statute guaranteeing comprehensive medical coverage to all Americans, regardless of age, sex, pre-existing health conditions or ability to pay.

  • The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act, which allowed openly gay people to serve in the military, was enacted in 2010.
  • In foreign policy, President Obama withdrew US troops from Iraq in large numbers, bringing the Iraq War to an end in December 2011.
  • At the same time, he also increased troop levels in the Afghanistan War.

Early in his presidency, he successfully negotiated the New START treaty with the Russian Federation, which made significant reductions in their nuclear arsenals. The US also maintained ongoing talks, led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, as well as with Israel and the Palestinian Authority over a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Tea Party protesters on the West Lawn of the US Capitol and the National Mall at the Taxpayer March on Washington in September 2009. Although the recession reached its bottom in June 2009 and began to move up again, voters remained frustrated with the slow pace of the economic recovery.

  • In the spring of 2009, large protests erupted in Washington, DC from conservative groups who began calling themselves the ” Tea Party ” and who were particularly opposed to the controversial stimulus act.
  • The Tea Party would end up in a few years as a springboard for a large-scale Republican revival.

In the 2010 midterms, the GOP retook control of the House, although the Senate remained in Democratic hands, Under the new Congress, which had a Republican House and a Democratic Senate, President Obama and Congress clashed for months over whether or not to raise the debt ceiling and whether or not to extend the payroll tax cuts for middle-income citizens that Obama signed into law.

After months of heated debate, the debt ceiling was ultimately raised and the tax cuts extended. However, Obama’s approval ratings continued to hover at around 46%, while Congress had an even lower approval rating of 11%. In the 2012 presidential election, the GOP nominated former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney,

Much like John McCain four years earlier, Romney was largely seen as a tepid moderate and a Beltway insider who did not inspire the conservative base of the Republican Party, nor independents. He also drew controversy for his stand on Obamacare, which had been based on the system he implemented as Governor of Massachusetts,

Obama defeated his opponent to win a second term, with a tally in the Electoral College by 332 to 206 and in the popular vote by 51.06% to 47.21%. The electoral map remained the same as 2008, with the exception of North Carolina and Indiana flipping back as red states, and the party balance in Congress remained largely unchanged.

In the November 2014 midterm elections, the Republican Party took control of the Senate and expanded its majority in the House of Representatives, an event that portended an ill omen for the Democrats. On December 17, 2014, President Barack Obama announced a restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba for the first time since 1961.

A deal between the United States and Cuba was brokered during 18 months of secret talks hosted by Canada, with a final meeting hosted by Pope Francis at the Vatican, Although the US embargo remains in effect and ordinary tourism by Americans is still prohibited, the United States will ease travel restrictions, release three Cuban spies, and open an embassy in Havana,

The New York Times reported in January 2015: In short: The state of union, while far stronger than when Mr. Obama took office, remains troubled. The financial crisis has ended, with job growth picking up and the American economy among the world’s strongest right now.

Yet the great 21st-century wage slowdown continues, with pay raises for most workers still meager. In other positive news, the deficit has fallen sharply, thanks to a combination of slower health-cost growth and budget cuts (the latter championed by Republicans). Many more people have health insurance, thanks to Mr.

Obama’s health law. More people are graduating from college—although Mr. Obama is likely to fall short of his vow to have the United States lead the world in college graduates by 2020. On the negative side, climate change appears to be accelerating, creating serious health and economic risks. Outside the Supreme Court, a crowd celebrates the Court’s decision that same-sex marriage is a constitutionally protected right under the 14th Amendment, a key win for gay rights, On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, in the case of Obergefell vs.

  • Hodges that same-sex marriage was a constitutionally protected right under the 14th Amendment,
  • Shortly before the ruling, polling showed the majority of Americans approving of same-sex marriage.
  • The ruling was celebrated by many, and President Obama advertised his support for the ruling by coloring the White House in gay pride colors using lights.

This ruling was not achieved without controversy, as it did little to change the minds of those that disapproved of homosexuality in general. In regards to the Supreme Court, President Obama faced three vacancies during his administration. Justice David Souter retired in June 2009 and the president nominated as his replacement Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice in US history.

  • Justice John Paul Stevens retired exactly one year later and Obama replaced him with Elena Kagan,
  • Justice Antonin Scalia died on February 13, 2016.
  • President Obama nominated Merrick Garland as his replacement, but the United States Senate, led by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to give Garland a hearing, instead arguing that the winner of the ongoing presidential election be given the opportunity to nominate Scalia’s replacement instead.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was pressured by liberal groups to retire while the Democrats remained in control of the White House, but declined to do so. On September 25, 2015, John Boehner announced that he would step down as Speaker and resign from Congress at the end of October 2015.

Boehner’s resignation took place after Pope Francis’ address to Congress the day before, an event considered by Boehner as a high point in his legislative career. Boehner was replaced by Republican Paul Ryan, the US representative for Wisconsin’s 1st congressional district and former candidate for vice president along with Mitt Romney,

Sources in Boehner’s office indicated he was stepping aside in the face of increasing discord while trying to manage passage of a continuing resolution to fund the government. Conservative opposition to funding Planned Parenthood as part of the resolution, and stronger threats to Boehner’s leadership on account of the controversy, prompted the abrupt announcement.

Who was president in 2014?

January –

  • January 7 – President Obama delivers remarks on Emergency Unemployment Insurance,
  • January 7 – President Obama signs a $1.1 trillion spending bill, H.R.3547, to finance the U.S. government through Sept 30, 2014.
  • January 14 – President Obama announces a sprawling reform that would begin the process of change in the National Security Agency,
  • January 14 – The President honors the 2013 NBA Champions Miami Heat,
  • January 17 – President Obama delivers a speech at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, to announce the outcomes of a review of our intelligence programs and phone surveillance.
  • January 28 – President Obama delivers his annual State of the Union Address before a joint session of Congress,
  • January 28 – During the State of the Union Address, the President announces his retirement savings account initiative called my RA,