Who is Barack Obama?
Barack Obama was born in Honolulu in 1961. After Columbia, he went to Harvard Law School and became the first Black student to lead its law review. In Chicago he organised local groups, practised civil rights law and taught constitutional law. He sat in the Illinois Senate and then in the US Senate from 2005. In 2008 he became the first African American elected president, and voters returned him to office in 2012. Since leaving the White House he has run the Obama Foundation and backed Democratic candidates.
Political views
- Signed the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, an $800 billion package meant to fight the recession.Source: millercenter.org
- His health reform, the Affordable Care Act, became law in 2010. When he left office, the uninsured share of adults had fallen from 18 to 11 percent.Source: millercenter.org
- Approved the Dodd-Frank reform. Large banks had to keep more capital, and a new consumer finance watchdog was created.Source: millercenter.org
- Shielded immigrants who arrived as children through DACA. A wider expansion in 2014 was stopped by the courts.Source: millercenter.org
- Ended the American troop presence in Iraq by late 2011. In the same year he approved the Pakistan operation in which Osama bin Laden died.Source: millercenter.org
- Struck the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, took America into the Paris climate accord and restored ties with Havana.Source: millercenter.org
- Bargained over the Trans-Pacific trade pact, though it was never sent to Congress.Source: millercenter.org
Legacy
Supporters say Obama helped lead the country out of the Great Recession, brought health insurance to millions, saved the auto industry and repaired alliances. They also see his election as a historic moment. Conservative critics say his health law and new rules gave Washington too much power and pushed up costs, and that his immigration orders went too far. Critics on the left and right disliked the growth of drone strikes, the aftermath of the 2011 Libya intervention and his choice not to hit Syria after chemical attacks. Congress blocked his gun and immigration plans, and his successor undid several executive actions.