Presidency


 * The Presidency**


 * [[image:http://www.ustream.tv/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/obama-official-photo.jpeg width="270" height="366" align="center"]] ||
 * http://www.ustream.tv/blog/2009/02/24/president-obama-speaks-live-tonight/ ||

//Barack Obama: A Brief Biography // Barack Obama was a largely unknown political figure in 2004, when he was selected to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. The speech he gave skyrocketed Obama’s popularity as he spoke of national unity and a new era of bipartisan politics. Before the speech, he had only gained popularity in the state of Illinois as a first-term Senator. He had made a local name for himself by opposing the Bush administration’s lack of welfare and unwise wars, claiming the current government was trying to “protect the powerful from the powerless.” He pushed for change and hope. During his campaign for President, he won over America’s youth and minority populations to beat Arizona Senator John McCain. He focused on health care reform, job creation, a greener economy, tax breaks for the lower and middle class, ending wars in the Middle East, and saving a dismal economy while facing a disheartening national debt. By utilizing the Internet through sites such as Facebook and a personalized social networking site called my.barackobama.com, he gained enormous popularity with demographics typically untouched by political campaigns. Obama is currently beginning his second year of his term as President. So far, he has focused strongly on healthcare and the economy. Though no health care bill has yet passed through the legislative process to end up on the desk in the Oval Office, there has been a feverish push through Congress for the passage of H.R. 3200. This bill plans to reform the health care industry to provide affordable health care for all Americans, regardless of wealth of pre-existing conditions, while maintaining what is largely considered to be the best medical treatment the world has to offer. During his January 27, 2010 State of the Union address, he urged Congress to continue their path on this health care bill, reminding them how close they are to comprehensive health care reform and pleading with them not to give up. To deal with the recession faced when he entered office, he passed the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The $787 billion bill was meant to create jobs, stimulate a failing economy, and restore faith in Wall Street and the major banks. Though we can’t be sure exactly what legacy Obama will leave (considering he still has three years left in his term), it is sure that he will be remembered as America’s first black president. He will be remembered for how he solves (or fails to solve) the current economic crisis and the wars raging in the Middle East.


 * [[image:http://www.snugd.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/obama_president.jpg]] ||
 * http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Snugd/~3/442878763 ||

//Actions as Legislator in Chief// So far in his legislation, President Obama has issued many executive orders. One of the most recent was ** Executive Order 13529 **: Ordering the Selected Reserve and Certain Individual Ready Reserve Members of the Armed Forces to Active Duty. This order was issued in response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010. The order sent American troops to Haiti for humanitarian relief including search and rescue projects immediately following the earthquake and the distribution of food and supplies in the following weeks. Another order was Executive Order 13525: Adjustments of Certain Rates of Pay. This order modified the pay rates of certain government employees. Executive Order 12425 was a controversial order which gave Interpol the entitlement to “enjoy certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities.” Obama campaigned on promises to revamp the economy and reform the insurance industry. Once in office, he supported legislation that would achieve such ends. Obama has been an outspoken supporter of both the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and H.R. 3200 health reform bill. He has opposed minor parts of bills (such as the outrageous amounts of pork-barrel spending present in the stimulus package), but since the 111th Congress is heavily Democratic and shares many ideas with Obama, he has not strongly come out against any one bill. So far in Obama’s term as President, he has only vetoed one bill. In December, the President vetoed a bill which Congress wanted passed just in case a forecasted blizzard interrupted their planned vote for the new Defense budget.

/05/obama_hillary_and_full_circle.html ||
 * [[image:http://blogs.smh.com.au/whitehouse08/obama_family.jpg width="300" height="348" caption="obama_family.jpg"]] ||
 * http://blogs.smh.com.au/whitehouse08/archives/2008

//Supreme Court Appointments// In his first year of his presidency, President Barrack Obama appointed justice and first Hispanic justice Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor was appointed to replace judge David H. Souter, who retired in the end of June 2009. Sotomayor took the oath on August 8th 2009. Sotomayor began her term as a supreme court justice in August 2009, and is still fairly new on the court. Obama's appointement of Sotomayor is extremley historyical as Sotomayor is not only the first Hispanic, but the first hispanic woman to serve as a supreme court Justice. Sotomayor was born to a single mother of lower income in the Bronx, New York. Sotomayor went on to graduate with a law degree from New York University school of Law, as well as Columbia law school.

//Highlights, Criticisms, and Pitfalls//
Obama’s major highlight of his political career, and of this congressional session, would be of course his election to the presidency. Obama announced his plans on running for the presidency in February of 2007, and campaigned with vice president running mate Joe Biden and was elected as the 44th president in November 2008. It can be said that Obama has had no real pitfalls, yet. Although he has done a fairly decent job in his first year as president Obama has begun to face criticisms. Obama sent even more troops instead of bringing them home. His approval rate has dropped to below 40%, and is criticized now by many once supportive Americans for not completing almost all of the things in his presidency that he promised in his campaign. Obama has repeatedly requested that American be patient and faithful as he is doing all that he can to fulfill his promises, and that many of his promised changes will take the time and patience of the American people to complete.

=
// Foreign Relations // In Obama’s first year in his presidency Obama has had fairly good relations with other countries. In his first term of his presidency Obama has been relatively in this department. The only major change that can be accounted for was Obama’s decision to send in 3,000 more troops into Iraq. Obama has big plans for U.S treaties, 17 that he would like ratified, one of them being the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, a treaty that would hire more lawyers to defend the U.S in front of a national tribunal instead of building more ships for the navy and national guard. =====

//Characteristics of the Presidency// In Obama’s presidency thus far he has remained on fairly good terms with congress. However during his state of the union address on January 27th 2010, Obama was referred during his speech to the new piece of legislation passed which will allow large corporations to endorse candidates in elections with no monetary limitations. During his speech Obama referred negatively to this piece of legislation, supreme court justice Samuel Alito shook his head mouthing the words “not true”. Aside from disagreeing on that piece of legislation, Obama has reported to have little to no disputes with the supreme court.

Home Congress Presidency Supreme Court