Political Histories.

 

President George W. Bush was the first President whose Presidency totally existed during the 21st century. He lived through one of the worst events in human history being the 9/11 attacks. The early part of his Presidency before 9/11 was filled with political divisions and confusion about what his legacy would be. Bush Jr. talked about compassionate "conservativism" being his aim and his opposition to nation-building before 9/11. 9/11 transformed his Presidency forever. Afterward, he led the American response to the war on terror and his foreign policy embraced overt interventionism. His approval rating after 9/11 was over 90 percent, as the nation was united to confront radical terrorism. That would change with the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretapping from the NSA, torture at Abu Ghraib, and other scandals. The Iraq War caused massive protests not seen since the Vietnam War era. He defeated John Kerry in 2004. The Bush administration's investments to Africa have been underestimated as one of his greatest accomplishments. Yet, the event of Hurricane Katrina in my opinion destroyed the latter half of the Bush Presidency. The federal, state, and local responses to Katrina were very bad, and people starved to death. Later, services came to help people, but thousands of people (especially black people as let's keep it real) were displaced to places nationwide, and the economic recession hit. The economic recession was not caused by one man. It was created by many complex factors, and it ruined many people's lives. Bush and others passed a bailout for Wall Street, and his Presidency ended in 2009 with President Barack Obama taking power. Afterward, George W. Bush has been a fierce critic of Donald Trump's extremism. Now, here is the story of the Presidency of George W. Bush. 

George W. Bush was born on July 6, 1946 at Grace New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. He was the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Pierce. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas. His siblings are: Jeb, Neil, Marvin, and Dorothy. His younger sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of 3 in 1953. George W. Bush's paternal grandfather was Prescott Bush (a U.S. Senator from Connecticut). Bush has English and German ancestry. He has distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, and Scottish roots too. George W. Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas. He lived in Houston by the time when he was in the 7th grade. To prepare for college, he attended the college preparatory school called The Kinkaid School. He played baseball and was the head cheerleader during his senior year at the boarding school of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. George W. Bush attended Yale University from 1964 to 1968. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. At Yale, he joined the Skulls and Bones, Delta Kappa Epsilon, and he was a cheerleader again. Bush played rugby, and he earned a MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1975 after graduation. He is the only American President with a MBA. Bush was engaged to Cathryn Lee Wolfman in 1967, but the engagement did not last. Bush and Wolfman remained on good terms after the end of the relationship. While Bush was at a backyard barbecue in 1977, friends introduced him to Laura Welch, a schoolteacher and librarian. After a three-month courtship, she accepted his marriage proposal and they wed on November 5 of that year. The couple settled in Midland, Texas. Bush left his family's Episcopal Church to join his wife's United Methodist Church. On November 25, 1981, Laura Bush gave birth to fraternal twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. Bush describes being challenged by Billy Graham to consider faith in Jesus "Christ as the risen Lord", how he began to read the Bible daily, "surrendering" to the "Almighty", that "faith is a walk" and that he was "moved by God's love." It is no secret that George W. Bush had to overcome alcohol and drug addiction. He gave up alcohol in 1986.   George W. Bush loves to read biographies and histories. Bush would read the Bible daily when he was President. Shocking to some, he is not a believer in Bible literalism. Bush is also a painter and an author of many books. He read books by F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and Gore Vidal. 

George W. Bush by May of 1968 was in the Texas Air National Guard. He trained for 2 years in active duty service. He worked in Houston flying Convair F-102s with the 147the Reconnaissance Wing out of the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base. He worked in the Arbusto Energy business back in 1977. George W. Bush also worked with the Texas Rangers baseball franchise. He worked in politics for decades. He lost many elections until he was Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. Bush declared his candidacy for the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election at the same time his brother Jeb sought the governorship in Florida. His campaign focused on four themes: welfare reform, tort reform, crime reduction, and education improvement. Bush's campaign advisers were Karen Hughes, Joe Allbaugh, and Karl Rove. After easily winning the Republican primary, Bush faced popular Democratic incumbent Governor Ann Richards. In the course of the campaign, Bush pledged to sign a bill allowing Texans to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons. Richards had vetoed the bill, but Bush signed it into law after he became governor. Bush supporters promoted a rumor about Richards. Bush won the general election with 53.5 percent against Richards' 45.9 percent. Bush used a budget surplus to push through Texas's largest tax-cut, $2 billion. He extended government funding for organizations providing education of the dangers of alcohol and drug use and abuse and helping to reduce domestic violence. Critics contended that during his tenure, Texas ranked near the bottom in environmental evaluations. Supporters pointed to his efforts to raise the salaries of teachers and improve educational test scores. We know about Bush and the death penalty controversies too. 

As Texas Governor, he won re-election with 69 percent of the vote being the first Texas governor winning 2 consecutive four year terms. He promoted renewable sources of energy including wind power. George W. Bush wanted to run for President during his first term as Governor. He ran for the Presidency in the year of 2000. His Presidential campaign promoted him as a compassionate conservative being more centrist than other Republicans.  He campaigned on a platform that included bringing integrity and honor back to the White House, increasing the size of the military, cutting taxes, improving education, and aiding minorities. By early 2000, the Republican primary race had centered on Bush and Arizona Senator John McCain.

Bush won the Iowa caucuses and, although heavily favored to win the New Hampshire primary, trailed McCain by 19 percent and lost. Despite this he regained momentum and effectively became the front runner after the South Carolina primary, which according to The Boston Globe made history for his campaign's negativity. The New York Times described it as a smear campaign. In actuality, it was a smear campaign when many Bush campaign people slander John McCain's adopted daughter in racist terms. On July 25, 2000, Bush surprised some observers when he selected Dick Cheney – a former White House chief of staff, representative and secretary of defense – to be his running mate. At the time, Cheney was serving as head of Bush's vice presidential search committee. Soon after at the 2000 Republican National Convention, Bush and Cheney were officially nominated by the Republican Party.

Bush continued to campaign across the country and touted his record as Governor of Texas. During his campaign, Bush criticized his Democratic opponent, incumbent Vice President Al Gore, over gun control and taxation.

When the election returns were tallied on November 7, Bush had won 29 states, including Florida. The closeness of the Florida outcome led to a recount. The initial recount also went to Bush, but the outcome was tied up in lower courts for a month until eventually reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. On December 9, in the controversial Bush v. Gore ruling, the Court reversed a Florida Supreme Court decision that had ordered a third count and stopped an ordered statewide hand recount based on the argument that the use of different standards among Florida's counties violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The machine recount showed that Bush had won the Florida vote by a margin of 537 votes out of six million casts.  Although he had received 543,895 fewer individual nationwide votes than Gore, Bush won the election, receiving 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266 (Gore had actually been awarded 267 votes by the states pledged to him plus the District of Columbia, but one D.C. elector abstained). Bush was the first person to win an American presidential election with fewer popular votes than another candidate since Benjamin Harrison in 1888. Greg Palast and other scholars used sources to document voter suppression in Florida back in 2000. 

When he was President, George W. Bush saw an economic recession with the dot com bubble. The 9/11 terrorist attacks also impacted the economy. He was inaugurated in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2001 by Chief Justice Rehnquist. He said that he wants a balance of power and freedom. George W. Bush supported the ban on aid to international groups doing abortions internationally like Reagan did. Bush supported the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to ease regulations on religious charities and promote grassroots efforts to tackle issues like aid to the poor and disadvantaged. Cabinet members were Donald Rumsfeld of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Roderick R. Paige as Secretary of Education head, etc. Vice President Dick Cheney have a powerful role in the Bush administration. President Bush announced a $1.025 billion, five-year plan to assist disabled persons to gain greater independence while seated at a wheelchair-accessible podium and surrounded by an audience of persons with disabilities and their supporters. By 2001, President Bush supported a $1.6 trillion, 10 year tax cut proposal to Congress. By March 6, 2001, President Bush issued a message on the observance of Eid al-Adha, saying in part that those celebrating the holiday will "honor the great sacrifice and devotion of Abraham as recognized by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. By educating others about your religious traditions, you enrich the lives of others in your local communities."

By 2001, the Bush administration supported missile defense, the Kyoto Protocol, and other foreign policy matters. From Sweden, President Bush announces that the U.S. military will cease Vieques bombing exercises due to residents not wanting "us there." That was on June 15, 2001. By August 2001, he supported funding for existing embryonic stem cell lines but not going further. He supports federal funds for adult stem cells. President Bush addresses the 83rd national convention of the American Legion in San Antonio, Texas. In his speech on the nation's defense priorities, the president highlights his administration's commitment to enhancing the delivery of quality health care to veterans and military retirees. President Bush meets with congressional leaders for talk about the previous month's unemployment numbers. The August 2001 unemployment rate is 4.9 percent, up from 4.5 percent in July, and the highest since September 1997.  The September 11 attacks occurred, as Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial jets and crash them into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. With 2,996 people killed, and over 6,000 others injured, it is the worst attack on American soil since the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. President George W. Bush supported the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. He also passed the Patriot Act and condemned the harassment of Muslim Americans. A global coalition existed to support George W. Bush. The 2001 anthrax attack happened too. By 2002, more changes existed in America. 

 

By January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act. It created federal requirements for state education. It's one of the most consequential legislation of the Bush administration. He gave the controversial Axis of Evil speech during his Annual State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002. He called Iran, Iraq, and North Korea part of the Axis of Evil. By May 16, 2002, there was a press briefing on the events leading up to 9/11 by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said, "I want to reiterate that during this time, the overwhelming bulk of the evidence was that this was an attack that was likely to take place overseas.” In 2002, President Bush signed the strategic reduction treaty between America and Russia to reduce the nuclear weapons in each nation. He proposed the Department of Homeland Security on June 6, 2002.  By October 16, 2002, he signed the Congressional Resolution of Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq. Bush wanted to invade Iraq for many reasons from economic issues to desiring revenge over Saddam wanting to assassinate his father. First, nuclear investigators are in Iraq. The United Nations accused Iraq of violation of Security Council Resolution 1441. In 29003, the Columbia Shuttle exploded in space killing all seven crew members. By March 17, 2003, President George W. Bush addressed the nation to warn Saddam Hussein and his son to leave Iraq within 48 hours. 

On March 19, 2003, the Western invasion of Iraq started. He said that "On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance." By April 10, 2003, British Prime Minister Tony Blair supported the Iraq War. On May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush did the infamous address to the nation on Iraq from the U.S.S. Lincoln to say that Mission Accomplished with the banner. He said that major combat operations in Iraq have ended, and the war has begun to end. We know that to be false. Income taxes are reduced by Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. The Senate Intelligence Report on U.S. pre-war intelligence raised concerns about the administration's lie that Iraq had massive weapons of mass destruction on July 9, 2003. U.S. forces killed Uday and Qusay Hussein or the sons of Saddam Hussein on July 22, 2003. By the end of 2003, the late-term abortion ban is signed and the prescription drug plan in Medicare was signed. Saddam Hussein was captured in Tikrit, Iraq on December 13, 2003. Iraq has a transitional government in 2004, but the Abu Ghraib scandal exists in April 28, 2004 where Iraqi prisoners were abused, tortured, and harmed in perverted ways. We see the Presidential re-election of Bush in 2004. John Ashcroft (an Attorney General) appeared before Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on two leaked documents containing legal arguments for circumventing the US and international bans on torture in the questioning of terrorist subjects. Fallujah, Iraq was invaded on November 8, 2004. It was controversial as allegations of war crimes done by the West have existed. Colin Powell resigned as Secretary of State to be replaced by Condoleezza Rice, who was the first African American woman Secretary of State.

After his State of the Union Address, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was sworn in as the first Hispanic American to serve in that post. The Terri Schiavo ordeal took place in 2005 too. She passed away after her feeding tube was removed on March 31, 2005. President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005; which included tax credits for wind and other alternative energy; identified ocean energy as a renewable technology. By late August 2005, Hurricane Katrina took place in the Gulf Coast. It destroyed many places in the South including New Orleans. A terrible response happened among the federal, state, and local governments. The Hurricane response totally ends the Bush administration as we know it. It was that bad. Many people starved to death, there were poor and black Americans displaced from their homes forever. It was one of the most terrible times in American history. On September 29, 2005, Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. By 2006, the NSA spying scandal existed when the NSA used warrantless spying. By the end of 2006, Democrats won big in the House and the Senate. They won both houses. Fences on the border go up, and Nancy Pelosi was the first woman speaker of the House in 2007. On December 30, 2006, Saddam Hussein is executed by hanging in Baghdad for his crimes against humanity after a trial. More troops come into Iraq in 2007. On March 6, 2007, Scooter Libby, VP Cheney’s Chief of Staff Convicted of Perjury, Bush later commutes his sentence. By April 16, 2007, the Virginia Tech massacre existed with a student killing 32 people and then committing suicide. Bush vetoed a scheduled troop withdrawal bill. The Iraq war continues. By July 26, 2007, the National Security Act of 2007 was signed. It allowed screening of air and sea cargo. It gives more money in antiterrorism grants to states with the greatest risks of attacks. Alberto Gonzales leaves office after protracted controversy about the dismissal of U.S. attorneys. President George W. Bush created the Middle East peace Conference with Israel's and Palestine's Presidents. Later, Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act. It forced automobile manufacturers to increase fuel efficiency. 2008 was when the recession hit America bad. Homes were foreclosed, there was massive Wall Street damage, and homelessness increased in America.

The economic crisis continued, and six detainees are charged for 9/11 in Guantanamo Bay. President Bush signed the Economic Stimulus Act on February 13, 2008. Bear Stearns is bailed out by the Federal Reserve. Homeowners never were bailed out. Later, Congress passed the Farm Bill of 2008 over veto. By 2008, John McCain ran for President on the Republican side. He was defeated by Barack Obama in 2008. He was the first African American President in American history. On September 7, 2008, the US Treasury tookoOver of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Corporations, in order to prevent more than half of Americans’ mortgages from going under. Investment bank Lehman Brothers fails and is not bailed out;  Merrill Lynch is acquired by Bank of America. The Federal Reserve takes ownership of American International Group. A nuclear deal took place in 2008 between America and India. Bush signed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the largest bailout in history, attempting to fight one of the worst recessions in American history. On November 25, 2008, The Treasury and Federal Reserve Agree to Buy Debt to Provide Another $800 Billion in Lending Programs and to Provide More Small Loans to Consumers. Bush promoted the TARP program to fight GM and Chrysler from experiencing bankruptcy. 

George W. Bush ended his Presidency on January 20, 2009. Afterwards, he did more activities. Following the inauguration of Barack Obama, Bush and his family flew from Andrews Air Force Base to a homecoming celebration in Midland, Texas, following which they returned to their ranch in Crawford, Texas. They bought a home in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, where they settled down.

Bush made regular appearances at various events throughout the Dallas–Fort Worth area, including the opening coin toss at the Dallas Cowboys' first game in the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington and an April 2009 Texas Rangers game, where he thanked the people of Dallas for helping him settle in, which was met with a standing ovation. He also attended every home playoff game during the Rangers' 2010 season and, accompanied by his father, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for Game 4 of the 2010 World Series on October 31.

On August 6, 2013, Bush was successfully treated for a coronary artery blockage with a stent. The blockage had been found during an annual medical examination.

In reaction to the 2016 shooting of Dallas police officers, Bush said, "Laura and I are heartbroken by the heinous acts of violence in our city last night. Murdering the innocent is always evil, never more so than when the lives taken belong to those who protect our families and communities." George W. Bush condemned the Charlottesville racist rally and violence. In February 2017, Bush released a book of his own portraits of veterans called Portraits of Courage. In August, following the white nationalist Unite the Right rally, Bush and his father released a joint statement condemning the violence and ideologies present there. Subsequently, Bush gave a speech in New York where he noted of the current political climate, "Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication." He continued, "Bigotry in any form is blasphemy against the American creed and it means the very identity of our nation depends on the passing of civic ideals to the next generation," while urging citizens to oppose threats to American democracy and be positive role models for young people. The speech was widely interpreted as a denouncement of Donald Trump and his ideologies, despite Bush not mentioning Trump by name. George W. Bush condemned the January 6, 2021 insurrection. He opposed the Afghanistan withdrawal. 

 

President Barack Obama made history as the first African American President in American history. Centuries ago, it would seem to be impossible to witness a man with an African father and a mother from Kansas to one day have a child to be President of America. Yet, history teaches us that miracles can happen. Barack Obama is a Baby Boomer who was shaped by many events. He traveled the world as a child, he was educated in some of the best universities on Earth, he is eloquent in his speeches, and he was a community organizer in the South side of Chicago. Also, Barack Obama wouldn't be the man that he is and he wouldn't be President without marrying his gracious, very intelligent wife Michelle Obama (who is a very inspiring black woman). The Obama family certainly was different than any other Presidential family in our history. Yet, the Obamas want everything that any other family would desire like stability, ethics, and the promotion of justice for all. Barack Obama won 2 terms in his Presidency. President Barack Obama helped us to escape from a vicious recession with many domestic accomplishments like health care legislation, women's equal pay legislation, etc. He also saw Black Lives Matter and other progressive movements grow during the midst of the epidemic of gun violence, police brutality, racism, sexism, etc. President Obama also had a hawkish foreign policy in many cases, but he supported the courageous Iran nuclear deal, despite opposition from people even in his own party. President Barack Obama left the Presidency in 2017 before Trump took office. To this day, Barack Obama supports charities, volunteerism, and progressive candidates. 

To start, Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 at Honolulu, Hawaii at Kapionali Medical Center for Women and Children. His parents are Barack Obama Sr. (from Kenya) and Ann Dunham (she is of mostly English descent). In 2007, it was discovered her great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney emigrated from the village of Moneygall, Ireland to the US in 1850. In July 2012, Ancestry.com found a strong likelihood that Dunham was descended from John Punch, an enslaved African man who lived in the Colony of Virginia during the seventeenth century. Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr. (1934–1982), was a married Luo Kenyan from Nyang'oma Kogelo. Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was a foreign student on a scholarship. The couple married in Wailuku, Hawaii, on February 2, 1961, six months before Obama was born.

In late August 1961, a few weeks after he was born, Barack and his mother moved to the University of Washington in Seattle, where they lived for a year. During that time, Barack's father completed his undergraduate degree in economics in Hawaii, graduating in June 1962. He left to attend graduate school on a scholarship at Harvard University, where he earned an M.A. in economics. Obama's parents divorced in March 1964. Obama Sr. returned to Kenya in 1964, where he married for a third time and worked for the Kenyan government as the Senior Economic Analyst in the Ministry of Finance. He visited his son in Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971, before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old. Recalling his early childhood, Obama said: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind." He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.  Dunham married Lolo Soetoro (who was from Indonesia) on March 15, 1965. Barck Obama toured the world in South Jakarta and in other places. By 1971, Obama came to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham. 

He attended Punahou School—a private college preparatory school—with the aid of a scholarship from fifth grade until he graduated from high school in 1979. In his youth, Obama went by the nickname "Barry." Obama lived with his mother and half-sister, Maya Soetoro, in Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Hawaii. Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin anthropology field work. His mother spent most of the next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo in 1980 and earning a Ph.D. degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for ovarian and uterine cancer. Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear." Barack Obama studied at Occidental College in 1979 after high school. He fought apartheid. In February of 1981, he gave a speech for Occidental to be involved in the disinvestment movement against South African apartheid. By 1981, he transferred to Columbia University as a junior. He majored in political science with a specialty in international relations and English literature. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7 GPA. After graduating, Obama worked for about a year at the Business International Corporation, where he was a financial researcher and writer, then as a project coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group on the City College of New York campus for three months in 1985.

Later, he worked at Harvard Law School and was a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago. He worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, or a community organizing institute. He visited his relatives in Kenya in 1988. He was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year, president of the journal in his second year, and research assistant to the constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe while at Harvard for two years. During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990. After graduating with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago. Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations, which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father. Barack Obama was a professor and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for 12 years. He helped to register thousands of black Americans in Illinois to vote. Later, he married Michelle Obama on October 3, 1992. From 1997-2004, Obama was in the Illinois state Senate. He worked to promote tax credits for low-income workers, welfare reform, and higher subsidies for children. He easily defeated Alan Keyes to be the United States Senator from 2005 to 2008. 

Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005, becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He introduced two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction concept to conventional weapons; and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending. Barack Obama held assignments in many Senate positions like Committees of Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans' Affairs through 2006. By 2007, he visited globally. He met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi to condemn corruption in the Kenyan government. 

On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "House Divided" speech in 1858. Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and reforming the health care system, in a campaign that projected themes of hope and change. It was a cold day in Springfield. From the start, the campaign was hard fought. During the Democratic primary, he had to face Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator John Edwards, and other people. By the early part of 2008, it was a campaign between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Barack Obama gained more delegates and won many races. On June 2, 2008, Obama received enough votes to clinch his election. On all previous occasions, the defeated candidate had immediately conceded and endorsed the winner. Clinton however refused to do so. On June 6, 2008, Obama unexpectedly flew to a meeting of AIPAC (The American Israel Public Action Committee) where he made a wildly applauded speech in which he declared that "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided", contrary to his previous views about the Palestinian issue. This opened the door to additional Jewish funding for his presidential campaign. On June 7, 2008, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.

On August 23, 2008, Obama announced his selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate. Obama selected Biden from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in his support. Obama delivered his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High stadium to a crowd of about eighty-four thousand; the speech was viewed by over three million people worldwide. Barack Obama gave a powerful speech. 

During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations. On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976. He faced John McCain and Sarah Palin. After 3 Presidential debates in September and October of 2008, Barack Obama won. Barack Obama even gave a Philadelphia speech on race that was a nuisance commentary, eloquent, and reduced fears of some. On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain. Obama won 52.9 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7 percent. He became the first African-American to be elected president. Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant Park.  He is one of the three United States senators who moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House, the others are Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy. President Barack Obama gave a historic inaugural address on January 20, 2009. There were parades, celebrities, bands, and other events during the whole day. There were high hopes for America. On January 22, 2009, President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13491, Ensuring Lawful Interrogations.  Directs that detainees in armed conflict shall be treated humanely and not be subject “to violence to life and person” or “outrages to personal dignity.” He wanted to close the Guantanamo Bay center. By January 29, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 to protect workers against pay discrimination based on sex. 

On February 4, 2009, the Treasury Department Caps Executive Pay for Businesses Receiving Federal Bailout Funding., and on February 17, 2009, he signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion dollar stimulus package. In his February 24, 2009 Address Before a Joint Session of Congress (In effect a State of the Union Address), he said that,  “ . . . we have lived through an era where too often short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity, where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election.” President Obama made the first-ever White House online Livestream discussion. Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26, 2009. His famous Cairo speech talked about Middle Eastern issues and America. By July of 2009, President Barack Obama defended his friend Professor Henry Louis Gates (who was arrested while trying to get into his own home). Things end with a "beer summit" at the White House on July 30th with Obama, Gates, and Cambridge Police Sergeant Jim Crowley. Barack Obama promotes health care, and one Congressman disrespectfully said "you lie" to him in Congress. He received the Nobel Peace Prize on October 9, 2009. President Barack Obama signed the November 28, 2009, Matthew Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The law extends the Federal hate crimes protections to gender, race, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

By December 2009, Barack Obama wants to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. During the Earthquake in Haiti, he wants Haiti to have $100 million for earthquake relief. By March 23, 2010, he signed a legacy-defining law called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which significantly expands Medicaid and Medicare; guarantees insurance to people with preexisting conditions; provides free preventive care; mandates subscription to health insurance. In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty at the summit with Russian President Medvedev. The April 20, 2010 oil speech or the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the largest oil spill in American history. Obama nominated Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. In July 2010, Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (it reformed areas of the financial sector thought to be responsible for the 2008 crash). My August of 2010, he signed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2013 which reduces the disparity in punishment of the crime of possession of crack vs. powder cocaine. Rosa's Law changed the words of people with disabilities to "intellectual disabilities." The 2010 Midterm Election cause Republicans to sin seas in the Senate and the House. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 provides federal food funding for low-income schools. First Lady Michelle Obama promoted healthy eating and exercise in public schools and schools in general with her health program. In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Tax Relief Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Create Act of 2010 and repealed Don't Ask, Don't  Tell to allow LGBTQ+ people to openly serve in the military.

In January 8, 2011, there was the mass shooting in Tuscon, Arizona where Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot. Barack Obama fights for gun control, but nothing comes about. Later, the Egyptian Revolution occurs part of the Arab Spring. The Libyan Civil War started in February 23, 2011. This comes after the START Treaty existed. The Libyan civil war totally destroys Libya and was unjust for many reasons. As early as 2011, racists lied and say that President Barack Obama wasn't born in America, so the White House released the long-form birth certificate. By May of 2011, Osama Bin Laden is dead. President Barack Obama signed the Budget Control Act of 2011 which resolved in the 2011 debt ceiling crisis. In 2012 , Barack Obama won the election a second time, but it will be much harder. The Keystone XL pipeline controversy grows. In February of 2012, Trayvon Martin was murdered which culminates in more activism against police brutality and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement. On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court decides the National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, upholding the central features of the Affordable Care Act.  Obama made remarks about the decision later that day. On November 16, 2012, President Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney. The Sandy Hook Shooting in Newton, Connecticut saw 26 people murdered, including 20 first graders. President Barack Obama cries over their deaths. President Obama signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. He fight for immigration reform and signed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. 

Terrorism continues with the Boston Marathon terrorist attack where 3 people are killed and 140 people are injured. The Voting Rights Act is gutted of Section 5 in the Shelby County v. Holder decision on June 25, 2013. President Obama fights against climate change. President Barack Obama gave remarks to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. The minimum wage goes up. Crimea is annexed by Russia in 2014. President Barack Obama supports abortion and the LGBTQ+ movement in signing executive orders. By 2014, the ebola virus starts in West Africa. The 2014 midterms cause Democrats to lose seats again. Loretta Lynch became the first African American to be the Attorney General in 2014. In the same year, he signed the  Child Care and Development Block Grant of 2014, authorizing funds for education programs and work support for low-income families. In 2015, there was the Paris terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo cartoon company. President Obama was involved in the 50th anniversary of the march from Selma to Montgomery in fighting for voting rights. He gave the eulogy of  Child Care and Development Block Grant of 2014, authorizing funds for education programs and work support for low-income families. On June 26, 2015, the U.S.. Supreme Court rules in Obergefell v. Hodges, that there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. President Barack Obama tries to improve America/Cuba relations, and he promotes the nuclear deal with Iran. President Obama saw Pope Francis visiting the White House and America in September 2015. The President supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In 2016, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died, he visited Cuba, he gave a speech about Flint's water crisis, and the Pulse Nightclub shooting happen (with 49 people died and 53 people injured). 

In 2016, the Supreme Court in the United States v. Texas, an equally-divided Supreme Court affirmed the ruling of the 5th circuit that an important Obama initiative, “Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents,” could not be implemented.  In Fisher v. University of Texas, the Court upheld the use of race as a factor in university admissions decisions. On September 24, 2016, President Barack Obama gave remarks at the dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. President Obama supported Hillary Clinton in her 2016 campaign, but Trump defeats Clinton. President Barack Obama gave his farewell address to the nation on January 10, 2017. Before, he gave a statement on the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

By Timothy