Barack Obama

I am writing this tribute for the man who as part of his duties travelled extensively but more important because in my view he was a successful president. In the picture above President Obama is in Acropolis during his historic visit to Greece. 

The following is a partial list of his major accomplishments during his eight years (2009-2017) in the White house    

He ended the 2008 recession when the congress approved the Obama $787 billion economic stimulus package.  The graph above from NYT presents how sectors fared during President’s Obama’s presidency. The stock market tripled in value with the S&P up 220% over 2009, Nasdaq was up 313% and Dow was up 185% from its 2009 low.  The only mark against President Obama is that he added almost 7 trillion to the national debt. According to most economists this deficit spending was necessary to stimulate the economy which in turn created 14 million new jobs that brought the unemployment below 5%.   

The Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare is a landmark health bill.  If and when fully implemented it would have covered 32 million Americans who were not or could not get insurance because of pre-existing conditions.  

In 2016, United States and five more world powers reached a deal to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.  Foreign Ministers John Kerry and Javad Zarif led the talks between Iran the United States. 

In 2016, the United States opened an embassy in Cuba thus normalizing relations between the two nations after 54 years.  President Obama with the President of Cuba Raul Castro in Havana.

With new policies and diplomacy the world opinion towards the United States and Americans is for now favorable.  The last time the world opinion was as friendly towards the United States and Americans at large was during the Kennedy presidency.  

Barack Obama has already secured a special place in history as the first African-American president of the United States. That fact in itself could not have happened without the changes achieved by the civil rights movement in the 1960s.  It is also a proof that most Americans in the interim freed themselves of their racial prejudices which were so dominant in the past and elected as our President a man who will be remembered as a good, caring and thoughtful individual.  Thank you President Obama.