Leadership is synonymous with decision-making and dealing with unpopular opinions while facing the risk of backlash or resounding support from the citizens. Leaders bear the brunt of bad decisions and rewards for the popular decisions they pursue. Visionary leaders woe their supporters and the entire populace towards their programs, however unpopular they might seem. President Obama is one of the modern leaders whose presidency presents a classical case for review to decipher the importance of a leader’s character when faced with difficult choices on policy and politics. Welcomed to the office with economic depression, failing health insurance, and Iraqi and Afghanistan wars, President Obama faced critical decision-making which would determine the future of the United States. President Obama’s Affordable Care Act/Obamacare, diplomatic approach to the U.S. foreign policy, Climate change initiative, and economic stimulus program faced significant rejection. However, it yielded desirable results, albeit with significant failures.
Biography
Barrack Hussein Obama II, the 44th president of the United States of America, was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. President Obama was born to a mixed-race Kenyan father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr., and an American mother, S. Ann Dunham. President Obama’s parents divorced when he was two years old, and her mother later remarried an Indonesian named Soetoro Lolo, with whom she had a daughter (“Barack Obama – Politics and ascent to the presidency,” n.d.). After his parents’ divorce, the young Obama reportedly saw his father again only once when he was ten. The family resettled in Jakarta, and Obama was enrolled in a government and a catholic private school. In 1971, Obama returned to Hawaii and stayed with his grandparents. He would also stay with his mother, who moved to the U.S. to pursue her Ph.D. Obama’s parents were middle-class, and food stamps reportedly supported his mother at certain times. Obama graduated from Punahou School in 1979 and joined Occidental College in Los Angeles before transferring to Columbia University (“Barack Obama – Politics and ascent to the presidency,” n.d.), where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science in 1983. Obama also graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991, becoming the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review. He got married to Michelle Robinson in 1992.
Career
Obama’s first job was writing and editorial with a Manhattan-based research, publishing, and consulting firm, Business International Corp., for two years before switching to a community organizer role in Chicago in 1985. After he graduated from Harvard University, Obama relocated to Chicago, working at Chicago University as a lecturer in constitutional law (“Barack Obama – Politics and ascent to the presidency,” n.d.). He was also an attorney on civil rights cases during this period. Obama also wrote a book, Dreams from My Father, published in 1995, where he narrates his trace for identity and landing in Kenya, where he found his extended family. He published his second book, The Audacity of Hope, in 2006.
Obama’s political career began after moving to Chicago, where he became active in Democratic Party activities. He was involved in Project Vote, which mobilized African Americans in the region to register and turn up for voting. His efforts helped Democrat candidate President Bill Clinton trounce his competitor in Illinois and win the presidency in 1992 (“Barack Obama – Politics and ascent to the presidency,” n.d.). The effort also saw Carol Moseley Braun become the senator of the state, making her the first Black American woman to capture the seat. Between 1997 and 2004, Obama served as an Illinois state senator representing the 13th district. He defeated the Republican candidate Alan Keyes to become the U.S. senator in 2004. He ascended to the presidency in 2008, beating John McCain, and retained the seat in 2012, winning against Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
Impact
Healthcare Reform (Obamacare)
President Obama’s healthcare reform, The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also referred to as Obamacare—was a landmark reform of his tenure. ACA aimed to increase the number of Americans on medical Insurance coverage, lowering care costs and improving the quality of health care service. The reform changed the Medicaid and Medicare policy in 1965 and elicited controversy, with Republicans voting against the policy in both houses (The Commonwealth Fund, 2020). The passage of the ACA increased the number of Americans under health insurance. By early 2021, Obamacare had reduced the number of uninsured Americans by 20 million and expanded Medicaid coverage to more than 31 million Americans. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2023), ACA has protected more than 133 million Americans with preexisting conditions, such as pregnancy, diabetes, asthma, and cancer, against discriminatory health insurance that delineated them from benefiting. With expanded Medicaid, Obamacare increased healthcare access and quality. However, other studies have established that ACA brought more people into health insurance and reduced care costs, but it failed to improve the quality of and access to care (Manchikanti, 2017). Additionally, others have argued that Obamacare increased the cost of health insurance rather than reduced it, citing co-insurance, deductibles, and higher insurance premiums.
Economic Recovery
Obama was inaugurated at a time when America’s economy was facing the financial crisis of 2008. Obama inherited the worst depression to be witnessed in America and the world since the Great Depression. However, when leaving office, the unemployment rate stayed at 4.6% (a record lowest in a decade), and the real estate sector had seen house prices rise by 23%. Notably, the unemployment rate at his inauguration was 7.6% and reached 10%, with the Recession rendering more unemployed (The Guardian, 2017). By the end of his tenure, 11 million more jobs had been created under his stewardship, but on the contrary, the absolute number of unemployed people reached a record high seen only during the 1970s.
Besides, wage growth remained stagnant under President Obama, with many demanding a career shift. The economic recovery was driven by jobs in the service sector, especially in the health industry. Employers continued to prefer robots and outsourcing manufacturing jobs over hiring locals due to the cost disadvantage characteristic of the latter. The economic stimulus program pursued by the Obama administration was largely criticized for increasing the United States’ debt burden (The Guardian, 2017). Despite the opposition to increased public debt, the U.S. economy recovered from the Recession faster than those of other countries in Europe. Overall, various economic policies adopted during President Obama’s tenure have rendered Americans’ jobs insecure and feel underpaid.
Foreign Policy
President Obama left an indelible mark in the history of American foreign policy through his largely diplomatic approach. President Obama also inherited two wars upon his inauguration—the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. President Obama withdrew the U.S. troops from Iraq as had been agreed by his predecessor and believed more focus was needed in Afghanistan to fight Al Qaeda (The Guardian, 2017). Some military leadership had maintained that the 2011 withdrawal deadline for U.S. troops was ill-timed. President Obama was persuaded, and the U.S. troops were flown in 2011. President Obama also led from the back in the Syrian Civil War against popular opinion. Notably, the emergence of militant groups—Daesh and ISIS—was largely blamed on President Obama’s delay in involving the U.S. military in the Syrian War and the departure of U.S. troops from Iraq. Perhaps the significant presence of the U.S. military could have prevented the growth of these terrorist groups in the Middle East. President Obama’s War on Terrorism is best epitomized by his presiding over the U.S. force’s covert operation in Pakistan in 2011 that led to the killing of the Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
President Obama’s diplomacy also witnessed the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and some of the longstanding foes in global politics, including Iran and Cuba. President Obama, through the then secretary of state, John Kerry, in the proliferation of the popular P5+1 agreement of 2015. In the agreement, the leaders put a limit on Iran’s nuclear program while the U.S. and its allies lifted the sanctions against Iran. The diplomatic feud between the U.S. and Iran lasted decades, breaking off in 1979, with no communication between the two nations’ leaders at this time (Britannica, n.d). In a similar move, President Obama reignited the thawed diplomatic relations with Cuba in 2016, removing all the travel bans and economic sanctions earlier put on Cuba. The Republicans widely criticized these moves but won President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize.
President Obama also orchestrated the Trans-Pacific Partnership that saw Pacific nations develop more ties with the United States than China. The 2016 election-year politics engulfed TPP, and major contestants opposed the agreement, and it failed to be presented to Congress.
Climate Change
President Obama also made significant strides in global carbon emission reduction, negotiating an agreement with China to reduce the countries’ carbon emissions. The agreement was the foundation on which the Paris Agreement was established, coalescing the world nations in a concerted effort to reduce carbon emissions to reduce the effects of climate change.
Conclusion
President Obama’s policies pitted him against Republicans and some Democrats, leading to a considerable loss of support in his reelection. The Health insurance reform, ACA/Obamacare, was rejected by all the Republicans but has brought more Americans under Medicaid coverage. Obamacare has, however, not improved access to care and care quality as was previously intended. Obama’s diplomatic approach to foreign policy was considered a weakness but helped America restore its relationships with longstanding foes. President Obama’s economic stimulus program increased the U.S.’s debt burden but successfully bailed the country out of the Global Recession faster than European countries.
References
Barack Obama – Politics and ascent to the presidency. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barack-Obama/Politics-and-ascent-to-the-presidency
Britannica. (n.d.). Barack Obama – Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barack-Obama/Wars-in-Iraq-and-Afghanistan
Manchikanti, L. (2017). A critical analysis of ObamaCare: AffordableCare or insurance for many and coverage for few? Pain Physician, 3(20; 3), 111-138. https://doi.org/10.36076/ppj.2017.138
The Commonwealth Fund. (2020, February 26). The Affordable Care Act at ten years: What is the effect on health care coverage and access? https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/journal-article/2020/feb/aca-at-10-years-effect-health-care-coverage-access
The Guardian. (2017). Obama’s legacy: the promises, shortcomings, and fights to come. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/03/barack-obama-president-legacy-policy-issues-wins-fights
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2023, January 23). Fact sheet: Celebrating the Affordable Care Act. HHS.gov. https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/03/18/fact-sheet-celebrating-affordable-care-act.html#:~:text=Protected%20more%20than%20133%20million,mental%20health%20and%20prescription%20drugs
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