A look back at Obama's first term.
April 4, 2012 |
1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a
century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the
Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans
beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut
health care cost growth, the number one cause of America’s long-term
fiscal problems.
2. Passed the Stimulus: Signed $787 billion American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid greatest recession
since the Great Depression. Weeks after stimulus went into effect,
unemployment claims began to subside. Twelve months later, the private
sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has
continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of
nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial
sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law
tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial
institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and
exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid
chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’
money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on
abusive lending products and companies.
4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
5. Began Drawdown of War in Afghanistan: From a peak of 101,000
troops in June 2011, U.S. forces are now down to 91,000, with 23,000
slated to leave by the end of summer 2012. According to Secretary of
Defense Leon Panetta, the combat mission there will be over by next
year.
6. Eliminated Osama bin laden: In 2011, ordered special forces raid
of secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist
leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was discovered.
7. Turned Around U.S. Auto Industry: In 2009, injected $62 billion in
federal money (on top of $13.4 billion in loans from the Bush
administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes
and agreements for massive restructuring. Since bottoming out in 2009,
the auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. In 2011, the Big
Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two
decades. The government expects to lose $16 billion of its investment,
less if the price of the GM stock it still owns increases.
8. Recapitalized Banks: In the midst of financial crisis, approved
controversial Treasury Department plan to lure private capital into the
country’s largest banks via “stress tests” of their balance sheets and a
public-private fund to buy their “toxic” assets. Got banks back on
their feet at essentially zero cost to the government.
9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: Ended 1990s-era restriction and
formalized new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the
military for the first time.
10. Toppled Moammar Gaddafi: In March 2011, joined a coalition of
European and Arab governments in military action, including air power
and naval blockade, against Gaddafi regime to defend Libyan civilians
and support rebel troops. Gaddafi’s forty-two-year rule ended when the
dictator was overthrown and killed by rebels on October 20, 2011. No
American lives were lost.
11. Told Mubarak to Go: On February 1, 2011, publicly called on
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to accept reform or step down, thus
weakening the dictator’s position and putting America on the right side
of the Arab Spring. Mubarak ended thirty-year rule when overthrown on
February 11.
12. Reversed Bush Torture Policies: Two days after taking office,
nullified Bush-era rulings that had allowed detainees in U.S. custody to
undergo certain “enhanced” interrogation techniques considered inhumane
under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush legal
rulings supporting the use of these techniques.
13. Improved America’s Image Abroad: With new policies, diplomacy,
and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S.
(and the corresponding loss of “soft power”) during the Bush years. From
2008 to 2011, favorable opinion toward the United States rose in ten of
fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an
average increase of 26 percent.
14. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell
Grant Spending: As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed
measure ending the wasteful decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to
provide college loans. Starting July 2010 all students began getting
their federal student loans directly from the federal government.
Treasury will save $67 billion over ten years, $36 billion of which will
go to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.
15. Created Race to the Top: With funds from stimulus, started $4.35
billion program of competitive grants to encourage and reward states for
education reform.
16. Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards: Released new fuel efficiency
standards in 2011 that will nearly double the fuel economy for cars and
trucks by 2025.
17. Coordinated International Response to Financial Crisis: To keep
world economy out of recession in 2009 and 2010, helped secure from G-20
nations more than $500 billion for the IMF to provide lines of credit
and other support to emerging market countries, which kept them liquid
and avoided crises with their currencies.
18. Passed Mini Stimuli: To help families hurt by the recession and
spur the economy as stimulus spending declined, signed series of
measures (July 22, 2010; December 17, 2010; December 23, 2011) to extend
unemployment insurance and cut payroll taxes.
19. Began Asia “Pivot”: In 2011, reoriented American military and
diplomatic priorities and focus from the Middle East and Europe to the
Asian-Pacific region. Executed multipronged strategy of positively
engaging China while reasserting U.S. leadership in the region by
increasing American military presence and crafting new commercial,
diplomatic, and military alliances with neighboring countries made
uncomfortable by recent Chinese behavior.
20. Increased Support for Veterans: With so many soldiers coming home
from Iraq and Iran with serious physical and mental health problems,
yet facing long waits for services, increased 2010 Department of
Veterans Affairs budget by 16 percent and 2011 budget by 10 percent.
Also signed new GI bill offering $78 billion in tuition assistance over a
decade, and provided multiple tax credits to encourage businesses to
hire veterans.
21. Tightened Sanctions on Iran: In effort to deter Iran’s nuclear
program, signed Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and
Divestment Act (2010) to punish firms and individuals who aid Iran’s
petroleum sector. In late 2011 and early 2012, coordinated with other
major Western powers to impose sanctions aimed at Iran’s banks and with
Japan, South Korea, and China to shift their oil purchases away from
Iran.
22. Created Conditions to Begin Closing Dirtiest Power Plants: New
EPA restrictions on mercury and toxic pollution, issued in December
2011, likely to lead to the closing of between sixty-eight and 231 of
the nation’s oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants. Estimated cost
to utilities: at least $11 billion by 2016. Estimated health benefits:
$59 billion to $140 billion. Will also significantly reduce carbon
emissions and, with other regulations, comprises what’s been called
Obama’s “stealth climate policy.”
23. Passed Credit Card Reforms: Signed the Credit Card
Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (2009), which
prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance
notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and
strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
24. Eliminated Catch-22 in Pay Equality Laws: Signed Lilly Ledbetter
Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the
same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the
discrimination, even if that discrimination happened years ago. Under
previous law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Ledbetter v.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits
ran out 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the
victims never knew about it.
25. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court: Nominated
and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and
third woman to serve, in 2009; and Elena Kagan, the fourth woman to
serve, in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens,
respectively.
26. Improved Food Safety System: In 2011, signed FDA Food Safety
Modernization Act, which boosts the Food and Drug Administration’s
budget by $1.4 billion and expands its regulatory responsibilities to
include increasing number of food inspections, issuing direct food
recalls, and reviewing the current food safety practices of countries
importing products into America.
27. Achieved New START Treaty: Signed with Russia (2010) and won
ratification in Congress (2011) of treaty that limits each country to
1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from
more than 1,400), and reestablished and strengthened a monitoring and
transparency program that had lapsed in 2009, through which each country
can monitor the other.
28. Expanded National Service: Signed Serve America Act in 2009,
which authorized a tripling of the size of AmeriCorps. Program grew 13
percent to 85,000 members across the country by 2012, when new House GOP
majority refused to appropriate more funds for further expansion.
29. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection: Signed Omnibus
Public Lands Management Act (2009), which designated more than 2 million
acres as wilderness, created thousands of miles of recreational and
historic trails, and protected more than 1,000 miles of rivers.
30. Gave the FDA Power to Regulate Tobacco: Signed the Family Smoking
Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (2009). Nine years in the making and
long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco
manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new
tobacco products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette
warning labels, and bans the sale of misleadingly labeled “light”
cigarette brands and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.
31. Pushed Federal Agencies to Be Green Leaders: Issued executive
order in 2009 requiring all federal agencies to make plans to soften
their environmental impacts by 2020. Goals include 30 percent reduction
in fleet gasoline use, 26 percent boost in water efficiency, and
sustainability requirements for 95 percent of all federal contracts.
Because federal government is the country’s single biggest purchaser of
goods and services, likely to have ripple effects throughout the economy
for years to come.
32. Passed Fair Sentencing Act: Signed 2010 legislation that reduces
sentencing disparity between crack versus powder cocaine
possessionfrom100 to1 to 18 to1.
33. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense: Cut the Reagan-era “Star
Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled
plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech
Republic in favor of sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North
Korea.
34. Began Post-Post-9/11 Military Builddown: After winning agreement
from congressional Republicans and Democrats in summer 2011 budget deal
to reduce projected defense spending by $450 billion, proposed new DoD
budget this year with cuts of that size and a new national defense
strategy that would shrink ground forces from 570,000 to 490,000 over
the next ten years while increasing programs in intelligence gathering
and cyberwarfare.
35. Let Space Shuttle Die and Killed Planned Moon Mission: Allowed
the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, dangerous shuttle
program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off funding for
even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to
build moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit
ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned
flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest
interplanetary rover ever launched, which will investigate Mars’s
potential to support life.
36. Invested Heavily in Renewable Technology: As part of the 2009
stimulus, invested $90 billion, more than any previous administration,
in research on smart grids, energy efficiency, electric cars, renewable
electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels.
37. Crafting Next-Generation School Tests: Devoted $330 million in
stimulus money to pay two consortia of states and universities to create
competing versions of new K-12 student performance tests based on
latest psychometric research. New tests could transform the learning
environment in vast majority of public school classrooms beginning in
2014.
38. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges: In effort to fight
predatory practices of some for-profit colleges, Department of Education
issued “gainful employment” regulations in 2011 cutting off
commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more
than 35 percent of former students aren’t paying off their loans and/or
if the average former student spends more than 12 percent of his or her
total earnings servicing student loans.
39. Improved School Nutrition: In coordination with Michelle Obama,
signed Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010 mandating $4.5 billion
spending boost and higher nutritional and health standards for school
lunches. New rules based on the law, released in January, double the
amount of fruits and vegetables and require only whole grains in food
served to students.
40. Expanded Hate Crimes Protections: Signed Hate Crimes Prevention
Act (2009), which expands existing hate crime protections to include
crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in
addition to race, color, religion, or national origin.
41. Avoided Scandal: As of November 2011, served longer than any
president in decades without a scandal, as measured by the appearance of
the word “scandal” (or lack thereof) on the front page of the
Washington Post.
42. Brokered Agreement for Speedy Compensation to Victims of Gulf Oil
Spill: Though lacking statutory power to compel British Petroleum to
act, used moral authority of his office to convince oil company to agree
in 2010 to a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater
Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; $6.5 billion already paid out
without lawsuits. By comparison, it took nearly two decades for
plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez Alaska oil spill case to receive $1.3
billion.
43. Created Recovery.gov: Web site run by independent board of
inspectors general looking for fraud and abuse in stimulus spending,
provides public with detailed information on every contract funded by
$787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Thanks partly to
this transparency, board has uncovered very little fraud, and Web site
has become national model: “The stimulus has done more to promote
transparency at almost all levels of government than any piece of
legislation in recent memory,” reports Governing magazine.
44. Pushed Broadband Coverage: Proposed and obtained in 2011 Federal
Communications Commission approval for a shift of $8 billion in
subsidies away from landlines and toward broadband Internet for
lower-income rural families.
45. Expanded Health Coverage for Children: Signed 2009 Children’s
Health Insurance Authorization Act, which allows the Children’s Health
Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover health care for 4 million more
children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.
46. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide: In 2009, EPA declared
carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate its
production.
47. Expanded Stem Cell Research: In 2009, eliminated the Bush-era
restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, which shows promise in
treating spinal injuries, among many other areas.
48. Provided Payment to Wronged Minority Farmers: In 2009, signed
Claims Resolution Act, which provided $4.6 billion in funding for a
legal settlement with black and Native American farmers who the
government cheated out of loans and natural resource royalties in years
past.
49. Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Helped South Sudan
Declare Independence: Appointed two envoys to Sudan and personally
attended a special UN meeting on the area. Through U.S. ambassador to
the United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, helped negotiate a peaceful
split in 2011.
50. Killed the F-22: In 2009, ended further purchases of Lockheed
Martin single-seat, twin-engine, fighter aircraft, which cost $358
million apiece. Though the military had 187 built, the plane has never
flown a single combat mission. Eliminating it saved $4 billion.
Paul
Glastris, Ryan Cooper, and Siyu Hu collaborated on this article.
Glastris is the editor in chief of the Washington Monthly. Cooper and Hu
are interns at the magazine.
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