Biography of Barack Obama (Part-2)
The first 100 days and the Nobel Peace Prize:
The next 100 days after a US president sits in the White House are considered very important. According to many, this 100-day work shows what the presidency is going to be like.
From the day he took office on April 29, 2009 – in these 100 days, the Obama administration has embarked on some initiatives. Obama called on Congress to increase health insurance coverage for children and provide legal assistance to women workers who are demanding equal pay.
In the first 100 days of President Barack Obama, a 6 billion bill was passed to accelerate short-term economic development. Within a year of this initiative, new jobs were created at an unprecedented pace, and by 2010, about 3.7 million private jobs had been created in the US market. Under a market-based plan, the construction and credit markets were revived by buying the unused assets of American banks.
The Obama administration is trying to stabilize the economy by passing new laws for Wall Street and providing loans for automakers.
The Obama administration also provides tax breaks for working families, small businesses, and first-time homebuyers. Until then, the Obama administration has relaxed the ban on embryo-based steam cell research, with a budget of 3.5 trillion.
In addition to domestic issues, President Obama took the initiative to streamline US foreign policy as part of his first 100 days of work.
He took steps to improve relations with Europe, China, and Russia and invited directly hostile countries such as Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba to the negotiating table. He started working with the Allies for global economic development. He hopes to deploy an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan and withdraw almost all troops from Iraq by August 2010. He also issued an almost dramatic order to attack pirates off the coast of Somalia and urged the public to be fully prepared to deal with the swine flu epidemic. He signed an order banning the brutal and inhumane interrogation methods and set a one-year deadline for closing the infamous US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba (although it was not closed in the end). Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for his efforts to close Guantanamo and his other philanthropic work.
First-term work and achievements:
In the first term, Obama sought to double the production and use of alternative fuels. In 2009, he set a deadline of 2020 for all government agencies to reduce environmental pollution. It also called for a 30 percent reduction in petrol and a 26 percent improvement in the water supply. Obama became more popular with the general public by signing the Consumer Protection Act in 2010.
With millions of students in mind, he took the initiative to reduce the cost of education. That same year, Barack Obama signed the Budget Control Act 2011 to control state spending and ensure the administration’s financial accountability.
In the second half of Obama’s first term, Poha had a hard time implementing his initiatives, but in most cases, he succeeded. The famous ‘Obama Care’ is one of the projects that he had to get the most speed to implement. Despite strong opposition from Republican members of Congress and the T-Party movement, he signed a plan to overhaul the health care system.
Through this, he established the “Affordable Healthcare Act.” This law is called “Obama Care.”
The law obliges all medical care providers to provide free medical care to any citizen under the age of 28 under their parents’ health insurance.
At the same time, the coverage of health insurance services has increased due to this law and more citizens are covered by free health services than before. Opponents of the law claim that much of the already excessive national budget will be spent implementing the law. Moreover, this law is also against the constitution. Because it says that every citizen must have his insurance, they also claim that the government wants to take over the healthcare business. Most of these opponents saw healthcare as a means of making a business profit.
Obama has also had to go through a lot of economic challenges. In passing the 2011 Budget Control Act, he had to negotiate a lot with the Republicans who control the American House of Representatives.
Second term president:
Like in 2008, in the 2012 election campaign, he emphasized the advantages and disadvantages of the typical person. Several famous Hollywood stars extended a helping hand by participating in his election campaign and raising funds.
“I assure you, we’re going to take this country forward,” Obama said at an election rally in Maryland in June 2012. We will finish what we started and remind the world once again why Americans are the best of the nations of the world.”
Republican nominee Mitt Romney was Obama’s main rival in the second term. In the November 8, 2012 election, Obama won a second term with nearly five million more votes than Romney.
Significant initiatives and achievements of the second term:
On January 21, 2013, Obama firmly began his second term. In his inaugural address, Obama called on the public to be aware of climate change and the right to health care.
As promised in the pre-election campaign, Obama passed a law raising taxes on owners of excess assets. As a result, it is possible to impose more taxes on income earners of 4 lakh or more a year, and this money is used to cover the deficit of government expenditure. However, Obama had to go through a lot of trouble to persuade Republicans to legislate the bill.
Obama’s biggest challenge in the country was handling the terrorist bombing of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013.
The attack killed three people and seriously injured 200 others. Speaking at a memorial service three days after the attack, Obama said: “Your country is with you. We will be with you. You will learn to stand up again. I have no doubt about that. Bostonians, you have shown us that Americans know how to stand up for good even in the face of adversity. We will show mercy in the face of cruelty.”
By June of that year, Obama was in danger again. A joint international survey by CNN and ORC found that his international acceptance rating had dropped significantly. The Obama administration is targeting conservative political organizations seeking tax exemptions, and the Obama administration is trying to cover up the deaths of Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans. Was being done.
Obama’s rating fell to a low of 45 percent in the previous 18 months. According to experts, another reason for the decline in popularity was the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) new surveillance measures. However, Obama said the move had thwarted about 50 sabotage attempts so far.
In early July 2013, Obama made history once again by meeting with another former president, George W. Bush, in Africa. The purpose of the meeting was to mark the 15th anniversary of al Qaeda’s first attack on an American facility. On this occasion, they visited the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya together. This is the first time the two American presidents have met outside the country to commemorate an attack.
International Challenge:
In late August 2013, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reportedly used chemical weapons on his country’s civilians, killing more than 400 children and thousands of innocent people. Obama condemned the actions of the Syrian authorities, saying: “This is a serious threat to the United States and to the region (around Syria). And Assad and Syria must face trial. “
In the wake of this incident, Obama began contacting Congress and the international community to garner support for the operation in Syria. But most members of the international community and Congress took a stand against the military operation.
Later, on September 10, 2010, Obama announced to Bashar al-Assad: “If Syria accepts Russia’s chemical weapons disarmament agreement, there will be no more US attacks.” Bashar al-Assad later accepted Russia’s offer.
That same month, Obama sought a diplomatic solution to his country’s problems with Iran. He spoke by telephone with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the first direct conversation between the two heads of state in 30 years.
According to many, that was a good sign that the relations between the two countries had cooled down. After the talks, Obama told a news conference that there was a good chance that Iran would lift US sanctions on Iran if it shut down its nuclear program.
Obama Care and Internal Problems:
In October 2013, Obama ran into a major internal administrative problem. Disagreements with Republicans over the state budget and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) rendered the US administration useless for 16 days.
In his weekly address, after reaching an agreement to address the situation, Obama expressed his frustration with the situation and the need for political reform: “It’s important to change the way things are going in Washington. Now that the cloud of disaster has lifted, we need to rethink why the American people are sending us here – they have sent us here to develop the economy, create better jobs, strengthen the middle class, build a better life and technology, and in all cases have a strong and sustainable nation. To do.”
That same month, Obama Care got into even more trouble. The newly launched government healthcare website (healthcare.gov) fails to function properly. From the first week of the launch, customers started facing various problems.
The help of non-governmental organizations is needed to solve the problem of the website. Many are also attacking Obama’s new health care law, saying that many old health insurers are losing their insurance due to the law. Although Obama has repeatedly confirmed – no such thing is likely to happen.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Obama insisted that insurance companies, not the law, were to blame. Obama said: “Remember, before the Affordable Care Act, ultra-profitable insurers used to control how much you could receive each year. They would also deduct huge amount of your premium money for your regular minor health problems.”
In an interview with NBC, Obama apologized to those who lost their insurance because of the new system, saying: “I’m very sorry that so many people have fallen into this trap. We will try our best to solve this problem for them.”
Overseas Problem Solving:
Towards the end of 2013, the Obama administration once again faced challenges in foreign relations. In October 2013, then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel claimed that US security agencies were intercepting her mobile phone.
“Spying on friends can never be acceptable,” he told a conference of European leaders. In light of this, in November 2013, Obama’s international acceptance rating dropped even lower than before. According to a CBS News poll, only 36 percent of Americans think Obama is fit to serve as President, and 56 percent think he is not doing the right thing.
The following year, Russia’s occupation of Crimea and a change in Ukraine’s internal politics also put pressure on Obama. In addition, in 2014, Israel put the US administration in even more trouble by killing and torturing innocent civilians in Gaza, Palestine unjustly. Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House, John Bohner, is preparing a lawsuit against President Obama for allegedly exerting influence outside of power.
In August 2014, for the first time, Obama ordered airstrikes against Islamic State, or IS, a militant group that has occupied parts of Iraq, Iran and Syria. The following month, the US Air Force began attacking IS targets in Syria. However, Obama has repeatedly expressed reluctance to send American troops to the war. Several Arab countries also joined the United States in the campaign against IS.
In his address to the nation about the campaign, Obama said: “Killers understand a language best, and that is the language of power. That is why the United States, together with its allies, will destroy this vicious circle. “