2008-PresentU.S. History Outline

Created by Patrick Lutes

Became Senator of Illinois in January 3, 2005 after he crushed his competitor, Alan Keyes, by roughly 2 million votes

What swayed voters was his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004

All of these led to Barack Obama becoming our nation’s President in 2008

Barrack Obama

He first started talking about himself and his vision for America

Then he talked about how his vision of America matched John Kerry’s, who was running for president as the Democratic candidate

This address made Obama look like a leader, planting the seed for a Presidential run

His Keynote Address

On February 10, 2007 he announced that he would run for President

He gave voters hope, and promised changed because the majority of Americans were tired of Republican rule.

Obama’s Presidential Campaign

The Democratic seat was narrowed to two candidates, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama

After Clinton faced her defeat, she began to support Obama on June 7, 2008

Then Barack announce his vice presidential running mate, Joe Bidden from Delaware on August 23, 2008

Afterwards, he began to get ready to try to beat John McCain for the presidential seat

Winning Democratic election

McCain and Obama went at each other in three presidential debates where many saw that Obama swept

Then on election day, November 4, 2008, Obama won the presidential election receiving 365 electoral votes and 52.9 % of the popular vote.

He became the first African-American President.

The Presidential Election

Pictures from Election and Campaign

He was inaugurated on January 20, 2009 as our nation’s first 44th President

Obama did many controversial things early on in his first term like; devising a plan to withdrawal troops from Iraq, and attempted to close Guantanamo Bay,

With his presidential powers, Obama appointed the first Hispanic Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor on May 26, 2009

Obama’s First Term

Cabinet

He repealed the the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy of 1993, that kept gay and lesbian soldiers from being open about their sexuality

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was a $787 billion stimulus package that helped the US economy recover from a recession

He also cut NASA form the federal budget

Obama’s Policies

Became the first president to preside over a meeting of the United Nations Security Council

On October 21 of 2011 he announced that all soldiers in Iraq would be home within months

Although he promised to get troops out of Iraq, he poured troops into Afghanistan; by December of 2009 around 30,000 troops were sent into Afghan.

Obama’s Foreign Policy

Pictures of Obama’s first Term

The H1N1 virus was declared a national emergency in 2009; 213 countries were effected and over 16,000 reported deaths

The Wiki-Leaks scandal released important US documents regarding the Afghanistan War, Iraq War, and US diplomacy that changed opinion of the US from the viewpoints of leaders of many countries

Also, Obama won the Nobel Peace prize in 2009 for his works in strengthening international diplomacy

Events During Obama’s First Term

Began on September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park which is near Wall Street

Hundreds of protestors set up camp on the street and protested the reasons on why America was in a financial crisis

“We are the 99%” was the rallying cry used by the protestors

The protesting went nationwide, from New York to Philadelphia all the way to Oakland.

Much of the protesting has died down but there is still some campers occupying the streets

Occupy Wall Street

On May 1, 2011 US navy seals, Seal Team Six, moved in on Bin Laden’s home and shot him down.

There was much controversy surrounding how the CIA got the information; they water boarded the captured enemies and forced them to give them the info

Also the assassination was very popular in the media, various books were written and the movie ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ received critical praise

Osama Bin Laden Assassination

Pictures of these Events

Obama announced he was running for re-election on April 4, 2011

Nearly a year later on April 3, 2012 he received enough nominations to win the democratic nomination

His running mate again was Joe Biden and had a new slogan ‘Forward’

Re-Election

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, was the republican nominee and had Paul Ryan, a congressman from Wisconsin, as his running mate

The election was very close, Obama received 51.1% of votes while Romney was right behind him with 47.2%

So on November 6, 2012 Barack Obama one re-election

The Opponent and the Election

2012 Campaign and Election

New Cabinet

He replaced Hilary Clinton with John Kerry as the new Secretary of State

Then he got rid of Timothy Geithner and put Jack Lew as the new Secretary of Treasure

Obama got a new Chief of Staff when he appointed Dennis McDonough

New Cabinet

He was inaugurated again on January 21, 2013

On January 16, 2013, he announced some gun control laws that would restrict the limit of the types of guns a person can have, the amount of guns a person can posses, and if a person can get a gun

These policies were influenced by the Sandy Hook Massacre and the Aurora Movie Theatre Massacre

His Inauguration and New Work

The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012- People who earned $400,000 a year or less tax

rates were not raised People who earned more than $400,000 had

their tax rates increased Federal unemployment benefits were extended

a year

New Work continued

North Korea is quickly becoming America’s number one enemy

North Korea is openly conducting nuclear test to try to intimidate the US and actively talks about the death of America

On February 12, 2013 North Korea conducted a nuclear test and said they had minimized the nuclear device but increased its destruction

North Korea

Obama 2012-2013

On July 20, 2012 in the town of Aurora, Colorado in a movie theatre a man, James Eagan Holmes, walked into a movie screening with tactical clothing, tear gas, and semi-automatic guns and shot up the place killing 12, and injuring 58

Holmes was arrested and currently is pleading insanity

On December 14, 2012 in Newton, Connecticut, at Sandy Hook Elementary school a man, Adam Lanza, shot at and killed 27 people, some were small children, and then himself

Sandy Hook andAurora Movie Theatre Massacres

President Barack Obama, used these horrific incidents and reasons why semi-automatic weapons should be either illegal or harder to get

Massacres Continued

The Boston Marathon Bombing was when two men, Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, used two pressure cooked bombs and detonated them near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013

Tamerlan was killed during a shoot out with the Boston police, a few days later Dzhokhar was found and arrested and is currently in jail

Other Events from2012-Present

Hurricane Sandy hit the north east towards the end of October and crushed the shore, especially New Jersey and New York

Other Events Continued

Massacres and Events