2008-Present
U.S. History Outline
Created by Patrick Lutes
Barrack Obama
 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
His Keynote Address
 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
Obama’s Presidential Campaign
 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.
Winning Democratic election
 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
The Presidential 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.
Pictures from
Election and Campaign
Obama’s First Term
 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
Cabinet
Obama’s Policies
 He repealed the the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy of 1993, that kept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 Foreign Policy
 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.
Pictures of Obama’s first Term
Events During 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
Occupy Wall Street
 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
Osama Bin Laden
Assassination
 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
Pictures of these Events
Re-Election
 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’
The Opponent and
the 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 reelection
2012 Campaign and Election
New Cabinet
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
His Inauguration and
New Work
 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
New Work continued
 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
North Korea
 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
Obama 2012-2013
Sandy Hook and
Aurora Movie Theatre Massacres
 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
Massacres Continued
 President Barack Obama, used these horrific incidents
and reasons why semi-automatic weapons should be
either illegal or harder to get
Other Events from
2012-Present
 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 Continued
 Hurricane Sandy hit the north east towards the end of
October and crushed the shore, especially New Jersey
and New York
Massacres and Events