Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America. One of the most powerful men while he was in office, arguably one of the few people that could reshape the world with a single phone call.
Obama is at the end of his final presidential term, it is important to remember him as the hard working politician that he was during his two terms of presidency. There are beautiful sentimental things to remember about him, but one must not forget the amazing man he was in terms of enforcing country changing policy or making decisions that affected the world. All the memes of Obama and Biden are great and it is a fun way to remember him, but I find that it also devalues his impact on the country and the world a bit. If he is reduced to a meme, one fails to see the monumental man he is.
One of the biggest things that Obama enacted while he was the POTUS (President of the United States) was the Affordable Care Act, or as it’s more commonly known as: Obamacare. Obamacare is: “a US healthcare reform law that expands and improves access to care and curbs spending through regulations and taxes.” Basically what it does is that provides public health insurance to all in the US.
What was really amazing about this Act was that it brought health insurance to so many people in the US that could not afford healthcare. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that healthcare in the US is ridiculously high. This act was probably the most important act that he passed and will have the most powerful long term benefits for people. One of the best things about it is that it is unlikely to be repealed, since it would need at least 60 votes in the Senate to be repealed.
The United States has had a fragile and volatile relationship since the Cold War, with incidents such as the Bay of Pigs incident (1961) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) fouling the already bad relationship between the two due to conflicting economic ideologies (Communism and Liberal Capitalism). Due to this, there was an embargo placed on Cuba by the US. This meant that no imports were allowed between the two countries, and barely any diplomatic contact. However on December 17th 2014, Obama announced he would be re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba. This would start to heal the hurt between the countries and reunite Cuban families who were separated by the embargo.
There are so many more to talk about, but I think these are the two that Obama will be remembered for the most. He is the powerful man who cared about his country, fought an uphill battle against a faulting economy and a democratic system that pitted his opponents against him at every turn. He is good for memes, but he is even better for the people of the United states of America.