Obamas First Year in Office

With the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s swearing-in as President of the United States, comparisons between his first year and office and his predecessor’s first year in office are bound to be made. Therefore, it is a useful exercise to re-examine the first year in office of Barack Obama following his swearing-in as President of the United States in 2009. This paper will examine Obama’s inaugural year in order to answer the question: Did Obama have a successful first year in office? As the evidence shows, Obama’s first year in the White House was indeed very successful.

The methodology used for this study consisted primarily of Internet searches, using Google and Google Scholar. The primary key words used to drive the searches were: “Obama’s first year in office,” “Obama 2009,” “Obama first year success,” “Obama 2009 accomplishments,” and “Obama first year successful or not.” These searches led to numerous articles from online newspapers, blogs, and journals with a variety of authors describing where and how and why Obama succeeded in the first year of his term and where and how and why he failed. Some items, like Peter Dale Scott’s The American Deep State were already familiar to the researcher and thus could be used as references to support the overall direction of the study.

If one were to judge from the numbers alone, Obama’s approval rating after one year at the helm of the U.S. indicates that his initial 12 months in the Oval Office were a resounding hit with the American public. As Jeffrey Jones of Gallup reported in January, 2010, Obama averaged a stellar 57% approval rating in his first year as the United States’ 44th President. While this rating did not put him among the top-tier first-year approval ratings of the immediate post-War presidents, such as Eisenhower (69% first year approval rating), Kennedy (76%), and Nixon (61%), it did match Ronald Reagan’s first year approval rating and exceeded Clinton’s by 8 points (Jones). Considering that in the 21st century, the U.S. is more divided than ever before (Shepard), Obama’s numbers indicated that he was able to reach across party lines in his first year in office and establish a positive rapport with the majority of Americans—which is more than his Democratic predecessor could say after one year in office.

What made Obama’s first year different? Obama had inherited a war on terror, an increasing budget deficit, a nation that was turning into a police state in many Orwellian ways, and a country that was fed up with establishment politics. He had his work cut out for him right out of the gate—and his first year in office was by no means bound to be easy. It can certainly be said that Year One had its ups and downs—but overall Obama managed to demonstrate the kind of leadership and vision that got him elected in the first place. Thus, while it could be argued that Obama’s average approval rating was so high for the first year because of the exceedingly high hope that the public invested in him (as Jones notes, “his initial approval ratings were among the highest Gallup has measured for a new president”), Obama did provide some confidence that the nation was on the right track following the dismal two-term presidency of George W. Bush, which left many Americans skeptical about the U.S.’s social, economical and political future.

It is true that Obama did not magically turn things around immediately upon entering office. He entered right when America was entering a recession: the housing bubble that had grown under Bush II popped in 2007-08 and caused GDP to crash deep into negative territory in 2009 (Amadeo). This was certainly not Obama’s fault, but the perception among some was that Obama was at least partly responsible for the state of things—especially since he voted for TARP, the bailout that allowed the big banks to put the burden of their mistakes on the backs of tax payers to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars (Hoven). However, and as Randall Hoven points out, the TARP bailout was quickly paid back to the U.S. government—with interest. The only entities that did not repay their debts were those who went bankrupt: companies like General Motors and Chrysler. Taxpayers lost about $30 billion there, but Obama argued that there really was no other option—and he provided American voters with a choice: they could embrace the stimulus plan that he was promoting, they could see things get worse, much worse. The American public chose and by February 2009—just one month into Obama’s first year in office—Congress had signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. This stimulus package was designed to help get companies producing again, help get them hiring again, and help American consumers to start consuming again. Whether one opposed the stimulus plan or embraced it, the fact is that Obama got the stimulus signed and into effect in relatively short order. This was, therefore, a major and early success for Obama.

Obama continued his run of success by signing into law within his first 100 days in office the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Play Act, which lengthened the time in which individuals could file suits in equal-pay cases; the expanded State Children’s Health Insurance Program; and obtained from Congress a resolution to address what would eventually become Obama’s signature piece of reform while in office: health care. And while some of Obama’s moves were controversial—such as his order to close Guantanamo Bay (which, of course, still remains open—a fact that illustrates some grounds for criticism of the President’s lack of follow-through that opponents—like Trump—have been quick to highlight). Likewise, Obama gave support to the UN declaration on gender identity. As a result, after slightly more than three months in office, Obama’s approval rating was at 65% (Saad) and he showed no signs of stopping his momentum.

That said, it was not all smooth sailing. The War on Terror tied up significant resources and continued to wear on without any signs of abatement. The Middle East quagmire continued to represent a problem for Obama all throughout 2009 (and, in fact, throughout the whole of his two-term presidency). Obama had campaigned on the promise of bringing U.S. troops home and getting out of the Middle East—yet throughout 2009, withdrawal simply did not happen, and the main reason, as James Antle and Dylan Loewe pointed out in a debate published by The Guardian at the start of 2010, was simply this: despite the promises made by Obama, the U.S. was committed to a policy of nation building in the Middle East. Obama was a newcomer to D.C., and the “deep state”—so-called by political writer Peter Dale Scott, who identified the real power brokers behind America’s wars in the Middle East—was much more powerful in implementing its policies than the Chicagoan was with his own in his first year in the White House. Obama had entered into his first year in office with high hopes—but when it came to the military occupation in the Middle East, hope was not enough to produce real change.

So in terms of withdrawal from the Middle East, Obama’s first year in office was not such a resounding success. However, Obama made up for this setback in other ways. He focused on scientific research and the limitations on studies centering on stem cells: he lifted the ban on stem cell research and ushered in an era of new studies that explored the ways in which the regeneration of human tissue could be achieved (Antle, Loewe). He put a stop to the Drug Enforcement Agency’s crackdown on legal medical marijuana shops, which helped set the stage for the massive, nationwide state-level reforms regarding the decriminalization of marijuana over the next several years. Obama also took aim at the tobacco industry and shepherded into law various anti-smoking acts that helped bring about increased attention among the public on the dangers of cigarettes to public health. Obama supported new ethics and transparency policies and made the Supreme Court more diverse by appointing a left-leaning Hispanic female judge to the bench (Antle, Loewe).

Finally, what shows the extent to which Obama was truly viewed as a proponent of change in the White House is the fact that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 9th, 2009. While many Americans thought that Obama had not done anything yet to deserve this award, its reception indicated that the Nobel Committee viewed Obama’s promises and pledges as good signs in and of themselves and the right course of thinking that America needed to adopt. By expressing the idea of bringing troops home and ended occupation in the Middle East, Obama was planting the seeds for a re-awakening of consciousness—and the Nobel Committee was not deaf to the deeper meaning of this expression. That is why Obama won the Peace Prize. Ironically, he would send 13,000 more troops to Afghanistan just 4 days later (Guardian Research and Information Team)—but, again, the Middle East was and has been a work in progress for the past few Administrations.

In conclusion, Obama’s first year in office was met by ups and downs. Overall, it can be judged as a success—as the numbers indicate and as the record shows. Obama achieved more than he failed to achieve, which indicates that he progressively moved along on his checklist of things to accomplish, and ticked them off, one by one, on down the list throughout 2009. While some big ticket items—like withdrawing the military from the Middle East—failed to materialize, Obama was able to generate support for his health care reform agenda. He did sign into law several acts that were important to his political base and that also helped him to reach across the political divide and bring confidence and peace to Republicans, Democrats and Independents. He broadened the field of research in the scientific community by lifting prohibitions on stem cell research. He supported the UN resolution on gender identity. He obtained the help of Congress in getting his stimulus package signed into law. And by the end of the first year, his average approval rating for 2009 was right in line with where Reagan’s average rating was after his inaugural year in office. Obama had inherited a complex set of problems that the country was facing and he offered hope and change, which inspired many to work together and approach that first year with optimism, courage, fortitude and a desire to see things get better—not just for America but for the whole world. Some setbacks were felt, but successes were achieved. And that is why after one year into his first term, more Americans than not among those polled expressed their approval for President Obama during 2009.