The past eight years have bore many changes in the United States of America. Whether it be good or bad, Barack Obama contributed to many of these transformations in our country. It was a period of freedom, controversy, happiness, pain, but most of all- change. Our country is divided between those who believe that Obama was one of the best things to ever happen to our country, and those who believe that he was one of the worst. Regardless of which of those categories you may fall under, you can’t deny the unavoidable changes that the US has undergone during his time in office. Now that his term is coming to a close, it’s time to reflect on everything that has changed.

To begin, Barack Obama passed a Health Care Reform called the Affordable Care Act that covered 32 million uninsured Americans. This was a huge accomplishment, as it contributed to the safety of many individuals,

He also passed the stimulus in 2009, which is a $787 billion American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. This spurred economic growth amid the greatest recession since the Great Depression. After this stimulus was signed, unemployment rates began to decrease and nearly 3.7 million new jobs were created.

Barack Obama was also able to end the war in Iraq. He ordered all United States military forces out of the country.

Osama Bin Laden was eliminated during Obama’s term after he ordered a raid of Special Forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. This was a major accomplishment considering the most powerful terrorist leader was killed and a series of al-Qaeda documents was discovered during this mission as well.

Obama repealed the 1990s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” restriction and created a new policy that allowed gay and lesbian individuals to openly serve in the military. This began a period of equality among all people and created a more accepting society that we had never seen before.

One of the most successful of his achievements was his improvement of America’s image as a whole to other nations. With his new policies, rhetoric and diplomacy, ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project included a favorable opinion of the United States. The number of countries that favored the US increased by an average of 26 percent.

Overall, this era was eventful and provided necessary change to our country and the way the people living here view our government. We are a new, strong nation and we will remain so in years to come.

Thank You, Barack Obama.