The presidency of Barack Obama has inherited some difficulties in both domestic and foreign policies. For example, the crisis of 2008, war in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc. As he directed his power towards this tensions we can estimate them as main features of his policy.

       To begin with, in 2009, the nation's leading banks and other financial institutions were in serious danger of collapse. The economy had stopped growing and was hemorrhaging jobs, with the unemployment rate nearing 10%. Housing prices were in freefall, leading to numerous foreclosures.

Even before taking the oath of office, Obama had endorsed President George W. Bush's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a $700-billion initiative to rescue the nation's major banks by lending enough money to keep them solvent. As President, Obama also directed some TARP funds to General Motors and Chrysler in an effort to keep the automobile industry from going bankrupt. TARP worked—all the banks and auto companies survived and by the end of 2009 they already had repaid the government more than $600 billion—but many voters perceived the program as a bailout for wealthy bankers and corporate executives.

Obama's first major recommendation to Congress was for an $800-billion economic stimulus package: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. About one-third of the money involved grants to state governments to keep them from laying off public employees or reducing unemployment compensation; about one-third went for bridges, highways, sewage treatment facilities, and other infrastructure projects; and the remaining third was for middle-class tax cuts.

Secondly, Obama’s Health Care program can be mentioned as one of the most important features of his domestic policy. On the 23^rd of March, 2010, Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. One week later he signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. The Obama Health Care Plan or Obama Care Plan is a plan for health care reform in the US. This plan was presented as a new health care bill. The law is officially titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and is sometimes called “ObamaCare” or the Affordable Care Act for short. The new health care law has already aided millions of Americans afford better quality health insurance, helped to reform the health insurance industry, and has expanded Americans healthcare rights. The bill also aims to reduce wasteful spending in healthcare.

Obama elaborated on the agenda that he offered at the inauguration, while adding to the list calls for greater federal support for early childhood education, immigration reform to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, an increase in the minimum wage, and new gun control legislation. . An important partial exception was immigration reform, which many Republicans were open to—not because of Obama, but because their dismal performance in the election among Latino voters made them want to repair their image as an anti-immigrant party. In 2013, a bipartisan majority of the Senate passed the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act—an immigration reform bill creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Also one of the benefits of his internal policy was the Climate Action Plan, which resulted in the Environmental Protection Agency ordering such severe reductions in carbon emissions from power plants as to reduce the nation’s coal plant capacity by nearly one-third.

Obama has made modest progress on global nuclear security and climate change, with plenty more to do in both. He has engaged with longtime adversaries Cuba and Iran, producing positive results. His trip to Cuba in March 2016 brought dramatic changes in U.S. policy. It signaled the end of America’s 55-year-long Cold War with Cuba, a development that was punctuated last week by the death of Fidel Castro. The visit was widely praised throughout Latin America. Obama criticized Cuba’s human rights record, but he connected with its people. His premise in opening relations with Cuba was that engagement would bring about more change than decades of isolation.

The nuclear agreement that the U.S. and five allies reached with Iran in 2015 was a solid arms control achievement. Critics argued we shouldn’t deal with Iran, but the Obama administration attacked the most critical problem — Iran’s march toward nuclear weapons — and negotiated terms that paused Iran’s quest to develop a nuclear strike capability. By design, the agreement did not solve many other problems with Iran, including its support for the Syrian government and for insurgents in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. Efforts to improve our overall relationship with Iran have proven to be disappointing.

Obama also made progress on the environment protection. The 2015 Paris agreement on climate change has been signed by over 100 nations, including the United States, China and India, the three largest producers of greenhouse gases. If fully implemented, it should substantially curb greenhouse emissions over the next 15 years.

However, the president has had some notable missteps. He did not clearly, forcefully and patiently articulate America’s role in the world to the American people. His surge of 60,000 troops in Afghanistan has not worked, with the Taliban resurgent and controlling more territory, and with no end in sight to the fighting. His initiatives in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Iraq and his efforts to counter the rise of the Islamic State have fallen short. So, the U.S. policy Obama inherited in the Middle East was a muddle and remains a muddle. The region is no better off now than at the beginning of the president’s term, and may well be more turbulent and conflicted.

In their relations with Russia, which Obama tried to reset, tensions have escalated. Russia seized the Crimean peninsula and began providing military support to separatists in eastern Ukraine. America’s response has been a rather porous sanction regime based on Obama’s view that these areas are a core interest for Russia but marginal for the U.S.

Obama’s approach to foreign policy has been marked by restraint, notably his reluctance to use force. He has used drones for surveillance, targeted terrorists with airstrikes and imposed sanctions on nations and individuals, but he has ruled out large-scale intervention.

By and large, Obama has supported the network of laws, institutions and agreements that have created a more connected, interdependent world. With some stops and starts, he has tried to make America a force for good so people can live, as he has often said, with the peace and dignity they deserve.

My impression is that, during his presidency, the United States has become stronger, safer and more prosperous. We remain the guarantor of global order and security. The U. S. are far from perfect, but America is unquestionably the world’s leading power, with unrivaled military, technological and economic strength. The U.S. is still the indispensable nation, and their position in the world is paramount.

58 George Bush domestic foreign policy

George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, he worked in the oil industry. Following Republican efforts to pass the Medicare Act of 2003, Bush signed the bill, which included major changes to the Medicare program by providing beneficiaries with some assistance in paying for prescription drugs, while relying on private insurance for the delivery of benefits. The retired persons lobby group AARP worked with the Bush Administration on the program and gave their endorsement. Bush said the law, estimated to cost $400 billion over the first ten years, would give the elderly "better choices and more control over their health care" In 2002, Bush announced the Clear Skies Act of 2003, which aimed at amending the Clean Air Act to reduce air pollution through the use of emissions trading programs. Many experts argued that this legislation would have weakened the original legislation by allowing higher emission rates of pollutants than were previously legal.[156] The initiative was introduced to Congress, but failed to make it out of committee. On July 19, 2006, Bush used his veto power for the first time in his presidency to veto the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. The bill would have repealed the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, thereby permitting federal money to be used for research where stem cells are derived from the destruction of an embryo.On May 21, 2008, Bush signed into law the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).The bill aimed to protect Americans against health insurance and employment discrimination based on a person's genetic information. The issue had been debated for 13 years before it finally became law. The measure is designed to protect citizens without hindering genetic research.

 Domestic policy In July 2001, Bush visited Pope John Paul II at Castel Gandolfo. During his Presidential campaign, Bush's foreign policy platform included support for stronger economic and political relationship with Latin America, especially Mexico, and a reduction of involvement in "nation-building" and other small-scale military engagements. The administration pursued a national missile defense.[219] Bush was an advocate of China's entry into the World Trade Organization.In his 2002 State of the Union Address, Bush referred to an axis of evil including Iraq, Iran and North Korea.[221] After the September 11 attacks on New York, Bush launched the War on Terror, in which the United States military and a small international coalition invaded Afghanistan. In 2003, Bush then launched the invasion of Iraq, searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction, which he described as being part of the War on Terrorism.[222] Those invasions led to the toppling of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the removal of Saddam Husseinfrom power in Iraq. In March 2006, Bush reversed decades of U.S. policy when he visited India; the trip led to renewed ties between the two countries. The visit focused particularly on areas of nuclear energy, counter-terrorism cooperation, and discussions that would eventually lead to the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement.The September 11 terrorist attacks were a major turning point in Bush's presidency. That evening, he addressed the nation from the Oval Office, promising a strong response to the attacks. He also emphasized the need for the nation to come together and comfort the families of the victims. Three days after the attacks, Bush visited Ground Zero and met with Mayor Rudy Giuliani, firefighters, police officers, and volunteers. To much applause, Bush addressed the gathering via a megaphone while standing in a heap of rubble: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."

In a September 20 speech, Bush condemned Osama bin Laden and his organization Al-Qaeda, and issued an ultimatum to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, where bin Laden was operating, to "hand over the terrorists, or ... share in their fate" On October 7, 2001, U.S. and British forces initiated bombing campaigns that led to the arrival of Northern Alliance troops in Kabul on November 13. The main goals of the war were to defeat the Taliban, drive al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, and capture key al-Qaeda leaders. In December 2001, the Pentagon reported that the Taliban had been defeated, but cautioned that the war would go on to continue weakening Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. Later that month the UN had installed the Afghan Transitional Administration chaired by Hamid Karzai. In 2002, based on UNICEF figures, Nicholas Kristof reported that "our invasion of Afghanistan may end up saving one million lives over the next decade" as the result of improved healthcare and greater access to humanitarian aid. Beginning with his January 29, 2002 State of the Union address, Bush began publicly focusing attention on Iraq, which he labeled as part of an "axis of evil" allied with terrorists and posing "a grave and growing danger" to U.S. interests through possession of weapons of mass destruction.In the latter half of 2002, CIA reports contained assertions of Saddam Hussein's intent of reconstituting nuclear weapons programs, not properly accounting for Iraqi biological and chemical weapons, and that some Iraqi missiles had a range greater than allowed by the UN sanctions.Contentions that the Bush Administration manipulated or exaggerated the threat and evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities would eventually become a major point of criticism for the president