10 Years Ago Today Barack Obama Was Sworn In As President

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Exactly 10 years ago today, Barack Obama was sworn in as president, and many people probably wish it could have stayed that way forever. 

On January 20, 2009, Obama made history by becoming the first African-American President of the United States. His inauguration was watched by 38 million people across the US; the most watched inauguration since former President Ronald Reagan’s in 1981.

For many it was on the president’s shoulders to ‘remake’ America, and Obama certainly achieved a lot in his eight years, making incredible, positive changes within issues of race, sexuality and culture in general.

During Obama’s time in office, same-sex marriage was legalised in all 50 states across the US, a ruling which the former president called ‘a victory for America’, USA Today report.

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The father-of-two also introduced Obamacare, a scheme which offered affordable healthcare in a country where residents often heavily rely on insurance to be able to afford treatment.

The healthcare act forbid insurance agencies to deny people insurance because of age or condition; a move which no doubt changed millions of people’s lives for the better. According to Fact Check, the number of people lacking health insurance dropped by 15 million while Obama was in power.

His presidency began during the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, with the Economic Report of the President saying:

It is easy to forget how close the US economy came to an outright depression during the crisis.

Indeed, by a number of macroeconomic measures . . . the first year of the Great Recession . . . saw larger declines than at the outset of the Great Depression in 1929-30.

However, the determined man took this in his stride and implemented measures to deal with the crisis, succeeding in restoring the financial sector faster than expected, the Financial Times report.

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With Obama in office, the unemployment rate was also reportedly at the lowest it had been in the country for over 11 years.

Obama was the most powerful man in the world for eight years, and he managed to make it through his time in office without any major scandals.

In fact, according to The Huffington Post, Obama had fewer scandals during his entire eight years than President Donald Trump has had in a mere two weeks.

Norm Eisen, Obama’s former ethics advisor, said of his time in office:

Look I’m not saying everything the administration, the White House, has done is perfect.

[But] you can’t compare those to the major scandals that have afflicted previous White Houses, where people have gone to jail. There’s been nothing like that under Obama.

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As well as being a great president, Obama won our hearts with his personal relationships. His bromance with Joe Biden would take the crown for ultimate couple goals, if it weren’t for his love for wife Michelle.

The 57-year-old recently shared a tweet for the former First Lady’s birthday, with a caption that would melt even the coldest of hearts. 

Obama’s presidency came to an end in 2017, but the US will never forget the historical implications of his time in office.

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Emily Brown

Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.