Nearly 500 Accomplishments by President Obama, With

Citations

I know it is hard to believe now, but it wasn’t that long ago that we had a perfectly sane, competent and adult presence in the White House. It’s only been a little over four months since that was the case, although there are times when it seems like it’s been years since then. Most of our presidents have been good for America, although most of those who haven’t have been Republican, which should shock no one. Go ahead and look it up. Name the last time a serious recession or depression happened when a Democrat was in charge.

Anyway, President Barack Obama faced more obstacles to implementing his agenda than anyone in history, despite the characterizations of many that he was some sort of disaster. And while I would like to say that the right wing generally and the Republican Party more specifically, were the reasons why his record wasn’t better, the professional left had a hand in things, too. They labeled him as a “disappointment” because he didn’t come into office and undo everything the Bush Administration had done in the first two years and they handed Congress back to the opposition with the 2010 election. And let’s be clear, unicorn progressives and professional lefties targeted him because he was black as much as the right wing. It’s really not less racist to create unrealistic expectations because he’s black than it is to trash him for his blackness. Demanding that he put on a magic dashiki and take down “the man” is just as ridiculous as blocking his agenda because you can’t allow “the black president” to be successful.

Anyone who has ever referred to President Obama as anything less than “amazing” is not paying close attention. That is why we are archiving his main accomplishments as president for posterity. And not to worry. Every single one of these accomplishments has a link to proof from a reputable source, so no one can claim they’re lies. They are all documented.

Despite the massive hurdles he faced because he was a Democrat and because he was black, President Obama accomplished a lot. And he was more progressive than anyone who beat their chest about how “progressive” they are, but proceeded to undermine him. Look at the record…

President Obama Has Done a Lot ! Here are a Few Examples to Start You Off:

President Obama was voted most admired man of the year for 2016. It was, of course, the ninth time in a row he’d been elected that. http://ti.me/2jDauHt

Despite the characterizations of some, Obama’s success rate in winning congressional votes on issues was an unprecedented 96.7% for his first year in office. Though he is often cited as superior to Obama, President Lyndon Johnson’s success rate in 1965 was only 93%. http://n.pr/i3d7cY

Despite the odds, Barack Obama was elected the first black president and then, was reelected by a wide margin.

President Obama acted with grace and dignity for eight solid years and restored a proper level of dignity to the office of the president, which we now appreciate more than ever.

Also, President Obama left office with an approval rating above 60%, more than double Bush’s last approval rating at the end and 20 points higher than his “replacement” had going into the office. http://cnn.it/2tObjz

There are also these:

President Obama loosened the rules to allow the 14 states that have legalized marijuana to some extent to regulate themselves without federal interference. http://huff.to/eQfa7j (Compare that with the Lord Donny regime, which has already announced plans to “crack down” on these states and banish the “evil weed” from all of society. As if we don’t have more important things to worry about.)

President Obama expanded national service offerings and increasing funding for groups, including tripling the size of Americorps. http://bit.ly/idgQH5

After years of neglect by the Bushies and Republicans in general, President Obama and Democrats provided $4.3 billion in additional assistance to 9/11 first responders. http://bit.ly/o7cWYS

To help those communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy, President Obama issued an executive order setting up the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, and asked Congress to approve $60 billion in supplemental assistance to aid in storm recovery. http://1.usa.gov/134L7hl (Note: It took Republicans in Congress a month to approve $9.7 billion in Sandy aid, with 67 Republicans voting against even that. You can find the list of 67 here: http://bit.ly/2sf0aWd Pay close attention to how many of these Representatives come from states who have asked for assistance many times in the past.)

President Obama expanded trade agreements like NAFTA to include stricter labor and environmental agreements. http://bit.ly/etznpY

President Obama and Democrats established funding for the design of a new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History. He also worked to protected the funding during budget negotiations with Republicnas, who think the only people we should remember are those named “Ronald Reagan.” http://on.fb.me/fD0EVO http://bit.ly/ff5Luv

President Obama and Democrats oversaw increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. http://bit.ly/dFb8qF (Now, Lord Donny and the GOP are promising to kill funding for the NEA. Not because it saves you money, but because it provides for a slightly larger tax cut for themselves.)

President Obama expanded the authority of Customs to improve enforcement of trade and customs laws and to better coordinate said enforcement among various agencies. http://bit.ly/1S5pun7

There are so many accomplishments to list, they had to be separated into categories. Here’s the first one. This is probably the most important thing anyone has done in many decades…

President Obama and Democrats Prevented a Depression and Created Substantial Growth

Though many, especially on the far right and the far left, claim disappointment in the “slow growth” of the economy, the actual record is much different. People seem to forget the dire state of the economy when President Obama took office in 2009. They shouldn’t. He received no help from Republicans at all, so it is virtually the case that he and the Democrats did everything themselves. Here are some things he did:

Less than a month after taking the oath of office, President Obama led the way to Democrats passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as “the stimulus package.” http://bit.ly/2rfLadu

President Obama also launched recovery.gov, a website that allows taxpayers to track spending from the Act. http://bit.ly/2aw6HGt

Though there are claims that the stimulus package created few or no jobs, that is a lie. http://bit.ly/2rYThfH (Republicans who refused to support anything Obama and the Democrats did created zero jobs, truthfully.)

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, saved at least 300,000 education jobs, such as teachers, principals, librarians, and counselors that would have otherwise been lost. http://bit.ly/2rYOpaJ

Thanks to quick action by President Obama and Democrats, by the end of his first year, the economy created and sustained 2.1 million jobs and the ARRA stimulated the economy by 3.5%. http://reut.rs/i46CEE

Against Republican opposition, President Obama took the steps necessary to rescue an American auto industry that was running on fumes. http://bit.ly/2rYJhmL

In doing so, President Obama saved at least 1 million jobs and possibly the entire US auto industry. http://bit.ly/ibhpxr http://bit.ly/gj7mt5

President Obama and the Democrats’ decision to invest in General Motors returned the company to its place as the premiere car company in the world. http://lat.ms/zIJuQx

In fact, GM was in such good shape after what Obama and Democrats did that, in 2016, they returned a share of their profits to employees, doling out checks for as much as $11,000. That is in addition to buying back the stock the government purchased in the bailout. http://detne.ws/1mk7Jry

President Obama doubled the funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which does research on how to improve manufacturing efficiency. http://bit.ly/eYD4nf

President Obama and Democrats in Congress took the time to increase infrastructure spending after years of neglect by Republicans, who see all spending as waste and none as investment. http://bit.ly/f77aOw

President Obama worked with Democrats in Congress to provide funding to states and the Department of Homeland Security to save thousands of police and firefighter jobs from being cut during the recession. http://bit.ly/g0IKWR

President Obama guided the massive TARP program in a way that recovered more than was actually spent, by forcing banks to pay back more of the money. http://bit.ly/2alXjlV

President Obama also established the Making Home Affordable home refinancing plan, later branded Home Affordable Refinancing Program (HARP), which is still going strong. http://1.usa.gov/goy6zl

Democrats passed and President Obama signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, which helped millions of Americans avoid preventable foreclosures and provided $2.2 billion to combat homelessness and to stabilize the housing market. http://bit.ly/2aiFCbi

President Obama implemented new rules making it easier for home buyers to get a loan to buy a condominium. http://bit.ly/2c4VPDl

President Obama signed an Executive Order creating jobs immediately by reducing the time needed for review and permitting of infrastructure projects. http://1.usa.gov/GHxaYt

President Obama and Democrats in Congress passed the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which provided first-time homebuyers with large tax credits, which helped to further stimulate the U.S. housing market and aid the recovery. http://bit.ly/dZgXXw

President Obama was able to created an institute, called “Promise Zones,” which will invest in more manufacturing jobs in the technology fields of the future. http://nyti.ms/1egyXrV

President Obama created an atmosphere that encouraged China’s largest manufacturer, Foxconn, to build a large plant in Pennsylvania http://cnnmon.ie/1k7LT4S

President Obama worked with Apple Computer to get them to build more product here. As a result, the company is building two large plants to manufacture products in the U.S.; one in Texas http://zd.net/1nkpt2O and one in Arizona. http://bit.ly/1mXY5Vg

President Obama ordered all federal contractors to pay a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour for work done on all federal contracts. http://wapo.st/1iaU5kd Since this decision, many large employers, including Disney and Walmart, have increased their minimum wage for workers in stores and other facilities. http://bit.ly/2c3iwF5

President Obama showed leadership in getting the G-20 to commit to a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis. http://nyti.ms/gHlgp5

President Obama ordered the completion of the International Trade Data System, a digital trade record book, by 2016. This move will streamline and simplify the process through which small- and medium-sized businesses set up the export of US goods. http://bit.ly/1nwSRF4 http://bit.ly/2rfQPk2

Signed bill to expand opportunities and to promote greater Native American tourism. http://bit.ly/2dTIQmo

Though he had to shame Republicans in Congress into going along, he got a $305 billion highways bill passed. This bill has the added benefit of created hundreds of thousands of new jobs and creating incentives for green cars. http://bit.ly/1NsL2Zq

In 2010 alone, more jobs were created under President Obama than were created during all eight years of the Bush Administration. http://bit.ly/hrrnjY

That’s just a start. Choose your favorite category and you’ll find many more: