Questions tagged [barack-obama]

Barack Obama served as the 44th president of the United States of America from 2009 to 2017. Use for questions specific to Barack Obama or his policies. Use with the [united-states] tag.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
4 votes
1 answer
222 views

What became of Obamacare’s grandfather fix?

While marketing the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama often said “If you like it, you can keep it.”, i.e. you would be able to keep your existing health insurance rather than having ...
-9 votes
1 answer
301 views

Why didn't Obama nominate replacement for Scalia?

When Justice Scalia died in February 2016, why didn't Obama nominate a progressive replacement while he still could instead of risking that the succeeding president nominates a conservative one, which ...
33 votes
6 answers
10k views

How did George W. Bush make torture legal and what did Obama undo?

In the George W. Bush era, how did government organizations get away with using torture? Obviously it was illegal. What legislation did they pass, and what did Obama undo? In this article, it talks ...
3 votes
2 answers
554 views

How did Obama improve the economy

Obama inherited a bad economy from Bush. My question what policies is Obama responsible for for improving the economy? What exactly did Obama do? When I look at the stats its clear during his ...
1 vote
1 answer
164 views

Is it possible for a US President to end DACA?

President Trump tried to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy that his predecessor President Obama had created. Trump's administration failed to end it. Is it ...
8 votes
1 answer
920 views

During Trump's presidency, did White Americans (on average, still) believe there was more anti-White than anti-Black bias in the US?

An interesting, perhaps, survey on perceptions of racial inequality in the US, conducted some 10 years ago, as (somewhat better) summarized in another paper (of the same authors): Norton and Sommers (...
14 votes
3 answers
2k views

Is there a "double-standard" in the SCOTUS June 2020 ruling on DACA?

On June 18, 2020, SCOTUS ruled Trump's ending of DACA was invalid. The reason -- as I understand it -- was that Trump acted by written memorandum instead of following the formal Administrative ...
61 votes
10 answers
23k views

Why won't President Obama apologize for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Why won't President Obama apologize for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? He will be visiting Hiroshima soon, and he has said that he isn't going to be apologizing.
0 votes
1 answer
498 views

Did Obama tweet in any foreign languages during his presidency?

During Obama's presidency, did he tweet (or otherwise post on social media) in any foreign languages, akin to Trump's tweet in Farsi today? (And yes, I'm aware that he probably didn't type out that ...
4 votes
3 answers
643 views

Has Trump done more for Taiwan than Obama has during their respective terms in office?

After visiting relatives living in Taiwan that a good many of them have favorable impressions towards Trump, more so than Obama. It surprises me, because Taiwan is viewed more as a liberal country ...
4 votes
3 answers
543 views

Did the Obama administration make any statements on lethal aid for Ukraine?

In today's impeachment hearing, Republicans mentioned a number of times that the Obama administration did not provide lethal aid to Ukraine, even though officials (at least today's witness Ambassador ...
23 votes
3 answers
12k views

Did Obama notify Congress (the Intelligence committees in particular) that the bin Laden raid was ongoing?

Trump said recently that he did not notify Congress that the raid on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was ongoing because Trump feared a leak from Congress. So he only notified Congress after the US ...
3 votes
5 answers
872 views

When is the authority to launch a nuclear strike transitioned?

At what exact moment in a presidential transition does the outgoing president lose and the incoming president gain the authority to launch a nuclear strike?
6 votes
4 answers
1k views

Who runs the USA when the presidents are switching?

I assume Obama wouldn't be responsible for anything that happened on the 20th January but neither Trump could be as he wouldn't have the chance to practically manage to take over the important ...
3 votes
1 answer
188 views

How does Trump's stance on Cuba differ from Obama's?

Obama administration were in the midst of restoring diplomatic relation with Cuba. Towards the last months of his presidency, he visited the nation. How does Donald Trump's policy regarding Cuba ...
10 votes
1 answer
14k views

How many bombs were dropped by the US military during Obama's entire presidency?

It was recently stated that Obama dropped a total 26 171 bombs in the year 2016 which makes me wonder: How many bombs were dropped by the US military during Obama's entire presidency? I could not ...
1 vote
1 answer
294 views

What percentage of Obama and Bush's speeches were aired?

Recently, the major over-the-air (OTA) broadcast networks aired a speech by Donald Trump on immigration. Many news organizations and commentators contrasted this to a previous decision, in 2014, to ...
6 votes
2 answers
319 views

How do Obama and Trump era uses of pepper spray and tear gas against migrants on the Mexico-US border differ?

A caravan the Trump administration discussed at length before the US midterms recently reached a port of entry, and was attacked with tear gas. After this proved controversial, there was much ...
9 votes
3 answers
699 views

Was the enacting of DACA unconstitutional?

I had seen one of the arguments towards Trump's efforts to end/reform DACA was that Obama had exceeded his Presidential power when executing such an order. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ...
-1 votes
1 answer
245 views

Did Obama make any statements on the OPM breach?

From Wikipedia's page on Office of Personnel Management data breach : In June 2015, the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced that it had been the target of a data breach ...
5 votes
2 answers
962 views

What provisions in Obamacare was Obama referring to that got snuck in?

On January 29, 2010 the House Republican caucus had its winter meeting in Baltimore, and Obama came there to speak to them and answer questions. In the course of his discussion of the healthcare ...
8 votes
1 answer
622 views

Why were Obama's refugee admissions so few during the bulk of Syrian crisis?

David French had this to say: The Syrian Civil War touched off in 2011. Here are the Syrian-refugee admissions to the U.S. until Obama decided to admit more than 13,000 in 2016: Fiscal Year 2011: 29 ...
30 votes
6 answers
15k views

Why didn't Barack Obama try to force the Senate to hold hearings on SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland?

US Constitution Article 2 says this about the appointments to the Supreme Court: [the President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint (...) Judges ...
2 votes
3 answers
502 views

Searching for an explanation of the following Trump tweet about phone taps

Does anybody understand what Trump was referring to in the following 3/4/17 tweet: How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/...
-7 votes
2 answers
236 views

Did Obama enable the US gov't to spend close to 20,000 dollars per month on every illegal immigrant's child?

This "meme" http://static.politifact.com.s3.amazonaws.com/politifact/photos/Obama_paying_illegal_kids_FB_post_1.jpg managed to get circulated to my facebook. I looked it up and according to ...
4 votes
1 answer
397 views

What did the 2012 Obama campaign election app ask of its users vs. what did it actually do?

What I mean is, if I downloaded the app: What information did the app ask of me? What did the app want me to do? What did I knowingly agree to, that the app will do? I don't seem to find a lot of ...
71 votes
3 answers
15k views

Is there a difference between how Cambridge Analytica and the Obama Campaign got Facebook users' data?

Based on this answer, and the fact that the discussion was said to get off topic and I wanted to know more, I thought about asking this question to find an answer. It seems to me that both campaigns ...
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

On what grounds can President Obama run for a third time?

Only one president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, has ever served more than two terms. A while ago President Obama has announced that he will not run a third time and said: "even if the 22nd Amendment ...
8 votes
1 answer
562 views

How does Trump's new national security plan differ from Obama's?

President Trump just recently released a new national security plan (full report). How does it differ from Obama's?
4 votes
1 answer
185 views

Could Obama have legally appointed a third party or more than three Democrats to the FCC?

I've read the president's party can only have a 3-2 majority in the FCC? Is this a law or a tradition? And, is there anything that prohibits the president from appointing a different minority to the ...
3 votes
1 answer
932 views

How did Obama "Fundamentally transform America?" [closed]

Most conservatives I talk to or hear about are very hot and bothered by what Obama has "done to America". They are very passionate about it. So passionate that I would like to understand where they ...
9 votes
1 answer
633 views

Did anyone associated with Nobel Peace Prize comment later on Barack Obama being awarded one?

There are lots of random people (ironically, both left and right) who have issues with Barack Obama being awarded Nobel Peace Prize, although perhaps for different reasons. Of course, their opinions, ...
18 votes
2 answers
7k views

What's the explanation behind Obama's joke about Bernie Sanders?

I am French and not well-informed on everything happening with the US election. Hence my puzzled state when hearing the joke Obama made about Bernie Sanders: You look like a million bucks. Or, to ...
2 votes
0 answers
160 views

Did the White House hold any Yazidi religious festivities during the Obama administration?

During the Obama administration, were any Yazidi religious festivities held in the White House? Also, what is the most populous religion (ideally worldwide but US-based is also ok) that has religious ...
3 votes
1 answer
422 views

Why did Chancellor Merkel invite just five European leaders to Berlin at "Obama's final day in Berlin"?

Chancellor Merkel held talks with US and European leaders in Berlin. Anyway, from a politico-economic union of 28 member states, just the representatives of 5 were invited. Did her office give an ...
1 vote
0 answers
146 views

Has John Kerry explained why he is against a new Iran bill?

John Kerry said on Twitter: After Rouhani’s reelection, there is much up in the air/room for misinterpretation. This is not the moment for a new Iran bill. 9:04 PM - 24 May 2017 Has he made any ...
3 votes
1 answer
802 views

Obama's 2011 ban on Iraqi refuges vs Trump's ban

Quoting ABC News: As a result of the Kentucky case, the State Department stopped processing Iraq refugees for six months in 2011, federal officials told ABC News Trump's January 25 ban applied to ...
2 votes
3 answers
1k views

Why did Obama tell Trump that North Korea would be his toughest task?

I have seen a few references to Obama telling President Trump that North Korea would be his toughest challenge. With all the other activities going on such as Russia meddling with US elections, ISIS ...
2 votes
1 answer
5k views

Where can I find the text of the DACA action?

I am looking for a PDF or website that has the actual text of the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) order that President Obama issued in 2012. Is there a PDF out there for it?
6 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why did Obama commute Chelsea Manning's sentence?

I honestly don't understand, she leaked hundreds of thousands of US government documents to WikiLeaks when she was a Private in the U.S. military, and she's going to be released on 17 May 2017 after ...
-5 votes
1 answer
346 views

What policy implication would "non-whites-only space" generate? [closed]

A group of students in Michigan is demanding a "non-whites-only" space so they can organize on social justice, specifically for people of color; (See here). The group's stated goal is to "fight ...
34 votes
5 answers
12k views

What reason would the Obama Administration have for releasing $221M to Palestine, right before leaving office?

I had just learned of this from Bradley's question here. What reasons would that administration have for suddenly giving such a large amount of money to a country in direct conflict with one of its ...
7 votes
1 answer
938 views

Difference between Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda

As seen on Wikipedia, Donald Trump seems to have signed only 1 executive order and 5 presidential memoranda, as opposed to all being executive orders. What's the difference between an executive order ...
1 vote
1 answer
349 views

Did President Obama put any conditions of the aid to Palestinians to prevent funding terrorists?

There has been a rapprochement of sorts between Hamas and the PLO recently. The Palestinian Authority's announcement that it will send 3,000 police officers to Gaza as part of a unity agreement ...
33 votes
2 answers
8k views

Could Snowden (in theory) be pardoned by the US president?

The German Tagesschau writes* that Snowden was not among those pardoned by Obama, contrary to prior speculations. As far as I am aware, pardoning means to reduce a sentence. However, I thought that ...
4 votes
1 answer
875 views

Has power been stripped away from the US Constitution, during the Obama Administration?

In an interview on 60 Minutes last month, the Republican Speaker of the House, Rep. Paul Ryan, was being asked about his opinions of Donald Trump. One of his answers included the following quote (...
3 votes
1 answer
779 views

How many jobs were created during Obama's presidency?

This report on Wikipedia seemed to indicate that about 11 million jobs were created during Obama's term. But there seems to be some controversy in the numbers, like from this source: claiming 14 ...
4 votes
3 answers
2k views

The US Congress has passed a restoration of sanctions on Iran; can the President veto it?

The US senate has passed (99 to 0) an extension of the sanctions against Iran. President Obama could veto the bill before it becomes law. The veto can be overridden. What then? What tools does ...
5 votes
8 answers
992 views

Why is the Obama administration's counter-terrorism policies different to what was promised?

In the 2008 Presidential election campaign, it seemed that Obama was wanting to stop many of the Bush-era counter-terrorism policies, such as torture, Guantanamo Bay, and excessive surveillance. He ...
2 votes
1 answer
234 views

The GOP, Obama administration, and Cuba

Why do Republicans in Congress oppose the Obama administration's rapprochement with Cuba?