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Obama Presidency Policies
President Barack Obama won the 2018 election for many reasons, including failures and issues from the Bush presidency before him. President Bush’s presidency was marked by several occurrences, the most prominent being the war with Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States declared war on these countries in the Middle East in 2001 after the September 11th attacks on the country by terrorists. Retaliation was swift and brutal with the US sending military troops to counter the terror threat masterminds in Iraq and Afghanistan. From the onset, Obama had been against launching a full-on war with the Middle Eastern countries. He declared that the war would be a dumb one and would result in more problems than solutions. As one of his campaign pledges, Obama promised to withdraw American troops from Iraq within six months. In addition to this, he vowed to close down the Guantanamo Bay prison that was used for torture of terror suspects (White). Many Americans believed that the war on Iraq had cost the country a lot in the period leading up to the 2008 election, and Obama appealed to them.
The issue from the Bush presidency that helped Obama win the 2008 presidential election was healthcare. For a long time, the United States had been the only industrialized first world country without comprehensive public health insurance for its citizens. As of 2008, more than 48 million Americans had no health insurance (White), and this was a significant policy area during the presidential campaign. President Obama offered a new healthcare plan famously referred to as Obama care that would ensure that all Americans had access to health insurance. For this reason, President Obama won over many American voters.
Works Cited
White, Deborah. “5 Reasons Why Obama Won the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election.” ThoughtCo. 25 May 2019. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/why-obama-won-2008-3325497
