5 moments of success and failure in Obama's presidency

During his eight years in office, President Obama experienced moments that marked his successes and failures in the White House.

In the recently released documentary series "The Obama Years" by Arte Films, the authors compared the work of President Obama and his White House advisers to that of an air traffic control team: they have to decide which planes need repairs, which ones need to take off, and which ones need to land.

And over the course of eight years, this team of experts has faced many difficult times.Rightmake decisions todetermine a reasonable route for the US flight plan, according toSlate.fr

Facing the financial crisis

US President Barack Obama at this meeting on March 15, 2009. Photo: AP

More than a year after taking office, on March 15, 2009, President Obama summoned key economic advisers and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to the White House to discuss the financial stabilization plan announced a month earlier.

Six months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the US is still weighing the option of partially nationalizing its banking sector. His advisersshowmany different opinions and ultimately undecidedunable to agree on a solution, the US President left the meeting to go to dinner.

This is considered one of the biggest difficulties in the first half of the White House owner's term.

ActObamacare

Right from the beginning of his term, President Obama announced his intention to persuade both houses to pass an ambitious reform of the low-income health insurance program, also known as Obamacare.

The law has caused a political controversy.andThe Republican backlash was fierce. White House legislative affairs assistant Phil Schiliro, who was very worried about the future of the law, recounted the moment he was encouraged by the President, in a conversation.

"- Phil, where are we?

- In the Oval Office, sir.

- So what is my name?

- Barack Obama

- Oh, well don't worry, I'm a very lucky person. I'm a black person, and now I'm the president of the United States. I feel lucky every second of my life."

After a period of struggle between Democrats and Republicans, the law was finally passed in 2010 without the intervention of the US Supreme Court.

Kill bin Laden

Mr. Obama and US officials monitor the operation to kill Bin Laden in the Situation Room. Photo: AP

In the fall of 2010, US intelligence received unconfirmed information that the mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Osama Bin Laden, was hiding in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Faced with divided opinions about the possibility of launching a daring raid on Pakistani soil by his advisers, the US President still decided to attack.

"The chance of Bin Laden being there was 50-50, but it was a risk worth taking," Obama later explained about giving the green light to the operation to kill the terrorist leader.

Geronim - Bin Laden's code name in the US special forces operation, was finally eliminated on May 2, 2011. This was a great political success for President Obama during his two terms in office.

Take care of the children

DayDecember 17, 2012,one month after re-election,Obama had to go through the bloodiest period in his 8 years of leading the United States, whenAn armed man carried out a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, killing 20 children.5-6 years oldand 6 adults died.

Two days later, at a meeting with the victims' families, Mr. Obama read a speech that moved the American people.prepared by consultant Valerie Jarrett.

"Taking care of our children is our top priority. This is our top priority, and if we can't do that, we can't do anything great," the speech stressed.

Hesitation on the Syria dossier

Since 2008, Mr. Obama has tried to overcome the foreign policy failures of the Bush administration, affirming his desire to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the summer of 2013, the West accused the Syrian government of carrying out a chemical attack against rebel forces and demanded sanctions against Damascus.

The White House previously declared this a red line that the Syrian government must not cross, but appeared hesitant to make the decision.conducted air strikes, along with France, against the Bashar al-Assad regime.

"Intervention in Syria is an option, but it is not necessary at this time, we are not threatened," Mr. Obama once commented.

Analysts say it was the hesitation of the US administration at that time that created an opportunity for the Syrian President, with the help of Russia, to reach an agreement to disarm chemical weapons to maintain the regime.

And the existence of the Syrian government, under any conditions, is considered a failure by the US and the West, which have repeatedly demanded that Mr. Bashar al-Assad leave unconditionally.

According to VNE