President Obama's domestic and foreign policies

President Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate who defeated his Republican opponent, former Governor Mitt Romney, continued to be the owner of the White House for another 4-year term (2012-2016).

Mr. Obama will be sworn in for his second term on January 20, 2013.

Mr. Obama was a three-term Illinois state legislator (1997-2004) and also a one-term U.S. Senator (2004-2008).

US President Barack Obama when he came to vote early at a polling station in Chicago on October 25. (Source: THX/ VNA).

In the 2008 election, Mr. Obama defeated his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, becoming the first black politician to take over the White House at the age of 47, considered one of the youngest presidents in US history.

On April 4, 2011, Mr. Obama announced his re-election for a second term, with virtually no opponents within the Democratic Party, so on September 6, 2012, he was nominated as the official candidate by the Democratic National Convention.

Obama's 2012 re-election effort was seen as much more difficult than 2008, but it was finally achieved.

Mr. Obama took office in January 2009 when the US economy had just experienced the most serious crisis in 60 years.

The world's largest economy entered 2012 with continued recovery, but not firmly. The unemployment rate has increased for 25 consecutive months, but by October 2012 it was still at a high level of 7.9%, while the national debt is piling up, having exceeded the threshold of 16,000 billion USD and will soon exceed the allowable ceiling of 16,400 billion USD.

Four years ago, when he took office, the first black President of the United States pledged to do his best to reconcile and heal the divisions between the two parties and the country due to different calculations of interests.

The electoral pressure has become so heavy that even the most moderate Republicans are hesitant to join hands with the White House and the Democrats.

However, with power still divided in two in the new 113th Congress, whether the White House boss can fulfill his promise from 4 years ago remains a question.

American voters have once again trusted because they hope the next 4 years will be better with what Mr. Obama promised.

During his campaign, Mr. Obama advocated continuing to promote economic recovery; committed to creating millions of new jobs; doubling exports to support employment; halving energy imports by 2020 by developing green energy; reducing the budget deficit; increasing taxes on the wealthiest minority but reducing income taxes for the middle class and low-income families; reforming the corporate tax code to reduce taxes for companies that bring jobs back to the US from overseas; and encouraging increased production of "Made in America" ​​goods.

Mr. Obama advocates increasing investment in education and training programs with the goal of American children having access to the best education in the world, striving to be the world leader in college graduation rates by 2020; training and recruiting more teachers, eliminating the role of intermediaries so that students can directly access bank loans; continuing to have policies to attract skilled labor and talents from other countries; committing to speed up infrastructure projects, roads, bridges, railways, public transportation systems, airports, and seaports to help promote economic development; affirming the important role of small businesses; continuing to consider the agricultural economy as important in ensuring food security, exports, and job creation.

In terms of foreign affairs, during his first term, Mr. Obama fulfilled a number of promises to voters, completed the withdrawal of troops from Iraq; announced a roadmap to end the costly war in Afghanistan; eliminated international terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and a number of leaders of the Al-Qaeda group,...

Based on these foreign policy successes, Mr. Obama decided to shift America's strategic focus to the Asia-Pacific region, identifying this as the region closely linked to America's future and prosperity in the 21st century.

During his re-election campaign, Mr. Obama once again affirmed that America is number 1 but cannot solve all the challenges of the new era on its own, so it needs to continue to nurture and develop cooperative relationships with new power centers through cooperation with traditional allies, partners and international organizations.

Mr. Obama determined that America's foreign policy priorities in the coming time will continue to be anti-terrorism, preventing the proliferation of nuclear and biological weapons, cyber security and climate change.

Regarding trade, Mr. Obama has repeatedly identified this as an indispensable part of America's prosperity, committed to continuing to promote the opening of foreign markets, prioritizing the early conclusion of negotiations with other countries on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP); identifying the Latin American backyard as a large market for American exports.

The Middle East remains a priority in the policy of the second-term Obama administration.

Obama's stance is to protect his ally Israel, support the negotiation and signing of a long-term peace agreement towards the establishment of two independent states of Israel and Palestine living peacefully side by side; continue to work with Arab and world partners to resolve the crisis in Syria; continue to prioritize diplomatic solutions and economic sanctions, but also do not rule out the option of using force if Iran crosses the "red line" of building nuclear weapons.

Europe remains a region that Mr. Obama has identified as one of the cornerstones of US foreign policy, including continuing to strengthen the NATO military alliance and deploying missile interception systems in Poland, Türkiye and Romania.

With Latin America and Africa, Mr. Obama pledged to continue strengthening cooperation in counter-terrorism, combined with promoting the expansion of trade and investment opportunities; and continuing programs to combat HIV/AIDS.

With major countries, Mr. Obama pledged to continue cooperative and constructive relationships, but would be more straightforward on issues of disagreement with China.

He acknowledged Russia's role, pledged to continue cooperation on international issues; continued negotiations to reduce nuclear arsenals; and persuaded the US Congress to repeal the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which established permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) between the two countries.

Strengthening joint efforts against piracy, terrorism, disaster relief, ensuring maritime security in the Asian region, including the East Sea; committing to invest more in the long-term strategic relationship with India, helping this country become a pillar in ensuring security in the Indian Ocean region are issues that the Obama administration in the last term has attached importance to and is expected to be accelerated in the second term.

Voters have once again trusted and placed their hopes. Mr. Obama himself has and also wants to do more for the American people.

However, with a new 113th Congress still evenly divided between the two parties, the next 4 years for Mr. Obama are determined to "still have a mountain of difficulties", not to mention whether what he wants to do can overcome the power barrier that is always blocked by power struggles like in his first term from 2008-2012 or not./.

According to (TTXVN) - DT