Analysis of Barack Obama's Leadership, Policies, and Legacy

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of Barack Obama's presidency, focusing on his transformational leadership style and its impact on his political successes. It explores how Obama utilized his oratory skills and leadership to inspire and unite diverse groups, ultimately leading to his election as the first African American President of the United States. The essay examines key policies, including the Affordable Care Act, and assesses both the successes and failures of his administration, such as the handling of the Iraq War and foreign policy challenges. Additionally, it evaluates the views on Obama's legacy, considering his contributions to social progress, criminal justice reform, and climate change initiatives. The essay concludes with an overview of the challenges and achievements that defined Obama's time in office, offering a balanced perspective on his impact on American and global politics.

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POLITICAL LEADER- BARACK OBAMA
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BARACK OBAMA
INTRODUCTION
Barack Obama, the first African American to be elected as the President of the United States
and Commander in Chief. His career as a politician started off in 1996 where he was chosen
into the Illinois State Senate where he held the position for eight years. Post which, on 16th
December 2004, he participated for and won the Democratic elections with more than 50%
votes for the U.S. Senate. Further in July 2004, Barack Obama conveyed the Democratic
National Convention keynote address, which ‘propelled Obama into spotlight’ and during
the end of the year 2004 in November, he became victory and thereby took the position in the
U.S. Senate Seat with 70% vote. But after three long years, Barack Obama had officially
announced his chase for the position of the President. He was one of the youngest contenders
for the position after Theodore Roosevelt and John Kennedy. Although some people think
that Obama was the one who ensured breaking the ice across all racial borders and
restrictions so as to be elected as the first black president of the United States, however his
victory was much deeper than only the skin colour and deserves assessment of his oratory. He
has been successfully portrayed as a porthole in the American mind as well as an echo
wherein what one views is dependent on what a person is and where he stands. The success
of Barack Obama is due to the campaigning conducted by him which focussed mainly to his
transformational oratory and transformational leadership styles as well which helped to bring
together philosophies and beliefs which in turn helped him win the presidential elections.
HOW BARACK OBAMA GREW SUCCESSFUL BY FOLLOWING
TRANSFORMATION LEADERSHIP STYLE
In simple terms, transformational leadership is defined as a knack to motivate a group of
individuals to move along with the vision and aims of a leader with an expectation of a good
result for both the self as well as the people at large. Thus a leader who follows the path of
inspiring, motivating and stimulating a group of individuals to work as is being asked by him
for the benefit of the masses and the community as a whole is said to follow the said form of
leadership style and Barack Obama is one of the best example to have followed the same
(Tirlea, 2016). Thus this enabled the then president to gain success as the said view succeeds
in a state of affairs which loads for the people to labour in the direction of gaining a control
situation, influence or alter an organisational procedure or business model, accomplish a
progress or other submissions that calls for a huge group of a people altering manners in
support of a combined aim.

The said form of leadership is different from the many other styles since it goes far beyond
personality, behaviours and descriptions (Hanson, 2014). Transformational form of leading
people is all about inspiring, mental power, charm and individualised thoughtfulness. The
same is possible to reach to the people simply via communication and Barack Obama being a
good orator was being able to inspire and touch the lives of the people of America via the
said style of leadership (Smallwood, 2009). The speeches delivered by Obama clearly prove
that he followed this style of leadership which ensured that he attains success during his
tenure as a President of the country. On evaluating some speeches delivered by Barack
Obama it is clear that transformational form of leadership can be attained only through
effective communication (Jones, 2009). A President who was one of the most successful ones
as he was the one who enabled to drag the country out of the recession and helped it in
regaining his financial and economic condition. Taking advantage of the transformational
speech-making was the main weapon with the help of which Obama effectively inspired
many races, generations, societies and economic clusters thereby transforming his
communication and viewpoints so as to meet the needs and the requirements of the populace
within an assorted people. At various occasions with the help of common language, Barack
Obama left principles and ambitions unwrap to analysis which cultivated the occasion to
appeal the oodles (Burton, 2016). Because Obama belongs to a family with diverse cultures
and was also academically a bright student at an Ivy League school with scholarships, he is a
true portray of the fact that an American Dream is not impossible for the citizens. Since he
himself had lived the American Dream, hence was also successful and considered to be the
perfect man who could help to create a situation for triumph for other Americans. He proved
that America is such a country where a common man can easily fulfil his dreams by a little
bit of self-determination thereby be able to live a bright life (Immelman, 2010).
BARACK OBAMA- SUCCESSES A POLTIICAL LEADER
The success that the president of USA Barack Obama has attained can be understood by the
number of successes he has actually been able to achieve. There are various areas where his
works has lead to successful contributions. Certain policies implemented by him has led to
social progression thereby resolving some of the most controversial issues, reviving from the
financial crisis of 2008, the Iraq conflicts also came to a halt and efforts were being made so
as to take care of the climate alterations taking place(Mardell, 2011).

First and foremost, the Obama period helped to take care of one of the most critical social
issue on gay rights. He had put a halt forever to the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy on 2011.
This step permitted the gay members and participants of the military to serve without any
boundaries. The most memorable social issues which he resolved was by giving a green
signal to the gay marriage in the wake of a divided opinion of the public in 2012 and finally
after three long years in 2015, the Apex court declared that same sex coupe marriages are
valid and acceptable in the eyes of the law. Second issue which the President Barack Obama
helped to resolve was when he took over the presidential seat under such conditions when the
economy was not so good. There was huge unemployment witnessed due to the financial
crisis which took place in 2008, followed by crashing of the stock market, bankruptcies of
various companies wherein the overall scenario seemed to be blurred. Unfortunately in the
year 2009 the rate of unemployment and joblessness reached to a doting high of 10%.
However, once Barack Obama took charge of the office, he announced a large stimulus bill
which would help the country to fight against the recessionary phase it was going through
successfully. The present unemployment percentage has slid down to only 5 percent. The
question which remains unanswered here is whether this rate is due to the administration of
the Obama led government (Drehle, 2016).
The answer to the same is that The Affordable Care Act is may be the most important
element of the Obama administration. He was successful in passing the said Act despite of all
retaliations from the Republicans. Although its victory has been a topic of debate and
discussion over many years, yet it is a victory in various manners and has been able to give
insurance to many citizens of America and hence presently individuals are being able to get
insurance cover irrespective of their health past. Unfortunately many promises were made by
Obama with regards the said Act but they proved to be false subsequently. Such as he had
confirmed that Obamacare would help to save on an average per family a premium of $2500
annually and that it would keep the deficit under control but these were ultimately proved to
be false (Kuttner, 2011).
The next was the fact that the Iraq war came to an end only because of Barack Obama. Many
had thought that it was a catastrophe but it was only he who could have got the same to an
end. However apart from this one success, the then President’s various foreign policy was a
failure. Such as many critics point out the fact that Obama did not as much involved as was
expected by all in Syria which has now been named as one of the major compassionate and
political disputes in current narration. Obama had clearly mentioned that the ‘red line’ in

Syria was if the President of Syria used the Chemical Weapons and once he had crossed the
line, Obama seemed to look vulnerable to the situation and was unsuccessful in taking any
such action where he should have taken one. The final result of the same was the increasing
number of refugees. Further to this, Obama also acted and looked as cowardly in trading with
Russia and our depreciated rapport with Vladimir Putin. The Iran deal has also given to birth
to a lot of criticism, ISIS and the threat to radical Islam has augmented during the reign of
Barack Obama. As per the opinions stated by some people, instability in Iraq had increased
all the more because troops were bought out of it. Thus although he is counted amongst one
of the most successful political leaders across the globe, yet the world failed to become a
safer place under his administration (Bacevich, 2015).
The next phase is the contribution of the Obama government in the climatic change. He is the
one which has made USA become less dependent on fossil fuels. He is also one of the many
to receive the acclaim for the Paris agreement which helped every part of the nation to restrict
the carbon releases. Obama has enabled regulation of auto-efficiency and power plan
emissions. As per him the biggest challenge to threat to the future generation is the climatic
change. Thereby there has been failures as well as victories during the reign of Barack
Obama, yet he is considered till date to be one of the most successful president and hence was
elected twice as the president of the United States.
VIEWS ON THE REIGN OF BARACK OBAMA
President Barack Obama’s inheritance is extraordinary for its impediments. Many are of the
view that he had the calibre to do much more in a less enthusiast environment. Obama’s
tenure is said to be a mixed bag. It can be categorised into three bags good, bad and ugly.
Obama’s period of rule is said to be a good one to be remembered by all as his global travels
followed by various meetings and press conferences with students have helped improvise the
image of the country and has also lent a hand in regaining the image of the country as the
inspiration for the world. He was a man who portrayed patience and determination as he took
over the seat when the country was on a recovery mode after the Great recession of 2008,
took charge of the entire operation which led to the killing of one of the biggest terrorist,
Osama Bin Laden and built international support for the 2016 Paris accord on climate
change. Thus he proved to be a good leader in these issues. Although the Affordable Care act
had various flaws, but had many praises as well (Merry, 2015). He has contributed in
criminal justice and also brought great reforms in the educational segment.

The worst he did as a president of USA is that like Bush and Clinton he too could not work
upon the entitlement reform after becoming the President. Further when it comes to Syria,
Obama could not succeed in curbing the refugee crisis (Davis, 2017). It failed to make USA a
safer place to stay since Obama failed to maintain ties with Russia. The administration of
Obama has been described as ugly as it has been very less transparent and most adversary
towards the media post the Nixon administration. His promised to ensure that the presidency
would be a transparent one failed (The San Diego Union Tribune Editorial Board. 2017).
CONCLUSION
Thus on a concluding note, it can be said that although the leadership style adopted by
President Barack Obama was transformational which had led him achieve great successes, so
much that he is respected by the nations across the globe, yet some of the steps and decisions
spelt out by him proved him to be a failure too. Thus his administration reign was a mixed
bag full of complexities. He had unfortunately failed to fulfil some of the promises made and
hence is criticized by many today. Even though one of the youngest to be elected for this
position, yet he could not justify his position in totality, i.e. there still lied many room of
improvement.

REFERENCES
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Tirlea, A.M. (2016). Barack Obama- The New Charismatic Political Actor- A Discourse
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