Tamiji kitagawa biography of barack obama

After winning reelection in , Obama began his second term focused on securing legislation on immigration reform and gun control, neither of which he was able to achieve. When the Republicans won the Senate in , Obama refocused on actions that he could take unilaterally, invoking his executive authority as president. In foreign policy, Obama concentrated during the second term on the Middle East and climate change.

Obama left the presidency, at age fifty-five, after his constitutionally limited two terms ended on January 20, The manuscript was finally published as Dreams from My Father in mid One of Michelle's best friends was Jesse Jackson 's daughter, Santita Jackson , later the godmother of the Obamas' first child. Michelle herself had worked as an aide to Mayor Richard M.

Marty Nesbitt, a young, successful black businessman who played basketball with Michelle's brother, Craig Robinson , became Obama's best friend and introduced him to other African-American business people. Before the marriage, according to Craig, Obama talked about his political ambitions, even saying that he might run for president someday.

In return, the United States and its partners removed the tough sanctions imposed on Iran and allowed the country to ramp up sales of oil and access frozen bank accounts.

Tamiji kitagawa biography of barack obama

That year, Obama also traveled to India and reached a civilian nuclear agreement with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that opened the door to U. Elsewhere, Obama moved to reestablish diplomatic ties with Cuba in December He and Cuban President Raul Castro announced the normalizing of diplomatic relations between the countries for the first time since The policy change came after the exchange of American citizen Alan Gross and another unnamed American intelligence agent for three Cuban spies.

However, the long-standing U. Kennedy , remained in effect. On March 20, , Obama became the first sitting American president to visit Cuba since , as part of his larger program to establish greater cooperation between the two countries. Just prior to the trip, on March 10, , Obama met at the White House with newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the first official visit by a Canadian leader in nearly 20 years.

Ultimately, the plan never took effect after facing backlash and lawsuits from business groups, companies, 27 states, and Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell , who was then the Republican minority leader. In February , the Supreme Court ruled, , to block the plan by putting a hold on regulations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, mostly from coal power plants.

Obama also worked to respond to climate change on the global level. The agreement requires all participating nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit the rise of global temperatures and also to allocate resources for the research and development of alternative energy sources. Obama pledged that the United States would cut its emissions more than 25 percent by On October 5, , the United Nations announced the Paris Climate Agreement had been ratified by a sufficient number of countries—including China and the United States, the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases—to allow it to take effect starting on November 4, Both justices were confirmed under a Democratic-majority Senate.

In March, the president held a press conference at the White House to present year-old U. They stated their intention to block any nominee put forward by Obama, fearing that such a confirmation would tip the balance toward a more liberal-leaning court. Garland was never granted a Senate confirmation hearing, and the seat sat empty until April when Neil Gorsuch , nominated by President Donald Trump, was confirmed.

The presidents granted a total of 1, clemencies, including commuting the sentence of Chelsea Manning , the U. Army intelligence analyst who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking classified information to WikiLeaks. Over the course of his administration, Obama led the country away from financial catastrophe as the Great Recession gave away to market stability and a declining unemployment rate.

Obama also struggled to enact the gun control measures he hoped for, such as universal background checks and the resurrection of the federal ban on sales of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Some of the mass shootings during his time include at Sandy Hook Elementary School 20 children and six adult fatalities in Connecticut; an Aurora, Colorado movie theater 12 fatalities ; a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina 9 fatalities ; and a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida 49 fatalities.

I believe in the American people. I believe that people are more good than bad. I believe tragic things happen. Obama also challenged politicians to stop thinking of reelection and start making positive changes. He criticized Republicans for their refusal to support legislation and chastised Democrats for not pushing hard enough to get legislation passed.

He went on to share his vision for ways to improve the nation through free community college programs and middle-class tax breaks. With Democrats outnumbered by Republicans in both the House and the Senate, Obama threatened to use his executive power to prevent any tinkering by the opposition on his existing policies. Farewell Address On January 10, , Obama returned to his adopted home city of Chicago to deliver his farewell address.

In his speech, Obama spoke about his early days in the Windy City and his continued faith in the power of Americans who participate in their democracy. He called on politicians and American citizens to come together despite their differences. But they knew that democracy does require a basic sense of solidarity—the idea that for all our outward differences, we are all in this together; that we rise or fall as one.

Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. All of us have more work to do. After all, if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves.

Going forward, we must uphold laws against discrimination Hearts must change. I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change—but in yours. Netflix Content and Podcasts In May , Barack and Michelle finalized a multi-year deal with Netflix to create exclusive content for the streaming service through their production company, Higher Ground.

The fruits of the collaboration first appeared with the August release of American Factory, an Oscar-winning documentary about the launch of a Chinese-owned automotive glass factory in Dayton, Ohio, and the clash of differing cultures and business interests. The Obamas helped produce the documentary Crip Camp, which was nominated for best documentary feature at the Academy Awards.

Higher Ground has expanded into podcasts, including Renegades: Born in the USA—a series of conversations between Barack and musician Bruce Springsteen about life, music, and their love for America. The complex would be home to a Chicago Public Library branch, a museum, as well as office and activity spaces for the foundation. In July , Jackson Park was selected as the host site.

Construction began in August , and a groundbreaking ceremony was held the following month with Barack, Michelle, Illinois Governor J. Pritzker, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot all in attendance. The project has been the subject of two lawsuits from volunteer nonprofit Protect Our Parks, which claimed the city and state of Illinois violated their public trust obligations to protect pubic land in approving the project.

Later life, mids to [ edit ] In the late s, Kitagawa began to shift towards less overtly political subjects in his paintings and etchings, by depicting images of human relationships, such as mother and child or couples, or landscapes of his native region Shizuoka. He died of pulmonary fibrosis on April 26, In the s, he created several series of etchings, such as the Erotic series, which, inspired by Picasso, depicted nude couples in sexually intimate poses, [8] : , — as well as etchings involving the motif of the grasshopper, his alter ego and symbol for people's art.

He chose more intimate and interhuman themes such as mother-child figures or landscapes of his native region Shizuoka. Despite his announcement in to quit painting, he produced a small number of paintings in the mids.