LIFE/PRESIDENT

Saluting a Fucking Awesome President

Today is a day to thank a President for all he has done

Brocolie O’Boma in front of the White House. Art credit Daughter, age 7

Two years before he was President of the United States, our 7 year-old drew this picture. I guess it was during the election cycle, how else would she have known his name Barack Obama?

He must have made quite an impression on this little girl, to draw him as a stalk of broccoli in front of the White House. Little did she know this man would come to be one of America’s best presidents, achieving some of the most influential progress we have seen in this country-without tooting his own horn continuously.

Barack Obama was the first president to make health care a right. It was no longer something only employed white people could get, who were perfectly healthy and under age 50. If you got cancer, an autoimmune disease or injury, your hopes of getting affordable health insurance was hopeless.

LGBTQ rights became solidified and same-sex couples finally had the legal right to marry. The passage of these laws are standing strong, due to the work of John Barry and the Obama administration. He repealed the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in 2010.

After he was handed an incredibly poor economy and a nation in recession, he passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to fund job creation, infrastructure investment and and tax relief. He also enacted the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 to regulate the financial sector, preventing future economic crises.

He passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009 to combat pay discrimination. Many of his cabinet members were women and several LGBTQ persons.

He established DACA in 2012 to protect eligible undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. While the immigration problem was not solved during his administration, he was working hard to find a compromise solution to the immigration problem in the U.S.

Obama had trials on the international stage, most particularly the mass casualties in Syria. He was unable to solve the troop situation in Afghanistan. But he was successful in normalizing diplomatic relations with Cuba. He also negotiated the Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA), which prevented Iran from continuing their nuclear warhead capabilities. This is the deal Trump tossed out, allowing Iran to continue building the bombs in his administration. (Supposedly the reason we are at war with Iran now.)

Obama also was instrumental in moving America forward to end our dependence on foreign oil. His Climate Action Plan reduced carbon emissions, and Obama championed the International Paris Agreement on Climate Change to combat global warming. He was critical in bringing nations together, not dividing and forcing them to pay up for vague grievances.

His motto wasn’t about his own greatness, his motto was “Yes, we can!” He didn’t go around changing the names of things to massage his ego. His family was strong and his daughters smart and strong. His wife was devoted and an inspiration. She talked of hope and moving forward in joy. The biggest scandal they faced was him wearing a tan suit. No felonies, no grift and no sex with porn stars. Or alleged sex with tweens.

Today is a day to thank a president for all he has done. Barack Obama, we owe you a debt of gratitude. I thank you, Brocolie Oboma, for opening doors of the future in order to make my daughter’s future better.

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/President_Barack_Obama.jpg

© June 2026 A. Roe

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