US Presidents Achieving Their Aims

• Barack Obama was elected in 2008 with the campaign slogan ‘change we can believe in’ and ‘yes we can’.
• President Obama promised to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• President Obama promised to increase equality of pay between men and women.
• Obama promised to close the Guantanamo Bay facility.
• President Obama aimed to introduce universal healthcare across the US.
• President Obama proposed reforms to immigration and gun control.

• President Obama brought an end to the Iraq war in 2011, however, was unable to end the Afghanistan war.
• Equality of pay was improved through the 2009 Lily Ledbetter Act.
• Obama was able to pass 'Obamacare', (the Affordable Care Act).

• Obama failed to close Guantanamo Bay.
• Obama was unable to pass immigration reform DREAM Act through Congress, a policy that had been introduced in Congress years before.
  • So, Obama signed an executive order for a different immigration reform policy, DACA, instead.
• Obama could not pass gun reforms for increased background checks through Congress but did use executive orders to close some loopholes around gun background checks.

• President Bush promised to reform social security and the US health system.
• President Bush promised to cut taxes for citizens.
• President Bush outlined plans to combat terrorism through his ‘War on terror’ after 9/11.
• President Bush promised to increase spending on education.

• President Bush reformed Medicare, with the aim to make prescription drugs more affordable for senior citizens.
• Bush delivered tax cuts of $1.35 trillion.
• Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 which reformed education and introduced standardised tests for schools.

• Bush's 'War on Terror' included passing the PATRIOT Act, sending troops to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and opening Guantanamo Bay.
• These policies were controversial and are still debated.

• President Clinton promised to reform the healthcare system.
• President Clinton outlined plans to improve education.
• Clinton aimed to reduce the size of the budget deficit.
• Clinton promised to take responsibility for improving the environment.
• Clinton aimed to introduce laws to increase gun control.
• Clinton promised to ensure citizens had equal civil rights.

• Clinton had success in reducing the budget, passing laws on the environment and equal civil rights.
  • Clinton was able to reduce the budget deficit by 50%.
  • Clinton protected over 40 million acres of Federal forests and land under his Lands Legacy Initiative.
  • Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (1994) stopped the military from discriminating against bisexual or homosexual army members.

Clinton had success in education and gun control.

• Clinton’s Goals 2000 Program set out goals to reform national education including to increase graduation rates of school students to over 90% and to improve students’ maths and science achievement.
• Clinton passed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act which introduced criminal background checks for gun buyers and a 5 day waiting period on purchases.

• President Clinton was ineffective in achieving some of his aims around healthcare and civil rights equality.
  • The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act was passed which allowed states to refuse same-sex marriage.
  • Bill Clinton’s healthcare reform plan failed to pass through Congress in 1994.