What obstacles stood in the way of President Obama’s reform agenda?

> CHRONOLOGY

2008
  • Worst financial crisis since Great Depression.

  • Barack Obama elected president.

2009
  • American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passes.

2010
  • Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passes.

  • Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passes.

  • United States ends combat operations in Iraq, increases troops in Afghanistan.

2011
  • Osama bin Laden killed.

  • Arab Spring uprisings begin.

2012
  • President Obama reelected

2015
  • U.S. Supreme Court declares that same-sex couples have constitutional right to marriage.

  • Iran nuclear deal signed.

  • U.S. restores diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Bush’s successor, Barack Hussein Obama, aimed to turn the page in both domestic and foreign policy. He achieved major health care reform and some antirecession measures, but a determined grassroots movement on the Republican right pushed the party to oppose the president at every turn. In foreign policy, Obama generally sought a less aggressive, more multilateral approach to challenges around the world. His administration reopened diplomatic relations with Cuba in 2015 and negotiated a treaty with five major powers and Iran to keep that nation from developing nuclear weapons. But most of the Middle East remained an unstable and dangerous place, and the United States seemed increasingly vulnerable to terrorist threats.