Barack Obama — 44th President (2009–2017)

**Barack Obama** was the first African American president — a constitutional law professor from Chicago whose election itself was a historic achievement. He inherited the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, passed the Affordable Care Act, killed Osama bin Laden, negotiated the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Climate Agreement, and governed with an intellectual rigor and rhetorical grace that elevated public discourse. He was also criticized for professorial detachment, an overreliance on process, and a naivete about Republican opposition that cost him legislative effectiveness.