Accomplishments Made by the Obama Administration

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I decided to research and blog about a different accomplishment made by the Obama administration. I'd heard about the few larger, more publicized achievements, and thought I would start with those, and keep going until I ran out.

I was stunned to learn I could blog twice a day (if I had the time) from now until the general election and still not finish the list in time. How could this much have been accomplished without being big news? I try to avoid conspiracy theories, so I thought about it for a while, and concluded that one of the reasons (others being a scandal on Celebrity Apprentice or something distracted everyone) is that most of them sound like gibberish without translation. If I saw a headline that said something about "ARRA" or "ECPA" or "Dodd-Frank," my eyes would glaze over before I got to an explanation (okay, not the last one, but only because it was such a huge National crisis, and repeated so often that I managed to learn it, even though the title had no inherent meaning in relation to the act).

In response, I made it my mission to make my list in three parts, to be easy to understand.
   First: Name or short summary of the accomplishment.
   Second: Explanation of what that means.
   Third: Explanation of why it matters.

Because the third part, and sometimes even the second, takes up a lot of space, I've limited this introductory page to a list containing, for each accomplishment, the first part, the leader to the second part, and a link to a full explanation.

All of my entries focus on positive information. I will not include anything negative about anyone in these posts. For the reason behind this decision, read my About post.

You may notice the dates don't match up on many of my posts: I started posting on this subject before I realized I would have so much to write about, so when I moved the posts to my new blog, they all reset to the date I moved them.

• Accomplishment: Increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
  
  (Details in my National Endowment for the Arts post)

• Accomplishment: Allocated $12.2 billion in new funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Act though the American Recovery and investment Act.
  
  (Details in my Funding for Individuals with Disabilities post)  

• Accomplishment:  Dodd-Frank (DF) Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
  
  (Details in my Dodd-Frank post)

• Accomplishment: Promoted internet freedom.
  
  (Details in my Internet Freedom post)

• Accomplishment: Public Land Management
  
  (Details in my Public Land Management post)

• Accomplishment:  $789 billion in ARRA stimulus money.
  
  (Details in my ARRA post)

• Accomplishment: Student financial aid reform.
  
  (Details in my Financial Aid Reform post.)

• Accomplishment: Funded rewards for states with comprehensive education reform.
  
  (Details in my Education Reform post)

• Accomplishment: Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010
  
  (Details in my Jobs for Main Street post)

• Accomplishment: Established an Energy Partnership for the Americas.

• What does it mean? A voluntary, multi-country initiative to "promote clean energy, advance energy security, fight energy poverty, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions." (ref)

• Why does it matter? Cleaner air, renewable energy, reduction of global climate change, and economic justice.  I don't think I really need exposition on this one.

• Accomplishment: Regulated CO2 emissions and created a task force for carbon capture and storage.
  (Details in my Reduction of Carbon Emissions post)

• Accomplishment: Introduced Oil Spill Recovery Bill to remove oil company liability cap. 
(Details in my Oil Spill Recovery Bill post)

• Accomplishment: Improved USA's Global Standing.
  (Details in my Global Standing post)


• Accomplishment: Increased efficiency in the government.
  (Details in my Efficiency in the Government post)

• Accomplishment: Created a National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
  (Details in my Combating HIV and AIDS post)

• Accomplishment: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
  (Details in my Affordable Care Act post)

• Accomplishment:  $275 billion dollar housing plan.(Details in my Housing Plan post)

• Accomplishment:  Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT).
  (Details in my Repeal of DADT post)

• Accomplishment:  $3.2 billion to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program.
  (Details in my Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program Funding post)

• Accomplishment:  Implemented the Protecting Our Workers and Ensuring Reemployment (POWER) Initiative.
  (Details in my POWER Initiative post)

• Accomplishment: Shifted focus of United States drug policy toward prevention and treatment.
  (Details in my Drug Policy post) 

• Accomplishment:  Tax changes to encourage American companies to base jobs in America.(Details in my Offshore Taxes post)
• Accomplishment:  Stood up for women's reproductive rights.
  (Details in my Women's Reproductive Rights post)

Last updated: 21 Feb. 2012.

More resources: Wikipedia has a great timeline, although I hesitate to get any important information from Wikipedia because, despite it being a fantastically convenient resource, anyone can edit it and the service relies on attentive users to notice and report erroneous information.  However, the Timeline of the Presidency of Barack Obama seems accurate as far as I can tell.