Highlights of President Obama's first term

June 4, 2009: Obama seeks "New Beginning" with Muslim world

In a widely anticipated speech from Cairo, President Obama on June 4, 2009, called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims."

From the coffee shops of Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, across the Islamic world to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Muslims everywhere listened. The excitement the speech generated showed illustrated Mr. Obama's popularity.

The reaction, however, was mixed. Arab leaders were conspicuous by their absence, and it was no surprise that Mr. Obama's comments on Israel and the Palestinians dominated the discussions.

Highlights of President Obama's first term

July 30, 2009: White House "Beer Summit"

Seeking a "teachable moment" in the wake up his controversial comments about the arrest of an African-American professor by a white policeman, President Obama on July 30, 2009 sat down over beers with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Cambridge police sergeant James Crowley. Vice president Joe Biden was also present at the White House gathering, which was held at a white table in the rose garden.

About a week earlier, Mr. Obama was asked during a primetime White House news conference about Gates' arrest. Mr. Obama said the Cambridge police acted "stupidly" for arresting Gates, who is African-American, in his own home. The president spoke about the history of racial discrimination by law enforcement in the U.S.

The president later walked back his comments, but the story of his remarks and the proposed "beer summit" took on a life of its own, receiving overwhelming media coverage. "This is three folks having a drink at the end of the day, and hopefully giving people the opportunity to listen to each other," Mr. Obama told reporters before the beer summit. "And that's really all it is."

For the record, the president drank Bud Light; Biden drank Buckler, a non-alcoholic beer; Gates sipped Sam Adams Light, brewed in his home state of Massachusetts; while Crowley opted for Blue Moon, which he had earlier told the president was among his favorites.

Highlights of President Obama's first term

August 8, 2009, August 7, 2010: Two new female Supreme Court Justices are sworn in

Mr. Obama in his first term appointed two new Supreme Court justices.

His first pick Sonia Sotomayor, was sworn in on Aug. 8, 2009, and became the first Hispanic to sit on the Supreme Court, as well as the third woman.

On Aug. 7, 2010, Elena Kagan was sworn in as the fourth woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

Highlights of President Obama's first term

December 10, 2009: Obama accepts the Nobel Peace Prize

On Oct. 9, 2009, less than a year into his first term, President Obama became the third American president to win the Nobel Peace Prize while in office.

Mr. Obama won for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

Initially, the White House had just a one-word reaction, which mirrored the surprise many others had: "Wow." Later that day, Mr. Obama said he was "both surprised and deeply humbled" by the award and that he considered a "call to action."

After accepting the prize on December 10, 2009, Mr. Obama donated the $1.4 million in prize money to 10 charities.

Highlights of President Obama's first term

March 23, 2010: Obama signs health care reform

Vice President Joe Biden said it best: "This is a big f***ing deal."

When President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010, it marked his most significant legislative accomplishment of his presidency to date. The legislation, Mr. Obama said, enshrined into law the "core principle" that everyone should have some health care security.

The bill was finally signed after more than year of passionate debate, partisan politics and substantive policy discussions -- and it came at a price for the president and his party. Opposition to the health care law helped carry Republicans to victory in the 2010 elections, and more than two years after its passage, the law remains unpopular.

Highlights of President Obama's first term

August 31, 2010: End of Iraq combat operations

After more than seven years of combat and more than 4,400 American lives lost, President Obama on August 31, 2010, marked the end of combat operations in Iraq.

"The United States has paid a huge price to put the future of Iraq in the hands of its people," the president said in a speech from the Oval Office. "We have sent our young men and women to make enormous sacrifices in Iraq, and spent vast resources abroad at a time of tight budgets at home."

Highlights of President Obama's first term

Dec. 22, 2010: Obama signs the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

President Obama on Dec. 22, 2010, signed historic legislation to allow repeal of the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning gay men and women from serving openly in the military.

The president called the repeal "the right thing to do for our military," as well as "the right thing to do, period."

Democrats had control of both chambers of Congress at the time of the bill's passage, but the measure won the support of eight Republicans in the Senate and 15 in the House. The president called it a bipartisan victory.

The repeal was also a victory for Mr. Obama, who had promised to end the policy as a candidate but came under fire from gay rights activists in his first two years in office for not acting more aggressively on the issue. As the president prepared to sign the law, activists in the audience cheered, "Yes, we can," briefly reviving his 2008 slogan.

Highlights of President Obama's first term

January 5, 2011: Boehner takes the Speaker's gavel

After two years of embracing their status as the "party of no" during the Obama presidency, Republicans said on January 5, 2011 that they were ready to step up. Republican leader John Boehner took the speaker's gavel that day after Republicans in the 2010 elections won control of the House.

All but nine of the 96 new members of Congress elected in 2010 were Republicans, with the GOP bringing a new emphasis on cutting government spending and reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy.

Republicans' goal is to "give government back to the people," Boehner said that day.

Highlights of President Obama's first term

April 27, 2011: Obama addresses the "birther" myths

In one of the more surreal moments of the Obama presidency, the White House on April 27, 2011 released copies of President Obama's long-form birth certificate to quell rumors that the president was born outside of the United States. Mr. Obama even made an impromptu appearance in the White House briefing room to urge the press and American citizens to drop the issue and focus on the nation's real problems.

"We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers," Mr. Obama said. "We've got some enormous challenges out there. There are a lot of folks out there still looking for work... We do not have time for this kind of silliness."

The president was born in Hawaii on Aug. 4, 1961. In 2008, Mr. Obama released on the Internet his "certificate of live birth" -- a short-form birth certificate provided to all Hawaiians as proof of birth in state -- but that failed to quell rumors about his origins. Those rumors were revived in 2011 thanks to questions from Donald Trump, who was at the time a potential 2012 Republican presidential contender. While the Republican nominee Mitt Romney says he doesn't subscribe to the "birther" suspicions, he recently caught some flack for cracking a joke about the matter.

Highlights of President Obama's first term

May 1, 2011: Osama bin Laden is killed

"Justice has been done," President Obama declared from the White House on the evening of May 1, 2011.

Earlier that day, the president explained, U.S. forces launched a targeted operation against Osama bin Laden at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed the terrorist leader. Mr. Obama and members of his national security team monitored the attack on a real-time basis from the Situation Room of the White House.

More than 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, bin Laden's death created a renewed, if temporary, sense of unity in the country. After the news broke, crowds gathered to celebrate outside of the White House and at Ground Zero in New York City. At the White House in the following days, Mr. Obama received a rare, bipartisan standing ovation from members of Congress.

Highlights of President Obama's first term

July 31, 2011: Debt crisis averted

Preventing what would have been a first-ever default by the U.S. government on its financial obligations, Mr. Obama and Democrats on July 31, 2011, finally struck a deal with Republicans over the debt limit.

The two parties agreed to raise the federal spending limit by more than $2 trillion. The agreement also called for about $1 trillion in federal spending cuts over 10 years. It also called for a special, bipartisan congressional committee to find an additional $1.5 trillion in further deficit reductions, but that committee ultimately failed.

"Is this the deal I would have preferred?" Mr. Obama asked on July 31. He answered his own question: "No." But he still backed the deal, saying it "will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America. And it will allow us to lift the cloud of debt and uncertainty."

Highlights of President Obama's first term

Solyndra goes bankrupt, September 1, 2011

On Sept. 1, 2011, the solar power company Solyndra declared bankruptcy, setting into motion the Republican rebuke against Mr. Obama's federal stimulus program and the basis for GOP charges that the president was guilty of cronyism.

The failed energy company received a $535 million loan guarantee as part of the stimulus, and an investigation into Solyndra's bankruptcy led to questions about whether or not the White House adequately vetted the loan.

Highlights of President Obama's first term

May 9, 2012: Obama announces support for same-sex marriage

Three days after Vice President Joe Biden said he is "absolutely comfortable" with two men or two women getting married, Mr. Obama told ABC News in a hastily arranged interview that "same sex couples should be able to get married."

"I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married," Mr. Obama said in an interview

Highlights of President Obama's first term

June 15, 2012: Obama eases enforcement of immigration laws for "DREAMers"

On June 15, 2012, Mr. Obama announced he would give certain young people who came to the United States as children a chance to stay in the country and work in the U.S. legally. The policy change partially fulfilled the goals of the DREAM Act, a bill intended to give a path to citizenship to upstanding, undocumented youth.

"This is not amnesty; this is not immunity; this is not a path to citizenship; it's not a permanent fix," Mr. Obama said. "This is a temporary stopgap measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people. It is the right thing to do."

Highlights of President Obama's first term

June 28, 2012: Supreme Court upholds health care mandate

In a historic 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012 upheld the critical piece of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, the individual mandate.

By upholding the individual mandate -- the requirement for all Americans to acquire health insurance -- the court kept what many described as the "heart" of the law. The decision creates some certainty surrounding federal health care policy, allowing federal and state rulemakers to implement the law.

"When we look back five years from now, 10 years from now... we'll be better off because we had the courage to pass this law," Mr. Obama said in response to the court decision.

Highlights of President Obama's first term

June 28, 2012: House charges Holder with contempt of Congress

The House of Representatives voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress on June 28, 2012, for failing to provide documents relating to the Fast and Furious gunwalking program.

Holder called the vote against him "a regrettable culmination of what became a misguided - and politically motivated - investigation during an election year.