Talk:Barack Obama/Presidency section

First Days
The inauguration of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth President, and Joe Biden as Vice President, took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda reversing President Bush's ban on federal funding to foreign establishments that allow abortions (known as the Mexico City Policy and referred to by critics as the "Global Gag Rule"), changed procedures to promote disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, directed the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq, and reduced the secrecy given to presidential records. He also issued orders closing Guantanamo Bay detention camp "as soon as practicable and no later than" January 2010.

Economy and Domestic Policy
The first month of Barack Obama's presidency included his signing into law a $787 billion economic stimulus package on February 17, 2009, aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening recession. The bill included increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals. Although Obama made a high-profile visit to Capitol Hill to engage with Congressional Republicans, the bill ultimately passed largely on a party-line vote.

The following month, the Obama administration took further steps to manage the financial crisis, including the Public-Private Investment Program to buy up toxic assets from banks' balance sheets, and renewed aid for and intervention in the troubled automotive industry.

Iraq and Afghanistan War
During his presidential transition, President-Elect Obama announced that he would retain the incumbent Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, in his own Cabinet.

Early in his presidency, Obama moved to change U.S. strategy in the wars, increasing troop strength in Afghanistan and reducing troop levels in Iraq. On February 18, 2009 he announced that the U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan would be boosted by 17,000. In the announcement, Obama asserted that the increase was necessary to "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires".

On February 27, Obama declared that combat operations would end in Iraq within 18 months. Obama stated in his remarks to Marines who were about to deploy to Afghanistan, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."

On May 11, the president replaced his military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, believing that Gen. McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war.