Speeches of Barack Obama Speeches of Barack Obama Barack Obama served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. Before his presidency, he served in the Illinois Senate (1997–2004) and the United States Senate (2005–2008). It was during his campaign for the United States Senate that he first made a speech that received nationwide attention; he gave the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. and stated "there is not a liberal America and a conservative America—there is the United States of America". Obama began to run for president just three years after that speech. In response to a
Barack Obama 2015, that inmates sentenced in US federal custody declined by 5% under Obama. This is the largest decline in sentenced inmates in US federal custody since Democratic President Jimmy Carter. By contrast, the federal prison population increased significantly under presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60% approval rating. A 2017 C-SPAN "Presidential Historians Survey" ranked Obama as the 12th-best US president. The Barack Obama Presidential Center is Obama's planned presidential library. It will be hosted by the University of Chicago and located in Jackson Park