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
European foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration Ottoman Empire as genocide, he declined to do so on his visit to Turkey, instead using the Armenian term Meds Yeghern. He reinforced the fact that he still believes the killings amount to genocide when asked at a joint press conference with President Abdullah Gül. During his visit, Obama urged the governments of Turkey and Armenia to work together to normalize relations and reopen the border. During the 2008 United States presidential election both (final) nominees for president, U.S. senator Barack Obama and U.S. senator John McCain, did offer backing to Ukraine's January 2008 membership proposal of NATO. Two weeks