Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America on January 20th, 2009. He is the first African American to take office and with his presidency he promised to make changes to America that would liberate the American people from crisis into a bright new beginning. In his Inauguration speech, he claimed to mend the financial crisis by stimulating jobs and laying a “new foundation for growth” (Naughton, “Inauguration speech”). He promised to rebuild the Nation’s foundations such as roads, bridges, electric grids, and digital lines, to revive the prosperity and importance of science, to increase the care and lower the cost of health care, to mend the threat of global warming, to enact peace with Afghanistan, to withdraw from Iraq, and to transform the educational system to meet the conditions of a new era (Naughton, “Inauguration speech”). Throughout his first year as president Obama has enacted many policies and regulations such as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and Health Care Bill. However, has Obama stayed true to his original promises stated throughout his campaigns, in his Inauguration speech, as well as his first State of Union speech. Has Obamba’s first year been a success or a failure? This essay will explore the history of Obama’s ascend to presidency, his success and failures, and an overall evaluation of Obama’s first year in office. The Rise of Barack Obama Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu Hawaii to parents Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr. His parents later separated and divorced when he was only two years of age. His father left his family to pursue “P.h.D. studies at Harvard and returned to his home country, Kenya, in 1965” (“Barack Obama Biography”). His mother remarried in 1966 to Lolo Soetoro from Indonesia and later the family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia. However, Indonesia proved to be unsettling for young Obama and his mother “sent him back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents;” his mother later joined him with his sister (“Barack Obama Biography”). Even as a child Obama had dreams of one day ruling the white house. He wrote essays in kindergarten and in third grade discussing his childhood desire to one day become President of the United States (James, “This Clinton Attack”). He was enrolled at the prestigious Puhahou Academy where his excelled in basketball and academics. Obama struggled with the reality of racism and absence of his father throughout high school, but did not allow these confrontations to affect his academics. His father died when he was 22 from a car accident and Obama expressed his emotions toward his father’s passing by stating, “At the time of his death, my father remained a myth to me” (“Barack Obama Biography”). Obama graduated and left for Occidental college for two years and then transferred to Columbia University in New York. He graduated in 1983 a degree in political science and worked as a business sector for two years (“Barack Obama Biography”). Obama moved to Chicago in 1985 where he worked as “community organizer for low-income residents” and in 1988 attended Harvard Law School, where he met his future wife Michelle Robinson (“Barack Obama Biography”). He graduated from Harvard in 1991 and returned to Chicago where he became a civil rights lawyer for the Miner, Barnhill and Galland firm, and taught at the University of Chicago Law School. Obama and Michelle were married on October 3, 1992 and had two daughters: Malia and Sasha (“Barack Obama Biography”). He published his autobiography in 1995 and in 2006 narrated the audio book Dreams and received honors for both works including a “Grammy award for Best Spoken Word Album” (“Barack Obama Biography”). Obama’s credentials led him to run for Illinois State Senate and he won the election as a Democrat representative in 1996 (“Barack Obama Biography”). As Senator he aided in “drafting legislation on ethics [expanding] health care services...early childhood education programs for the poor...state earned-income tax credit for the poor” (“Barack Obama Biography”). With his success as Senator he became chairman of the Illinois Senate’s Health