Presidency

The Inauguration of Barack Obama as the forty-fourth President, and Joe Biden as Vice President, took place on January 20, 2009.

The theme of the inauguration was "A New Birth of Freedom," commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.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.
On February 17, 2009, Obama signed into law a $787 billion economic stimulus package and stated in his remarks the intended goal was to ameliorate the effects of the recession.On February 27, 2009,

Obama declared that combat operations will end in Iraq within 18 months. "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," Obama told Marines preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.

The proposed date is one year earlier than the term of an earlier agreement by former President George W. Bush and Iraq's Prime minster Nouri al-Maliki.