7 Barack Obama 7combat forces from Iraq and a restructuring of tax policy
that would bring more relief to lower- and middle-class
voters, while McCain said the United States must wait for
full victory in Iraq and charged that Obama’s rhetoric was
long on eloquence but short on substance. Just weeks
before election day, Obama’s campaign seized on the eco-
nomic meltdown that had resulted from the catastrophic
failure of U.S. banks and fi nancial institutions in September,
calling it a result of the Republican free-market-driven pol-
icies of the eight-year administration of George W. Bush.
Obama won the election, capturing nearly 53 percent
of the popular vote and 365 electoral votes. Not only did
Barack Obama—with his wife, Michelle—being sworn in as the 44th presi-
dent of the United States, Jan. 20, 2009. MSgt Cecilio Ricardo, U.S. Air
Force/U.S. Department of Defense