That you can decide once you go through these pointers that pretty much summerise the tenure of the man who will leave office on January 20
If historians were to write only one thing about Barack Hussein Obama, they would likely note that -- 143 years after slavery was abolished -- a young Illinois senator became the first black president of the United States. Obama, just 47 at his 2009 inauguration, harnessed magisterial oratory to rally a diverse electoral coalition behind a message of "hope and change." In office, Obama sometimes struggled to turn that poetry into the prose of governance. Racial tensions -- underscored by police shootings of unarmed black men and conspiracy theories about his birthplace -- persisted. But the very fact of his election confirmed monumental changes in American society.
In this file photo dated November 11, 2008, US national in Mumbai Marika Shioiri- Clark kisses the cut out of newly elected US President Barak Obama at Hard Rock cafe in Mumbai.
His first tenure
Obama's first term in office was dominated by economic freefall led by a real estate crisis. As he leaves office, the political and social aftershocks of that financial cataclysm are still being felt, but the economy has added jobs for 75 straight months.
The killing of Osama
"Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden."
With those words on May 2, 2011, Obama exorcised the anger and frustration of millions of Americans -- that the most powerful country on earth could not hold the man accountable for the 9/11 attacks. The risky special forces operation was also illustrative of Obama's controversial drone-and-raid approach to counterterrorism. As he leaves office, Al-Qaeda offshoots and affiliates remain potent, but their leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been decimated.
Republican vs Democrat
"It's one of the few regrets of my presidency -- that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better,"
Obama said in his final State of the Union address.
From the moment Obama was elected, Republics in Congress vowed to oppose him tooth and nail. Efforts to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and enact gun controls -- even after the massacre of young students at Sandy Hook, the emotional nadir of his presidency -- would fall victim to partisan rancor.
Malia Obama, Sasha Obama, U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro react to the first run scored during an exhibition game between the Cuban national baseball team and Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the Estado Latinoamericano March 22, 2016 in Havana, Cuba
His environmental initiatives
After the climate skepticism of Bush, Obama's eight years in office resulted in a tidal wave of environmental legislation, protecting marine ecosystems, curbing carbon emissions and boosting renewable energy. In a bid to engrain environmentalism into America's body politics, Obama hiked Alaskan glaciers, snorkeled at Midway Island and rushed through ratification of the Paris Climate Accord.
But Obama's environmental agenda is likely to come under sustained assault from his successor, putting the durability of that legacy into question.
U.S. President Barack Obama waves as he leaves after his meeting with House and Senate Democrats to discuss a strategy on congressional Republicans' efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, USA January 4, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Obama healthcare
Democrats had tried and failed for decades to provide Americans with universal health care. Obama wasn't quite able to do that but he extended insurance coverage to tens of millions of citizens who previously had none. Republicans decried the "Obamacare" plan as socialism incarnate, at one point claiming it would even create "death panels." But they failed to stop it from passing. They may yet have a crack at repealing it under Donald Trump's watch. Obama's trip to Cuba may be remembered in the same way as Richard Nixon's visit to China, but in truth it was the capstone of a much broader effort to improve US relations with Latin America.