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Barack Obama Won The Presidential Election

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On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama won the presidential election; Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009. Originally, Obama 's health care plan did not include a mandate and was criticized. In the Jan. 2008 presidential primary debate, his response to the criticism was, "A mandate means that in some fashion, everybody will be forced to buy health insurance. Instead of going that route, his plan, he said, "emphasizes lowering costs." … the government will compel you to buy health insurance. Elect me and I 'll give you lower costs and let you keep your freedom … what 's she not telling you about her health care plan? It forces everyone to buy insurance, even if you can 't afford it, and you pay a penalty if you don 't." (Cline). At the time of his election, voters were under the impression that Obama was against the idea of an individual health insurance mandate. In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres in February of 2008, speaking of his opponent at the time, Hillary Clinton, Obama states: “she mandates that everybody buy health care. She’d have the government force every individual to buy insurance and I don’t have such a mandate because I don’t think the problem is that people don’t want health insurance, it’s that they can’t afford it…I focus more on lowering costs…I could mandate everybody to buy a house, and that would solve the problem of homelessness. It doesn’t” (Ballasy). Six months after Obama took office, he changed his mind

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