Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Barack Obama was the first African-American president of the United States. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
supported lifting the ban completely and initially opposed DADT, although in the end he voted for it, after having joined in an unsuccessful effort to strip it from a defense spending bill.
He eventually insisted the policy had to go, and as vice president he lobbied former Senate colleagues to repeal it.Both houses of Congress passed the repeal bill in December 2010, and President Obama quickly signed it into law.