2008 was a crazy year for everyone. Here is a quick run down of the top news stories of 2008:
The Election of President Barack Obama: On November 4, 2008 Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. He is the first African American President in the country's history and the significance of his taking the oath of office on slave-built steps on January 20, 2009 was not lost on those who attended the events or watched the ceremony on television. President Obama has been busy since being sworn in: closing Guantanamo Bay, passing the Lilly Ledbetter Act, redefining ethics for his administration and setting a tone of "I will be held accountable for what I do and I will always be up front in my decision making." The theme for his administration is transparency and accountability and so far he seems to be living up to his promise.
The Crashing of the United States Economy: The stock market plummeted just days before the 2008 US Presidential Election making news in both the economic and political spectrum: less than twenty four hours before the crash, John McCain had insisted that the United States' economy was strong. Some say that this might have been the final nail in the coffin of McCain's doomed campaign. The news did not stop with the crashing of the stock market. The market somehow kept diving, prompting some to ask "does the Dow ever run out of points?" It will cost the federal government more than one trillion dollars to fix all of the damage done in the crash.
Oil Prices Dropping: When the news broke of the oil companies' insanely high profits in a single quarter, many people decided that they were tired of funding oil companies and turned to other modes of transportation: mass transit, bicycles and even walking. This led to the crash of oil prices and the price of gasoline went from almost four dollars per gallon to less than one dollar and fifty cents per gallon in some areas. The prices have since leveled out at just fewer than two dollars per gallon.
The Russia-Georgia War: The nations of Russia and Georgia made news in 2008 when they went to war against each other for five days. The war was started with a Georgian artillery strike on the newly forming South Ossetia region. Russia fought back by invading Georgian territory which made their relationship even less stable.
Other major news stories of 2008 included the death of Heath Ledger (who accidentally overdosed on sleeping and anti-anxiety medication), the never ending Iraq war, the rise and fall of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, the terrorism in Mumbai, and the passing of Prop 8 in California by the exact same margin that the state elected Barack Obama President.
2008 was an exciting news year and 2009 is already off to a great start with the Israeli-Hamas conflict, President Obama's inauguration, and the slow rebuilding of the United States economy.
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