Monaliza N.

Damalen

BAPA 3-1

Barack Obama

Title: US president

Country: US

President Barack Obama presides over the world's most influential country, giving him unparalleled
responsibility and power. He's caretaker of the largest economy, and he's helped nurse it back to health
since the financial crisis. Since taking office in early 2009 amid a full-blown recession the US has
grown its GDP by $3 trillion, to $17.4 trillion, and in October unemployment hit 5%, the lowest mark
since 2008. His legacy-making overhaul of the healthcare system has helped trim the uninsured rate by
one-third, and it has now survived multiple Supreme Court challenges.

Obama's international track record is mixed. As commander in chief of the world's largest military
more than 2 million active and reserve forces and a defense budget of $560 billion he's taken heat for
failing to deal adequately with the growing turbulence in the Middle East, highlighted by the bloody
Syrian civil war, the rise of ISIS, and the Taliban's growing strengthin Afghanistan. Relations with
longtime ally Israel have grown icy. Yet his sway in foreign affairs is still strong, as evidenced by his
historic move to warm ties with Cuba and the momentous nuclear deal he brokered with Iran.

He may have just a year left in office, but Obama isn't sitting idle: In November he flexed his power
again, killing off the controversial Keystone XL pipeline proposal once and for all, arguing it would have
harmed the environment without improving US energy security.
Marynela M. Sabbaluca

BAPA 3-1

Shinzo Abe

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Title: Prime minister of Japan

Country: Japan

Age: 61

Three years into his second term as prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe continues to craft bold plans for
his country's future. At the forefront is a desire to bring the excitement and innovation of Silicon Valley
to Japan to jump-start the country's fading tech sector. In a recent visit to the US, Abe met with tech
titans like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to learn "how we can take Silicon Valley's ways and make
them work in Japan." This plan comes on top of "Abenomics," the three-pronged approach the prime
minister implemented to boost Japan's economy upon starting his second term in 2012.

On the same visit to the US in April, Abe also became the first Japanese prime minister to address a joint
session of US Congress, which he used to push forward talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade
deal that would bring together nations including Australia, the US, Japan, Mexico, and Vietnam.
Mary Jane N. Carambas

BAPA 3-1

President Donald Trump | Official Photograph, The White House

Recent years have been marked by a decline in public confidence in and prestige of holders of high
political office. There is now a wave of change, seeking disruption. This is reflected in the surprise
election results in the American presidential election in November 2016, presaged in the Brexit
referendum in June 2016.

Donald Trump. Americans awoke on November 9, 2016 to the election of President Donald Trump.
Foremost among his firsts, are his status as the first commander-in-chief who enters office with no
prior governmental or military experience, and is career as a businessman. Trump enters office with high
expectations for changeas well as fears among many of his fellow citizens. His campaigns effective
use of 21st-century social media technologies and data management will doubtless be studied and
replicated in the future. The question: Is Trump a one-off, or does he constitute a fundamental
departure in contemporary politics? His use of Twitterand Facebook is essential to his political project.