Thanks, Obama
{{Short description|Internet meme}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Barack Obama series}}
Thanks, Obama is an Internet meme both genuinely and satirically used in regard to policies pursued by Barack Obama, the President of the United States from 2009 to 2017.
History
{{tweet
| left = yes
| text = Obamas failure is looking to be so complete he will [hand] the Republicans the white house for another 8 years. #thanksobama #tcot #hcr
| name = Riding Herd
| username = ridingherd|
| id = 3749411746
| date = Sep 4, 2009
}}
The saying first appeared in 2009 using the hashtag #thanksobama in a tweet about President Obama's policies. Three months later, it was used in a demotivational poster.
Shortly after the Republicans gained control of the House in the U.S. midterm election of 2010, liberals and Democrats repurposed the meme to blame Obama satirically for disparate societal or economic ills.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/07/barack-obama-presidency-donald-trump-republicans|title=#ThanksObama: president's greatest legacy may be Trumping of the GOP|last=Roberts|first=Dan|date=May 7, 2016|work=The Guardian|access-date=September 16, 2016}} One notable{{Cite web|title=My family's reaction to the last four years [OC]|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/reactiongifs/comments/12h3lg/my_familys_reaction_to_the_last_four_years_oc/|last=u/Martholomule|date=November 2012|website=Reddit|access-date=2022-02-01}} example came in 2012, when a picture of a man spilling food with the "Thanks Obama" caption was popular. In December 2012, the /r/thanksobama subreddit was created.{{Cite web|title=Thanks, Obama|url=https://www.dictionary.com/e/memes/thanks-obama/|access-date=2021-08-02|website=Dictionary.com|date=March 2018 }}
By 2015, it seemed the meme had run its course{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/02/13/thanks-obama-the-evolution-of-a-meme-that-defined-a-presidency/|title='Thanks Obama.' The evolution of a meme that defined a presidency|last=Schwarz|first=Hunter|date=February 13, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 16, 2016}} after Obama used it in a BuzzFeed video.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/the-most-memorable-comedy-moments-of-the-obama-presidency/2016/09/02/0c655342-6880-11e6-99bf-f0cf3a6449a6_story.html|title=The most memorable comedy moments of the Obama presidency|last=Izade|first=Elahe|date=September 3, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 16, 2016}} Obama himself revived it in 2016, using it to poke fun at his critics{{cite news|url=http://abc7.com/news/president-cites-thanks-obama-to-poke-fun-at-critics/1242375/|title=President cites 'Thanks Obama' to poke fun at critics|date=March 11, 2016|publisher=KABC-TV|access-date=September 16, 2016}} and to thank a supporter who, during a speech, yelled out at and thanked him for $2 gas.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/obama-thanks-himself-for-lower-gas-prices-thanksobama/2016/09/14/e2cdfc24-7a6c-11e6-8064-c1ddc8a724bb_video.html|title=Obama thanks himself for lower gas prices #ThanksObama|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 14, 2016|access-date=September 16, 2016}}
On the January 19, 2017 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Obama's last full day in office, Stephen Colbert's original conservative character from The Colbert Report used the phrase to express gratitude to Obama for helping the Republican Party find a message of united opposition against him and succeed electorally again, only to later plead in fear for Obama to stay in office.{{cite magazine|url=http://ew.com/tv/2017/01/19/stephen-colbert-report-obama/|title=Stephen Colbert's Colbert Report alter ego returns for Obama's last day|last=Robinson|first=Will|date=January 20, 2017|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=September 4, 2017}}
In 2022, the Twitter account for President Joe Biden (who had served as vice president in the Obama administration) posted the phrase in response to a tweet by Obama acknowledging the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.{{Cite web |last=Snodgrass |first=Erin |title=Biden revives Obama-era meme to celebrate signing the Inflation Reduction Act into law |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/thanks-obama-biden-revives-meme-to-celebrate-signing-ira-law-2022-8 |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}
See also
- Let's Go Brandon – slogan which similarly gained popular use through viral memes to criticize the presidency of Joe Biden
- List of United States political catchphrases