Thanks, Obama is an Internet meme both seriously and satirically used in regard to former U.S. President Barack Obama's policies.
Riding Herd @ridingherd Obamas failure is looking to be so complete he will [hand] the Republicans the white house for another 8 years. #thanksobama #tcot #hcr
Sep 4, 2009[1]
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.[2]
Shortly after the Republicans gained control of the House in the U.S. midterm election of 2010, the meme was repurposed by liberals, to satirically blame Obama for any kind of societal and economic ills.[2][3] One notable[4] 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 started.[5]
By 2015, it seemed the meme had run its course[2] after Obama used it in a BuzzFeed video.[6] Obama himself revived it in 2016, using it to poke fun at his critics[7] and to thank a supporter who, during a speech, yelled out at and thanked him for $2 gas.[8]
On 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.[9]