--- description: He has only made three such addresses to the nation—once, about terrorism, on Sunday. The other two times were in 2010. title: President Obama’s Oval Office Speeches image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb930cb61d285fb05/698873f60b72e319026e7212/h_52438348.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # These Are the Other Times President Obama Made a Speech From the Oval Office by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 7, 2015 9:46 AM CUT  President Obama speaks during an address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Dec. 6 2015. President Obama speaks during an address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Dec. 6 2015.Saul Loeb—EPA by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 7, 2015 9:46 AM CUT U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the nation on the [state of American security](http://time.com/4137956/president-obama-oval-office-isis/ "undefined") from the Oval Office on Sunday, a setting he has only used for formal speeches two other times in his years as president. **August 31, 2010** Flanked by the U.S. and President’s flag, Obama [told](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/31/remarks-president-address-nation-end-combat-operations-iraq "undefined") the nation that “Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country.” With these words he brought an end to nearly a decade of war and fulfilled one of his major campaign promises. With the long and costly operation coming to a close, Obama said the U.S.’s most “urgent task” was to “restore our economy, and put the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs back to work.” At the time, the nation was still suffering from the 2008 financial crisis. **June 15, 2010** Obama’s first Oval Office address [concerned](https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-nation-bp-oil-spill "undefined") what he called “the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced.” On April 20 an explosion ripped a hole in the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 workers and dumping millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, just 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana. In his speech, Obama praised the ongoing cleanup operation while acknowledging the permanent damage already done to the coastline and wildlife. He issued a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling and spoke of stricter industry regulations to ensure the mistake did not happen again. The tragedy on the coast, he said, was “the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean energy future is now.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4138138/barack-obama-oval-office-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4138138/barack-obama-oval-office-speech/"},"headline":"These Are the Other Times President Obama Made a Speech From the Oval Office","datePublished":"2015-12-07T09:46:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:09:03.594Z","description":"It's been a rare occurrence during his presidency","url":"https://time.com/4138138/barack-obama-oval-office-speech/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","Iraq","Security","Speech","BP"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb930cb61d285fb05/698873f60b72e319026e7212/h_52438348.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Rivett-Carnac","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb930cb61d285fb05/698873f60b72e319026e7212/h_52438348.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Barack Obama's address to the nation in Washington, DC","caption":"US President Barack Obama's address to the nation in Washington, DC","creditText":"Saul Loeb—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4138138/barack-obama-oval-office-speech/","name":"These Are the Other Times President Obama Made a Speech From the Oval Office"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Obama Vows To Overcome ISIS Threat","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/yVQO4Nfu/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-07T03:50:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yVQO4Nfu.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4138138/barack-obama-oval-office-speech/","duration":"PT1M38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4138138/barack-obama-oval-office-speech/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```