The DEFICIT declined, the DEBT continued to go up.
Although comparing personal finance to government debt is not exact, let's try.  I mean no disrespect to military or anyone in this analysis, just trying to illustrate DEFICIT vs DEBT.
Say my salary is $1000/mo.
I buy two automobiles I cannot afford, on loan (Iraq and Afghanistan), payments $2000/mo, but I choose to lower my salary (taxes).  My name is W.
So now my salary is $500/mo, but my payments $2000/mo.  I have a monthly DEFICIT of $1500/mo.  So my DEBT is climbing at $1500/mo, and I have to pay interest on the debt too.  So DEBT keeps climbing by $1500/mo plus interest.
BO did his best to dump the automobiles, and he did get the payments way down.  And he did his best to raise the salary to cover the payments, but of course Republicans don't believe in paying for what you buy especially if you are rich, so Congress blocked him as best they could.
Despite all that our deficit is reduced.