De Gruyter Series in Presidential Politics, Leadership, and Policy Making – serie

In 2007 and 2008, Barack Obama ran for president with a message of a shared purpose uniting all Americans, and was elected with expectations that he would usher in a new national culture under an approach grounded in public engagement that would transcend partisan divisions. But in an institutional system designed for incremental and contested policy-making governance, enacting these transformational ambitions proved to be far more difficult than anticipated. This innovative volume assesses the legacy of President Obama, with a conceptual focus on the challenge of meeting his goals with the realities of governing. A diverse group of political science, history, and communication studies experts systematically examines Obama’s performance, accomplishments, and shortcomings through the lens of the expectations gap – the tensions and obstacles of translating campaign promises into policies. The wide, representative set of case studies address campaigning and coalition building, party polarization, presidential communication, executive power, leadership and decision-making, and domestic and foreign policy. With original and deep analysis, these scholars make a unique, enduring contribution to understanding the Obama presidency, the office of the president, and indeed American politics. This insightful, accessible book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the presidency, political communication & rhetoric, and broadly across US government and democracy.

Barack Obama ran for president in 2008 with a message of a shared purpose uniting all Americans, and was elected with expectations that he would usher in a new national culture under an approach grounded in public engagement that would transcend partisan divisions. But in a system designed for incremental and contested policy-making governance, enacting these transformational ambitions proved to be far more difficult than anticipated. This book assesses the legacy of President Obama, with a conceptual focus on the challenge of meeting his goals with the realities of governing. Political science, history, and communication studies experts systematically examine Obama’s performance, accomplishments, and shortcomings through the lens of tensions and obstacles with translating transformational campaign promises into policies. The case studies in this book address campaigning and coalition building, party polarization, presidential communication, executive power, leadership, and domestic and foreign policy. This study serves as an enduring contribution to understanding the Obama presidency, the office of the president, and American politics.