Download or read book Barack Obama and the Politics of Change written by Stanley A. Renshon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Applies psychoanalytic theory to Obama's personality and behavior during his first two years as president, examining how his childhood experiences affected his political ideology, leadership style, and quest for redemption in his political life.
Download or read book Redemption Song written by Niall Stanage and published by Liberties Press. This book was released on 2014-06-27 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In little more than four years, Barack Obama rose from political obscurity to become the 44th president of the United States. His election win in November 2008 was a moment of enormous historical magnitude, greeted with an outpouring of emotion in the US and around the world. However, on taking office, Obama was faced with unparalleled challenges as the global economy plunged ever-deeper into crisis and the US struggled with the two wars in which it was enmeshed.In Redemption Song, Niall Stanage tells the extraordinary tale of Obama's journey from community organiser in Chicago to leader of the free world through exclusive interviews with some of the new president's oldest friends and closest advisors. He explores the then-senator's long and acrimonious tussle with Hillary Clinton, sheds new light on his battle with John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin, and hears from the members of the grassroots movement that carried Obama all the way to the Oval Office.He also provides an intimate account of the first phase of the Obama presidency, reporting from within the White House walls on the new Administration's first tests, triumphs and tribulations.
Download or read book The Black Presidency written by Michael Eric Dyson and published by Mariner Books. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Eric Dyson delivers a provocative exploration of the politics of race and the Obama presidency. Barack Obama's presidency unfolded against the national traumas of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, and Walter Scott. The nation's first African American president was careful to give few major race speeches, yet he faced criticism from all sides, including from African Americans. How has Obama's race affected his presidency and the nation's identity? Dyson explores whether Obama's use of his own biracialism as a symbol has been driven by the president's desire to avoid a painful moral reckoning on race. And he sheds light on identity issues within the black power structure, telling how Obama has spurned traditional black power brokers, significantly reducing their leverage. Perhaps most movingly, Dyson illuminates the transformative moments, especially in his second term, when Obama has publicly embraced his blackness and used it as a powerful lens onto America, black and white. President Obama's own voice--from an Oval Office interview granted to Dyson for the book--along with that of Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, and Andrew Young, among others, adds depth to this tour of the nation's first black presidency.--Adapted from book jacket.
Download or read book Nation of Cowards written by David H. Ikard and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-04 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An argument for intense and organized activism from the African American community to generate discussion on race in the United States. In a speech from which Nation of Cowards derives its title, Attorney General Eric Holder argued forcefully that Americans today need to talk more—not less—about racism. This appeal for candid talk about race exposes the paradox of Barack Obama’s historic rise to the US presidency and the ever-increasing social and economic instability of African American communities. David H. Ikard and Martell Lee Teasley maintain that such a conversation can take place only with passionate and organized pressure from Black Americans, and that neither Obama nor any political figure is likely to be in the forefront of addressing issues of racial inequality and injustice. The authors caution Blacks not to slip into an accommodating and self-defeating “post-racial” political posture, settling for the symbolic capital of a Black president instead of demanding structural change. They urge the Black community to challenge the social terms on which it copes with oppression, including acts of self-imposed victimization. “A clarion call to our nation’s conscience. Free from overly academic jargon, but full of powerful wordplay and brilliant juxtapositions, this book is a fascinating tour de force from start to finish. Those seeking a clear and concise explanation of the state of African America and the ongoing need for a “black agenda” during—and even after—the administration of the first African American president need look no further.” —Reiland Rabaka, author of The Hip Hop Movement and Du Bois: A Critical Introduction “Nation of Cowards offers an analysis of the Obama administration is as thorough as it is compact. Here are the hard questions that must be asked of the first black presidency and an insightful draft of how history may regard it. Ikard and Teasley are well ahead of that curve.” —Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope:Barack Obama & the Paradox of Progress
Download or read book Barack Obama and the Politics of Redemption written by Stanley A. Renshon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every new president raises many questions in the public mind. Because Barack Obama was a relative newcomer to the national political scene, he raised more questions than most. Would he prove to be a pragmatic centrist or would his politics of hope ultimately flounder on the rocky shoals of America’s deep political divisions? What of his leadership style? How would the uncommonly calm character he demonstrated on the campaign trail shape Obama’s political style as commander-in-chief? Based on extensive biographical, psychological, and political research and analysis, noted political psychologist Stanley Renshon follows Obama’s presidency through the first two years. He digs into the question of who is the real Obama and assesses the advantages and limitations that he brings to the presidency. These questions cannot be answered without recourse to psychological analysis. And they cannot be answered without psychological knowledge of presidential leadership and the presidency itself. Renshon explains that Obama’s ambition has been fueled by a desire for redemption—his own, that of his parents, and ultimately for the country he now leads, which has enormous consequences for his choices as president of a politically divided America.
Download or read book The Permanox Redemption written by Henniker Keene and published by . This book was released on 2002-04 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The candidacy of Barack Obama has energized millions of Americans who have turned out in record numbers to participate in the 2008 presidential primaries. Much of his candidacy's success has been built upon the support he has among the youth and other new voters. Obama has convinced them that he is the candidate of "change." This book, written by three young voters, seeks to expose Obama's background, his inexperience, his far left political agenda, and demonstrate that not all the youth are behind him. Through their leadership positions in national organizations, Bierfeldt, Gonzalez, and Steinhauser have had frequent contact with youth leaders on college campuses across the country. Through this book, they aim to challenge their peers (and others) to question their attraction to the Obama candidacy and his big government proposals proposals which do not represent change, but simply the status quo. Real change would put power back in the people's hands, not more power concentrated in Washington. This is the biggest problem in our political system and Obama doesn't want to "change" this crisis, he only wants to exacerbate it. The rising generation today is fortunate enough to stand on the shoulders of the many generations before us that built America. Before this generation becomes responsible for handing over the sacred keys of the White House, we should ask, Who is the Real Barack Obama? This book arms voters with substantive research that they can use to learn more about where Obama stands on the important economic, national security, and social issues, and expose his background, character, and far left ideology. Whether or not you agree with his policies, after you examine the evidence that this book offers, you will begin to peel away the fiction, fizzle out the hype, and unmask the real Barack Obama.
Download or read book Obama s Challenge written by Robert Kuttner and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2008 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Invoking America's greatest leaders, Robert Kuttner explains how Obama must be a transformative president--or a failed one--a president who must succeed in fundamentally changing our economy, society, and democracy for the better.
Download or read book The Obama Presidency and the Politics of Change written by Edward Ashbee and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-11-09 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume considers the extent to which the Obama presidency matched the promises of hope and change that were held out in the 2008 election. Contributors assess the character of “change” and, within this context, survey the extent to which there was enduring change within particular policy areas, both domestic and foreign. The authors combine empirical detail with more speculative assessment of the limits and possibilities of change amidst a very dense institutional landscape and in an era of intense political polarization. Some see significant changes, the full consequences of which may only be evident in later years. Other authors in the collection present a markedly different picture and suggest that processes of change were not only limited and partial but at times leading the US in directions far removed from the promises of 2008. The book will make an important contribution to the debates about the Obama legacy.
Download or read book Redemptive Hope written by Akiba Lerner and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a book about the need for redemptive narratives to ward off despair and the dangers these same narratives create by raising expectations that are seldom fulfilled. The quasi-messianic expectations produced by the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, and their diminution, were stark reminders of an ongoing struggle between ideals and political realities. Redemptive Hope begins by tracing the tension between theistic thinkers, for whom hope is transcendental, and intellectuals, who have striven to link hopes for redemption to our intersubjective interactions with other human beings. Lerner argues that a vibrant democracy must draw on the best of both religious thought and secular liberal political philosophy. By bringing Richard Rorty's pragmatism into conversation with early-twentieth-century Jewish thinkers, including Martin Buber and Ernst Bloch, Lerner begins the work of building bridges, while insisting on holding crucial differences in dialectical tension. Only such a dialogue, he argues, can prepare the foundations for modes of redemptive thought fit for the twenty-first century"--
Download or read book Saving Obama written by John A. Maxwell and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A philosophical examination of the cultural and spiritual significance of Barack Obama's candidacy. Maxwell's book is a political tome that is practically devoid of conventional political opinion or fact. Rather, it is a series of ruminations on the more ethereal aspects of Obama, including his persona, biography and potential as a cultural touchstone. Organized in sections of essay and poetry based thematically around the seven deadly sins (the "Sins of Our Fathers" from the book's subtitle), the author suggests that Obama is a politician who serves as a unique symbol to help us understand the errors our forebears have made, as well as an opportunity for redemption. Maxwell looks at Obama from a variety of fresh perspectives, including his role as both a devoted parent and a son who was abandoned by his father. At some points it is difficult to discern concrete ideas in the midst of Maxwell's sometimes overly flowery prose- he seems to imagine Obama more as a symbol than an actual person, let alone a political figure. For instance, he calls Obama "our American prince" and says that he "representatively is any troubled youth." Considering Maxwell's penchant for highly emotional, impressionistic writing, poetry fits his temperament most effectively, and many of the poems feature strong imagery and a clearer distillation of what Maxwell is trying to convey than his essays do. The major fault of the poetry is that it can at times be overly sentimental, too, which diminishes its impact and does nothing to allay the general vagueness of this book. But overall, Maxwell offers a provocative view of the aspects of Obama that can't be covered in a white paper or a policy speech. An interesting, if murky, take on what Obama means from a symbolic, rather than political, standpoint.-Kirkus Discoveries
Download or read book The Persistence of the Color Line written by Randall Kennedy and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-04-17 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “provocative and richly insightful new book” (The New York Times Book Review) that gives us a shrewd and penetrating analysis of the complex relationship between the first black president and his African-American constituency. Renowned for his insightful, common-sense critiques of racial politics, Randall Kennedy now tackles such hot-button issues as the nature of racial opposition to Obama; whether Obama has a singular responsibility to African Americans; the differences in Obama’s presentation of himself to blacks and to whites; the challenges posed by the dream of a post-racial society; the increasing irrelevance of a certain kind of racial politics and its consequences; the complex symbolism of Obama’s achievement and his own obfuscations and evasions regarding racial justice. Eschewing the critical excesses of both the left and the right, Kennedy offers an incisive view of Obama’s triumphs and travails, his strengths and weaknesses, as they pertain to the troubled history of race in America.
Download or read book Dreams from My Father written by Barack Obama and published by Crown. This book was released on 2007-01-09 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS In this iconic memoir of his early days, Barack Obama “guides us straight to the intersection of the most serious questions of identity, class, and race” (The Washington Post Book World). “Quite extraordinary.”—Toni Morrison In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance. Praise for Dreams from My Father “Beautifully crafted . . . moving and candid . . . This book belongs on the shelf beside works like James McBride’s The Color of Water and Gregory Howard Williams’s Life on the Color Line as a tale of living astride America’s racial categories.”—Scott Turow “Provocative . . . Persuasively describes the phenomenon of belonging to two different worlds, and thus belonging to neither.”—The New York Times Book Review “Obama’s writing is incisive yet forgiving. This is a book worth savoring.”—Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here “One of the most powerful books of self-discovery I’ve ever read, all the more so for its illuminating insights into the problems not only of race, class, and color, but of culture and ethnicity. It is also beautifully written, skillfully layered, and paced like a good novel.”—Charlayne Hunter-Gault, author of In My Place “Dreams from My Father is an exquisite, sensitive study of this wonderful young author’s journey into adulthood, his search for community and his place in it, his quest for an understanding of his roots, and his discovery of the poetry of human life. Perceptive and wise, this book will tell you something about yourself whether you are black or white.”—Marian Wright Edelman
Download or read book Renegades written by Barack Obama and published by Crown. This book was released on 2021-10-26 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Two longtime friends share an intimate and urgent conversation about life, music, and their enduring love of America, with all its challenges and contradictions, in this stunningly produced expansion of their groundbreaking Higher Ground podcast, featuring more than 350 photographs, exclusive bonus content, and never-before-seen archival material. Renegades: Born in the USA is a candid, revealing, and entertaining dialogue between President Barack Obama and legendary musician Bruce Springsteen that explores everything from their origin stories and career-defining moments to our country’s polarized politics and the growing distance between the American Dream and the American reality. Filled with full-color photographs and rare archival material, it is a compelling and beautifully illustrated portrait of two outsiders—one Black and one white—looking for a way to connect their unconventional searches for meaning, identity, and community with the American story itself. It includes: • Original introductions by President Obama and Bruce Springsteen • Exclusive new material from the Renegades podcast recording sessions • Obama’s never-before-seen annotated speeches, including his “Remarks at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches” • Springsteen’s handwritten lyrics for songs spanning his 50-year-long career • Rare and exclusive photographs from the authors’ personal archives • Historical photographs and documents that provide rich visual context for their conversation In a recording studio stocked with dozens of guitars, and on at least one Corvette ride, Obama and Springsteen discuss marriage and fatherhood, race and masculinity, the lure of the open road and the call back to home. They also compare notes on their favorite protest songs, the most inspiring American heroes of all time, and more. Along the way, they reveal their passion for—and the occasional toll of—telling a bigger, truer story about America throughout their careers, and explore how our fractured country might begin to find its way back toward unity and global leadership.
Download or read book Barack Obama and the Myth of a Post Racial America written by Mark Ledwidge and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-08 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2008 presidential election was celebrated around the world as a seminal moment in U.S. political and racial history. White liberals and other progressives framed the election through the prism of change, while previously acknowledged demographic changes were hastily heralded as the dawn of a "post-racial" America. However, by 2011, much of the post-election idealism had dissipated in the wake of an on-going economic and financial crisis, escalating wars in Afghanistan and Libya, and the rise of the right-wing Tea Party movement. By placing Obama in the historical context of U.S. race relations, this volume interrogates the idealized and progressive view of American society advanced by much of the mainstream literature on Obama. Barack Obama and the Myth of a Post-Racial America takes a careful look at the historical, cultural and political dimensions of race in the United States, using an interdisciplinary analysis that incorporates approaches from history, political science, and sociology. Each chapter addresses controversial issues such as whether Obama can be considered an African-American president, whether his presidency actually delivered the kind of deep-rooted changes that were initially prophesised, and whether Obama has abandoned his core African-American constituency in favour of projecting a race-neutral approach designed to maintain centrist support. Through cutting edge, critically informed, and cross-disciplinary analyses, this collection directly addresses the dimensions of race in American society through the lens of Obama’s election and presidency.
Download or read book The Irony of Barack Obama written by R Ward Holder and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2012-09-01 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the political theology of Reinhold Niebuhr, described by Barack Obama as 'one of my favourite philosophers', this book assesses the challenges facing the President during his first term. It evaluates his success in adhering to Niebuhr's path of 'Christian realism' when faced with the pragmatic demands of domestic and foreign affairs. In 2008 Candidate Obama used the ideas of 'Hope' and 'Change' to inspire voters and secure the presidency. Obama promised change not only regarding America's policies, but even more fundamentally in the nation's political culture. Holder and Josephson describe the foundations of President Obama's Christian faith and the extent to which it has shaped his approach to politics. Their book explores Obama's journey of faith in the context of a broadly Augustinian understanding of faith and politics, examines the tensions between Christian realism and pragmatic progressivism, explains why a Christian realist interpretation is essential to understanding Obama's presidency, and applies this model of understanding to considerations of foreign and domestic policy. By combining this theological and political analysis the book offers a special opportunity to reflect on the relationship between Christian faith and statesmanship, reflections that are missing from current popular discussions of the Obama presidency. Through consideration of Niebuhr's models of the prophet and the statesman, and the more popular alternative of the political evangelist, Holder and Josephson are better able to explain the president's successes and his failures, and to unveil the Augustinian limits of the political life.
Download or read book Dark Days Bright Nights written by Peniel E. Joseph and published by Civitas Books. This book was released on 2010 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers a narrative chronicle of race in the United States and the successes, failures, and stalemates of African American leaders in the past fifty years.
Download or read book Out of Many One written by Ruth O'Brien and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-05-21 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Feared by conservatives and embraced by liberals when he entered the White House, Barack Obama has since been battered by criticism from both sides. In Out of Many, One, Ruth O’Brien explains why. We are accustomed to seeing politicians supporting either a minimalist state characterized by unfettered capitalism and individual rights or a relatively strong welfare state and regulatory capitalism. Obama, O’Brien argues, represents the values of a lesser-known third tradition in American political thought that defies the usual left-right categorization. Bearing traces of Baruch Spinoza, John Dewey, and Saul Alinsky, Obama’s progressivism embraces the ideas of mutual reliance and collective responsibility, and adopts an interconnected view of the individual and the state. So, while Obama might emphasize difference, he rejects identity politics, which can create permanent minorities and diminish individual agency. Analyzing Obama’s major legislative victories—financial regulation, health care, and the stimulus package—O’Brien shows how they reflect a stakeholder society that neither regulates in the manner of the New Deal nor deregulates. Instead, Obama focuses on negotiated rule making and allows executive branch agencies to fill in the details when dealing with a deadlocked Congress. Similarly, his commitment to difference and his resistance to universal mandates underlies his reluctance to advocate for human rights as much as many on the Democratic left had hoped. By establishing Obama within the context of a much longer and broader political tradition, this book sheds critical light on both the political and philosophical underpinnings of his presidency and a fundamental shift in American political thought.
