Barack Obama and the Politics of Change PDF Download

Author: Stanley A. Renshon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135193991
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
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.

Author: Niall Stanage
Publisher: Liberties Press
ISBN: 1909718807
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
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.

Author: Michael Eric Dyson
Publisher: Mariner Books
ISBN: 9780544387669
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
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.

Author: Nikki Jones
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520963318
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
In The Chosen Ones, sociologist and feminist scholar Nikki Jones shares the compelling story of a group of Black men living in San Francisco’s historically Black neighborhood, the Fillmore. Against all odds, these men work to atone for past crimes by reaching out to other Black men, young and old, with the hope of guiding them toward a better life. Yet despite their genuine efforts, they struggle to find a new place in their old neighborhood. With a poignant yet hopeful voice, Jones illustrates how neighborhood politics, everyday interactions with the police, and conservative Black gender ideologies shape the men’s ability to make good and forgive themselves—and how the double-edged sword of community shapes the work of redemption.

Author: Randall Kennedy
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307455556
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
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.

Author: David H. Ikard
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253007011
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
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

Author: Obama for Change
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307460460
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
At this defining moment in our history, Americans are hungry for change. After years of failed policies and failed politics from Washington, this is our chance to reclaim the American dream. Barack Obama has proven to be a new kind of leader–one who can bring people together, be honest about the challenges we face, and move this nation forward. Change We Can Believe In outlines his vision for America. In these pages you will find bold and specific ideas about how to fix our ailing economy and strengthen the middle class, make health care affordable for all, achieve energy independence, and keep America safe in a dangerous world. Change We Can Believe In asks you not just to believe in Barack Obama’s ability to bring change to Washington, it asks you to believe in yours.

Author: Ruth O'Brien
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022604159X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 430

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Book Description
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.

Author: Ishmael Reed
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780981240572
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Angry and hilarious, this collection of satirical essays about Barack Obama confronts the racial tensions that have dogged the president during his campaign and first year in office. Some of the pieces include "Ma and Pa Clinton Flog Uppity Black Man," "Crazy Rev. Wright," and "Obama Scolds Black Fathers, Gets Bounce in Polls." Previously unpublished material also addresses the controversies around Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Tiger Woods.

Author: Peniel E. Joseph
Publisher: Civitas Books
ISBN: 046501366X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
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.