Julian E. Zelizer - The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment

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THE PRESIDENCY OF BARACK OBAMA

This book captures the paradox of Barack Obamas presidency better than any so far: Conventional wisdom aside, Obama was a better policymaker than a politician. His accomplishments are more impressive and numerous than even many supporters perceived, yet he never fully understood the ferocity of the opposition he engendered and didnt do enough to fight the forces of reaction that led to Trumps unlikely victory. The Presidency of Barack Obama will help readers understand what Obama, sadly, did notuntil it was too late.

Joan Walsh, author of Whats the Matter with White People? Finding Our Way in the Next America

As the Obama presidency becomes history, historians have a unique ability to put its successes and failures in perspective. This is a rich and stimulating volume from a distinguished group of scholars.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, President & CEO, New America

Julian Zelizer has assembled a superb collection of essays by the nations finest historians of U.S. politics and policymaking. This excellent book immediately takes its place as the indispensable one-volume guide to what Barack Obama accomplishedand failed to accomplishover the course of eight years.

Eric Patashnik, author of Reforms at Risk: What Happens after Major Policy Changes Are Enacted

Early versions of history can be tricky, but Julian Zelizer and his colleagues have provided a firm foundation for the many books analyzing the presidency of Barack Obama that will follow.

Norman Ornstein, The American Enterprise Institute

Filled with insight and analytical wisdom, the books appraisals sharpen understanding of current conundrums while revealing the power of well-crafted contemporary history. Readers will gain fresh perspectives about the structural conditions, political experiences, and ideological challenges that shaped the Obama presidencys policy achievements and disappointments.

Ira Katznelson, author of Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time

A brilliant and timely examination of one of the most important presidencies in American history. Avoiding narrow-minded critique and uncritical celebration, this book masterfully analyzes the unheralded victories and unexamined contradictions of the Obama presidency.

Marc Lamont Hill, author of Nobody: Casualties of Americas War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond

This is a smart, timely collection of essays that will serve as an important first assessment of the Obama administration. It will be useful to scholars of modern American politics, but also to journalists and policy makers, as well as many politically minded general readers.

Joseph Crespino, author of Strom Thurmonds America

THE PRESIDENCY OF BARACK OBAMA

The Presidency of Barack Obama

A First Historical Assessment

Edited by Julian E. Zelizer

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

PRINCETON AND OXFORD

Copyright 2018 by Princeton University Press

Published by Princeton University Press,
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540

In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR

press.princeton.edu

Cover photograph: President Barack Obama campaigning in Ohio,
July 8, 2012 / EDB Image Archive / Alamy Stock Photo

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Catalog Number 2017957812

Cloth ISBN 978-0-691-16028-3

Paperback ISBN 978-0-691-18210-0

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

This book has been composed in Adobe Text Pro and Gotham

Printed on acid-free paper.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Harav Hanoch and Bayshe Zelizer, my great-grandparents, who arrived on these shores in the early twentieth century and embodied the promise of our immigrant nation

CONTENTS

Julian E. Zelizer

Julian E. Zelizer

Eric Rauchway

Paul Starr

Meg Jacobs

Risa Goluboff and Richard Schragger

Timothy Stewart-Winter

Jonathan Zimmerman

Peniel E. Joseph

Thomas J. Sugrue

Matthew D. Lassiter

Sarah R. Coleman

Jeremi Suri

Kathryn Olmsted

Jacob Dlamini

Michael Kazin

Gary Gerstle

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the many people who made this book possible. Most important, all the contributors of this book have been incredible colleagues. They put their energy and passion into these essays, producing work that captures essential aspects of this presidency. They have been a pleasure to work with.

The Center for Collaborative History, the Woodrow Wilson School, and the American Studies program all contributed funds that allowed our workshop about the Obama presidency to take place in November 2016. Bernadette Yeager was instrumental to making the conference, where this book started, a reality with her organizational efficiency. This was part of the annual Princeton UniversityBoston UniversityCambridge University Conference, which Bruce Schulman, Anthony Badger, and I started many years ago, joined by new colleagues like Andrew Preston and Gary Gerstle.

I would also like to thank Eric Crahan, our editor at Princeton University Press, who has been a strong supporter of the project from the beginning. Jill Harris has been a superb production editor, moving the project along at a brisk pace. Marilyn Campbell provided terrific copyediting. Madeleine Adams assisted me with some editorial work, while Jake Blumgart and Nathaniel Jiranek assisted with the timeline.

Julian E. Zelizer

TIMELINE