02DF6318 - The Obama Presidency

The publication in 2020 of A Promised Land, the first volume of Barack Obama’s presidential memoirs, gives us the opportunity to study the presidency of the first African-American president in the history of the United States of America. His election was hailed by most political pundits as the start of a major transformation of America. First of all, some argued that his presidency was going to pave the way for the emergence of a post-racial America. However, the fact that he had to deliver a speech on race in Philadelphia during the campaign was an indication that racial issues remained highly sensitive. Once he was elected, he was faced with very serious problems, starting with the economic crisis which hit the country in 2007 and the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The purpose of this course is to study the landmark moments of Obama’s presidency to evaluate whether he was a transformative president or merely a pragmatic one.