Agrégation anglais 2020. The Obama Presidency (2009-2017)

The election of the first African-American president raised enormous
expectations. As a candidate, Barack Obama embodied and campaigned on the idea
of “Hope” and “Change”. Most presidents usually fall short of their lofty
campaign promises. Yet, because Obama’s promises were loftier than most, the
gap between the campaign’s rhetoric and the drab reality of leading the US
administration appeared more stark. Barack Obama came to power at a time when
polarization within elected officials, the electorate and society at large was
growing. Despite the balm of his rhetoric of unity and his efforts to appeal
to Republicans, his presidency seemed to supercharge this dynamic. To a large
portion of conservatives, he was an illegitimate dictator determined to
destroy the American way of life and a weak commander in chief who surrendered
US supremacy on the world stage. To many Democrats, he was the symbol of
America’s forward stride in race relations, a brilliant orator with a steady
hand at the helm that took the country out of the depth of the Great Recession
and the quagmire of Iraq, while finally providing every American with health
insurance, making it possible for same-sex couples to get married and ridding
the world of Bin Laden. Obviously, both visions cannot be true. Fortunately,
the study of his presidency offers a way out of the trap of hagiographies and
negative pamphlets to look at the power of his office and the limits that he
faced.