Barack Obama and the Future of American Politics

Summary

Many Americans believe Barack Obama represents a hopeful future forAmerica. But does he also reflect the American politics of the past? This book offers thebroadest and best-informed understanding on the meaning of the #147;Obama phenomenon#148; todate. Paul Street was on the ground throughout the Iowa campaign,and his stories of the rising Obama phenomenon are poignant. Yet the author#146;s background inAmerican political history allows him to explore the deeper meanings of Obama#146;s remarkablepolitical career. He looks at Obama in relation to contemporaryissues of class, race, war, and empire. He considers Obama in the context of our nation#146;spolitical history, with comparisons to FDR, JFK, Bill Clinton, and other leaders. Streetfinds that the Obama persona, crafted by campaign consultants and filtered through dominantmedia trends, masks the #147;change#148; candidate#146;s adherence to long-prevailing power structuresand party doctrines. He shows how American political culture has produced misperceptions bythe electorate of Obama#146;s positions and values. Obama is no magical exception to thenarrow-spectrum electoral system and ideological culture that have done so much to defineand limit the American political tradition. Yet the authorsuggests key ways in which Obama potentially advances democratic transformation. Streetmakes recommendations on how citizens can productively respond to and act upon Obama#146;sinfluence and the broader historical and social forces that have produced his celebrity andrelevance. He also lays out a real agenda for change for the new presidentialadministration, one that addresses the recent failures of democratic politics. This study differs from previous books on Obama in at least three ways: (1)Street#146;s determination to offer a balanced but critical assessment of the #147;Obama phenomenon#148;from a perspective shaped by years of engagement with Left theory and activism; (2) Street#146;seffort to understand the phenomenon in a deeply researched historical, societal, andinstitutional context, consistently relating Obama#146;s career and candidacy to the ongoinghistorical development and dilemmas of U.S. political culture; (3) Street#146;s ability todeepen his account by drawing on his considerable direct experience with the phenomenon overyears as a civil rights researcher and advocate on the south side of Chicago (2000#150;2005) andas a campaign activist in Iowa during the long and critical Iowa primary (caucus) season of2007#150;2008. Read the Huffington Post interviewwith Paul Street: HuffingtonPost interview Read the ZNetinterview with Paul Street: ZNetInterview Read the Firedoglake BookSalon feature of this book: FiredoglakeReview