Obama's Fractured Legacy The Politics and Policies of an Embattled Presidency

Critically assesses the legacy of Obama's presidency in Trump's America Based on a dialogue between political scientists and historians from both France and the US, this anthology offers a critical assessment of Barack Obama's two-term presidency. Focusing primarily on domestic policy, the book explains why the widely anticipated moment of change did not fully materialize. The Obama presidency navigated partisan and institutional obstacles, but quickly lost its 2008 momentum: these developments illustrate the weakening of the institutional Presidency in a larger context of polarized politics. Many of the fault lines of American society were thus left largely unaddressed, paving the way for the Trump campaign in 2016. Featuring a range of experts on the American presidency, this book offers both European and American perspectives on both the successes and failures of Obama's tenure in the White House. François Vergniolle de Chantal is Professor of American Politics and Government at Paris Diderot University.