Outline of US History by U.S. Department of State - HTML preview

CHAPTER 16: POLITICS OF HOPE

“The strongest democracies

flourish from frequent and lively

debate, but they endure when

people of every background and

belief find a way to set aside

smaller differences in service

of a greater purpose.”

President Barack Obama, 2009

THE ELECTION OF 2008

In late 2007, it seemed nearly cer-

AND THE EMERGENCE OF

tain that the Democratic nomination

BARACK OBAMA

would go to Senator Hillary Rodham

H

Clinton of New York . The wife of

aving served two terms, Presi- former president Bill Clinton,

dent George W . Bush was constitu- she had quickly established herself

tionally prohibited from being elected as a leading member of Congress

again to the presidency . After a spir- and possessed a strong national con-

ited preconvention campaign, the stituency among women and liberal

Republicans chose as their candi- Democrats . However, she faced a phe-

date Senator John McCain of Ari- nomenon not unusual in democratic

zona . A Vietnam veteran respected societies—a relatively unknown, but

for his heroic resistance as a prison- charismatic, challenger whose ap-

er of war, McCain possessed strong peal rested not on ideological or pro-

foreign policy credentials and was grammatic differences but on style

a relatively moderate conservative and personal background .

on domestic issues . He chose as his

Barack Hussein Obama was only

running mate Governor Sarah Palin in his second year as a U .S . senator

of Alaska . Much admired by Chris- from Illinois, but his comparative

tian evangelicals and cultural conser- youth and freshness were assets in a

vatives, she drew almost as much year when the electorate was weary

attention as McCain himself .

of politics as usual . So was his multi-

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OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY

cultural background . His father was imperiled the entire financial super-

from Kenya; his mother was a white structure of the nation . The Federal

American sociologist . Born in Ha- Deposit Insurance Corporation

waii, he had spent his early years in (FDIC), created during the New

Indonesia, where he attended a Mus- Deal, shut down numerous banks

lim school . After his father left the without loss to depositors, but had

family and his mother died at an ear- no jurisdiction over the giant finan-

ly age, he had been raised by his cial investment companies that did

grandmother . These family crises not engage in commercial banking .

notwithstanding, he became a suc- Moreover, it had only limited capa-

cessful student at two of the best bilities to deal with those corpora-

universities in the United States— tions that did both .

Columbia and Harvard . His person-

Fearing a general financial melt-

al style mixed a rare speaking talent down reminiscent of the darkest

with a hip informality that had great days of the Great Depression, the

appeal to younger voters . Americans U .S . Treasury and the Federal Re-

of all ages could consider him an serve engineered a Troubled Assets

emblematic representative of their Relief Program (TARP) that was

society’s tradition of providing oppor- funded by a $700 billion congres-

tunity for all .

sional appropriation . The TARP

After a close, hard-fought six program kept the endangered invest-

months of party caucuses and pri- ment banks afloat . What it could not

mary elections, Obama eked out a do was stave off a sharp economic

narrow victory over Clinton . He collapse in which millions of Ameri-

made Senator Joseph Biden of Dela- cans lost their jobs .

ware his vice-presidential selection .

That November, the voters elect-

Most measures of popular sentiment ed Obama president of the United

indicated that the public wanted a States, with approximately 53 per-

change . The two candidates were cent of the vote to McCain’s 46 .

ahead in many public opinion polls

as the fall campaign season began .

OBAMA: THE FIRST YEAR

Any chance that McCain and

Palin could pull ahead was ended Obama was inaugurated president

by the sharp financial crisis that be- of the United States on January 20,

gan in the last half of September and 2009, in an atmosphere of hope and

sent the economy crashing . Caused high expectations . In his inaugural

by excessive speculation in risky address, he declared: “The time has

mortgage-backed securities and

come to reaffirm our enduring spir-

other unstable investment vehicles, it; to choose our better history; to

the crash led to the bankruptcy of carry forward that precious gift, that

the venerable Lehman Brothers in- noble idea, passed on from genera-

vestment house and momentarily tion to generation: the God-given

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