Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest

by John K. Wilson

Overview

Barack Obama is quickly becoming America's most popular politician, and his run for the presidency has brought huge crowds at home and an unprecedented wave of international attention as well. Much more than a biography, this book is a political tour of Obama's legislative experience as well as his ideas about race, religion, and politics. Political writer John K. Wilson, author of four previous books including a study of Newt Gingrich, explores the reaction Obama has received from the left, the right, and the media. As the first presidential candidate from Generation X, Obama has generated an exciting movement of young people to support his campaign as he defines a new kind of broadly popular progressive politics. As improbable as such a quest may be this fresh new candidate may be just the right one to bridge not only generations but ideologies that often divide. Amid all the hype surrounding Obama, this book provides the first in-depth look at what he believes, what he represents, and how he might transform American politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317263425
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/08/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Wilson, John K.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Generation Obama; Chapter 2 Are You Experienced?; Chapter 3 Race and the President; Chapter 4 The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy; Chapter 5 Why Leftists Hate a Liberal; Chapter 6 “This Is My House, Too”; Chapter 7 From Quest to Reality; Chapter 8 The Victory; Chapter 9 The Obama Administration; Conclusion Conclusion;

Editorial Reviews

Regarding freshman U.S. Senator Barack Obama's quixotic (at least by conventional standards) quest for the Oval Office, these books fall between the usual extremes of unabashedly promotional and critical policy analysis. The more thought-provoking is Steele's (senior fellow, Hoover Inst., Stanford Univ.; White Guilt ), who argues that while he shares much in common with Obama, he is convinced that the senator cannot prevail in his race for the White House. In his brief polemic, almost a literary jazzlike riff on U.S. politics, race relations, and contemporary sociology, Steele examines the significance and implications of Obama's candidacy, concluding that while it is historical-even iconic-he cannot be elected because he is "a bound man." By this he means that although Obama seeks to transcend superficial racial identities, he is in a double-bind, suspended between black racial solidarity and white liberal guilt. Steele admires Obama yet questions his character and policy commitments.

If Steele is an Obama agnostic, Wilson (How the Left Can Win Arguments and Influence People ), who studied law under Obama at the University of Chicago, is an Obama disciple. While Obama's candidacy is perhaps the "improbable quest" that he himself declared it in his announcement speech in 2007, Wilson contends that Obama is the most electorally appealing progressive candidate, one who has truly sparked a grassroots movement. While Steele argues that race may be the downfall of Obama's campaign, Wilson counters that Obama, through his policy proposals and charisma, has transcended race in large measure, and, if elected in 2008, would help the country move further down the road towardwhat Martin Luther King called the "beloved community." With caucuses and primaries upon us, we soon will find out which of these books proves the more deeply insightful. Neither is fully persuasive but each is essential reading for anyone wishing to try to make more sense of contemporary American presidential politics and social policy. Highly recommended for all libraries.-Stephen K. Shaw, Northwest Nazarene Univ., Nampa, ID

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we owe past and future generations, then I'm ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with you. Together, starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be done, and usher in a new birth of freedom on this Earth."
—Senator Barack Obama, announcing his candidacy for the presidency, Springfield, Illinois, 10 February 2007

“Will Barack Obama be the next president of the United States? Should he be? John Wilson thoughtfully examines these questions in a perceptive and incisive analysis of Obama's appeal to the American people.”
—Geoffrey Stone, the Harry Kalven Jr. Distinguished Service Professor of Law at the University of Chicago, and author of Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism

"...essential reading for anyone wishing to try to make more sense of contemporary American presidential politics and social policy. Highly recommended for all libraries.”
—Stephen K. Shaw in Library Journal

"...a thoughtful look at what Obama's candidacy means"
—Booklist

From the Publisher

"...a thoughtful look at what Obama's candidacy means"

Booklist

Will Barack Obama be the next president of the United States? Should he be? John Wilson thoughtfully examines these questions in a perceptive and incisive analysis of Obama's appeal to the American people.”

Geoffrey Stone