Obama v. Trump: The Politics of Presidential Legacy and Rollback

Clodagh Harrington; Alex Waddan

Open Access Published by Edinburgh University Press 2020

Obama v. Trump

The Politics of Presidential Legacy and Rollback

Clodagh Harrington and Alex Waddan

In the series New Perspectives on the American Presidency

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474447027

Overview
Contents

About this book

Examines how Trump’s election as President signals a rollback of the Obama years

Establishes what can be regarded as Obama's legacy, in both domestic and foreign policy
Investigates how far the Trump administration (up to the end of 2019) undoes Obama's legacy
Focuses on meaningful shifts in presidential priorities, policy changes, and the imprint of presidential leadership
Case studies on specific policy areas where presidential ‘undoing’ has had a significant impact or has been thwarted, such as healthcare reform and immigration policy

In 2008, in what seemed a seminal moment for the country’s politics, the United States elected an African American as President. Yet, eight years later, the nation put Donald Trump – the very antithesis of his predecessor – in office. This book determines what can legitimately be regarded as the legacy of the Obama presidency and investigates how far the Trump administration has reversed it.

The analysis is embedded in a historical context, based on examination and scrutiny of how, and how successfully, presidents in the modern era have overturned the work of their predecessor when they have attempted to do so. The authors focus on meaningful priority shifts, policy changes and the imprint of presidential leadership, providing a framework for assessing Obama’s legacy, which in turn affords context to a discussion of the Trump administration’s capacity to fulfil its promise to reverse the direction taken by the Obama White House.

Looking beyond the noise and hyperbole, the book examines how robust the Obama legacy has proved to be in the face of Trump’s challenge.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
1. Introduction: Presidential legacy in the era of Obama and Trump Open Access Download PDF	1
2. A “hard” legacy, under pressure Open Access Download PDF	38
3. An uncertain “soft” legacy, under fire Open Access Download PDF	77
4. America and the world Open Access Download PDF	116
5. Exercising presidential power Open Access Download PDF	154
6. Public communication and vision Open Access Download PDF	198
7. Conclusion: From “Renegade” to “Mogul” Open Access Download PDF	232
Index Open Access Download PDF	250

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 240
Keywords: Politics

eBook

Published: April 19, 2022
ISBN: 9781474447027