“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
343