Obama V. Trump - (New Perspectives on the American Presidency) by Clodagh Harrington & Alex Waddan (Paperback)

About the Book

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.

Book Synopsis

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 2018 mid-terms) undoes Obama's legacy legacyFocuses on meaningful shifts in presidential priorities, policy changes, and the imprint of presidential leadershipCase studies on specific policy areas where presidential 'undoing' has had a significant impact or has been thwarted, such as health care 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, in the form of Donald Trump, the nation put in office a man who was the very antithesis of his predecessor. 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.

From the Back Cover

Examines how Trump's election as President signals a rollback of the Obama years 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, in the form of Donald Trump, the nation put in office a man who was the very antithesis of his predecessor. 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. Clodagh Harrington is Associate Professor of American Politics at De Montfort University. Alex Waddan is Associate Professor in American Politics at the University of Leicester.

Review Quotes

In this engaging and important volume, political scientists Clodagh Harrington and Alex Waddan offer a thoroughly researched, clearly written and cogent evaluation of Barack Obama's legacy and Donald Trump's efforts to roll it back while shrewdly assessing the similar ways in which they each used presidential power to achieve dissimilar ends.--Iwan Morgan, University College London

About the Author

Dr Clodagh Harrington is Professor in Politics at University College Cork, Ireland. She has a strong track record of writing on various aspects of the American political system for publications including The Obama Presidency and the Politics of Change (Ashbee & Dumbrell (eds), Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and Republican Orators from Eisenhower to Trump (Crines (ed), Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).

Dr Alex Waddan is Associate Professor in American Politics and American Foreign Policy in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Leicester. He is the co-author of Obamacare Wars: Federalism, State Politics, and the Affordable Care Act (with Daniel Beland and Philip Rocco, University Press of Kansas, 2016) and he has published in journals including Political Studies, Social Policy and Administration and Political Quarterly. He previously contributed to Assessing The George W. Bush Presidency: A Tale of Two Terms (Wroe & Herbert (eds), EUP, 2009).