Table of Contents

Part 1: The Setting 1. Barack Obama: A Reagan of the Left? Andrew Dowdle, Dirk C. van Raemdonck, and Robert Maranto 2. Making Race Go Away President Obama and the Promise of a Post-Racial Society Wilbur C. Rich 3. Presidential Leadership and Public Opinion in an Age of Polarization Jeffrey E. Cohen and Costas Panagopoulos Part 2: Managing the Executive Branch 4. The Obama Cabinet: A Team of Rivals or Pragmatic Governance? Shirley Anne Warshaw 5. Presidential Appointments in the Obama Administration: An Early Evaluation David E. Lewis 6. President Barack Obama, Unilateralist Christopher S. Kelley, Melanie Cook Marlowe, and Ryan J. Barilleaux 7. Continuity and Change in White House Communications: President Obama Meets the Press Martha Joynt Kumar Part 3: Managing Relations with the Other Branches 8. No Place for a Community Organizer: Barack Obama’s Leadership of Congress Justin S. Vaughn 9. Beyond Two Terms: Shaping the Supreme Court and a Legacy Richard L. Pacelle, Jr. Part 4: Managing Policies 10. Economic Policymaking During the Great Recession Ted Gayer 11. President Obama’s Health Care Reform: The Inevitable Impossible Mark Carl Rom 12. President Obama and Education: The Personal and the Political Robert Maranto and Michael Q. McShane 13. Fighting Two Wars Lawrence J. Korb and Laura Conley Part 5: At the End of the Beginning: Judging President Obama 14. Barack Obama's First Two Years: Policy Accomplishments, Political Failure William A. Galston