Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic Approaches to the Obama Presidency (original) (raw)
Related papers
Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition (review)
Education and Culture, 2012
James Kloppenberg's Reading Obama is a high-speed and breathless journey through over 200 years of American political history and theory which gives the work of John Dewey a place of central importance. According to its narrative, these two centuries of American thought find their natural fruition in the political career of Barack Obama. The book, through an introduction to some of the most prevalent intellectual currents in American politics (both past and present), philosophical pragmatism as embodied in the work of John Dewey and his expositors (most specifically the work of Richard J. Bernstein) and various conceptions of constitutional democracy, is intended to construct an understanding of Obama as an intellectual president best understood through his theoretical influences. Kloppenberg's ultimate claim is that when viewed through this framework, it becomes clear that Barack Obama offers a new type of civic republican founded upon a backdrop of philosophical pragmatism. Most concretely, it is argued that Obama shows a strong awareness of conditions of uncertainty and provisionality as well as the necessity for an experimental stance in the realm of politics. Out of this complex "matrix," Kloppenberg ultimately portrays Obama as extraordinarily sophisticated and deep in his understanding of the American tradition, ultimately realizing that "democracy in a pluralistic culture means coaxing a common good to emerge from the clash of competing individual interests" (xiv).
"Obama's autobiographical writing, critical race theory, and the racializing gaze."
In this essay, I consider the issues of cultural translation and deciphering in Barack Obama’s speeches as well as in his two autobiographical texts, which can be perceived not only as political awareness but as political action per se: Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (1995) and The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream (2006). In these texts, Obama takes without hesitation the ethnically charged role of the cultural interpreter to explain the historical sources of black rage and resentment toward Euro-Americans. In fact, this type of “translation” had been an intrinsic aspect of his youth: “I learned to slip back and forth between my black and white worlds, understanding that each possessed its own language and customs and structures of meaning, convinced that with a bit of translation on my part the two worlds would eventually cohere” (76). Whereas he otherwise discourages absolute identity along racial lines, in this and other occasions he has spoken not only as a black man but also for African Americans; that is, as a representative of the black community in the United States. In fact, according to Mostern, this type of “testimony on behalf of” is “clearly one element in all African-American Autobiography Study (though how significant an element is something about which critics differ)” (33). Paradoxically, Obama denies, in the introduction to Dreams of My Father that he has the authority to do so: “I can embrace my black brother and sisters, whether in this country or in Africa, and affirm a common destiny without pretending to speak to, or for, all our various struggles” (x). This peculiarity distances his writing from the subgenre of the testimonio, since testimonialists tend to claim that they represent their social group. In any case, at the same time that he reminds blacks that they have the right and duty to be different from their own pasts, the Janus-faced Obama admonishes the rest of the country of the immorality of historical amnesia. And he sends the same message in The Audicity of Hope: “to acknowledge the sins of our past and the challenges of the present without becoming trapped in cynicism or despair” (233). It is in this sense that Obama’s two books can be interpreted as an act of deciphering one half of himself, Black American culture, for the other half and the “white folks,” as they are referred to sometimes in his books.
Journal of Black Studies, 2007
The Barack Obama Phenomenon T he Journal of Black Studies is proud to publish this special issue on the Barack Obama phenomenon. Given Obama's apparent and rapid success in positioning himself as a viable and credible candidate for the presidency of the United States, the editors of the journal feel that Obama's quest for the White House provide scholars with a unique opportunity and lens to examine or reexamine race, arguably the most significant category in American society. It is certainly intriguing that Obama, a visibly Black man, should have garnered so much political support from White citizens and in a country known for its deeply embedded racist traditions. Indeed, according to recent surveys, increasing numbers of White voters have rallied around Obama's candidacy. Furthermore, Obama is also benefiting from the endorsement of financially wealthy White supporters and has therefore established an impressive though unexpected fund-raising record. Some have not hesitated to conclude that this wide and growing White support signals a significant decrease in White racial prejudice and maybe a new era for race relations. However, on closer examination, Obama's appeal among White Americans, it seems, rests on his perceived ability to transcend race-that is, not to be a Black candidate but simply an American one. Certainly, Obama's rhetoric about national unity based on shared interests and values, as well as his own interracial background and law degree from Harvard University, have done much to create this image of racial neutrality. But can one be truly racially neutral in America? One may wonder if the notion of transcending race is not a racist one itself. Certainly, no White candidate has ever been expected to, and praised for, transcending race. In reality, this notion simply stems from the Eurocentric idea that Black people, including Obama, should emulate the White cultural norm to be acceptable to White America. But this is not all. As president of the United States, Obama would also be expected to promote and defend White hegemony, nationally and internationally. Here again, Obama would be expected to transcend race and behave like a White president. Thus, it is evident that race, even when, or especially when its significance is minimized on the surface, remains at the forefront of any meaningful understanding of the Barack Obama phenomenon.
Based upon an analysis of the print and online media, this article examines the discourse of the "new politics of race" between 2007 and 2014. Part of the politics of postracialism, the new race politics first emerged as a set of guidelines for candidate Barack Obama, concerning how he should and should not handle racial matters if he hoped to win the presidency. In a larger sense, however, the new race politics is a class-specific discourse of racial color blindness, one which positions the black upper middle class as a 21st-century model minority, racialized in contradistinction to the black poor.
Obama and the third Bush term: towards a typology of Obama studies
International Affairs, 2012
Kill or capture: the war on terror and the soul of the Obama presidency. By Daniel Klaidman. New York: Houghton Mifflin. 2012. 288pp. Index. £17.90. isbn 978 0 54754 789 3. Confront and conceal: Obama's secret wars and surprising use of American power. By David E. Sanger. New York: Crown. 2012. 476pp. Index. $28.00. isbn 978 0 30771 802 0. Available as e-book. Bending history: Barack Obama's foreign policy. By Martin S. Indyk, Kenneth G. Lieberthal and Michael E. O'Hanlon. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press. 2012. 342pp. Index. £18.99. isbn 978 0 81572 182 6. Available as e-book. A single roll of the dice: Obama's diplomacy with Iran. By Trita Parsi. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 2012. 284pp. Index. £18.99. isbn 978 0 30016 936 2. Available as e-book. Overreach: leadership in the Obama presidency. By George C. Edwards III. Princeton, NJ, and Oxford: Princeton University Press. 2012. 231pp. Index. £19.95. isbn 978 0 69115 368 1. Available as e-book.
The More Things Change: A Gramscian Genealogy of Barack Obama's 'Post-Racial' Politics, 1932-2008
Political Power and Social Theory, 2011
Numerous commentators have suggested that Barack Obama represents a new “post-racial” politics in the United States, distinct from a pre-existing contentious form that originated with the civil rights era. Drawing on secondary historical data, Mr. Obama's presidential campaign speeches, and county-level electoral returns from Indiana and North Carolina, I argue in contrast to such claims that post-racial politics comprise the latest in a line of successive attempts by the Democratic Party to articulate the New Deal voting bloc, in which the white suburban middle class is the primary constituency while African Americans are of secondary importance. By addressing the question of “Obama and the Politics of Race” in this way, this chapter seeks to integrate political parties into the study of racial ideologies. Specifically, it suggests that the latter may originate and subsequently develop in the context of partisan struggle.