1 gen 2008 anni - Obama elected

Descrizione:

The 2008 presidential election took place amidst the economic meltdown. In a historically remarkable primary season, Hillary R. Clinton and Illinois senator Barack Obama — respectively, the first woman and the first African American to be major presidential contenders — vied for the Democratic nomination. After a close-fought contest, Obama emerged as the nominee by early summer.

In the general election, Obama faced Republican senator John McCain of Arizona. Obama had emerged rapidly as a unique figure in American politics. The son of a Kenyan immigrant and a white woman from Kansas, Obama was raised in Hawaii and Indonesia, and he easily connected with an increasingly diverse America. A generation younger than Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Obama was at once a product of the 1960s, especially civil rights gains, and removed from its heated conflicts. He took the oath of office of the presidency on January 21, 2009, amid the worst economy since the Great Depression, with the United States mired in two wars in the Middle East. From the podium, the new president recognized the crises but struck an optimistic tone, encouraging the country to “begin again the work of remaking America” (Map 30.5).

A color-coded United States map shows electoral, popular, and percent of popular votes received by the presidential candidates during the Presidential Election of 2008.
MAP 30.5 The Presidential Election of 2008

Illinois senator Barack Obama, a Democrat, defeated Arizona senator John McCain, the Republican nominee, to become the first African American president. Obama and his vice presidential nominee, Delaware senator Joe Biden, won 53 percent of the popular vote in an election with the highest voter turnout in four decades. The election took place against a backdrop of economic crisis — the stock market lost 25 percent of its value between September and October, as the Great Recession gained momentum. Of particular note is the fact that two-thirds of voters age eighteen to twenty-nine voted for Obama — a surge of youth voting that anchored the Democratic electorate, which was dubbed the “Obama coalition.”

In 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American president in U.S. history. And in 2012, he was reelected to a second term. Here, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama walk along Pennsylvania Avenue during his second inauguration.

A nation that a mere two generations prior would not allow black Americans to dine in the same restaurant with white Americans had elected a black man to the highest office. Obama himself was less interested in celebrating this historic accomplishment — part of his deliberate strategy to downplay race — than with developing a plan to deal with the nation’s challenges, at home and abroad. With explicit reference to Franklin Roosevelt, Obama used the “first hundred days” of his presidency to lay out an ambitious agenda: a “stimulus package” of federal spending to invigorate the economy; plans to draw down the war in Iraq and refocus American military efforts in Afghanistan; a reform of the nation’s health insurance system; and new federal regulations on Wall Street.

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