Barack Obama strode into the White House roughly eight years back on the promise of Hope. A promise that he would revive economy and get employment rates back to normal. Well, it is not exactly how it was before the slide began during the great recession, but it is better. Is it just time that has healed the problem, or was it President Obama’s policies and actions that made it possible. In Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Transformed America, Jonathan Chait shows you how America’s forty-fourth president made progress on multiple fronts including climate-change, healthcare, education, and maintained peace.
Jonathan Chait is a political columnist for New York magazine. He was previously a senior editor at the New Republic and has also written for the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Atlantic. He has been featured throughout the media, including appearances on NPR, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, HBO, The Colbert Report, Talk of the Nation, C-SPAN, Hardball, and on talk radio in every major city in America.
Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Transformed America
Author: Jonathan Chait
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Custom House (January 17, 2017)
ISBN: 0062426974, 978-0062426970
Audacity Book Review
President Obama walked into office with a number of challenges. The middle-east had begun to doubt the true motives of the country, the US economy was in a downward spiral, the public education system was at its lowest point, people were losing jobs and healthcare problems loomed large on the horizon. There is no doubt he walked-in in Office with one of the most unfavorable circumstances in the last couple of decades. But the question is did he do what he promised to during the election.
According to Chait, he did. The author frames the beginning of his presidency in the backdrop of Republican majority in the Congress and detractors within the Democratic party. He shows the reader how in spite of setbacks, Obama stuck to his agenda and tread the first term, always believing he could do the rest in the next. Mostly viewed as extreme Left, his actions and views pale in light of President Trump’s actions and plans.
Audacity is about realigning the discourse that has dominated the time of President Obama. The author claims that despite his successes the discussion has centered around how he failed and how his presidency was more about his charisma than substance. The book intends to change that perception by arguing the other side, case-by-case, from before he became the president and during his two terms.
Additional Reading
“. . . goal is not to understand the president but to prosecute a case on behalf of the liberal political tradition he believes Obama represents.” ~ Timothy Shenk, New Republic
Review of Jonathan Chait’s “Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied his Critics and Created a Legacy that Will Prevail” ~ Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post
“So his book is worth a lingering look, if not much more. It will stand for now as the most comprehensive, full-dress brief for the achievements of Barack Obama—such as they are.” ~ Andrew Ferguson, the weekly Standard.