HOPING FOR CHANGE:
The Legislative Record of the Obama Presidency
Abstract
What does it take for a president to be successful in dealing with Congress?
This research endeavors to address that query as it pertains to Barack Obama, the44th President of the United States. After tracing Obama’s background, thestudy identifies several elements that formed the legislative approach of the Obama White House. In order to evaluate effectiveness in interacting with Congress, the paper analyzes how the Obama administration fared on a dozen measures. The results point to a mediocre legislative record, one which is inconsistent with scholarly views of where Barack Obama fits in the latest presidential greatness survey released by Sienna College.
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References
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History Research, 6:3, July-September 2016, p. 121-133.
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Yenne, Bill. The Complete Book of US Presidents. New York: Crestline, 2016.
Applebaum, Binyamin, and Michael D. Shear. “Once Skeptical of Executive Power, Obama Has Come to Embrace it,” New York Times.com, August 13, 2016
Bialik, Kristen. “Obama Issues Fewer Executive Orders on Average Than Any President Since Cleveland,” Pew Research Center.org, January 23, 2017
Chait, Jonathan. Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and
Created a Legacy That Will Prevail. New York: Custom House/HarperCollins Publishers, 2017.
Clegg, Claude A. The Black President: Hope and Fury in the Age of Obama. Baltimore: JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press, 2021.
Congressional Research Service. “Veto Threats and Vetoes in the George W. Bush and Obama Administrations.” Washington, DC, April 30, 2020.
Corn, David. Showdown. New York: William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers, 2012.
Corsa, Jerome R. The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality.New York: Threshold Books, 2008.
CQ Roll Call’s Vote Studies: 2013 in Review. Media.cq.com, accessed 2023.
Currier, Cora. “The Facts Behind Obama’s Executive Privilege Claim,”
ProPublica.org, June 21, 2012.
D’Antoni, Michael. A Consequential President.New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2016.
Days, Michael I. Obama’s Legacy: What He Accomplished as President.
New York: Center Street, 2016.
DeGregorio, William A. The Complete Book of US Presidents.Norwalk:
Easton Press, 2009.
Diann, Stephen. “Obama Scores Poorly in Working with Congress on Legislation.” Washington Times, January 17, 2017.
Edwards, George. Overreach: Leadership in the Obama Presidency.
Princeton: PrincetonUniversity Press, 2012.
Executive Orders. American Presidency Project, ucsb.edu, accessed 2023.
Executive Privilege. Wikipedia.com, accessed 2023.
Foreman, Sean D. “Obama and Congress,” in Tom Lansford, Douglas M. Brattebo, Robert P. Watson, and Casey Maugh Funderburk, eds.,
Leadership and Legacy: The Presidency of Barack Obama. Albany:
SUNY Press, 2021.
Freddoso, David. Gangster Government: Barack Obama and the New Washington Thugocracy. Washington: Regnery Publishing, 2011.
Gerstein, Josh. “Judge Rejects Obama’s Executive Privilege Claim Over Fast and Furious Records,” Politico.com, January 19, 2016.
Gonyea, Don. “CQ: Obama’s Winning Streak on Hill Unprecedented.”
NPR Morning Edition, January 11, 2010.
Hoff, Samuel B. “After 100 Days, Obama Has Solid Start,” Delaware State News, April 29, 2009.
Hoff, Samuel B. “Presidential Support and Veto Overrides, 1889 to 1988.”
The Midsouth Political Science Journal, 13: Summer 1992, p. 173-189.
Hoff, Samuel B. “Saying No: Presidential Support and Veto Use, 1889-1989.” American Politics Quarterly, 19:3, July 1991, p. 310-323.
Hoff, Samuel B. “Storm in the Air: The Battle Over the 1992 Cable Act.”
History Research, 6:3, July-September 2016, p. 121-133.
Janssen, Sarah, ed. The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2023.New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2022.
Klein, Joe. “Yes He Did: Judging Obama’s Legacy.” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2017, p. 134-140.
Lewis, Jeff. “Calculating Presidential Support Scores from Voteview,”
Voteview.com, January 20, 2022.
Liptak, Adam. “Supreme Court Rebukes Obama on Right of Appointment,”
New York Times.com, June 26, 2014.
List of Bills Sponsored by Barack Obama in the United States Senate.
Wikipedia.org, accessed 2023.
List of United States Federal Legislation. Wikipedia.org, accessed 2023.
Margolis, Matt, and Mark Noonan. The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. New York: Post Hill Press, 2018.
Moore, Kathryn. The American President. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2021.
Obama, Barack. A Promised Land. New York: Crown, 2020.
Pitney, John J. “Obama and Washington: Fallen Hopes and Frustrated Change,” in Steven Schier, ed., Debating the Obama Presidency.
Lanham: Roman and Littlefield, 2016.
Presidential Approval Ratings: Gallup Historical Statistics and Trends.
News.Gallup.com, accessed 2023.
Presidential Signing Statements. Coherentbabble.com, accessed 2023.
Presidential Vetoes. History.House.gov, accessed 2023.
Rauchway, Eric. “Neither a Depression nor a New Deal,” in Julian Zelizer, ed., The Presidency of Barack Obama: A First Historical Assessment.
Princeton: PrincetonUniversity Press, 2018.
Rozell, Mark. Executive Privilege: Presidential Power, Secrecy, and Accountability. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2010.
Seats in Congress Gained/Lost by the President’s Party in Midterm Elections. American Presidency Project, ucsb.edu, accessed 2023.
Sienna Research Institute. “American Presidents: Greatest and Worst.”
Sienna.edu/scri/research, June 22, 2022.
State of the Union Address. American Presidency Project, ucsb.edu, accessed 2023.
Todd, Chuck. The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2014.
Tumulty, Karen. “Obama Circumvents Laws with ‘Signing Statements,’ a Tool He Promised to Used Lightly.”The Washington Times, June 2, 2014.
University Press. Barack Obama: The Biography. Middletown, DE, 2022.
Whitney, David, and Robin Vaughn Whitney. The American Presidents. New York: Reader’s Digest Association, 2012.
Yenne, Bill. The Complete Book of US Presidents. New York: Crestline, 2016.
Published
2023-06-20
How to Cite
B. Hoff, S. (2023). HOPING FOR CHANGE:. GPH-International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research, 6(06), 54-64. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8059383
Section
Articles
Copyright (c) 2023 Samuel B. Hoff
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