The Obama Question

by Gary J. Dorrien

The election of Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008 was hailed by many as a historic event and by some as the end of the Reagan era in American politics. But conservatives have condemned Obama from the beginning of his presidency, and many progressives charge that Obama has betrayed the causes that he espoused in 2008.

This book offers a brilliant critique of Obama's presidency and a powerful case that progressives should not give up on Obama. Gary Dorrien, described by Princeton philosopher Cornel West as "the preeminent social ethicist in North America today," argues that Obama is a figure of "protean irony and complexity." Obama has been a bitter disappointment in many ways, Dorrien contends, yet Obama also has historic achievements to his credit that are too often discounted.

Dorrien emphasizes the importance of Obama's story to his career and devotes chapters to the economic crisis, the health care reform debate, war and foreign policy, banking regulation and the federal budget, and the case for a progressive politics of the common good. Ultimately, Dorrien says, the Obama question is whether or not Obama's presidency will mark the end of the Reagan era—when giant corporations and the wealthy got whatever they wanted, military budgets soared, and American politics was ruled by the fantasy of tax cuts paying for themselves.

Dorrien argues that there is still time to redeem the hope of the 2008 election, bringing an end to the Reagan era. The Obama Question will stand as an insightful evaluation of a tumultuous presidency long after the next election has passed.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 16, 2012

About the author

Gary John Dorrien is an American social ethicist and theologian. He is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and Professor of Religion at Columbia University, both in New York City, and the author of 18 books on ethics, social theory, philosophy, theology, politics, and intellectual history.

Prior to joining the faculty at Union and Columbia in 2005, Dorrien taught at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, where he served as Parfet Distinguished Professor and as Dean of Stetson Chapel.

An Episcopal priest, he has taught as the Paul E. Raither Distinguished Scholar at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and as Horace De Y. Lentz Visiting Professor at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perceptive, thorough, yet concise analysis of Obama as a real human being, with the intelligence and complexity of very few Americans, not to mention presidents and politicians in general. Many people on both the right and left sides of the political spectrum have created fictions and images that they attach to Obama without actually understanding his accomplishments, his merits, as well as his faults. While the right wants to portray him as ungodly and "liberal", when in fact he is decisively centrist (to a fault, Dorrien points out, as when he allowed the Bush tax cuts to be extended, which he promised would end while he was campaigning), the left sees him as a messiah figure, grasping at his rich cultural heritage as a testament to his strong commitment to radical social movements (which is untrue, as he is very moderate and socially conservative in some ways).

Perhaps the best and least biased book I have read about a political figure in a long time.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A SOCIAL ETHICS PROFESSOR LOOKS AT THE ADMINISTRATION'S FIRST TERM

Gary Dorrien is a professor of social ethics at Union Theological Seminary, and also the author of books such as 'The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805 - 1900,' 'Economy, Difference, Empire: Social Ethics for Social Justice,' etc.

He states early in this 2012 book, "Obama had barely been elected president when he had to start governing, and he was in full governing mode before he was inaugurated, pushing a huge stimulus bill that he wanted to sign on his first day in office. A month after he was inaugurated he signed seven landmark bills at once---the largest tax cuts for the middle class since the Reagan administration, the biggest infrastructure bill since the Eisenhower administration... the biggest antipoverty and job training bill since the Johnson administration, the biggest clean energy bill ever, and huge investments in housing and scientific research. But he wrapped these items together as one bill to ensure that everything passed, and he settled for a smaller stimulus than was needed without fighting about it publicly---a sign of things to come." (Pg. 3)

He adds, "progressives were angry that he eased off on employment spending, abandoned the public option, and escalated the war in Afghanistan... progressives were furious that Obama extended the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, albeit in a hostage situation. The following year Obama disastrously capitulated to Republican extortion on the debt ceiling, agreeing to spending cuts that slash sociao programs ... in exchange for averting a federal default." (Pg. 4) Later, he says, "Although Obama rediscovered his populist voice after the debt ceiling debacle, he spent most of his term seeming to be averse to conflict, and thus demoralized his supporters. So much better was expected of him by progressives, like me." (Pg. 10) He asserts, "he cut Medicaid to get a budget deal, which is morally indefensible. In the debt ceiling bargaining, he offered to raise the entry age for Medicare, which is the opposite of what America needs to do..." (Pg. 14)

He notes, however, that "three-quarters of the debt amassed on Obama's watch is the outgrowth of Bush's unpaid tax cuts, unpaid wars, and unpaid drug benefit, and much of the rest is cleanup for the financial crash.' (Pg. 7) He argues that Obama "has many historical accomplishments to his credit to build on." (Pg. 14) He notes, "Mitch McConnell and House minority leader John Boehner committed the Republican Party to obstruction. Politics trumped everything else." (Pg. 93)

This is a very insightful, sympathetically critical progressive view of the Obama administration.