In the United States, Obama’s reelection might energize his followers. But what exactly did his new American century consist of? What would be its priorities? In his first term Obama had been preoccupied with overcoming the legacy of Bush’s mistakes and coping with the crisis. But was the crisis really over? And even if it was, did that mean that America could face the future unencumbered? Or, having survived the crisis, did America now face the same challenges that had brought Obama as a junior senator to the launch of the Hamilton Project in 2006—challenges that had
