Barack Obama and Obama

¶ … President Obama Project Who is President Obama and what is his Legacy? The 44th U.S. President's second term in office has come to a close and the first Africa-American President is now out of office. As President Trump takes over with a Republican House and Senate behind him, there is much talk of upending Obama's legacy starting with Obamacare.

This paper will examine the life of President Obama, his time in office, the major accomplishments of his two terms, and likely outcome of his legacy upon leaving office -- i.e., how well his accomplishments will stand up over time.

The study will answer the question: Who is the man we have come to know as President Obama, and what is to become of his legacy? The main points of this study will focus on his youth, his work in Chicago, his time as a politician and as President and his legacy. The problem statement is: The state of Obama's legacy is in question with the Trump win and the Republican controlled House and Senate. Part One: Introduction Background President Obama became the first African-American President in 2008.

His historic presidency promised "hope and change" -- but not all agree as to whether he actually delivered on his promises. Some have been critical and others have been lauding. What Is It? Because Obama remains a controversial figure whose impact on American history is still questionable, there is ample need to uncover the facts to better understand where this country has been and where it is going.

Causes and Events Obama was elected to the White House in the wake of the War on Terror launched by the Bush Administration. Obama pledged to restore transparency, trust and peace after the failures of the Bush Administration with regard to Iraq, 9/11, and government overreach. Obama also promised to make health care more affordable for Americans. Since Obama has left office, insurance premiums have risen making health insurance more costly for many, the War on Terror continues, and government spying on citizens remains a hot topic.

This study is significant because it will show whether Obama was successful in achieving his promises or not. Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to show who Obama is and whether his presidency may be considered successful. Research Question Who is the man we have come to know as President Obama, and what is to become of his legacy? Focus of the Study The study will be organized according to the following parts. Part I will focus on the pre-White House days of Obama.

Part II will focus on the Obama Administration. Part III will focus on the matter of the president's legacy. Part Two: Research Design Site and Sample Google and Google Scholar will be used as primary search engines to obtain information on what historians and political commentators alike have to say about Obama, his achievements, his life, and his legacy. Sites to be used will range from NYMag.com to Zerohedge.com, Politico.com, and NYTimes.com.

The research methods involved in this study will be similar to those used in a meta-analysis. Common themes will be identified and a synthesis of sources conducted to create a new perspective on how to view Obama and his legacy. The documents available for this subject are numerous and include: • Ross Douthat's "The Obama Legacy"[footnoteRef:1] [1: Ross Douthat, "The Obama Legacy," The New York Times, 18 Jan 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/opinion/the-obama-legacy.html] • Julian E. Zelizer's "The Wreckage of Obama's Legacy"[footnoteRef:2] [2: Julian E.

Zelizer, "The Wreckage of Obama's Legacy," The New York Times, 19 Nov 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/opinion/sunday/the-wreckage-of-obamas-legacy.html] • "53 Historians Weigh In On Barack Obama's Legacy"[footnoteRef:3] [3: "53 Historians Weigh In On Barack Obama's Legacy," New York, 11 Jan 2015. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/01/53-historians-on-obamas-legacy.html] • Fareed Zakaria's "How Obama Changed America"[footnoteRef:4] [4: Faree Zakaria, "How Obama Changed America," CNN, 23 Jan 2017.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/07/opinions/barack-obama-legacy-zakaria/] • Kirsten Scharnberg and Kim Barker's "The not-so-simple story of Barack Obama's youth"[footnoteRef:5] [5: Kirsten Scharnberg and Kim Barker, "The not-so-simple story of Barack Obama's youth," Chicago Tribune, 25 Mar 2007. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703250359mar25-archive-story.html] Each of these documents has a unique take on Obama, his work and his legacy. Douthat's piece along with Zelizer's, Zakaria's and the 53 historians all examine Obama's time in office and what his legacy will mean.

Scharnberg and Barker's piece focuses on Obama's work before he was in the White House and what type of man he was before he stepped into the spotlight.

It is an investigative journalist piece and helps provide more depth into Obama's true character by probing beneath Obama's own narrative as depicted in Dreams from My Father.[footnoteRef:6] [6: Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father (NY: Crown Publishers, 2004).] Model The theoretical model to be used is the dialectical theory that posits that there is interplay between opposites -- a thesis, antithesis and synthesis.

According to this model, "opposites are unified if they are in some way interdependent" in the sense that "day" makes sense to us because we also have "night" and the two concepts are defined to an extent by their opposites.[footnoteRef:7] The application of this model for social dialectical scholars "results in ongoing and inevitable change for relationship partners" -- and the goal of this process is to show how relationships can be made intelligible.[footnoteRef:8] This model allows sense to be made of the various perspectives emanating from the diverse set of sources used for this study.

[7: "Dialectical Theory," Encyclopedia, 2003. http://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/dialectical-theory] [8: J. H. Turner, The Structure of Sociological Theory (Chicago: Dorsey Press, 1986), 12.] Part Three: Organizing the Data Documents will be examined in a chronological order with sources pertaining to Obama's youth examined first followed by those pertaining to his Office second, and his legacy last. Discussions will examine the findings in a non-linear manner so as to be able to provide light on various aspects of Obama's life and career without being impeded by an arbitrary assessment framework.

Themes will be treated as guidelines gathered from the sources and synthesized into a coherent whole new perspective that serves to illuminate and make sense of Obama the man and the Obama legacy. Organization of the work will be intuitively fashioned as the identity of the man emerges and the effects of his time in politics emerge. The goal being to identify the man and understand his legacy, a new concept of who Obama is will emerge like sculpture out of clay.

Part Four: Analysis and Conclusion Analysis Analysis will be achieved by considering the emergent themes in the light.