Covering key issues ranging from education to political mobilization to racial stratification, this book provides a comprehensive examination of the Obama Presidency.
President Barack Obama's election and subsequent reelection represent a critical paradigm shift in American political history. But are there lasting effects of the election of an African American to the highest office in the land in terms of the United States' economic, educational, political and social realities? A valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, state and federal policymakers, and general readers, this book poses critical questions and offers insightful answers from expert contributors, provides a balanced critique of President Obama's accomplishments and challenges, and considers the national and international impact President Obama's tenure had on politics.
The numerous contributors to this book provide a range of perspectives on President Obama's presidency that question conventional thinking, covering key issues that include health care, education, political mobilization, gender, racial stratification, voting patterns, and criminal justice. Readers will come away with a heightened comprehension of the complex relationships between political structures, economic policies, and minority interests; how Congress, traditional and contemporary activists, and domestic and international issues all shaped the Obama Presidency; and how micro and macro issues such as voting rights, voting patterns, and Get Out the Vote (GOTV) initiatives are connected.

Larry J. Walker is a researcher and political strategist. He is a former Congressional Fellow with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) and served as Legislative Director for Congressman Major R. Owens.
F. Erik Brooks is professor and chair of the African American Studies Department at Western Illinois University, USA.
Ramon B. Goings is assistant professor of educational leadership at Loyola University of Maryland-Baltimore, USA.

Preface
Part One Race, Party Affiliation, and the New Majority
Chapter 1 The Body Politic: How Underrepresented Groups Can Gain Political Power
Christopher M. Whitt
Chapter 2 The Right to Vote, 50 Years Later: Do We Still Need the 1965 VRA?
Blanche M. Radford-Curry
Chapter 3 The Latino Vote: Growth, Influence, and How Obama Changed the Game
Andrew Martinez and Paola Esmieu
Chapter 4 African Americans, Voting, and the Republican Party
Donna L. Taylor
Chapter 5 Barack Obama and the Youth Vote
Glenn L. Starks
Chapter 6 New Definitions of Progressivism in the Age of Obama
Linda D. Tomlinson
Chapter 7 You Can't Call That Mentoring: The Fallacy of Mentoring in Obama's My Brother's Keeper
Torie Weiston-Serdan and Arash Daneshzadeh
Chapter 8 The Great Divider: Obama's Influence on Trust in Government and Racial Attitudes
Clarissa Peterson and Emmitt Y. Riley III
Part Two Coalition Building, Social Media, and Political Messaging
Chapter 9 Body Cameras and Policing: From Ferguson to Baltimore
MaCherie M. Placide
Chapter 10 President Obama: Code-Meshing and the Power of Speech in Racial Politics
Cassandra Chaney and Kyomi Gregory
Chapter 11 The Duplicitous Commodification of the Obama Presidency: Interrogating Barack Obama's Sociopolitical Assent and Relevance through a Conscious Hip-Hop Pedagogy
Ahmad R. Washington, Belema Idoniboye, and Marta N. Mack-Washington
Chapter 12 Black Women as Agents of Social Change during the Obama Presidency
Melissa Brown
Chapter 13 The Black President and the Black Body: The Intersection of Race, Class, Gender, and Violence in America
David O. Fakunle, Calvin J. Smiley, and Marisela B. Gomez
Chapter 14 HBCUs and Activism in the Post-Obama Era
Felecia Commodore and Robert T. Palmer
Chapter 15 Standardized Testing, Teacher Accountability, and the School Choice Debate
Nicole McZeal-Walters
Chapter 16 Use of Deadly Force: Policing and Accountability during the Obama Administration
Kimberly J. Rice, Keith Boeckelman, and Casey LaFrance
Index
About the Editors and Contributors