A Consequential President

Obama's campaign for the White House made the senator from Chicago a worldwide sensation and a transformative figure of hope. Elected after the Iraq War and the Great Recession had driven millions of Americans to despair, he quickly passed an economic recovery act and a program to save the U.S. auto industry. Together, they powered a recovery that once again made America's economy the most vibrant in the world. That alone would have made him a truly successful president, but President Obama achieved so much more and against ferocious opposition. With healthcare reform, President Obama ended a long-running crisis of escalating costs and inadequate access to treatment for tens of millions of citizens. His Paris Agreement became the first treaty to address global warming in a meaningful way. His successes abroad matched those at home. He oversaw the mission to kill Osama bin Laden at last. His measured diplomacy reduced the nuclear threat posed by Iran, normalised relations with Cuba, and left the world a safer place. Most of all, D'Antonio shows that President Obama restored dignity and ethics to the office of the president while running an administration almost entirely untainted by scandal and criminality - which few others can claim.