Lexington Books
Pages: 194
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-0-7391-8290-1 • Hardback • July 2013 • $95.00 • (£73.00)
978-1-4985-1542-9 • Paperback • April 2015 • $51.99 • (£40.00)
978-0-7391-8291-8 • eBook • July 2013 • $49.00 • (£38.00)
Mary L. Rucker is professor of communication at Wright State University. She is the division chair of the Communication Studies degree program. Rucker teaches organizational communication courses and research methods and conducts research in the areas of political communication and ideology, intercultural communication, and race, class, and gender. She has published widely in communication and interdisciplinary journals at the national and international levels.
List of Tables
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Battling History: Obama, Systemic Racism, and Colorism
Chapter 2: The Obama Presidency: A Backlash of Racism and Conservative Radicalism
Chapter 3: The Media: Transmitters of Eliminationist and Racialized Rhetoric
Chapter 4: American Exceptionalism: Roots, Racism, and Obama
Chapter 5: The Re-Election of Barack Obama: “The People Spoke”
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Wondering why President Barack Obama and the 112th Congress can't seem to solve the current economic and social problems in the United States? Obama's Political Saga guides you to the answers.
Laying a foundation of historical and recent facts, Mary Rucker examines how systemic racism and white retribution affected President Obama's first term and influenced the lives of people of color, more specifically, African Americans. Challenged by conservative radicalism, President Obama's dedication to democracy for all U.S. citizens and his views on American exceptionalism are transparent in the author's explanation of him maintaining the foundation of principles of his country. Adding to this analysis is the powerful role the media has played in the raucous political brawl between congress and the president. Nevertheless, Rucker argues obstructionist behavior of congress fails to curtail the re-election of President Obama to a second term. She fervently points out the changing demographics and a "new civil rights movement" were essential factors conservatives did not take into consideration.
Obama's Political Saga is superlative reading for professors and students in mass communications, sociology, and political science.
— Cherlyn A. Johnson, professor of mass communications, Virginia State University