In April 2012, Hofstra University hosted a symposium comparing the presidencies of George W Bush and Barack Obama. In the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama promised major departures from the Bush administration's approach to political negotiations and policies. But in the White House, several, though certainly not all, of Obama's actions have suggested more continuity than change with his predecessor. What is the Bush (43) Presidency's legacy in American politics and the world? How has that legacy shaped the policies of President Obama? This assessment of both presidencies provides a timely discussion of their leadership successes and challenges in the White House, with attention to immediate results as well as long-term effects. This book presents the symposium findings, with updates that incorporate the 2012 elections and the start of Obama's second term. The first part examines each president's ability to mobilise public support and exercise political leadership, both within his own political party and more broadly. The second part compares foreign policy in the two administrations, focusing on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East.Contributors include experts on the American presidency, executive-legislative policy making, and U.S. foreign policy.
Meena Bose is Executive Dean of Hofstra Universitys Peter S. Kalikow School of Government, Public Policy and International Affairs, and the Director of Hofstras Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency. She is the author of Shaping and Signaling Presidential Policy: The National Security Decision Making of Eisenhower and Kennedy (1998), and editor of the reference volume The New York Times on the Presidency (2009). She also has edited several volumes in presidency studies and a reader in American politics, and she is third author for the American Government: Institutions and Policies textbook (15th edition, 2016).
Foreword; Introduction; Comparing the Constitutional Presidencies of George W Bush & Barack Obama: War Powers, Signing Statements, Vetoes; Dividers, Not Uniters: How Presidents George W Bush & Barack Obama Failed to Unite a Divided Nation; Overcoming a Polarized Congress: The Economic Politics of Bush & Obama; Understanding the Obama Doctrine; George W Bush & Barack Obama: Foreign Policy Decision Making; Evaluating Afghanistan & Iraq in the George W Bush & Obama Presidencies: Change We Can Believe In?; Bush, Obama, Polarization & National Security: Some Concluding Thoughts; Index.