A Consequential President: The Legacy of Barack Obama - Hardcover

Praise for A Consequential President "[An] obligatory reference ... for future historians grappling with the Obama presidency." --The Washington Post "[A] massive trove of fact-checked, citation-provided facts ... Latte-sipping liberals may be partisan or at least annoying in their boostery Facebook posting of job-growth charts, but they're not wrong." --Chicago Tribune "[A] broad, generous look at the entire Obama administration and finds many solid arguments that he indeed delivered the 'change' that he promised in 2008." --Kirkus Reviews "D'Antonio is partisan in that he admires Obama, but as befits a distinguished reporter, his assessments, while not neutral, are certainly balanced." --Publishers Weekly "As an answer to critics on both the left and right, journalist D'Antonio ... shows that ... Barack Obama managed to be the transformative U.S. president that many hoped for when he took office in 2009 ... Readers who enjoy learning about government and politics and want to know how Obama and his advisers addressed the challenges they faced will appreciate D'Antonio's thorough coverage." --Library Journal Praise for Michael D'Antonio "A brisk and entertaining read, drawing on interviews and documents and distilling decades' worth of news coverage to tell the story of Trump's childhood, family, business deals, and political forays." --The Washington Post on The Truth About Trump "An admirably straight-forward, evenhanded but nonetheless damning account of Trump's life." --The New York Times Book Review on The Truth About Trump "A brisk and entertaining read, drawing on interviews and documents and distilling decades' worth of news coverage to tell the story of Trump's childhood, family, business deals and political forays." --The Washington Post on The Truth About Trump "A carefully reported and fair-minded account. ... [D'Antonio] has pulled together Trump's story, subjected it to some fact-checking and dissected a string of business deals that display his drive to win, his thirst for money, his willingness to push boundaries and his apparently endless quest for publicity." --USA Today on The Truth About Trump "Balanced, well-sourced and perfectly timed."--The Financial Times on The Truth About Trump "D'Antonio has delivered an intriguing portrait of an American individualist and his time." --Los Angeles Times Book Review on Hershey "Stunning . . . a vivid, careful, and ultimately momentous piece of journalism." --The Boston Globe on The State Boys Rebellion "A captivating book." --The Wall Street Journal on A Full Cup "This landmark work of recent history remains gripping and affecting to the last word." --Booklist (starred review) on Mortal Sins

Once a most unlikely candidate, Barack Obama's successful campaign for the White House made him a worldwide sensation and a transformative figure even before he was inaugurated. Elected as the Iraq War and Great Recession discouraged millions of Americans, Obama's promise of hope revived the national spirit. Had he only saved the economy, Obama would be considered a truly successful president. However he has achieved so much more, against ferocious opposition, that he can be counted as one of the most consequential presidents in history. With health care reform, he ended a crisis of escalating costs and inadequate access that threatened 50 million people. His energy policies drove down the cost of power generated by the sun, wind, and even fossil fuels. His climate change efforts produced the first treaty to address global warming in a meaningful way, and his diplomacy produced a dramatic reduction in the nuclear threat posed by Iran. Add the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, the normalisation of relations with Cuba, and the "pivot" toward Asia, and his successes abroad match those at home. In A Consequential President, Michael D'Antonio tallies Obama's long record of achievement, both his major successes and less-noticed ones that nevertheless contribute to his legacy. Obama's greatest achievement came as he restored dignity and ethics to the office of the president, proof that he delivered the hope and change he promised.