Reading Obama

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Derided by the Right as dangerous and by the Left as spineless, Barack Obama puzzles observers. In this exploration, James T. Kloppenberg reveals the sources of Obama's ideas and explains why his principled aversion to absolutes does not fit contemporary partisan categories. Obama's commitments to deliberation and experimentation stem from his engagement with American democratic thought, establishing him as a profound political thinker of the past century. Kloppenberg highlights the influences shaping Obama's worldview, including Nietzsche, Niebuhr, Ellison, Rawls, and contemporary theorists involved in feminism and critical race theory. Through an examination of Obama's views on the Constitution, slavery, the Civil War, the New Deal, and the civil rights movement, Kloppenberg illustrates Obama's sophisticated understanding of American history. He argues that Obama's interest in compromise and civility reflects strength rather than weakness, rooted in the philosophies of Madison, Lincoln, and especially William James and John Dewey, which have inspired generations of progressives. This analysis reveals the sources of Obama's commitment to democracy, shaped by the books he has read, the visionaries who have inspired him, and the social movements that have influenced his thinking. Kloppenberg shows that Obama's positions on social justice, religion, race, family, and America's global role arise from deeply held convictions about