Final published version
Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Chapter
Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Chapter
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TY - CHAP
T1 - Racially Polarised Partisanship and the Obama Presidency
AU - Johnson, Richard
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Many commentators described the election of Barack Obama in 2008 as a moment in which voters put aside race and voted for president on a non-racial basis. This account of ‘colour-blind’ electoral politics contrasts sharply with lingering racial divisions in American society. This chapter sets out to reconcile this apparent paradox, arguing that Obama’s election and reelection were, in fact, not ‘colour-blind’ moments but represented the most racially polarised elections in recent US history. Relatedly, this chapter confronts commentators who have argued that Obama’s relative silence on racial matters is a demonstration of his ‘transcendence’ of race, evidence of a colour-blind political philosophy, or a ‘deracialised’ approach to governance. It argues that structural forces—particularly the confluence of racial attitudes and partisanship at the national and state levels—help to explain the limited success of his policy agenda.
AB - Many commentators described the election of Barack Obama in 2008 as a moment in which voters put aside race and voted for president on a non-racial basis. This account of ‘colour-blind’ electoral politics contrasts sharply with lingering racial divisions in American society. This chapter sets out to reconcile this apparent paradox, arguing that Obama’s election and reelection were, in fact, not ‘colour-blind’ moments but represented the most racially polarised elections in recent US history. Relatedly, this chapter confronts commentators who have argued that Obama’s relative silence on racial matters is a demonstration of his ‘transcendence’ of race, evidence of a colour-blind political philosophy, or a ‘deracialised’ approach to governance. It argues that structural forces—particularly the confluence of racial attitudes and partisanship at the national and state levels—help to explain the limited success of his policy agenda.
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-41033-3
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-41033-3
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9783319410326
T3 - Studies of the Americas
SP - 161
EP - 180
BT - The Obama Presidency and the Politics of Change
A2 - Ashbee, Edward
A2 - Dumbrell, John
PB - Palgrave Macmillan
CY - Cham
ER -