This edited volume considers the extent to which the Obama presidency matched the promises of hope and change that were held out in the 2008 election. Contributors assess the character of ¿change¿ and, within this context, survey the extent to which there was enduring change within particular policy areas, both domestic and foreign. The authors combine empirical detail with more speculative assessment of the limits and possibilities of change amidst a very dense institutional landscape and in an era of intense political polarization. Some see significant changes, the full consequences of which may only be evident in later years. Other authors in the collection present a markedly different picture and suggest that processes of change were not only limited and partial but at times leading the US in directions far removed from the promises of 2008. The book will make an important contribution to the debates about the Obama legacy.

Offers rigorous and timely appraisal of the Obama presidency, combining broad commentaries and case studies

Introduction - The Politics of Change .- Obama's Electoral Record: The Emerging Democratic Majority? .- Obama and Congress: Change in an Age of Deadlock? .- The US Supreme Court in the Obama Years .- Continuity and Change: Immigration Worksite Enforcement during the Bush and Obama Administrations .- Macroeconomic Policy and Processes of Neoliberalization during the Obama Years .- Racially Polarised Partisanship and the Obama Presidency .- Offers and Throffers: Education Policy under Obama .- Healthy Hunger-free Kids? The US School Lunch Revolution .- Looking Back on Obama's Environmental Policy .- A New 'War on Poverty'? A Story of Policy Success, Frustration and Restraint .- Barack Obama and the Return of 'Declinism': Rebalancing American Foreign Policy in an Era of Multipolarity .- Obama and Iran: Explaining Policy Change .- "Here, We See the Future:" The Obama Administration's Pivot to Asia.