Obama’s America
It was a historic night. On Nov. 4, 2008, Barack Obama became the first African-American elected president of the United States. The Harvard Law School graduate and Illinois senator, then 47, swept into office with a vision of hope and the promise of change backed by an electorate eager for a different kind of Washington. Eight years later, as his time at the White House winds down, the Gazette asked scholars from across Harvard to reflect on the leadership of our 44th president: what they most admired, what was disappointing, and what most surprised them. Davíd Carrasco Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America What I’ve most admired is Obama’s vision of the measured relationship between the United States and the rest of the world, politically and ecologically. I believe this expansive vision springs from his mixed-race identity. To me Obama is black because he is a mixed-race man,...