Obama’s Balance of Power

The endeavor was risky. Now “Obamacare,” the law on health coverage, risks being overturned by the Supreme Court, just when the outcome of President Barack Obama’s first term remains uncertain.

A warning was issued in a book edited by Olivier Richomme, a lecturer at the University of Lyon-II, and Vincent Michelot, a science professor at Po Lyon. This book keeps its promises.

From wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the race question, Wall Street reform and immigration to European relations, 15 experts have scrutinized the achievements of the last four years. If America has not changed, then at least the way in which the world views America has changed.

Obama embodies a “breach,” without a doubt. For the first time in many years, Americans have elected a “progressive” president.

Many Obstacles

For Richomme and Michelot, the Obama administration sought to “restructure the two state forms that dominate American politics — something that has not been done since the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt.” Obama’s presidency symbolized on one side “the freedom to live free from want” and on the other, the “freedom to live free from fear.”

But, compared to Obama’s first goal, which was to strengthen the welfare of the country, the results right now are mixed, the authors acknowledge. Promises of change have faced many hurdles.

What Obama has on his side is how he approached the crisis and Wall Street reform, which was “extraordinary” if not revolutionary. But the debt has exploded and with it unemployment. After all, Obama gave the impression of not wanting to focus on employment.

In global terms, “one cannot talk of a transformative presidency,” the authors write, as this leaves a sense of unfinished business.

As for the president’s warm feelings toward Europe, these are beautifully summarized by this confession, taken from his autobiography: “It wasn’t that Europe wasn’t beautiful; everything was just as I’d imagined it. It just wasn’t mine.”