Obama’s welfare and antipoverty policies: an assessment
This chapter assesses the extent to which the Obama administration has been able to implement its legislative program. The most important achievement has been the Affordable Care Act, especially the Medicaid expansion. One of the biggest contradictions of the Obama presidency is that it continued broadening the role of the federal government whilst cutting the number of federal government jobs due to tight fiscal rules. In fact, the dispersion and fragmentation of policymaking has continued, particularly with regard to welfare and employment policy. Finally, the Great Recession and persistent wage depression have accentuated the structural social and economic inequalities that have plagued U.S. politics for the past three decades. This has created a huge disconnect that the fragmented U.S. polity has been unable to address.