scholarly journals The Great Communicators and political reconstruction: A comparative study between President Ronald Reagan and President Barack Obama

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Micheal D. Warren

<p>Presidents come into office wanting to make America a better place, and Stephen Skowronek’s recurring model of presidential authority is perfectly suited when comparing one president to another, across political time. President Ronald Reagan was categorised as a reconstructive president alongside Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D Roosevelt, according to Skowronek’s model; at the end of his first term, President Obama’s has the potential to be remembered as the sixth president of reconstruction. While the nature of reconstruction has changed and has become more superficial with the ageing of the United States political system, Obama’s reconstructive potential is no less potent than that of Jefferson, Jackson and Lincoln.  The passing of Health Care reform is Obama’s biggest achievement of his presidency to date and is one of the biggest domestic reforms undertaken since the 1960s. Looking ahead to Obama’s second term, further progress looks possible to enhance his reconstructive potential. If Obama can secure immigration reform, then he will give 12 million illegal immigrants the chance to come out from the shadows and work toward residency and legally live the American dream.  With the election and re-election of Obama by an emerging majority made up of women, African Americans, Hispanic Americans and young Americans, the Age of Reagan that existed, has now been replaced by a more diverse coalition. If a democrat can win the White House in 2016, it will truly mean that the Age of Obama has begun.  Obama’s most potent legacy will become more evident in the years to come as many Americans will not remember what the unemployment rate was when he assumed office or what it was when he left office. The partisan bickering that dominated for much of Obama’s first term will have faded into distant memory, but what will shine through from the Obama presidency is opportunity. Americans will never forget how Obama changed the limits of possibility for generations to come. Today there are ten year old African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American children all over the United States who believe that, because of the Obama presidency, they too can one day become president. That in itself is hugely reconstructive and by being elected President, Obama has achieved something more potent than any other reconstructive presidents could have ever achieved.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Micheal D. Warren

<p>Presidents come into office wanting to make America a better place, and Stephen Skowronek’s recurring model of presidential authority is perfectly suited when comparing one president to another, across political time. President Ronald Reagan was categorised as a reconstructive president alongside Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D Roosevelt, according to Skowronek’s model; at the end of his first term, President Obama’s has the potential to be remembered as the sixth president of reconstruction. While the nature of reconstruction has changed and has become more superficial with the ageing of the United States political system, Obama’s reconstructive potential is no less potent than that of Jefferson, Jackson and Lincoln.  The passing of Health Care reform is Obama’s biggest achievement of his presidency to date and is one of the biggest domestic reforms undertaken since the 1960s. Looking ahead to Obama’s second term, further progress looks possible to enhance his reconstructive potential. If Obama can secure immigration reform, then he will give 12 million illegal immigrants the chance to come out from the shadows and work toward residency and legally live the American dream.  With the election and re-election of Obama by an emerging majority made up of women, African Americans, Hispanic Americans and young Americans, the Age of Reagan that existed, has now been replaced by a more diverse coalition. If a democrat can win the White House in 2016, it will truly mean that the Age of Obama has begun.  Obama’s most potent legacy will become more evident in the years to come as many Americans will not remember what the unemployment rate was when he assumed office or what it was when he left office. The partisan bickering that dominated for much of Obama’s first term will have faded into distant memory, but what will shine through from the Obama presidency is opportunity. Americans will never forget how Obama changed the limits of possibility for generations to come. Today there are ten year old African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American children all over the United States who believe that, because of the Obama presidency, they too can one day become president. That in itself is hugely reconstructive and by being elected President, Obama has achieved something more potent than any other reconstructive presidents could have ever achieved.</p>


Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11 (109)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
German Gigolaev

The USA, as well as the USSR, initiated the convocation of the III UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (1973—1982). However, after the Ronald Reagan administration came to the White House, American diplomacy significantly changed its policy toward the Conference, which eventually resulted in US refusal to support the draft Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was worked out during the Conference. This behavior was in line with policy course of the Reagan administration — more aggressive than that of their predecessors. The article considers the American policy regarding Law of the Sea negotiations in the first months of Reagan&apos;s presidency, during the Tenth Session of the III UNCLOS.


Worldview ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-10
Author(s):  
Denis Goulet

Mexico's two thousand-mile border with the United States is unarmed, but it remains the locus of sharp conflicts. Last October, House Speaker "Tip" O'Neill, bowing to pressure from the Hispanic Caucus, withdrew the Simpson- Mazzoli bill on immigration reform over White House objections that "it is in the best interests of all Americans to have the nation regain control of its borders." Jorge Bustamante, director of Mexico's Center for Border Studies, argues, however, that such a bill would "leave all migrant workers, whether documented or not, in a state of virtual slavery, since they will have no access to the courts to plead for justice."


2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 26-30
Author(s):  
Amy Carattini

In a recent plea for immigration reform, President Obama called for lawmakers to endorse policy that would encourage highly skilled workers to stay in the United States (Yellin 2013). Yet, favorable legal policy is no guarantee that these skilled and highly mobile international professionals would choose to stay. Skilled workers are generally able to move in and out of the broad current of immigration flows, without causing the disruptive ripples that generate nation-state/media attention. In fact, it is often assumed that they integrate seamlessly (Favell, Feldblum, and Smith 2007; Freidenberg 2011). More research is needed to identify this population and to understand their motivations, needs, and experiences. Through an in-depth examination of life courses, the study reported on here seeks to acquire better knowledge of this population in order to determine whether their stays might be permanent or transitory and to inform appropriate policymaking.


Author(s):  
Allan J. Lichtman

The Keys to the White House are an index-based prediction system that retrospectively account for the popular-vote winners of every US presidential election from 1860 to 1980 and prospectively forecast the winners of every presidential election from 1984 through 2008. The Keys demonstrate that American presidential elections do not turn on events of the campaign, but rather on the performance of the party controlling the White House. The Keys hold important lessons for politics in the United States and worldwide. A preliminary forecast based on the Keys indicates that President Obama is a likely winner in 2012, but also reveals the specific problems at home at abroad that could thwart his re-election.


Author(s):  
Allan J. Lichtman

The Keys to the White House are an index-based prediction system that retrospectively account for the popular-vote winners of every US presidential election from 1860 to 1980 and prospectively forecast the winners of every presidential election from 1984 through 2008. The Keys demonstrate that American presidential elections do not turn on events of the campaign, but rather on the performance of the party controlling the White House. The Keys hold important lessons for politics in the United States and worldwide. A preliminary forecast based on the Keys indicates that President Obama is a likely winner in 2012, but also reveals the specific problems at home at abroad that could thwart his re-election.


1984 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-622
Author(s):  
Catherine Wihtol De Wenden ◽  
Jacqueline Costa-Lascoux

Similarities and dissimilarities in France and American efforts to come to grips with irregular migration are analyzed. The symbolic importance of immigration reform is argued to be a key political concern in both nations although the politics of immigration reform has assumed a more partisan flavor in France particularly since the municipal elections of 1983.


2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (1, 2 & 3) ◽  
pp. 2006
Author(s):  
Judith A. Garber

Twenty-five years have passed since the newly formed Moral Majority helped put Ronald Reagan in the White House and a Republican majority in the United States Senate. The Moral Majority was one organization (and its founder, the Reverend Jerry Falwell, one figure) at the centre of an emerging evangelical Protestant social movement. This movement was galvanized by two aims: defeating the Equal Rights Amendment,3 which Congress submitted to the states for consideration in 1972, and contesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade4 ruling, which recognized a constitutional right to abortion. In the early 1980s, “New Christian Right” was an accurate description of the first widespread public engagement of evangelicals in half a century.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 39-53
Author(s):  
M. A.-M. Kodzoev

After Donald Trump becoming US president, the process of normalizing US-Cuban relations was interrupted for four years. After his inauguration, as he had promised during the election campaign, he canceled almost all of the achievements of his predecessor in the area of improving bilateral ties and subsequently consistently tightened sanctions against Havana. This could have been due to the desire of Trump to provide a reciprocal ‘service’ to the ultra-conservative interest groups in Washington, D.C. whose substantial support was used during the elections. At the same time, the Republican, usually not inclined to caution in decision-making, gradually introduced new restrictions on interaction with the Latin American country and was in no hurry to use all instruments available at once. Probably, in this way Trump tried to keep for himself as long as possible the main ‘bargaining chip’, which the Island of Freedom became in his internal political game quid pro quo the new partners from among the ‘hawks’. Therefore, the White House began to take the most aggressive measures just on the eve of the 2020 elections and immediately after them. The victory of the Democrat Joseph Biden, who served as a vice-president in Barack Obama administration, did not allow the calculations of the ultra-conservatives to come true in full: Cuba withstood the pressure from the United States and there was hope that Washington and Havana would again meet at the negotiating table. But under what conditions the parties can return to the topic of normalizing relations is still unknown. In this sense, a lot will depend on the team of the elected president, senior officials who will be included in his team. In addition, the changes in regional international relations that have taken place in recent years will also play a role. The situation some six years ago, which prompted the White House to move closer to the Island of Freedom, has partially lost its relevance today. In this regard, the position of the Latin American states, the American-Cuban community in the United States, as well as the current balance of power in the Congress deserve special attention. The article uses a problematic approach, the main task of which was to analyze the main results of Trump’s anti-Cuban policy and to identify opportunities for improving US-Cuban relations during the Biden administration.


Author(s):  
Adam Goodman

This chapter discusses the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) that was signed by President Ronald Reagan in the fall of 1986. It explains how IRCA provided legal status to anyone who could prove continuous residency in the United States since January 1, 1982. The chapter discusses the Special Agricultural Workers provision for people who had toiled over perishable crops for at least ninety days between May 1, 1985 and May 1, 1986. It focuses on the Márquez familys' story, which offers insights into some of the core elements of immigration enforcement in the mid- to late 1980s and beyond. It also highlights how the Immigration and Naturalization Service targeted the vast majority of people for deportation because they entered the country without authorization or overstayed a visa.


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