从社工到白宫：奥巴马的成功路

2009年1月20日，奥巴马正式就任第44任美国总统，这位48岁的黑人成为美国历史上第一位黑人总统和首位非洲裔总统。     

马克·奥巴马：“我永远是个局外人”

很少有人知道。他就是美国总统奥巴马同父异母的弟弟。虽然与美国总统共享着“奥巴马”这个姓氏。但更多时候他是另一个奥巴马。他曾因为哥哥的当选而备受困扰。并一度对所有媒体敬而远之。     

奥巴马:霸主渐远,老大难当

正姓名:巴拉克·奥巴马国家:美国年龄:54毫无疑问,美国依然是全球排名第一的经济、文化、政治、科技和军事大国。不过,奥巴马进入了他总统任期的最后一年,很显然他的影响力也在收缩,想要达成目标比以往任何时候都要更难。在国内,奥巴马的支持率永远低于50%,而在国际上的影响力,在欧洲不敌默克尔,在中东,他又被普京击败。作为全球综合实力第一大国的元首,奥巴马的2015年是黯淡的,是迷茫的,是被打脸的,且打得啪啪的。疲于奔命的苦逼第一总统整个2015年,奥巴马一直疲于奔     

科里·布克：玩微博玩成“政治明星”

为了他所处的“美国最糟糕城市”有个美好的未来，他放弃了成为首位黑人参议员的机会，甚至总统奥巴马向他抛出进入内阁的橄榄枝也没能打动他。但那时，我们不认识他。可自从他玩上了微博，如今他已被称为美国第二有权力的黑人政治家。     

奥巴马医改备忘录

百年梦想全民医保建立和完善全民医疗保障制度,是无数美国政治家、尤其是民主党和自由派为之奋斗的百年梦想。2009年1月20日,奥巴马正式宣誓就职时,这位渴望名垂青史的美国第一任黑人总统,决定将医保法案作为执政第一年的工作重点,来完成民主党的这个百年夙愿,那一刻距罗斯福第一次提出全民医保的构想已经过去了97年。由于美国医疗保障行业的经济总量已经达到了GDP的六分之一,因此改革医保体制不仅是一个社会问题,也是一个经济问题。     

贺电外交看玄机

有人注意到，中国新任国家主席收到的贺电中，奥巴马的名字迟迟没有出现。于是，一些人揣测，中美关系是否出现了“变化”？其实，3月14日习近平当选中国国家主席当天，美国总统奥巴马选择了以打电话的方式表示祝贺，法新社还对他“没有浪费任何时间”印象深刻。多年来，无论中外，国家元首、政府首脑、政党领导人等在别国领导人换届、重要节庆等时间节点互致贺电贺函或电话祝贺，已成为一种外交礼节。     

新华书店当月热读

《无畏的希望》(美/巴拉克·奥巴马著,罗选民、尹音译;法律出版社)奥巴马讲述了关于自己的失败与成功,歧视与运气,出身与爱情,成长与奋斗的故事及政治历程。全书主旨在于:如何改变美国的民生和政治。在国家的历史上,每当面对分歧和危机,我们总是顽强地以一种乐观主义精神面对未来,就如奥巴马所称,总是怀有那无畏的希望。     

离任大使洪博培的下一站——白宫？

从2009年8月上任到2011年4月离任,一年零八个月的时间将使洪博培成为任期最短的美国驻华大使之一。如果真如外界所传言,洪博培将挑战奥巴马,竞选总统一职,那么,他将成为美国历史上第一位会说流利汉语的总统竞选人。     

白宫，一座毫无隐私的“白色监狱”

白宫赋予了美国总统荣誉和权势,但是总统们对它的抱怨从来没有停止过。英国媒体近日报道,美国总统奥巴马在芝加哥的一场政治募捐宴会上抱怨,白宫的工作环境缺乏科技含量。无法给他提供“酷炫手机”及高科技产品。时至今日,奥巴马不得不使用一部在市面上已经很难见到的老式黑莓手机,这部手机还是他费尽心思才保住的。     

美国隐形财长巴菲特

当一个政治家被国家事务和公众质疑搞得焦头烂额,他会首先向哪一类支持者寻求帮助?相反,如果一个商人的财富多到对他来说仅仅只是一个数字,他会在哪里寻找自己的下一个目标?2010年7月,亿万富翁沃伦·巴菲特出席了在白宫举行的一次特殊会晤,与美国总统奥巴马一起商讨如何制定美国未来的经济政策。席间,奥巴马注意到巴菲特皱巴巴的领带过于破旧,于是从自己的衣橱中精心挑选出一条红色领带送给了他。投资家、慈善家,巴菲特还有另外一个响亮的身份——总统顾问。美国经济渐渐走出金融危机的低谷后,巴菲特的直接影响力也早已不再局限于华尔街。早在2008美国总统大选之前,巴菲特就已经是奥巴马的坚实拥趸,他在经济方面的建议也影响着奥巴马的诸多政策。在美国社会里,经济与政治相互服务已经不是什么隐晦的秘密,但如巴菲特这样,以商人身份公开成为总统座上宾,直接参与国家政策的商讨,仍然引发了民众的兴趣和猜想。     

Backing Barack Because He's Black: Racially Motivated Voting in the 2008 Election*

Objective. If racial considerations influenced the outcome of the 2008 presidential election, then how did they shape the campaign, why did race matter, and for whom were such considerations important? I hypothesize that various racial attitudes exert unique influences on voters' support of Obama and that the effects of these attitudes differ by race. Methods. Using a Time Magazine poll, I distinguish between “attitudes regarding Obama's ‘Blackness’” and “opinions about race relations,” and I examine such sentiments among White and African‐American respondents. Results. Regardless of race, Obama support was highest among voters who were “comfortable” with Black candidates. However, increased optimism with racial progress had no effect on Blacks' voting intentions, and it actually lowered Obama support among Whites. Conclusion. The conventional wisdom is that African Americans “backed Barack because he is Black”; I demonstrate that Obama's race mattered more to White voters than it did to Blacks.     

Barack Obama's “American” Problem: Unhyphenated Americans in the 2008 Elections*

Objectives. The largest increase of any ancestry group between the 1990 and 2000 Census in the United States were “unhyphenated Americans,” those whites who claimed an “American” or no ancestry. This article measures this group's voting habits in the 2008 elections. Methods. With individual‐level attitudinal data and county‐level voting data from the 2008 primary and 2000–2008 general elections, the analyses use quantitative methods to estimate unhyphenated Americans' voting behavior. Results. Evidence indicates a strong rejection of Obama among counties with high proportions of unhyphenated Americans in both the 2008 primary and general elections. Conclusion. While spatially concentrated in and near Appalachia, unhyphenated Americans' politics are distinctive irrespective of socioeconomic status, religion, and geography, being one of the few groups in which Barack Obama lost votes compared to previous Democratic nominees. Variation in the share of unhyphenated Americans explains more of the difference between 2008 and past elections than variation in the share of African Americans per county.     

Compassionate Values and Presidential Politics: Mortality Salience, Compassionate Values, and Support for Barack Obama and John McCain in the 2008 Presidential Election

In line with terror management theory, this research demonstrates that mortality salience motivated increased support for John McCain in the absence of reminders of compassionate values. However, polls had indicated that Barack Obama was generally perceived as the more compassionate of the two candidates. Thus, when compassionate values were made salient, death reminders motivated participants to uphold these values by significantly increasing their support for the more compassionate Barack Obama instead. The implications of these findings for terror management theory, the 2008 presidential election, and political endorsements are discussed .     

Implicit Race Attitudes Predicted Vote in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election

In the week before the 2008 United States presidential election, 1,057 registered voters reported their choice between the principal contenders (John McCain and Barack Obama) and completed several measures that might predict their candidate preference, including two implicit and two self-report measures of racial preference for European Americans (Whites) relative to African Americans (Blacks) and measures of symbolic racism and political conservatism. Greater White preference on each of the four race attitude measures predicted intention to vote for McCain, the White candidate. The implicit race attitude measures (Implicit Association Test and Affect Misattribution Procedure) predicted vote choice independently of the self-report race attitude measures, and also independently of political conservatism and symbolic racism. These findings support construct validity of the implicit measures.     

Racism, Sexism, and Candidate Evaluations in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election

In an attempt to understand the extent to which racism and sexism influenced affect toward Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, we analyze data from a national survey conducted in October 2008. Situating our investigation in previous examinations of modern racism and modern sexism, we test competing hypotheses about the role of these attitudes in the 2008 presidential election. Our results suggest that racism had a significant impact on candidate evaluations while sexism did not. We find that respondents who hold racist attitudes expressed negative attitudes toward Obama and positive attitudes toward Palin. When interacted with party identification, racism continued to exert a strong effect, indicating findings that are robust across partisan affiliations. Sexism, on the other hand, did not significantly influence evaluations of either Palin or Obama .     

Yes We Did! Basking in Reflected Glory and Cutting Off Reflected Failure in the 2008 Presidential Election

In two studies, the tendency to Bask in Reflected Glory (BIRG) or Cut Off Reflected Failure (CORF) was examined in the context of the 2008 presidential election. Experiment 1, a field study, found that yard or window signs endorsing successful Democratic candidate Barack Obama were displayed longer than signs endorsing his opponent. Experiment 2 utilized a survey methodology to explore moderators of the BIRG effect implied by prior research. Self-esteem was shown to moderate CORF, such that individuals with lower self-esteem distanced themselves from the unsuccessful presidential candidate. Other moderators consistent with the cognitive consistency basis of BIRG, strength of identification and self-serving attributions, were not. Reasons for these findings are discussed, and future directions for research on BIRG are proposed.     

State political culture and support for Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries

Though ideologically similar, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton appealed to different types of voters in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries and demographically the candidates’ support varied considerably. Relative to the demographics of the primary electorates, however, we find that state political culture played an outsized role in determining which candidate emerged victorious in a particular state. When the size of demographic groups in the 2008 Democratic primaries are utilized in ordinary least squares regression models as independent variables with state political characteristics and Daniel Elazar's state political culture typology, political culture proves to be an important determinant of the level of support given to Obama in a state. States that are characterized by a more moralistic political culture are more likely to have given Obama a greater share of the primary vote and states that are characterized by a more traditionalistic or individualistic culture were less likely to support Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries.     

Disentangling Constituency and Legislator Effects in Legislative Representation: Black Legislators or Black Districts?*

Objective. Does the race of a legislator or does the black population of a district best predict legislative roll‐call voting in the interests of African Americans? Due to methodological limitations, no prior study has found that both the race of the legislator and the black district population are significant predictors of congressional roll‐call voting. Drawing on post Shaw v. Reno/Miller v. Johnson congressional districts (with greater data variance), I examine the effect of these two racial representation variables on roll‐call voting in the 104th–106th Congresses. Methods. Linear regression with random effects is employed in two statistical models. Results. Even when the black district population and party are considered, the presence of an African‐American legislator leads to greater substantive representation of black constituents. Conclusion. Districting plans that maximize the election of black legislators and Democrats are the most important for the aggregate enhancement of liberal voting in Congress, while districting plans that maximize black district populations and Democrats are the most important for the aggregate enhancement of civil rights voting records in Congress.