David Coates

The Progressive Case Stalled David Coates

Picking up from the point at which Pursuing the Progressive Case ended, this second volume of essays observing the Obama presidency in real time charts the increasingly difficult conditions under which progressives within and beyond his administration struggled for leverage and impact during the President's second term. Foreign policy concerns play a bigger part in this second collection than in the first, reflecting the re-immersion of the US military in the Middle East conflict in spite of the run-down of the Iraqi occupation. But domestic issues surface here too, though in this volume less around presidential initiatives than around the defense of the achievements of Obama's first four years in office. Readers will find in The Progressive Case Stalled? critical reflections on economic and housing policy, on policy on poverty-alleviation and the easing of student debt, and on the contentious issue of trade deals and employment out-sourcing. Together, the essays gathered in this volume constitute an important contemporary evaluation of the blockages on progressive politics that were such a feature of Obama's second term: blockages coming from unexpected foreign developments, from unique levels of Republican Party opposition and intransigence, and from limitations in the President's own vision and leverage. Taken together with volume 1, the running commentary that is Observing Obama in Real Time will be an invaluable source of guidance both to future historians in years and to contemporary progressives attempting to build on the Obama legacy and to move beyond its shortcomings.