The UCL Americas Richard E. Neustadt Annual Lecture: The Unilateral Legacy of Barack Obama

Barack Obama became president in 2009 on a wave of goodwill that seemingly promised the opportunity to launch a “new New Deal” in the face of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. Despite significant legislative achievements in his first two years, however, the loss of control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections prefaced a new era of political polarization that limited prospects for advancing the 44th president's agenda through enactment of new laws.