What cultural conflicts emerged in the 1990s?FOCUS QUESTIONS
• What were the major policy elements of the war on terror in the wake of
September 11, 2001?• How did the war in Iraq unfold in the wake of 9/11?• How did the war on terror affect the economy and American liberties?• What events eroded support for President Bush’s policies during his second
term?• What kinds of change did voters hope for when they elected Barack Obama?• What were the major challenges of Obama’s first term?• What were the prevailing ideas of American freedom at the beginning of the
21st century?A NEW CENTURY
AND NEW CRISES
★ CHAPTER 28 ★
T
he presidential election of 2008 produced not only a great political sur-
prise but a historic moment in American history. Whatever one’s opin-
ion of Barack Obama’s policies, there is no question that in view of the
nation’s racial history, the election of the first African- American president was
an enormously important symbolic turning point.
A little- known forty- seven- year- old senator from Illinois when the campaign
began in 2007, Obama owed his success both to his own exceptional skills as a
speaker and campaigner and to the evolution of American politics and society.★^1109