Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Created a Legacy That Will Prevail

Jonathan Chait

Jan 2017 · HarperCollins

About this ebook

"An essential starting point for those assessing the Obama presidency.” —Washington Monthly

Two presidencies later, the time has never been better to revisit the legacy of Barack Obama. In Audacity, New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait makes the unassailable case that, in the eyes of history, Obama will be viewed as one of America’s best and most accomplished presidents.

Over the course of eight years, Barack Obama has amassed an array of outstanding achievements. His administration saved the American economy from collapse, expanded health insurance to millions who previously could not afford it, negotiated an historic nuclear deal with Iran, helped craft a groundbreaking international climate accord, reined in Wall Street and crafted a new vision of racial progress. He has done all of this despite a left that frequently disdained him as a sellout, and a hysterical right that did everything possible to destroy his agenda even when they agreed with what he was doing.

Now, as the page turns to our next Commander in Chief, Jonathan Chait, acclaimed as one of the most incisive and meticulous political commentators in America, digs deep into Obama’s record on major policy fronts—economics, the environment, domestic reform, health care, race, foreign policy, and civil rights—to demonstrate why history will judge our forty-fourth president as among the greatest in history.

Audacity does not shy away from Obama’s failures, most notably in foreign policy. Yet Chait convincingly shows that President Obama has accomplished what candidate Obama said he would, despite overwhelming opposition—and that the hopes of those who voted for him have not been dashed despite the smokescreen of extremist propaganda and the limits of short-term perspective.

Ratings and reviews

He didn't change hardly anything in a good way. His lies and hidden agendas far supercede anything positive he ever did. Although I have health care insurance​, he actually raised costs for millions of families, by thousands of dollars in many cases. He was extremely ineffectual, and how anyone could devote a book to praising one of the worst presidents in history, astounds me.

A fair warning. Not good. I had to stop reading half way through the book because there was a lot of bias. The truth was nowhere to be found and overall the writer didn't keep me interested

I WAS FOOLED ENOUGH..! TO VOTE FOR THIS LIAR & ACTOR! THINKING HIS CHANGE... WOULD BE GOODNESS??? THE FIRST,TIME!??? HE IS PURE EVIL! WHAT IS MOST...AMAZING IS THE FACT THAT SMART,PEOPLE BELIEVE THIS TITLE! AND, ARE BLIND TO HIS EVIL! UNREAL! THANK YOU! JESUS! FOR LISTENING TO ALL....OF OUR PRAYERS! ASK YOURSELF WHY IS TRUMP SO ..HATED? BECAUSE, SATAN IS CORRUPTING PEOPLE'S MINDS & SOULS! SIMILAR TO THE TIMES OF BABYLON! SO, MANY PEOPLE SEE EVIL AS GOOD! AND, GOOD...AS EVIL! READ THE BIBLE! LOVE & HOPE IN JESUS!!! CINDY

About the author

Jonathan Chait is a political columnist for New York magazine. He was previously a senior editor at the New Republic and has also written for the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Atlantic. He has been featured throughout the media, including appearances on NPR, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, HBO, The Colbert Report, Talk of the Nation, C-SPAN, Hardball, and on talk radio in every major city in America. He lives in Washington, D.C.