The Global Obama
Crossroads of Leadership in the 21st Century
Edited by Dinesh Sharma and Uwe P. Gielen
Book Review by Kam Williams
Routledge Books
Paperback, $59.95
364 pages
ISBN: 978-1-84872-626-0
“Barack Obama [has] garnered higher approval ratings in most parts of the world than in the United States. What a paradox. The first black president, loved by people around the world, yet struggling for approval for his policies at home—whether it be the healthcare initiative, the stimulus to bail out the economy, or his ‘leading from behind’ on foreign policies.
We wanted to explore the stark contrast between Obama’s popularity abroad and his suboptimal ratings at home… Why the inverse correlation between the public image at home versus abroad?
You can’t be a prophet in your own land, Obama suggested… Thus, the idea was hatched to publish The Global Obama… It is only appropriate that we try to grasp the total Obama…
Clearly, part of Obama’s worldwide appeal is due to his international biography… Barack Hussein Obama’s rise from his early life as a multiracial and multicultural outsider in a broken family… to assuming the world’s most powerful executive position is as improbable as it is global in its trajectory and in its implications for the evolving 21st Century.
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