VOTING FOR OBAMA: THE SYMBOLS OF HOPE AND CHANGE IN THE 2008 AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
VOTING FOR OBAMA: THE SYMBOLS OF HOPE AND CHANGE IN THE 2008 AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Author(s): Marius JucanSubject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai
Keywords: Barack Obama; symbols; culture; presidential campaign.
Summary/Abstract: The present article intends to deal with some cultural aspects of Barack Obama’s election as the first African‐American president. The cultural dimension of the 2008 electoral campaign in the United States was framed by a set of different factors ranging frm the economic crisis to the spreading distrust of the American symbols and the new expectations regarding the global role of te United States. A non‐white American intellectual, lacking in political patronage and current managerial experience, senator Barack Obama profiled his sense of anticipation, iconic strategy and ability to redraw the future dimension of American politics as the main cultural assets in his electoral cmpaigning for the president’s office. His constant appeal to hope and change provided not only a basis to re‐imagine America’s future beyond the confusions of an ailing administration, but yielded quite surprisingly in prompting the readiness of the American people to eventually follow another type of leader. His advocating for the moral integrity of democracy, public wellbeing and virtuous future for the new generations sounded as a restoring, necessary start to reshape America on the threshold of a new century.
Journal: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai - Studia Europaea
- Issue Year: 54/2009
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 5-24
- Page Count: 20
- Language: English