Obama Effect

Heather E. Harris is Associate Professor of Business Communication at Stevenson University. Kimberly R. Moffitt is Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She is the coeditor (with Regina E. Spellers) of Blackberries and Redbones: Critical Articulations of Black Hair/ Body Politics in Africana Communities. Catherine R. Squires is John and Elizabeth Bates Cowles Professor of Journalism, Diversity, and Equality at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of Dispatches from the Color Line: The Press and Multiracial America, also published by SUNY Press, and African Americans and the Media.

• List of FiguresPrefaceDesiree CooperAcknowledgmentsIntroductionCatherine Squires, Heather Harris, and Kimberly MoffittSection I: Rhetoric 1. White Males Lose Presidency for First Time: Exposing the Power of Whiteness through Obama's VictoryDina Gavrilos2. Hermeneutical Rhetoric and Progressive Change: Barack Obama's American ExceptionalismJames T. Petre3. Ghosts and Gaps: A Rhetorical Examination of Temporality and Spatial Metaphors in Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union"Sarah McCaffreySection II: New Media 4. Media Politics 2.0: An Obama EffectMichael Cheney and Crytal Olsen5. The Webbed Message: Re-Visioning the American DreamHeather E. Harris6. The Resonant Message and the Powerful New Media: An Analysis of the Obama Presidential CampaignQingwen Dong, Kenneth D. Day, and Raman Deol7. Beyond the Candidate: Obama, YouTube, and (My) Asian-nessKonrad NgSection III: Identities 8. Post-Soul President: Dreams from My Father and the Post-Soul AestheticBertram D. Ashe9. "Let Us Not Falter Before Our Complexity": Barack Obama and the Legacy of Ralph Ellison M. Cooper Harriss10. The Obama Effect on American Discourse about Racial Identity: Dreams from My Father (and Mother), Barack Obama's Search for SelfSuzanne W. Jones11. Our First Unisex President? Obama, Critical Race Theory, and Masculinities StudiesFrank Rudy CooperSection IV: Publics 12. Oprah and Obama: Theorizing Celebrity Endorsementin U.S. PoliticsRebecca A. Kuehl13. The Obama Mass: Barack Obama, Image, and Fear of the CrowdRobert Spicer14. Mothers Out to Change U.S. Politics: Obama Mamas Involved and EngagedGrace J. Yoo, Emily H. Zimmerman, and Katherine PrestonSection V: Representations 15. For the Love of Obama: Race, Nation, and the Politics of RelationAimee Carillo Rowe16. Framing a First Lady: Media Coverage of Michelle Obama's Role in the 2008 Presidential ElectionKimberly R. Moffitt17. The Feminist (?) Hero versus the Black Messiah: Contesting Gender and Race in the 2008 Democratic PrimaryEnid Lynette LoganEpilogueKonrad NgList of ContributorsIndex

"This eclectic collection of essays serves as a timely analysis of that global figure in a way that is relevant to researchers, teachers, and students across various disciplines. By crossing scholarly, gender, and ethnic-racial lines and positions, this group of personal, political, and popular renderings of the 2008 campaign offers a much-needed illumination on the new, nontraditional president." — Presidential Studies Quarterly"The Obama Effect resists the temptation to dismiss the uncertainty, hope, and fear that characterized the events and discourse of the two-year primary and general election cycle. By bringing together multidisciplinary approaches, the collection provides readers with a means for recalling and mapping out the enduring issues that erupted during the campaign—issues that will continue to shape how our society views itself and President Obama in the coming years." — Stevenson University Newsroom"Neither biography, hagiography, or demonization, The Obama Effect provides a refreshingly balanced interrogation of many issues the candidacy and presidency of Barack Obama has unearthed in American society, politics, and identity construction. It is an important contribution to a much-needed substantive body of work trapped neither by Obamamania nor Obamaphobia. This is a highly recommended read ranging across disciplines." — Ricky L. Jones, author of What's Wrong with Obamamania?: Black America, Black Leadership, and the Death of Political Imagination