Barack Hussein Obamas Presidency

This book presents research-based investigations of the communicative aspects of Barack Obamas presidency, with a focus on ethnicity, gender, and culture as they interact with communication. It examines Obamas rhetorical strengths, that also inform his visual rhetorical control, and looks beyond Obamas messaging to examine how the news framed his presidency. The book opens by exploring the racio-rhetorical humour applied by President Obama during his presidency. Chapters investigate topics such as Obamas use of visual rhetoric, how the media framed Obama using racialized lens, and offer iconographical analysis of satires featured in The New Yorker that symbolized the politics of racial fear erupting prior to the start of Obamas presidency. They also examine how the White House used YouTube messaging to rebuild the first lady Michelle Obamas image in ways that became acceptable to a wider American public, Obamas rhetorical struggles to work within tensions created by the intersection of race and violence and analyze President Obamas speeches at Tribal Nations Conferences. Barack Hussein Obamas Presidency will be a key resource for scholars and researchers of communication studies, political communication, media and cultural studies, race and ethnic studies, and political science, while also appealing to anyone interested in the communicative aspects of Obamas presidency and American politics. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Howard Journal of Communications.