Claude A. Clegg III’s The Black President: Hope and Fury in the Age of Obama explores at length “the impact and meaning for African Americans” of Obama’s presidency. And while he discovers that the Black American response was “complex, layered and fractured,” as one would expect from a population of nearly 47 million people, the main conclusion of his comprehensive, interpretive study is the steadfast commitment of Black voters to the president, despite the disappointments expressed by many Black leaders with the degree to which his policies changed the actual condition of African Americans.
Clegg’s new book was reviewed in The New York Times. Clegg is Lyle V. Jones Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and chair of the department of African, African American and diaspora studies (AAAD).