Presidential Leadership and Public Opinion in an Age of Polarization

During his campaign for the presidency in 2008, friend and foe alike hailed Barack Obama’s rhetorical and oratorical skills (Greenstein 2009). In merely four years, Obama speedily rose up the political ranks, from a legislator in the Illinois state Senate, to keynote speaker at the Democratic national convention in 2004, to become the U.S. senator from Illinois in 2006, and then president in 2008.