Smith, Rogers M. "The Constitutional Philosophy of Barack Obama: Democratic Pragmatism and Religious Commitment." Socia Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell) 93.5 (2012): 1251-1271. Business Source Premier . Web. 10 June 2016.
Summary of the article
The article aims at describing the philosophical and governance approach used by Obama. Obama, according to the article, is a philosophical pragmatist. He uses democratic pragmatism approach. Obama is describe as a person who rejects totalitarianism and is firmly committed to open-endedness and experimentation as the best ways to find solutions to political issues.
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Ten pieces of factual information about Obama’s governance
Obama’s democratic pragmatism is based on the fact that good policy positions should be shown and tested through experience and rational experimentation.
Obama’s ideology strives to ensure that all persons are really treated as having equal worth, with their desires and aspirations given equal weight to all others
Obama’s philosophy and ideology fosters equal worth of all men and all women.
Obama is conscious of the diversity of human backgrounds
Obama’s governance strives to ensure that American Constitutional institutions permit diversity in an inclusive and constructive ways ( Smith 1255) .
Obama’s governance and leadership involves listening to varied viewpoints of people before making decision.
Obama’s governance strives at encouraging people to identify and analyze their problems judiciously.
Obama’s democratic pragmatism strives at helping people arrive at harmonious solutions, rather than having elites impose solutions.
Obama is knowledgeably deeply suspicious of claims to certain knowledge of fixed, universal moral truths—but also emotionally and intellectually dedicated to the morality of egalitarian social reform ( Smith 1258) .
Obama is dedicated to democratic processes of inquest and consensus building to identify and decide human problems according to evolving human standards ( Smith 1259) .
Obama’s government
Smith (1258) demonstrates that Obama’s governance has a goal of achieving common solutions that foster and accommodate diversity of American experiences and aspirations. His governances also aim at finding solutions that address the needs of the less advantaged. Obama’s pragmatism strives to ensure that all persons are really treated as having equal worth, with their desires and aspirations given equal weight to all others ( Reader 2) . This is evidence by the way in which Obama has handle the issue of social justice vision of the black church and the modern civil rights movement
Referring to extensive reading of Obama’s writings, speeches, and his record as a state and national legislator and as president, Smith (1256) discovered that Obama is applying the principle of American democratic pragmatism. In this approach, policy positions are not fixed, or divine standards. Good policy positions should be shown and tested through experience and rational experimentation. These experiences also led Obama to develop a notion that leadership involves listening to varied viewpoints; encouraging people to identify and analyze their problems judiciously; and helping people arrive at harmonious solutions, rather than having elites impose solutions.
Smith discovers that the array of personal, educational and professional experience made Obama highly conscious of the diversity of human backgrounds and that is why he strives to ensure that American Constitutional institutions permit diversity in an inclusive and constructive ways ( Kloppenberg 270) . That is why Obama once said “Constitutional issues must be clarified by relying on one’s political and moral philosophy and also one’s empirical beliefs and broader perspectives on how the world works.”
Works Cited
Kloppenberg, James T. Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition: with a New Preface by the Author . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012. Internet resource.
Reader, Capitol. Summary of Reading Obama . Cork: Primento Digital, 2013. Internet resource.
Smith, Rogers M. "The Constitutional Philosophy of Barack Obama: Democratic Pragmatism and Religious Commitment." Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell) 93.5 (2012): 1251-1271. Business Source Premier . Web. 10 June 2016.
