What was the main reason for Obama's 2008 Presidential victory?

possible reasons

• Policies

• Weakness of his opponents

• Election Strategies

• Personal and Speaking Skills

• Work as US Senator for Illinois

🧠 High-Level Structure (Full Marks Approach)

INTRODUCTION

• Briefly state what the enquiry is about.

• Summarise your judgement: Both sources are useful to some extent, but Source [X] is more useful because...

🧠 High-Level Structure (Full Marks Approach)

INTRODUCTION

• Briefly state what the enquiry is about.

• Summarise your judgement: Both sources are useful to some extent, but Source [X] is more useful because...

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PARAGRAPH 1 (and 2): Source A (then Source B)

• Content: What does it say? How does this help answer the enquiry?

  • Quote or paraphrase key parts and analyse.

  • Use your own knowledge: is it accurate, misleading, or limited?

• Provenance: Who made it? When? Why?

  • Consider bias, purpose, and audience.

  • Does the origin of the source make it more or less trustworthy?

• Overall Usefulness: Combine content + provenance + context.

  • “Therefore, Source A is useful because... but limited in... due to...”

CONCLUSION

• Compare the two sources directly.

  • “While both sources are useful, Source [X] is more useful overall because it provides... whereas Source [Y] is limited by...”

• Reference how combining both gives a fuller picture if appropriate.

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✨ Top Tips for Full Marks

1. Don’t just trust the source—question it. Ask: Why would this person say this at that time?

2. Be precise with context. Don’t just say “this is true”—explain why with your knowledge.

3. Balance praise and criticism of each source’s usefulness.

4. No generic provenance analysis—always link it to the enquiry.

   • Weak: “It’s biased because it’s from a newspaper.”

   • Strong: “As it was written by a Northern newspaper with liberal views in 1965, this suggests support for civil rights and may exaggerate federal successes.”

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📝 Example (Shortened):

Source A claims that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places. This is useful as it reflects the legal changes introduced by the Act, which my own knowledge supports. However, it downplays ongoing resistance in the South, where segregation often continued in practice. Given that it was written by a federal official in 1965, it likely aims to present the Act as successful, possibly ignoring local opposition. Therefore, while useful for showing federal intentions, it is limited in reflecting real social change.

Policies

Obama’s success in the Presidential election of November 2008 was mainly due to the popularity and relevance of his policies, particularly in response to the financial crisis. After the economic collapse following the 2007-8 SUBPRIME mortgage crisis, Obama’s promise of economic reform and assistance to those struggling financially appealed to millions of Americans facing unemployment. As well as promising to stricter regulate Wall Street (directly preventing a repeated Wall Street Crash), Obama emphasised middle class tax cuts and the promise to help families get and stay out of debt. These policies contrasted with the failures of George W Bush (2001-2009) and his Republican administration. He aimed to tackle unemployment, and appeal to the unemployed, by creating 5 million green jobs. Obama’s emphasis on lower costing healthcare appealed to low-income and minority voters who had long struggled to balance their health with their wealth. By aligning his policies with the needs of average Americans, Obama gained a diverse range of voters, including young people, Black Americans, Latinos and moderates. Therefore, his clear and progressive agenda helped secure his victory by giving his supporters hope and solutions to help America out of a period of national uncertainty.

• ending costly wars in Iraq and Afganistan

• creating 5m green jobs

• offering voluntary citizen service (JFK) and greater opportunities

• providing decisive leadership to end the recession and improve living standards through an emergancy economic plan

• cracking down on unfair/deceptive lending (credit cards and housing)

• help families get and stay out of debt

• lower cost healthcare

• middle class tax cuts

• US energy independence (‘green’ where possible)

Opponents

For the Democrat nomination:

Hilary Clinton

• She gave the impression that she was entitled to the nomination, which alienated some Democrats

• She emphasised her far greater political experience, but many Democrats wanted someone new (and young)

• She fundraised the old-fashioned way (through one-time big donors) and raised less money than Obama

• She failed to exploit the internet e.g. for fundraising and contacting supporters

• There was a great deal of in-fighting in her poorly organised campaign team

• Suggesting Obama was un-American alienated black voters and some white liberals

• She continued to do important work in the Senate while Obama focused on the campaign

• Bill Clinton made errors e.g. he claimed Obama was only doing well because he was black, alienating black voters

For the Presidential election:

John McCain

• Vietnam verteran and Republican senator 1987-2018

• more moderate than many in his party on LGBT rights, gun regulation and campaign finance reform

• very experienced in foreign policy

• people had less trust in Republicans because of Bush’s failures in hurricane Katrina

Sarah Palin

• bad decision - only there to have a woman in the team - fill a quota - appeal to women voters

• unpopular and damaged McCain’s name - very underqualified and lacking in knowledge in key policy areas

• gov of Alaska 2006-9

Election strategies

Obama’s use of the Internet helped him raise significant support and money, and reach a range of voters, allowing him to beat Hilary Clinton. Obama’s online campaign made him seem up to date as the amount of Americans using the internet in 1999 and 2007 rose from 2% to 26%. 42% of 18-29 year olds followed Obama’s campaign mainly via the internet and by Spring 2007 over 450,000 people had signed up to the online Obama Campaign. Obama also seemed more youthful in his online campaign while Clinton’ reliance on newspapers was seen as old-fashioned. The influence of newspapers declined while the internet rose, particularly among young people, being used by 30% of people rather than the previous 49%. This showed Clinton was not able to reach as wide an audience as she would have been able to with an online campaign like Obama,

Obama’s internet campaign also allowed him to fundraise through a grass-roots campaign, overtaking Clinton despite her wealth. Obama raised $6.9m using the internet using many small donations from voters and supporters while Clinton relied on one-time large donations from wealthy people and only raised $4.2m. Therefore, Obama’s use of the internet for his campaign was successful in making his support more widespread and raising more money than Clinton for his campaign.

Internet

• made Obama seem young and up to date

• Americans using the internet in 1999 - 2%, 2007 - 26%

• Newspaper use went from 49% to 30% - less influential (particularly among young people)

• 42% of 18-29 year olds followed Obama’s campaign mainly via the internet

• social media enabled Obama to fundraise through a grass-roots campaign, overtaking Clinton (despite her wealth)

• by Spring 2007 over 450,000 people had signed up to the online Obama Campaign

• Obama was also able to raise $6.9m using the internet (using many small donations not just few large ones) - Clinton raised $4.2m with the internet

Media Coverage

Palin attracted negative media overage whereas Obama had no previous affiliation with any negatice political affairs = good coverage

Fundraising

• Obama had over 3m donors and $650m more than the combined spending of both major 2004 candidates

• this mean Obama could have 4x campaign offices than McCain

• Obama outspent McCain in very swing states - 4:1

• Obama’s voter registration campaign added 300,000 voters in Florida alone

Use of Joe Biden

• contrast to Palin

• expert on foreign affairs

• However, he made racist comments in July 2006 so he wasn’t the reason why Obama won but he was better than Palin

Personal and speaking skills

Obama’s keynote speech at the Democratic Convention 2004:

• he appealed to all americans from all types of economic backgrounds - not just BA, or the poor and disadvantaged

• quoted the founding fathers with admiration, rather than facetiously = appealing to a white audience

• obama differed from other black politicians (Al Sharpton) → who spoke primarily to a black audience, linked to black radicalism = obama not tainted w/ divisive nature of civil rights movement

• made a name for himself

• Another speaker at the DNC was Al Sharpton (black american activist) who spoke heavily about the civil rights movement and asked for reperations for past wrongs. He has seen as very traditional and spoke primarily to poor black americans, unlike Obama.

As the first African American nominee of a major party, he symbolised progress and modernity, particularly appealing to younger voters and ethnic minorities. His mixed-race heritage and international upbringing enabled him to project an image of global understanding and multiculturalism, which contrasted sharply with the more traditional image of his opponents.

Work as US senator for Illinois

What helped him become a senator?

• senate election for Illinois was november 2004

• he had a strong republican opponant - Jack Ryan who had won a hard fought republican primary campaign, he was from harvard, married a television star, wealthy businessman (republican party was also wealthy)

• ryan won his primary with 36% of the vote

• obama and ryan were both well-educated and charismatic

• also the republicans and democrats were evenly represented in Illinios

Obama’s advantages:

• in his primary election he won nearly 53% of the vote (655,000 votes) (distinct advantage over Ryan - 36% and 235,000)

• chicago was majority democrat and pro-Obama

• Helped by Jack Ryan’s problems

  • his wife made accusations against him in his divorce case (lots of media coverage) and he withdrew

  • his replacement was alan keyes (lived in far away Maryland) who was a BA commentator (only senate contest with 2 black american so far) the media did not favour keyes

  • keyes was against abortion and gay rights (negative campaign)

  • obama ignored Alan Keyes and had a positive campaign (and focused on the ‘American Dream’)

• obama concentrated on social issues. he had experience in community projects with local issues

• Obama’s national profile was enhanced by his DNC speech (got media publicity and became a national politician)

• Obama’s attractive wife and family and his moderate views made him popular. and he appealed to all americans because he was half-white and mostly raised by middle-class white americans and attended an elite private school (on a scholarship)

• he won most of the chicago votes, and 70% of votes overall, ¾ of the female vote, 2/3 male vote. almost all democrats votes for him. only half of republicans voted for Keyes. 1/3 republicans voted for obama. huge win for dems and obama

Things he did as a senator which helped his presidency

• the 3rd black american senator since reconstruction and 99th out of 100 in terms of seniority

• guest on tv shows, guest at political events, brought out a book 2005 - made him a millionaire, he brought out a second book 2006 with his vision for the future of the US which was a bestseller