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The Monday Documentary: Opposing Obama

The Documentary: Opposing Obama: Episode 1

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Episode 1

Opposing Obama

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Opposing Obama, Episode 1

Gary Younge meets people who think Barack Obama's presidency is nothing but bad news.

Author and journalist Gary Younge tells the story of the other side of the Obama phenomenon, meeting people who think his presidency is nothing but bad news.

After eight years of division, America came together last year to celebrate the historic election of its first black president - or at least that was how the story was presented.

In fact, on election day, despite the calamity of the Iraq war and the huge financial crisis, the vote for Republicans actually increased in significant swathes of the country. Since then, polls suggest that Obama is now the most divisive president since such records began.

One year into his presidency, the gap between how Democrats and Republicans rate Obama is greater than it was for Bush in 2001 and twice as high as it was for Nixon in 1969, during the height of the Vietnam War.

In this two part documentary, author and journalist Gary Younge, tells the story of the other side of the Obama phenomenon; the story of those who say that the Obama presidency is nothing but bad news.

Who are these people who feel they have been marginalised by the Obama revolution? What do they not like about him and what could Obama do, if anything, to win them over?

Listen to Gary as he spends ten days travelling through rural Arkansas and Kentucky, talking to anti-tax protesters, fundamentalist Christians and libertarians, country club members and local dignitaries to find out how they view the last year under Barack Obama and what their hopes and fears are for the coming year.

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