This chapter first defines the Obama administration vision for American social policy. The administration was committed to a moderate social investment approach centered on broadening educational opportunities and access to health care. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) expanded existing social assistance programs, especially Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Supplementary Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Medicaid. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was the most significant antipoverty initiative of the Obama presidency. Although there was a partial recognition of the right to health care, the reform did not fundamentally alter the trajectory of the American welfare state. The legislation kept intact the hyper-fragmented system of delegated governance that is at the core of American health care.

A moderate social investment approach

During the presidential campaign in 2008, Barack Obama's program for ‘change we can believe in’ was inspired by a moderate center-left agenda based on the notion of equality of opportunities. In general, Obama avoided talking about welfare and the poor. He was more inclined to support a broad set of programs that raised all Americans economically. Polls have shown that low-income people prefer to think of themselves as ‘aspiring middle class’ or ‘middle class’ (Segelken, 2015). That is why Obama made very few ‘pro-poor’ speeches and political announcements. Neither the ARRA nor the ACA were explicitly promoted for antipoverty purposes, though both initiatives implicitly addressed the issue to poverty (Falk and Spar, 2013).

In his first inauguration speech, Barack Obama called for ‘a new era of responsibility’. The objective was to fulfill ‘the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness’ (Obama, 2009a). Obama encouraged Americans to rediscover their ‘enduring spirit’ in order to revive America's promise of a diverse nation unified by a commitment to self-improvement through hard work.

In Obama's vision, it was because America had forgotten its historic mission that the country had drifted towards short-term consumerism during the Bush years, allowing ‘special interests’ to reap vast economic rewards at the expense of a weakened middle class.