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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In which of the following hotels does Obama note staying while campaigning for the presidency?

2. In which of the following years does Obama first learn he is to be a father?

3. How high does Obama note the unemployment rate reaches during his term in office?

4. What is the name of the head of Obama’s Secret Service detail head while he is on campaign?

5. Which of the following endorse Obama after the New Hampshire primary?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Obama define the role of the body man?

2. Why does Obama dislike the question posed to Hillary Clinton about her likability?

3. What advice does Obama note he would offer to his collegiate self, could he go back and give it?

4. What two things does Obama note led to his ascendancy in the Iowa campaign?

5. What comment is reported that Billy Shaheen makes about Obama?

6. What is the primary rhetorical approach Obama uses to persuade David Axelrod to support his attempt to win a U.S. Senate seat, and why is it the primary one?

7. What does Obama note doing in the first month after leaving office?

8. Why does Obama note unease at being “the new ‘in’ thing” (196)?

9. How does Obama note his campaign staff defines the term “gaffe”?

10. What does Obama label as the “big sort” in politics?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Obama writes, “By nature I’m a deliberate speaker, which, by the standards of presidential candidates, helped keep my gaffe quotient relatively low. But my care with words raised another issue on the campaign trail: I was just plan wordy, and that was a problem” (83). Does the memoir bear out the observations thus made? How or how not?

Essay Topic 2

What is to be made of Obama’s frequent reports of consulting with the women in his life, particularly Michelle? What in the text suggests as much? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Consider the passage in Chapter 21 beginning with “In other words” and ending with “before moving forward” (496). What rhetorical structure is being deployed? What effect does the structure have? How does it achieve the effect?

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