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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. Which of the following serves as Secretary of the Interior?

2. How many Senators vote to confirm Sonia Sotomayor as Supreme Court Justice?

3. In what does Obama note Merkel holds a PhD?

4. Which of the following does Obama appoint Agriculture Secretary?

5. By how many votes does the Affordable Care Act pass the House of Representatives?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Obama note are the effects of the Spanish flu on the world?

2. What does Obama note wanting to say about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill when asked about it in May 2010?

3. To what does the “cap-and-trade” system of greenhouse gas reduction refer?

4. What recurring dream does Obama note having during his second year in office?

5. What does Obama note are reasons he could expect some success in the midterm elections?

6. What does Obama describe as the “Michelle Effect” in the memoir?

7. What does Obama lament that Gates sees as “politics” that he sees as “democracy as it was supposed to work” (436-37)?

8. What reasons does Obama give for pressing strongly on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament?

9. How does Obama explain the increasing number of regulatory agencies and delegation of authority to them by Congress?

10. What does Obama cite as his impetus to finally quit smoking?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Obama writes of “that most precious of gifts: the conviction of innocence, as well as the righteous indignation that comes with it” (274). What tone does the memoir adopt towards that gift? What in the memoir supports the idea? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 2

Explicate the symbolism of the Tea Party and its members’ trappings and presentations, as depicted in the memoir.

Essay Topic 3

Obama muses on making the following comment: “The point of it all. To have that rare chance, reserved for very few, to bend history in a better direction” (423). Is the chance rare? It is reserved for few? What in the memoir supports the position? How does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

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