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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 does Obama appoint Labor Secretary?

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

3. To which of the following does Obama note traveling in the five days following his first G20 summit?

4. How many are reported dead in the Deepwater Horizon explosion?

5. The acronym START carries what meaning in the memoir?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does Obama note are historical reasons midterm elections go poorly for the party in power?

3. Why, per Elie Wiesel, did the inmates at Auschwitz teach their children math, poetry, and history?

4. What does Obama note as providing the objectivity judicial review one needs to have to be reliable?

5. What justification does Obama offer for sightseeing on foreign diplomatic visits?

6. What does Obama note as his reasons for wanting to engage Medvedev at his first G20 summit?

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

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

9. What reasons does Obama give for opposing repealing DADT via executive order?

10. What justification does Obama note for the vitriol of the Tea Party?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The memoir makes note of many, many names, mostly people who work for Obama in his offices and on his campaigns. What purpose might bringing up so many people serve? Does the memoir fulfill that purpose? How or how not?

Essay Topic 2

Many sources attest to the presence of A Promised Land on the New York Times best-seller list. Assuming that sales figures reflect popularity, what accounts for the popularity of the memoir? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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