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

2. What is the vote in the Senate on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act?

3. On which day does the Underwear Bomber attempt an attack?

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

5. Which of the following vessels does Obama note is dispatched to address piracy near Somalia in the days following his first G20 summit?

Short Essay Questions

1. To what does the term “dignified transfer” refer in the memoir?

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

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

4. What reasons does Obama give for replacing McChrystal with Petraeus?

5. What “hard truths” does Obama note hoping to address in the “Muslim speech” (358-59)?

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

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

8. What parts of the UN Charter does Obama note matched his mother’s viewpoint?

9. When presented with notes about gender discrimination within his White House, what steps does Obama take to address the matter?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

In the preface, Obama makes the following parenthetical remark: “I still like writing things out in longhand, finding that a computer gives even my roughest drafts too smooth a gloss and lends half-baked thoughts the mask of tidiness” (xiii). Does experience support the position? How so or not?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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