Did President Barack Obama breathe life into the visions formulated during his presidential campaign and fulfill the expectations of his voters? Can he be characterized as a transformational president, whose leadership gave the United States a new course in international and domestic politics and helped alleviate looming frustrations of the American society? These imminent questions represent the central theme of this publication, offering an indispensable look at the "history of the present" of contemporary US politics. Assessing Barack Obama's presidency throughout the years 2009 - 2016, leading Czech experts on US domestic and foreign policy have elaborated a book that brings valuable analysis and insights into topics that have shaped the public debate in the US, but have found only marginal interest in Czech media.