The new foreign policy is exemplified in many crises over the past years. Reluctance in dealing with Russia where Merkel and Hollande were granted the negotiation table, the nuclear deal with Iran and the pushing for a solution between Israel and Palestine in which Israel had to face some unusual strong criticism by the Obama administration, stand in complete contrast to former presidencies. And, of course, the Paris climate summit, at which both China and the United States came finally to an agreement, after nearly a decade of complete blocking for a commitment to CO2 reduction. President Obama has turned the USA into a primus inter pares, a guiding figure, yet not a hegemon on the world stage. The United States are now fundamentally different integrated in the international community, carefully weighing the options and cooperating with their allies. Compared to the aspiration to function as a world police since the Second World war, the new foreign policy dogma of the United States marks a 180 degrees turn. Under Barack Obama, the United States have experienced a fundamental transformation of society, perhaps the biggest since the Civil Rights Act of the Kennedy and Johnson administration. Of course, ‘Obama Care’ comes to mind first. The number of uninsured adults was nearly cut in half from 18 to 10 percent. Although already initiated in some states before, same sex marriage has now been legalised all over the country. And, despite being only enacted as executive orders, Gun laws have become stricter. However, to analyse the impact of the Obama administration on the American society, one should again turn to things that were not deliberately initiated. The polarization of society has never been stronger than at the moment. The Presidential race has been dominated by a racist Billionaire on the Republican side and at least strongly stirred by a democratic socialist on the democratic side. That is not just a development of recent months, but could already be observed since the Democrats lost the midterm elections in 2010. The rise of the Tea Party pushed the moderate Republicans to the right and unleashed a Congress which virtually blocked every proposal made by the government. The government shutdown on October 2013, the endless suits against ‘Obama Care’ and the threat to blow the negotiations with Iran exposed a legislature which overstepped one red line after another. Who initiated this dysfunctional congress can be heavily disputed, but no one denies that the Republicans have taken it to another level. The social gaps between urban and rural areas, poor and rich, well and bad educated have widened. But most importantly, racial groups are now more distant than ever before from each other. The Ferguson shooting and the death of Eric Garner who was choked by Police forces are just some examples. Never really exterminated, the racial tensions of the American society have now strongly resurged, impressively personified in Donald Trump. It is worth to ask the question if it is only a coincidence that just when a black man is elected President of the United States, racism becomes a major problem for society again.
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