Governing by Tweet: The Changing Standards of the Printable, Acceptable, and Responsible
In this session, we compare the respective First Hundred Days of the presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump. We dive into the challenges of how to discuss the daily onslaught of “news” in the context of what is traditionally covered in an Introduction to American Politics course recognizing that students and instructors now often have personal, nonacademic lenses by which they filter the news.
Karen O’Connor, American University
Teaching American Government or Politics in 2017 presents a first for instructors and students. An unprecedented partisan divide exists and we are met daily with new firsts: charges that Russians influenced the 2016 election, accusations that President Obama ordered the taping of the President-elect’s phones, suggestions that the Attorney General lied under oath, alternate facts, etc. The challenge is how to discuss the daily onslaught of “news” in the context of what is traditionally covered in an Introduction to American Politics course recognizing that students and instructors now often have personal, nonacademic lenses by which they filter the news. This webinar will address a few of these conundrums by comparing the respective First Hundred Days of the presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump.