Obama the Subject of History Courses

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

He's been president for only seven months, but Barack Obama is already the subject of college history courses. And there's a common theme on campus. Just like in the election, the nation's first black president is transformational. Take sports: New York University's Emerging Issues in Sports and Society will look at how the success of black sports stars helped pave the way for Obama's election. Former Missouri Gov. Bob Holden, who was defeated in a bitter Democratic primary by Sen. Claire McCaskill in 2004, will coteach Topics in Politics: Obama Administration Year One at Webster University. "President Obama is really the transitional figure in terms of communication and in terms of our cultural diversity, so to study his administration—how he got there and his leadership skills—is going to be a very good forerunner of studying leadership in the future," Holden tells our Suzi Parker.

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