Barack Obama came to office arousing more enthusiasm world-wide than any previous American president. Using exclusively the testimony of decision-makers and participants, this series tells the story of America in the years of Barack Obama, America's first black president: his rise, the resistance he's faced and how he has led America over eight tumultuous years.No previous US President has so excited world hopes and enthusiasm. Also because his speeches notably in Chicago on election night, in Cairo on foreign policy, in Prague on disarmament, in Tuscon after Gabriel Giffords was shot, and many others caught the world by the throat. So viewers will want to know how exactly did he come to say that. And what happened when he tried (or not) to deliver as he promised? Viewers will discover how the world economic crisis and opposition in Congress together presented unique challenges to his ambitions - and how President Obama dealt with them.Stories we plan to include: how Obama defeated Hillary Clinton for the nomination; why he failed to close Guantanamo; how he overruled financially cautious opponents in Congress and got the US economy growing again (though his liberal supporters thought he did not go far enough); how he won a partial success on health care; how he handled Iran and Egypt and Libya and Syria; how he turned the US from Europe towards Asia; how his policies provoked the Tea Party to oppose him, but their extremism made it impossible for the Republicans to win the 2012 elections; how, in the wake of horrific shootings, he found it impossible to get new legislation on gun control. Each is a great story. Each will be told by people at the centre of events and by their opponents in the room when the policy arguments exploded. Each will win viewers to engage with high politics in a way nobody but Obama could inspire.