Everyone who supported him projected what they wanted to see on him in 2008. In his new book He Was Our Man In  Washington, A History of the Obama Years, author Owen Symes reveals such little known facts as Obama’s support for Illinois’ coal industry. And though many chose to believe he was liberal, he was a conservative Democrat who put many people who had caused economic problems into positions of power. His healthcare program was market driven, subsidizing the insurance industry. His was a familiarly muscular foreign policy, the heaviest fighting in Afghanistan occurring on his watch. And Obama’s fiscal policies, like so many others, redistributed wealth to the top. Despite all this, of course his racial identity alone led to Trumpism. And Symes argues Obama will be remembered for missed opportunities.