What happened instead was the worst economic collapse in living memory, minimal cooperation from the Republican opposition, and the rise of a populist anti-big-government Tea Party.
This four-part series, made by Brook Lapping for BBC Two, is an authoritative account of Obama’s successes and failures as told by his inner circle, including: David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, Eric Holder, John Kerry, Robert Gates, Tim Geithner and Larry Summers - and his chief adversaries.
This is the story of how Obama tried to reshape America, from inside a White House unlike any other in history.