Mantle of Power

Episode 2: 2009

The president soars into office before more than a million cheering Americans at his inauguration, but he is enmeshed …

… in two wars and the “gathering clouds and raging storms” of an economy teetering on the brink of another Great Depression. In his first 100 days he fights to push through a massive stimulus bill and is forced to choose between an expensive and unpopular bailout or letting two giant companies and more than a million jobs potentially vanish. His high-powered wife looks for a cause to champion while their two young children settle into a new school — and pick a White House dog.

Photo Credit: AP / Elise Amendola