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George W. Bush administration
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The Presidency of George W. Bush began on his inauguration on January 20, 2001 as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush was elected president in the 2000 general election, thus becoming the second 2nd generation president (after John Quincy Adams), succeeding his father after just one other president, and with just two terms between them. The Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of Bush by allowing the Florida Secretary of State's previous certification of Bush as the winner of Florida's electoral votes to stand.
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Encyclopedia
The Presidency of George W. Bush began on his inauguration on January 20, 2001 as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush was elected president in the 2000 general election, thus becoming the second 2nd generation president (after John Quincy Adams), succeeding his father after just one other president, and with just two terms between them. The Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of Bush by allowing the Florida Secretary of State's previous certification of Bush as the winner of Florida's electoral votes to stand. Florida's 25 electoral votes gave Bush, the Republican candidate, 271 electoral votes, defeating Democratic candidate Al Gore in a highly debated election. Bush was re-elected in 2004, and his term ended on January 20, 2009, with the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
As president, Bush pushed through a $1.3 trillion tax cut program and the No Child Left Behind Act, and also pushed for socially conservative efforts such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and faith-based welfare initiatives.
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush declared a global War on Terrorism and, in October 2001, ordered an invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, destroy Al-Qaeda, and to capture Osama bin Laden. In March 2003, Bush received a mandate from the U.S. Congress to lead an invasion of Iraq, asserting that Iraq was in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
Bush was also able to initiate his AIDS program that committed $15 billion to combat AIDS over five years and is credited for saving millions of lives. His record as a humanitarian can also be tied to helping send as many as 29 million African children to school.
Running as a self-described "war president" in the midst of the Iraq War, Bush won re-election in 2004, as his campaign against Senator John Kerry was successful despite controversy over Bush's prosecution of the Iraq War and his handling of the economy.
His second term was highlighted by several free trade agreements, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 alongside a strong push for offshore and domestic drilling, the nominations of Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito, a strong push for Social Security and Illegal Immigration reform, a surge of troops in Iraq, which was followed by a huge drop in violence, and several different economic initiatives that were aimed at preventing a banking system collapse, stopping foreclosures, and stimulating the economy during the ongoing recession.
After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism, even from former allies. His worldwide and domestic popularity decreased due to the war and other issues such as the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, record budget deficits affecting the administration, and the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. As president, Bush has received some of the lowest approval ratings in American history and left office as one of the most unpopular Presidents in history.
Major issues of Presidency
State of the Union Addresses
- First inaugural address (20 January 2001)
- Second inaugural address (20 January 2005)
- 2001 address (not officially a State of the Union address) (27 February 2001)
- 2002 State of the Union address (29 January 2002)
- 2003 State of the Union address (28 January 2003)
- 2004 State of the Union address (20 January 2004)
- 2005 State of the Union address (2 February 2005)
- 2006 State of the Union address (31 January 2006)
- 2007 State of the Union address (23 January 2007)
- 2008 State of the Union address (28 January 2008)
Major treaties signed
- SORT (2002) - better known as the Moscow Treaty, the United States and Russia agreed to limit their nuclear arsenal to 1700–2200 operationally deployed warheads each
Major acts as president
Major treaties withdrawn
- ABM Treaty (2002) - limited anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against missile-delivered nuclear weapons between the United States and the U.S.S.R.
- United Nations Population Fund (2002) - promoted the human right of "reproductive health", that is physical, mental, and social health in matters related to reproduction and the reproductive system.
Major legislation
Legislation signed
2001
2002
2003
2004
- April 1: Unborn Victims of Violence Act (Laci and Conner’s Law)
- July 17: United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
- August 3: United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act
2005
2006
Legislation vetoed
President Bush vetoed twelve pieces of legislation to date (eight of which have been overturned by congress):
- July 19, 2006: Stem Cell Research Enactment Act of 2006
- May 1, 2007: , U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007
- June 20, 2007: Stem Cell Research Enactment Act of 2007
- October 3, 2007: State Children's Health Insurance Program Expansion
- November 2, 2007: Vetoed , Water Resources Development Act of 2007. Overridden by House, 361-54 ( votes needed). Overridden by Senate, 79-14 ( needed), and enacted as over President's veto.
- November 13, 2007: Vetoed , Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2008. Override attempt failed in House, 277-141 ( votes needed).
- December 12, 2007: Vetoed , Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007. Override attempt failed in House, 260-152 (275 votes needed).
- December 28, 2007: Pocket Vetoed , National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. A later version of the bill that changed a minor provision of which the President disapproved was quickly passed by Congress and was enacted with the President's approval as on January 28, 2008.
- March 8 2008: Vetoed , Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008. Override attempt failed in House, 225-188.
- May 21 2008: Vetoed , 2007 U.S. Farm Bill. Overridden by House, 316-108 (283 votes needed). Overridden by Senate, 82-13 (64 votes needed). Enacted as over the President's veto. Due to a clerical error, this act was repealed by .
- 18 June 2008: Vetoed , 2007 U.S. Farm Bill, re-passed by Congress to correct a clerical error in HR 2419. Overridden by House, 317-109 (284 votes required). Overridden by Senate, 80-14 (63 votes needed). Enacted as over the President's veto.
- July 15 2008: Vetoed , Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act. Overridden by House, 383-41 (283 votes required.) Overridden by Senate, 70-26 (64 votes required). Enacted as over the President's veto.
Administration and Cabinet
Bush's Cabinet had included figures that were prominent in past administrations, notably former Secretary of State Colin Powell who had served as United States National Security Advisor under Ronald Reagan. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had served as White House Chief of Staff and Secretary of Defense under Gerald Ford; Rumsfeld's successor, Robert Gates, served as Director of Central Intelligence under George H.W. Bush. Vice President Dick Cheney served as Secretary of Defense under George H. W. Bush.
Bush placed a high value on personal loyalty and, as a result, his administration had high message discipline. He maintained a "hands-off" style of management that he believes prevents him from being tangled by intricacies that hinder sound decision-making. "I'm confident in my management style. I'm a delegator because I trust the people I've asked to join the team. I'm willing to delegate. That makes it easier to be President," he said in an interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC in December of 2003. Critics allege, however, that Bush is willing to overlook mistakes made by loyal subordinates.
There was been only one non-Republican in Bush's cabinet: Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, the first Asian American cabinet secretary, who had previously served as Secretary of Commerce under Bill Clinton, is a Democrat. Mineta resigned from Bush's cabinet on July 7, 2006 to pursue "other challenges". Mary Peters, a Republican, was nominated and confirmed to succeed him as Transportation Secretary.
In 2006, Bush replaced long-time chief of staff Andrew Card with Joshua Bolten and made major staff and cabinet changes with the intention of revitalizing his Administration.
On November 8, 2006 (the day after the Democrats took back Congress in the midterm elections), Bush announced plans to replace Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with former CIA Director Robert Gates. Gates was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 6 and took office as the 22nd Secretary of Defense on December 18.
Cabinet members
Attorney General
Bush's first Attorney General, John Ashcroft, was politically controversial, but widely viewed as competent. Ashcroft resigned days after Bush's 2004 re-election. Bush's second Attorney General was Alberto Gonzales. In addition to his work on providing guidelines for enhanced interrogation techniques prior to his appointment, he claimed there was no right to Habeas Corpus. Michael Bernard Mukasey succeeded Gonzales and is the country's 81st Attorney General.
Labor
Bush's first nomination for Secretary of Labor was Linda Chavez. This nomination came under attack when evidence came to light that she had given money to an illegal immigrant from Guatemala who lived in her home. Chavez claimed that the woman was not an employee and she had merely provided her with emergency assistance due to the domestic abuse the woman had been facing at the time. Chavez's nomination was withdrawn.
Energy
Bush's first Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham was controversial at the time of his 2001 appointment because as a senator he co-sponsored S.896, a bill to abolish the United States Department of Energy, in 1999. Samuel Wright Bodman III, Sc.D. is the United States Secretary of Energy and was previously Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department.
Homeland Security
When Tom Ridge announced his decision to resign as Secretary of Homeland Security, Bush's first choice to replace him was Bernard Kerik, who served as Police Commissioner of the City of New York during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Kerik's nomination raised controversy when it was discovered that he had perviously hired an undocumented worker as a nanny and housekeeper. After a week, Kerik pulled his nomination and Bush went on to nominate Michael Chertoff.
Advisors and other officials
- Deputy Secretary of Defense – Paul Wolfowitz (2001–2005), Gordon R. England (2005–2009)
- CIA Director - George Tenet (2001–2004), John E. McLaughlin (acting, 2004), Porter J. Goss (2004–2006), Michael Hayden (2006–2009)
- FBI Director - Louis Freeh (2001), Thomas J. Pickard (acting, 2001), Robert S. Mueller (2001–2009)
- NASA Administrator - Sean O'Keefe (2001–2005), Michael D. Griffin (2005–2009)
- FAA Administrator - Marion Blakey (2002–2007), Robert A. Sturgell (acting) (2007–2009)
- FDA commissioner - Mark McClellan (2002–2004), Lester Crawford (2005), Andrew von Eschenbach (2005–2009)
- National Security Advisor - Condoleezza Rice (2001–2005), Stephen Hadley (2005–2009)
- Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan - Meghan O'Sullivan (?–2007), Douglas Lute (2007–2009)
- Ambassador to the United Nations - John Negroponte (2001–2004), John Danforth (2004); John R. Bolton (2005–2006), Zalmay Khalilzad (2007–2009)
- FCC Chairman - Michael Powell (2001–2005), Kevin Martin (2005–)
- Deputy White House Chief of Staff - Joe Hagin (2001–), Joshua Bolten (2001–2003), Harriet Miers (2003–2004), Karl Rove (2005–2007), Joel Kaplan (2006–)
- Director of National Intelligence - John Negroponte (2005–2007), John Michael McConnell (2007–2009)
- White House Counsel - Alberto R. Gonzales (2001–2005), Harriet Miers (2005–2007), Fred Fielding (2007–2009)
- White House Press Secretary - Ari Fleischer (2001–2003), Scott McClellan (2003–2006), Tony Snow (2006–2007), Dana Perino (2007–2009)
- Assistant to the President – Lewis Libby (2001–2005)
- Advisor - Karen Hughes (2001–2002) Appointed in 2005 to rank of Ambassador and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the State Department, left that position in 2007.
- Personal aide (body man) - Blake Gottesman (2000–2006)
Defence force nominations and appointments
Supreme Court nominations and appointments
Bush nominated the following people to the Supreme Court of the United States:
- John G. Roberts – 2005, was first nominated for Associate Justice replacing Sandra Day O'Connor; after the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Bush nominated him for the position of Chief Justice. Confirmed: 78–22
- Harriet Miers – 2005, was nominated upon the elevation of John G. Roberts as the Chief Justice. Her nomination was later withdrawn.
- Samuel Alito – 2006, nominated in 2005 upon the withdrawal of Harriet Miers. Confirmed: 58-42
Court of Appeals nominations and appointments
Federal Reserve appointment
On October 24, 2005, Bush nominated Ben Bernanke to succeed Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Senate Banking Committee recommended Bernanke's confirmation by a 13-1 voice vote on November 16, 2005. With the full Senate's approval on January 31, 2006 by another voice vote, Bernanke was sworn in on February 1, 2006.
First term (2001–2005)
Second term (2005–2009)
Political philosophy
The guiding political philosophy of the Bush administration has been termed neoconservative. The specific elements of neoconservative leadership have been itemized in policy papers by members of the Project for a New American Century, and is represented in the editorial perspective of the political journal the Weekly Standard. Administration officials chosen from the membership of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) began with the selection of the candidate for vice president, Dick Cheney. Others included Richard Armitage, Zalmay Khalilzad, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Richard Perle, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz.
In 1998, following perceived Iraqi unwillingness to co-operate with UN weapons inspections, members of the PNAC, including former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, wrote to President Bill Clinton urging him to remove Saddam Hussein from power using US diplomatic, political and military power.
In September 2000, the PNAC issued a report entitled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces, and Resources For A New Century, proceeding "from the belief that America should seek to preserve and extend its position of global leadership by maintaining the preeminence of U.S. military forces." The group stated that when diplomacy or sanctions fail, the United States must be prepared to take military action. The PNAC argued that the Cold War deployment of forces was obsolete. Defense spending and force deployment must reflect the post-Cold War duties that US forces are obligated to perform. Constabulary duties such as peacekeeping in the Balkans and the enforcement of the No Fly Zones in Iraq put a strain upon, and reduced the readiness of US forces. The PNAC recommended the forward redeployment of US forces at new strategically placed permanent military bases in Southeast Europe and Southeast Asia. Permanent bases would ease the strain on US forces, allowing readiness to be maintained and the carrier fleet to be reduced. Furthermore, PNAC advocated that the US-globalized military should be enlarged, equipped and restructured for the "constabulary" roles associated with shaping the security in critical regions of the world.
Environmental Record
George W. Bush’s environmental record began with promises as a presidential candidate to clean up power plants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In a speech on September 29, 2000 in Saginaw, Michigan, Bush pledged to commit two billion dollars to the funding of clean coal technology research. In the same speech, he also promised to work with Congress, environmental groups and the energy industry to require a reduction of the emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide into the environment within a “reasonable period of time.” He would later reverse his position on that specific campaign pledge in March 2001 in a letter to Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel, stating that carbon dioxide was not considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, and that restricting carbon dioxide emissions would lead to higher energy prices.
In 2001, President Bush appointed Philip A. Cooney, a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, to the White House Council on Environmental Equality. Cooney is known to have modernized government climate reports in order to minimize the findings of scientific sources tying greenhouse gas emissions to global warming.
In March 2001, the Bush administration announced that it would not implement the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty signed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan that would require nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, claiming that ratifying the treaty would create economic setbacks in the U.S. and does not put enough pressure to limit emissions from developing nations. In February 2002, Bush announced his alternative to the Kyoto Protocol, by bringing forth a plan to reduce the intensity of greenhouse gasses by 18% over ten years. The intensity of greenhouse gasses specifically is the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions and economic output, meaning that under this plan, emissions would still continue to grow, but at a slower pace. Bush stated that this plan would prevent the release of 500 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, which is about the equivalent of 70 million cars from the road. This target would achieve this goal by providing tax credits to businesses that use renewable energy sources.
In late November 2002, the Bush Administration released proposed rule changes that would lead to increased logging of federal forests for commercial or recreational activities by giving local forest managers the ability to open up the forests to development without requiring environmental impact assessments and without specific standards to maintain local fish and wildlife populations. The proposed changes would affect roughly of US forests and grasslands. Administration officials claimed the changes were appropriate because existing rules, which were approved by the Clinton administration two months before Bush took office, were unclear.
In November 2004, Bush administration officials asked the United Nations to allow US industries to use an additional 458 tons of methyl bromide, an ozone-destroying pesticide that was slated for elimination by the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. The additional increase request brings the US’s total exemption for the year 2005 to 9,400 metric tons of methyl bromide, more than all other nations’ requests combined, and well over the 7,674 metric tons used by US agribusiness in 2002.
In January 2004, Interior Secretary Gale Norton approved a move to open nearly of Alaska's North Slope to oil and gas development, citing claims from the energy industry that nearly of oil could be extracted from the region. The North Slope neighbor's the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a sanctuary and habitat for migratory birds, whales, seals and other wildlife. Reports from the U.S. Geological Survey, however, estimate that less than one-third of the reported is economically recoverable in the entire National Petroleum Reserve.
In July 2005 the Environmental Protection Agency decided to delay the release of an annual report on fuel economy. The report shows that automakers have taken advantage of loopholes in US fuel economy regulations to manufacture vehicles that are less fuel-efficient than they were in the late 1980s. Fuel-efficiency had on average dropped six percent during that period, from 22.1 miles per gallon to 20.8 mpg. Evidence suggests that the administration’s decision to delay the report’s release was because of its potential to affect Congress’s upcoming final vote on an energy bill six years in the making, which turned a blind eye to fuel economy regulations.
In May 2006, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) allegedly blocked release of a report that suggested global warming had been a contributor to the frequency and strength of hurricanes in recent years. In February, NOAA (part of the Department of Commerce) set up a seven-member panel of climate scientists to compile the report. The panel’s chair, Ants Leema, received an e-mail from a Commerce Department official asking for the report to not be released as it needed to be made “less technical.” NOAA would later go on to say that the report was not released because it “was not complete” and was in reality not a report, but a “two-page fact sheet about the issue.”
Controversies and criticism
Bush's presidency had been characterized by the unitary executive theory, which is a vigorous defense of "executive privilege", evidenced in such acts as signing Executive Order 13233, which suspends the release of presidential papers, tight control of Congressional inquiries into White House officers such as in the 9/11 Commission's interviews with Condoleezza Rice, Bush and Dick Cheney, and the generally high level of coordination between the White House, Congressional Republicans and Senate Republicans in both of Bush's terms. Many commentators have claimed that deference to executive privilege was one of the principal considerations in Bush's administration, when he proposed his three nominations for the Supreme Court, and appointed John R. Bolton to the United Nations.
Policies of the Bush administration have been criticized for subverting elements of the Constitution, violating treaty obligations, and obstructing justice. The suspension of habeas corpus for US citizens was reversed by the Supreme Court in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 (2004). Domestic spying has included undercover infiltration of political organizations with no suspected terrorist affiliations, telephone surveillance without a warrant, and the Carnivore program for internet surveillance. The policy of holding enemy combatants in a legal status, outside of either due process of criminal prosecution or the Geneva conventions for prisoners of war, created a legal limbo without a process for adjudication or appeal. The extraordinary rendition of an innocent citizen of Canada, to Syria, caused an international incident involving kidnapping, wrongful imprisonment and torture. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, stated in a white paper that "President Bush's constitutional vision is, in short, sharply at odds with the text, history, and structure of our Constitution, which authorizes a government of limited powers."
Ellen Mariani, widow of Louis Neil Mariani, killed in the September 11 attacks, charged that Bush "has not been forthright and honest with regard to his administration's pre-knowledge of the potential of the "911" attacks." Former White House chief counter-terrorism advisor Richard A. Clarke criticized both the failure to prevent the attacks of 9/11, and the response to them in both domestic and foreign policy, in his book Against All Enemies.
The Bush administration has been accused of censoring or manipulating scientific research to suit various agendas, notably in the areas of climate change and development of environmentally sensitive areas. One of the most well known examples took place in January 2006, when lead NASA climate scientist Dr. James Hansen and several other career scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies accused appointee George Deutsch of forbidding them from publicly discussing research on global warming risks. The Union of Concerned Scientists published a report, Scientific Integrity in Policymaking, in March 2004 that criticized the unprecedented "manipulation, suppression, and misrepresentation of science by the Bush administration ... World renowned scientific institutions such as that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health take decades to build a team of world-class scientific expertise and talent. But they can be severely damaged in short order by the scientifically unethical behavior such as that displayed by the current administration."
National security
Certain groups have been critical of the Bush administration’s record on national security. According to a non-partisan policy group Third Way, incompetence and a failed strategy have "helped lead us to this dangerous situation". While others have alleged that anti-crime tax funds were appropriated to youth programs based on political connections instead of merit, when current and former Justice Department employees allege that the head of the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention ignored staff rankings in favor of programs that had political, social or religious connections to the Bush White House.
According to the book Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer, in 2007, Red Cross investigators concluded in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency's interrogation methods for high-level Al-Qaeda prisoners constituted torture, which could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes.
Manfred Nowak, the special representative on torture at the UN Commission on Human Rights stated in January 2009 that Bush and Donald Rumsfeld should both be prosecuted for war crimes due to their approval of the interrogation methods used on prisoners at the USA military base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Legacy
The legacy of President Bush and where he will stand in history remains to be seen. Historians and pundits are largely unsure whether history will judge him as critically as the American public did, or in a softer light. Some argue that accomplishments such as the President's AIDS program, reform of education by the federal government with the No Child Left Behind Act, the sustained progress made in the War in Iraq, the absence of foreign terrorist attacks on American soil after the September 11th attacks, the perception of him by many as a strong and steady leader in the weeks immediately after the attacks, the creation of Medicare Part D, and his sending 29 million African children to school will allow Bush to have a positive legacy. Others argue that the economic crisis of 2008, the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, his response to Hurricane Katrina, the planning of the Iraq War, handling of the Guantanamo Bay detainees and other terror suspects, and possible investigation and prosecution for war crimes committed under his name will leave him as one of the worst Presidents ever. In response to a question on his popularity, Bush remarked "I know I gave it my all for eight years, and I did not sell my soul for the sake of popularity. And so when I get back home and look in the mirror, I will be proud of what I see."
On January 15, 2009, Bush gave a nationally televised farewell address in the East Room of the White House. He defended many of his decisions and cited the fact that he'd kept the country safe since September 11, 2001 as a major accomplishment. Bush stated that "I have always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right." He also said that the United States must continue promoting human liberty, human rights, and human dignity around the world. One of his final lines was "We have faced danger and trial, and there's more ahead. But with the courage of our people and confidence in our ideals, this great nation will never tire, never falter and never fail."
See also
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