George W. Bush

George W. Bush in 2007

George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946), a Republican, was the 43rd president of the United States. He was inaugurated on January 20, 2001 after defeating Al Gore in a controversial election. His popularity soared in the aftermath of the attacks‎ on September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and operations in Iraq and the invasions of Afghanistan. Mr. Bush and Vice President Richard (Dick) Cheney won reelection over John Kerry and John Edwards in 2004. Before becoming president, he was governor of Texas (1994-2001), and served as a presidential aide to his father, President George H. W. Bush.

Important markers during his administration included the 9-11 terrorist attack, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the expansion of NATO to the Russian border, the midterm election gain of seats in the House of Representatives and governorships by Republicans in 2002, the midterm losses of electoral majorities in both houses of Congress and a number of governorships in the 2006 election, improved relations with India, the passage of the PATRIOT Act, the No Child Left Behind education act, repeated large-scale tax cuts, the economic recovery, the boom (and later correction) in real estate, the debate on illegal immigration, the handling of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster, the U.S. Attorneys dismissal controversy, the creation of the Vision for Space Exploration and the appointments of conservatives to the Supreme Court and Federal Reserve chairmanship. Intense controversy in 2007 focused on the war in Iraq. In 2008 he led the federal response to a widespread financial crisis that was precipitated by the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage industry. Bush was ineligible for the presidential election in 2008 due to a two-term limit in the United States Constitution, and has been succeeded by the winner of the 2008 presidential election, Senator Barack Obama, a Democrat.

U.S. President (First Term)

2000 Election Controversy

Bush was elected over Democrat Al Gore, who was Vice President at the time of the election (serving under Bill Clinton), in a controversial election in 2000. As election night wound down, it became apparent that the results in Florida would be enough to tip the Electoral College toward either candidate. The vote count showed Bush ahead by a margin so narrow that Florida law mandated a recount. After several recounts and allegations of voter fraud and disenfranchisement, the case of Bush v. Gore appeared before the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court ended Gore's efforts to initiate further recounts, permitting Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris to certify election results in favor of Bush. Bush won the presidency with 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266.

Bush also became only the fourth president elected while receiving fewer popular votes than his opponent, joining the company of John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison.

September 11th and the War on Terror

On September 11, 2001, a team of 19 hijackers carried out multiple concurrent suicide attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and damaged the Pentagon Building, causing 3,000 deaths in the worst terrorist attack in American history. The al-Qaeda terrorist organization, headed by Osama bin Laden, then among the FBI's most wanted for attacks on US embassies in Africa, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Bush responded by instituting a U.S.-led "war on terror". He ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the ruling Taliban party, which had allowed bin Laden use the country as his organization's base of operations. Despite intense and ongoing manhunts, bin Laden has not yet been apprehended. Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq under the banner of the "war on terror", which materialized in response to the 9-11 attacks, and pushed for broader governmental surveillance powers, including those enabled in the PATRIOT Act, for the same purpose.

Invasion of Iraq

Bush meeting the new Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in 2006, after the new regime was established following the invasion

The war in Iraq was the defining event of Bush's presidency. As the war became increasingly unpopular, Bush's approval ratings fell and his influence weakened. Dissatisfaction with mounting casualties, as well as the failure to find concrete links to weapons of mass destruction or jihadist groups threatening the United States, contributed to the Republicans' electoral defeat in the 2006 mid-term congressional election and, to some extent, the 2008 congressional and presidential elections.

Bush and various members of his cabinet cited impending threats from Iraq's government as justification for the invasion; Secretary of State Colin Powell went before the UN Security Council to present intelligence purporting to expose Iraq's active development of weapons of mass destruction in violation of UN resolutions. Vice President Dick Cheney repeatedly mentioned links between al-Qaeda and Iraq's dictator, Saddam Hussein. Citing the need for a pre-emptive strike designed to prevent the usage of weapons of mass destruction on domestic populaces, the invasion began on March 20, 2003.

Bush stated three goals in launching the invasion: overthrowing the cruel and dangerous regime of Saddam Hussein, establishing a model democracy in Iraq, and leaving after stability was assured. There was no question about the human rights violations committed by Hussein's regime within Iraq, but his dangers to the U.S. appeared exaggerated when no weapons of mass destruction or operational links to the 9/11 Attacks were discovered. Francis Fukuyama argued said that the US could have gone to war, but had a better political endstate, if it had focused on the infeasibility of continuing to maintain the no-fly zones, and not argued a direct WMD threat to the US, but had cast its actions in terms of global counterproliferation. By overemphasizing the 9/11 aspect, it supported suspicions of those who would believe the real reasons were oil or Israel.

Social policy

During his presidency, Bush favored conservative social policy, but many conservatives complain that government spending has risen exponentially over the course of Bush's two terms. He opposed same-sex marriage and supported the Defense of Marriage Act constitutional amendment to ban it, but the amendment was not formally proposed in Congress. He supported the Partial-birth Abortion Ban Act which prohibits a specific form of late-term abortion. The Act, which Clinton had vetoed, was passed by 2:1 majorities in Congress, signed by Bush, and upheld in the Supreme Court in the case Gonzales v. Carhart.

While conservative social policy unquestionably appealed to the Republican "base", and helped win individual elections, it is less clear that it either contributed to the effectiveness of governing or to building a national coalition. While Governor, Bush had been much more liberal on social issuea; he met, admittedly with tension on both sides, with gay Log Cabin Republicans.

There was no agreement, but not the sort of hostility that came at the national level. As President, according to conservative columnist and former Bush speechwriter David Frum, Bush listened to Karl Rove's advice as far as the priority being winning elections. Frum's argument is that by 2006, the general electorate was more concerned with general governance, and had more votes than the base.

U.S. President (Second Term)

2004 Election

The Democrats "nationalized" the 2006 election, making national issues, especially Iraq, the center of their attacks. They won seven of the most heavily contested Senate seats and took control of the Senate, and gained 30 seats to take control of the House. Both Houses were in Democratic hands for the first time since the 1992 elections, but the Democrats lacked enough votes to override a presidential veto.

Bush was at the peak of his popularity when he was reelected in 2004. In 2005-6 his approval rating fell dramatically, with growing discontent from left, right and center. He tried in 2005 to use what he called his "political capital" to make significant long-term changes in the Social Security system. That system has been called the "third rail" of American politics because politicians who touch it get a severe jolt; that happened to Bush and his proposals went nowhere and gave the Democrats talking points.

The Bush administration response to the 2005 Katrina disaster (hurricane and flooding in New Orleans region) was widely criticized and the Democrats alleged that the response showed administrative incompetence. The Iraq war dragged on, with mounting death tolls for American soldiers. The escalation of violent insurgency in Iraq was a major issue for the Democrats in the 2006 elections, as the Democrats united in calling for a withdrawal of American forces. By 2007, leading Republican Senators started to distance themselves from Bush, and the polls indicate Iraq was the single most negative factor in his declining popularity.

War in Iraq

By 2005, with US supervision and cooperation, Iraq had formed a new government, enacted a constitution, and held elections. It is not clear, however, how significant these were to the U.S. electorate.

(CC) Photo: Eric Draper
President George W. Bush with the co-chairs of the Iraq Study Group, Lee Hamilton (left) and James Baker (right)

Even after the installation of Iraq's new government, parts of the country were wracked by violent insurgencies as the two prominent Islamic sects, the Sunnis and the Shiites, and various external groups, vied for power, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. Over 2,000 American soldiers were killed by ambush by mid 2007. In 2006, Bush agreed to the formation of a bipartisan committee of public figures to analyze the situation in Iraq and present policy options, the so-called Iraq Study Group. By that time, many Democratic leaders of Congress were starting to demand a fixed timetable for troop withdrawal. The Iraq Study Group presented its report in December of 2006, claiming that the situation in Iraq was unwinnable. The committee recommended gradual withdrawal and a number of military and intelligence reforms, and diplomatic initiatives to minimize the damage in Iraq and the Middle East in general.

Bush rejected the report and instead chose a highly controversial strategy of increased troop levels (referred to as "the Surge") in hopes of stamping out the insurgency. A compromise was reached with critics of the Surge in summer 2007 whereby a major report would be issued by mid-September evaluating how well the Iraqis had achieved the goals set by the White House. The exact degree to which the troop surge was successful remains debatable. Suicide killings and political chaos remain common in the country. However, levels of violence have undoubtedly dropped considerably since implementation of the surge.

Immigration

See also: U.S. immigration policy

See also: U.S. border security

In 2007 Bush put his prestige on the line in collaborating with Democrats for a major reform of the immigration system, which would have opened a path to citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants (most of them from Central America and Mexico). Polling showed that many Americans think that US immigration policies and laws need to be reformed and some business community and religious groups supported President Bush's proposed legislation. The conservative grass roots, activiated by talk-radio hosts who had long been pro-Bush, turned against him, denounced his plan as "amnesty" (that is, a reward for the illegal behavior in crossing the border), and defeated the plan. It was defeated when 2/3 of Republican Senators voted it down in June 2007.

Courts and Justice

Alberto Gonzales, Bush's controversial Attorney General resigned in September 2007

Bush nudged the U.S. Supreme Court to the right with his successful nominations of John Roberts as Chief Justice and Samuel Alito as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 2005, replacing justices William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O' Connor, respectively. Democrats opposed these nominees as being too conservative, but both were overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate. Bush's nomination of three judges to the federal circuit courts were threatened with filibuster from Senatorial Democrats, but a bipartisan coalition (calling itself the "Gang of 14") reached a compromise and these judges were also confirmed.

In 2007, some alleged that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired a group of district attorneys for political reasons, and many politicians demanded the resignation of Alberto Gonzales. After numerous hearings held by the Congress and facing immense pressure, Gonzales announced his resignation on August 27, 2007. Bush replaced Gonzales with Michael Mukasey, a judicial figure from New York.

Fierce debates, some reaching the Supreme Court, raged over the proper legal status of prisoners from the Mideast conflict held in CIA prisons and the prison the U.S. operated at Guantanamo (in Cuba).

Bush has asserted executive privilege several times over the course of his presidency, instructing aides not to appear before Congress and the Justice Department not to enforce Congressional subpoenas.

Economy

The economy continued to grow, which Bush credited to his series of tax cuts, but the home mortgage and housing industries collapsed in mid-2007, leading to a minor worldwide financial crisis that is still underway. To respond to the economic crisis, Bush's Secretary of Treasury, Henry Paulson, proposed a 700 billion package to salvage the banking industry, which led to critics denouncing it as a "bailout" plan for banks. Collapsing companies receiving federal intervention include Bear-Stearns, American Insurance Group, CitiGroup, and Fannie and Freddie mortgage conglomerate.

Controversies

Carmona Resignation

(PD) Photo: U.S. President's Council on Fitness and Sports
Vice Admiral Richard Carmona, Bush's former Surgeon General

By mid 2007 Bush was on the defensive in a series of 'scandals' that hurt the administration. Vice Admiral Richard Carmona, the Surgeon General resigned, and told Congress he had been pressured by Bush's political aides to suppress scientific information.

Valerie Plame Wilson Affair and Scooter Libby

In July 2003, the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, a covert CIA officer, was revealed by columnist Robert Novak in an article in the Washington Post. Mrs. Wilson was married to former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV who had recently been sent by the Bush administration to Niger to investigate intelligence claims that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was trying to buy plutonium there. After his trip Wilson published an article in the New York Times on 6 July 2003 in which he dismisses the allegation as untrue. After his wife's covert status was revealed, Mr. Wilson accused the Bush administration of intentionally leaking her identity in retaliation for his unfavorable report and newspaper article, a criminal offense.

The affair led to several investigations and a civil trial. No intentional wrongdoing by the Bush White House was ever proven, and the identity leak turned out to originate with Richard Armitage, not a White House insider. However, the senior aide to Vice President Cheney, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted of perjury and lying to federal officers. Later, Bush controversially commuted his prison sentence, though conservatives complained that Libby should have been pardoned outright, since there had been no underlying crime about which he could have lied.

Firing of U.S. Attorneys and Resignation of Alberto Gonzales

More damage came from the Justice Department, where Bush tried to fire nine Republican US attorneys for unexplained reasons; Democrats said he was using the Justice department for partisan political goals and that he fired the attorneys who did not play along. A series of senior Justice and White House officials were forced to resign as a result, as all the Democrats and most of the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary committee demanded the resignation of Attorney General Gonzales. Gonzales testified repeatedly that he could not remember any of the meetings that he attended regarding the firings, and refused to resign initially, though finally he did announce his resignation in August.

For the 2008 presidential election, Bush endorsed fellow Republican John McCain, a U.S. Senator from Arizona, in the White House. McCain lost to Barack Obama, another U.S. Senator, from the state of Illinois.

See also

• 9-11 Attack
• U.S. Republican Party
• Dick Cheney
• List of U.S. Presidents

References

President of the United States

preceded by
Bill Clinton

dates
2001-2009

succeeded by
Barack Obama