Transcript America in The New Millennium

THE 2000 ELECTION : BUSH VS. GORE
DEMOCRATIC •
•
OPPONENT •
AL GORE
VICE PRESIDENT TO BILL CLINTON
DEMOCRATS WERE WEAKENED BY CLINTON’S
IMPEACHMENT SCANDAL
HURT BY EMERGENCE OF A 3RD PARTY CANDIDATE, RALPH
NADER
• DOWNTURN IN THE AMERICAN ECONOMY
• WON POPULAR VOTE
• SWING STATE: FLORIDA
RD
3 PARTY
CANDIDATE
RALPH
NADER
• AUTHOR
• CONSUMER ADVOCATE
• TOOK ALMOST 3 MILLION VOTES
REPUBLICAN
OPPONENT
GEORGE W.
BUSH
•
SON OF FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH (TO
COACH C AKA: DADDY BUSH)
•
•
GOVERNOR OF TEXAS
•
•
CLOSEST PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN HISTORY!
WON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2000 AFTER WINNING A
MAJORITY OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE
SWING STATE: FLORIDA
ELECTION NIGHT
HTTP://YOUTU.BE/JEB9HWYMPA0
U.S. SUPREME COURT
COURT RULED (5 TO 4 VOTE) TO ORDER AN
END TO A RECOUNT
THE FLORIDA COURTS HAD INSTRUCTED
THOSE RECOUNTING TO EVALUATE THE
VOTER’S INTENT IN CASES WHERE THE
BALLOT WAS NOT CORRECTLY PUNCHED IN.
THIS IS WHY THE FLORIDA COURTS WERE
OVERRULED. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT SAID
THERE WAS NOT CONSISTENT STANDARD FOR
REVIEWING THE BALLOTS.
DOMESTIC POLICY UNDER BUSH
• PUSHED THROUGH A TAX CUT IN AN ATTEMPT TO REVITALIZE THE ECONOMY
• FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD DROPPED INTEREST RATES TO THEIR LOWEST LEVELS IN DECADES.
• TAX CUTS REVIVED THE ECONOMY, BUT ALSO BROUGHT A RETURN TO A HIGH FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICITS
• ACTIVE IN PROMOTING EDUCATIONAL REFORM
• NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND – REQUIRING ALL STATES TO TEST ALL STUDENTS IN ENGLISH AND MATHEMATICS
EACH YEAR FROM 3RD GRADE TO 8TH GRADE.
THE DAY WE WERE ATTACKED
September 11, 2001 (9/11)
Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorists boarded 4
different U.S. Airliners
Amongst the terrorists were trained pilots. They
hijacked the aircrafts.
2 Hit the World Trade Center (New York City)
1 Our Pentagon (Washington, DC)
1 crashed in Pennsylvania when the passengers
resisted the terrorists
More than 3000 people were killed
• HTTP://WWW.OPRAH.COM/OPRAHSHOW/GEORGE-W-BUSH-AND-THE-INFAMOUS-7-MINUTES-ON-911VIDEO
GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR
• OSAMA BIN LADEN & HIS ORGANIZATION AL-QAEDA TOOK CREDIT FOR THE TERRORIST ATTACKS
• AFTER THE ATTACKS ON THE UNITED STATES, OSAMA BIN LADEN WAS SHELTERED BY THE TALIBANCONTROLLED GOVERNMENT OF AFGHANISTAN.
• TALIBAN: A GROUP OF ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISTS
• REFUSED TO SURRENDER OSAMA BIN LADEN TO THE UNITED STATES
• BUSH LAUNCHED A GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR AGAINST THOSE NATIONS THAT HARBORED TERRORISTS.
• OCTOBER 2001, BUSH ORDERED AIR AND GROUND ASSAULTS, WHICH TOPPLED THE TALIBAN AND
DESTROYED AL-QAEDA’S BASES
• BIN LADEN MANAGED TO ELUDE CAPTURE
SEPTEMBER 20, 2001
9 DAYS AFTER THE ATTACK ON THE UNITED STATES, PRESIDENT BUSH ADDRESSED
A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS:
“ON SEPTEMBER THE 11TH, ENEMIES OF FREEDOM COMMITTED AN ACT
OF WAR AGAINST OUR COUNTRY. AMERICANS HAVE MANY QUESTIONS
TONIGHT: WHO ATTACKED OUR COUNTRY? THE EVIDENCE WE HAVE
GATHERED POINTS TO A … TERRORIST ORGANIZATION KNOWN AS AL-QAEDA.
AL-QAEDA IS TO TERROR WHAT THE MAFIA IS TO CRIME. BUT IS GOAL IS NOT
TO MAKE MONEY; ITS GOAL IS REMAKING THE WORLD- AND IMPOSING ITS
RADICAL BELIEFS ON PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. OUR WAR ON TERROR BEGINS
WITH AL-QAEDA, BUT DOES NOT END THERE. IT WILL NOT END UNTIL EVERY
TERRORIST GROUP OF GLOBAL REACH HAS BEEN FOUND, STOPPED AND
DEFEATED.”
POST 9/11
• TRANSPORTATION SECURITY AGENCY (TSA): TOOK OVER SECURITY AT U.S. AIRPORTS
• DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: A NEW CABINET POST. ITS MISSION WAS TO KEEP THE U.S.
SECURE FROM ALL THREATS. ACTIVITIES RANGE FROM NUCLEAR DETECTION AND INTELLIGENCE
COORDINATION TO PROTECTION OF HIGH-LEVEL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS.
• USA PATRIOT ACT OF 2001: GREATLY EXPANDED THE GOVERNMENT’S LAW ENFORCEMENT POWERS
• GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA
• WATER-BOARDING : HTTP://YOUTU.BE/EEX8WEZU2WA
• THE BOARD IS SLIGHTLY INVERTED TO MAKE FOR A MORE INTENSE DROWNING FEEL - FYI
THE WAR IN IRAQ
• SADDAM HUSSEIN : IRAQI DICTATOR
• ADVISORS FEARED HUSSEIN WOULD PROVIDE BIOLOGICAL, CHEMICAL, OR EVEN NUCLEAR WEAPONS TO
ISLAMIC TERRORISTS LIKE OSAMA BIN LADEN
• HUSSEIN HAD USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS BEFORE.
• IRAQ WAS WARNED BY THE U.S., BRITAIN, AND SPAIN TO SURRENDER ITS WMD
S
(WEAPONS OF MASS
DESTRUCTION) OR FACE INVASION.
• FRANCE, GERMANY, AND RUSSIA FAVORED A MORE CAUTIOUS APPROACH.
• BUSH GAVE HUSSEIN 48 HOURS TO LEAVE IRAQ OR FACE INVASION. HUSSEIN REFUSED AND MILITARY
ACTION TOOK PLACE.
• HUSSEIN WAS CAPTURED, TRIED FOR CRIMES AGAINST IRAQI CITIZENS AND EXECUTED BY IRAQIS IN 2006
• IRAQI VOTERS ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES DREW UP A CONSTITUTION.
• IRAQ BECAME THE FIRST ARAB DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST
WAR EFFORT IN IRAQ
• HUSSEIN WAS DEFEATED, BUT THE WAR CONTINUED
• AN INSURGENCY CONSISTING OF FORMER SUPPORTERS OF HUSSEIN, SHIITE RADICALS, AND IRAQIS ANGRY
AT FOREIGN INTERVENTION SOON AROSE
• IRAQI PRISONERS AT ABU GHRAIB PRISON WERE TORTURED AND HUMILIATED, ADDING TO THE
UNPOPULARITY OF FOREIGN TROOPS ON IRAQI SOIL
• BY THE END OF 2006, AS MANY AS 1000 PEOPLE WERE STILL BEING KILLED IN IRAQ EACH MONTH
• BUSH ANNOUNCED A NEW “SURGE” STRATEGY, SENDING MORE THAN 20,000 ADDITIONAL TROOPS
• THEY SECURED LOCAL NEIGHBORHOODS, PROTECTED THE IRAQI POPULATION, GUARDED IRAQ’S BOARDERS,
AND STUCK OUT AT AL-QAEDA FORCES
• THIS SURGE GREATLY REDUCED VIOLENCE
• AMERICAN WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ THEN BECAME THE CENTRAL ISSUE IN THE 2008 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL
CAMPAIGN
HURRICANE KATRINA
• HTTP://VIDEO.NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/VIDEO/NEWS/NEW-ORLEANS?SOURCE=RELATEDVIDEO
• EVACUATION AND FLOODING OF ALMOST 80% OF NEW ORLEANS AND OTHER PARTS OF THE GULF COAST
• HIGHEST STORM SURGE AND WAVES EVER RECORDED TO HIT THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT.
• SURGE AND WAVES GREATLY EXCEEDED THE ENGINEERING DESIGN OF THE NEW ORLEANS LEVEES
• MOST COSTLY HURRICANE ON RECORD
• MORE THAN 1,800 PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES