Transcript George W. Bush (Bush 43)

George W. Bush (Bush 43)
The 2000 Election
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George W. Bush (Rep.)
Al Gore (Dem)
Ralph Nader (Green Party)
The presidency hung on a few hundred votes in a
single state (Florida)
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Lawsuits and requests for recounts
Confusing ballots
Missing names from voting rolls
Subjecting minority voters to multiple requests for
identification
– The Hanging Chad
GWB
• George W. Bush described himself as a
“compassionate conservative” committed to the
principles of limited government, personal
responsibility, strong families, and local control.
• Proposed to improve public schools by insisting on
competency testing.
• “Faith-based initiative,” religious institutions would
be able to compete for government funds to provide
social services.
• A major legislative success involved cutting tax
9/11/01
• 1998, Osama bin Laden had formed a terrorist
network called Al-Qaeda, which in Arabic means
“the base.”
• He provided training camps, financing, planning,
recruitment, and other support services for
fighters seeking to strike at the United States.
9/11/01
• Four previous attacks against the U.S.
– the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
– the 1996 killing of 19 U.S. soldiers in Saudi
Arabia
– the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania
– the 2000 attack on the USS Cole at a port in
Yemen, in which 17 U.S. sailors were killed.
9/11/01
• Hijackers turned commercial airlines into
missiles and attacked key symbols of American
economic and military might.
– the World Trade Center towers in New York
– destroyed part of the Pentagon,
– left Americans in a mood similar to that which the
country experienced after the devastating
Japanese attack on the American fleet at Pearl
Harbor in 1941.
9/11/01
• George W. Bush organized an international
coalition against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban
government in Afghanistan that supported it.
He persuaded Pakistan, which had been the
main sponsor of Afghanistan’s Taliban
government, to support the United States
diplomatically and logistically.
9/11
• U.S.-led coalition launched an attack against targets
in Afghanistan--the beginning of what President Bush
has promised would be a long campaign against
terrorist groups and the states that support them.
• The American strategy involved using American air
power and ground targeting to support the Northern
Alliance, the major indigenous force opposing the
Taliban.
• U.S. and British forces coordinated ground
operations against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Iraq
• March 20, 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom
• Successful in overthrowing the dictator
Sadaam Hussein
• Civil War and insurgency
The Results
Nominee
George W. Bush
John Kerry
Republican
Democratic
Texas
Massachusetts
Running mate
Dick Cheney
John Edwards
Electoral vote
286
251[1]
States carried
31
19 + DC
Popular vote
62,040,610
59,028,444
50.7%
48.3%
Party
Home state
Percentage
2004 Election
Katrina (2005) and Rita (2005)
• 80% 0f New Orleans underwater, avg. 15 ft.
• Rita a much larger storm, however Katrina had
scared the heck out of people