The 2000s

President George W. Bush

The shift of southern white conservatives after the 1960s made the Republican Party more conservative; political polarization occurred.

2000 presidential election dispute

Bush v. Gore

2001 tax cuts, 2003 tax cuts War on Terrorism: September 11

led to invasion of Afghanistan with the goal of killing Osama bin laden and defeat Taliban.

Department of Homeland Security

PATRIOT Act Bush Doctrine: Containment &

deterrence did not work; pre-emptive attack

2002 State of the Union: “axis of evil” = North Korea, Iraq

Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003: claimed Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

In four week, US military occupied Baghdad and captured Hussein.

Torture revealed at Abu Ghraib, and Bush was criticized for going into Iraq without a plan to control the country

2007: “surge” of 30,000 troops to restore order

After 2004 re-election, Bush wanted Congress to privatize Social Security to provide amnesty for documented immigrants.

August, 2005: Hurricane Katrina: FEMA failed to anticipate the crisis and did not respond well to it.

Democrats won both houses of Congress in 2006.

Bush appointed John Roberts as Chief Justice and Samuel Alito

Great Recession of 2008: War on Terror, tax cuts, and an unstable housing market

Bush stimulus package and TARP: Troubled Assets Relief Program to give money to US banks and restore credit market; controversial in both parties.

Great Recession and unpopular war in Iraq led to election of Barrack Obama in 2008: Obama took eight states that had been won by Bush in 2008

President Obama Used TARP funds to bail out

General Motors and Chrysler Executive orders to ban torture

and expand stem-cell research First law signed: Lilly Ledbetter

Fair Pay Act: strengthened protection of equal pay for women.

Failed to keep campaign promise to cold Guantanamo Bay

2010, Obama Care Tea Party and 2010 mid-term elections:

focused on limited government and campaigns on gun rights, school prayer, and anti-immigration: Republicans gained control of House, creating gridlock

2012 Congress least-productive in history, passing only 61 bills

End of Iraq War in 2011: 4,500 Americans, 100,000 Iraqi deaths

2011, Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan

2012: re-election: Obama had 71% of the Hispanic vote

Budget Brinksmanship: Congress unable to agree on taxes, so the “sequester” went into effect in 2013

Congress shut down government for 16 days in 2013 in a failed effort to defund Obamacare.

Congress’s approval rating dropped to 10%

Obama Doctrine: support negotiation over War (Iran) but in contrast to that, Obama has continued use of drones

Appointment to the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan

Shelby Country v. Holder: struck down provision that certain states with a history of voter discrimination obtain federal approval for new voter laws

2010: “Don’t ask, don’t tell” repealed 2013: Supreme Court ruled 1996

Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional

2012: US Supreme Court upheld Obamacare, but will issue another ruling in 2015.

Key issues for 2016 presidential election: Middle East foreign policy, Immigration Reform, income equality.