George Walker
Bush (born July
6, 1946)
is the 43rd and current President
of the United
States. His first four-year term as President began on January
20, 2001.
After a fierce campaign
against challenger John
Kerry, he won a second term, winning the electoral
vote and the popular vote by a 3% margin in the presidential
election of 2004. His second term is scheduled to end January
20, 2009.
Before entering
politics, Bush was a businessman.
He served as Governor
of Texas
from 1995
to 2000.
He is the son of former President George
Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara
Bush, the brother of Florida
Governor
Jeb
Bush, and the grandson of Prescott
Bush.
George W. Bush was born
in New
Haven, Connecticut to parents George and Barbara
Bush, and grew up in Midland
and Houston,
Texas.
He has four younger siblings: Jeb,
Neil,
Marvin,
and Dorothy.
A younger sister, Robin, died of leukemia
in 1953 at
the age of three.
George
W. Bush and Laura Bush with their daughters Jenna and Barbara, 1990
George
W. Bush in his national guardsman uniform.
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As was his father, Bush
was educated at Phillips
Academy (Andover), (September 1961–June
1964) and
Yale
University (September 1964–May
1968).
While at Yale he joined Delta
Kappa Epsilon (where he was president from October 1965
until graduation), and the Skull
and Bones society. He played baseball
during his freshman year and rugby
during his freshman and senior years. He received a bachelor's
degree in history in 1968.
After graduating from
Yale, Bush enlisted in the Texas Air
National Guard on May
27, 1968
during the Vietnam War, with a commitment to serve until May
26, 1974.
He served as an F-102 pilot until 1972 and was twice promoted during
his service, first to second lieutenant and then to first lieutenant.
In November 1970,
Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, the commander of the Texas Air National
Guard, recommended that Bush be promoted to first lieutenant.
In September 1973
he received permission to end his six-year commitment six months
early in order to attend Harvard
University. He transferred to inactive reserve status shortly
before being honorably discharged on October 1, 1973.
It has been charged
that he skipped over a waiting list to receive a coveted National
Guard slot, that he did not report for required duty, and that he was
suspended from flying after he missed a required physical
examination. These issues were publicized during the 2004 campaign by
Texans
for Truth and other Bush critics. See George
W. Bush military service controversy for details.
Bush entered Harvard
Business School in 1973. He was awarded a Master
of Business Administration (MBA) in 1975,
making him the first U.S. president to hold an MBA degree.
On Labor
Day weekend, September
4, 1976,
Bush was pulled over by police near his family's Kennebunkport
summer home in Maine. He was arrested and fined $150 and temporary
suspension of driving privileges in the state for driving
under the influence of alcohol [1]
(http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/bushdui1.html).
News of the arrest was released five days before the 2000
presidential election by the Kennebunkport police department.
Bush married Laura
Welch in 1977.
They have twin daughters, Barbara
and Jenna Bush, born in 1981.
In 1986,
at age 40, he became a born-again
Christian, leaving the Episcopal
Church and joining his wife's denomination, the United
Methodist Church.
Bush has described his
days before his religious conversion as his "nomadic" period and
"irresponsible youth." Bush admitted to drinking "too much" in those
years. He gave up drinking for good shortly after his 40th birthday
celebration. A number of reasons were cited for the change including
a 1985
meeting with Rev. Billy
Graham. CNN
reported during the 2000 campaign that Bush said "I quit drinking in
1986 and haven't had a drop since then." [2]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bushtext072599.htm)
[3]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072599.htm)
[4]
(http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/02/bush.dui/)
Bush has addressed the
issue of his alleged cocaine abuse on several occasions. The 2000
campaign initially refused to answer on principle, but later Bush
told the press that, as a condition of Federal employment, he had
signed a form averring he had not taken drugs in the previous seven
years. When asked if he could have signed it when his father was
president, he paused to think, and then answered that he could have.
But Bush refused to answer if he had ever taken cocaine.
Bush is sometimes
referred to as Dubya (which is a Southern dialect variant of
"Double
U"), a play on his middle initial "W." His Secret
Service codename
is Trailblazer or Tumbler.
In 1978,
Bush ran for the U.S.
House of Representatives but lost to State
Sen. Kent
Hance, a Democrat.
George
W. Bush's portrait as Governor
of Texas (1995-2000).
Bush
listens as Democratic opponent Al
Gore states a point during a debate.
Al Gore
greets President-Elect Bush at the White House in late December of
2000.
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Bush began his career
in the oil
industry in 1979
when he established Arbusto
Energy, an oil and gas exploration company he formed in 1977
with leftover funds from his education trust fund and money from
other investors. Some of this funding came from the bin
Laden family, which in 1994
publicly distanced itself from its kinsman Osama
bin Laden. The 1979
energy crisis hurt Arbusto and, after a name change to Bush
Exploration Co., Bush sold the company in 1984
to Spectrum
7, another Texas oil and gas exploration firm. Under the terms of
the sale, Bush became CEO of Spectrum 7. The oil crisis of 1985-1986
bankrupted Spectrum 7. Spectrum 7 was subsequently saved by a buyout
from Harken
Energy Corp. in 1986
with Bush becoming a director of Harken.
After working on his
father's successful 1988
presidential campaign, he was told by friend William
DeWitt, Jr. that then-owner Eddie
Chiles, another of the Bushes' many friends, wanted to sell the
Texas
Rangers, an Arlington-based
Major
League Baseball franchise. In April 1989,
Bush assembled a group of investors from his father's close friends,
who bought 86% of the Rangers for $75 million. (Bush later appointed
one of these partners, Tom
Schieffer to the post of Ambassador to Australia.)
Critics expressed concern about the propriety of the purchase,
charging use of political influence and favoritism involving a family
friend. [5]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bushside073199.htm)
Bush invested $606,302, with $500,000 of it a loan from a bank. Bush
paid off the loan by selling $848,000 worth of stock in Harken
Energy Corp. in 1990, sparking allegations of insider
trading.
In the book House
of Bush, House of Saud by Craig
Unger on page 123, Harken Energy at the time of Bush's sale "was
expected to run out of money in just three days." In a last-ditch
attempt to save the company, Harken was advised by the endowment fund
of Harvard University to spin-off two of its lower-performing
divisions. "According to a Harken memo, if the plan did not go
through, the company had 'no other source of immediate financing.'"
Bush had already taken out a $500,000 loan and sought Harken's
general counsel for advice. The reply was explicit: "The act of
trading, particularly if close in time to the receipt of the inside
information, is strong evidence that the insider's investment
decision was based on the inside information...The insider should be
advised not to sell." This memo was turned over by Bush's attorney
the day after the SEC ruled that it would not charge Bush with
insider trading. On June 22, Bush sold his 212,140 shares of stock
anyway for a net profit of $848,560. The very next quarter, Harken
announced losses of $23 million, which continued to the end of the
year when the stock "plummeted from $4 to $1.25."
The subsequent
SEC
investigation ended in 1992 with a memo stating "it appears that Bush
did not engage in illegal insider trading," but noted that the memo
"must in no way be construed as indicating that the party has been
exonerated or that no action may ultimately result." [6]
(http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/07/03/bush.stock/)
Critics allege that this decision was strongly influenced by the
makeup of the SEC at the time, which heavily favored Bush. The
chairman at the time was Richard
Breeden, a good friend of the Bush family's who had been
nominated to the SEC
by President George
H. W. Bush and a lawyer in James
Baker's firm, Baker
Botts. The SEC's
general counsel at the time was James
Doty, who had represented George W. Bush when he sought to buy
into the Texas Rangers (although Doty recused himself from the
investigation.) Bush's own lawyer was Robert
Jordan, who had been "partners with both Doty and Breeden at
Baker Botts and who later became George W. Bush's ambassador to
Saudi
Arabia." Finally, Bruce
Hiler, the associate director of the SEC's enforcement division,
who wrote a letter to Bush's attorney saying the investigation was
being terminated, now represents former Enron president Jeff Skilling
in matters before the government. [7]
(http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20020722&s=leopold20020718)
As President, Bush has
refused to authorize the SEC to release its full report on the
investigation. Bush personally earned US$14.9 million from his
$606,302 investment in the 1998
sale of the team for $250 million at a total profit of US$170
million. [8]
(http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/vol17/issue19/pols.bush.html)
He served as managing
general partner of the Rangers until he was elected Governor
of Texas on November
8, 1994
over incumbent
Democrat Ann
Richards. He went on to become, in 1998, the first Texas governor
to be elected for two consecutive four-year terms. His tenure in
office featured a positive reputation for bipartisan leadership.
Among issues attracting national and international attention during
his terms was Texas' use of the death
penalty. He signed the death warrants of 152 criminals, including
that of Karla
Faye Tucker.
In 1996,
Bush was summoned to jury
duty in a Travis
County, Texas drunk driving case. His counsel, Alberto
R. Gonzales, successfully argued that, as governor, Bush might
one day be called to pardon the defendant, and that this should
excuse him from sitting on the jury. When Bush's 1976 drunk driving
conviction was made public during the 2000 presidential campaign, it
was also revealed that Bush had left blank the question on the juror
questionnaire regarding previous convictions. After learning of the
1976 conviction, the prosecutor of the 1996 case, a Democrat, said
that he felt "deceived" by the arguments of Bush and Gonzales
[9]
(http://dir.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/11/05/jury_duty/index.html).
In Bush's
2000 presidential election campaign, he declared himself to be a
"compassionate conservative". He campaigned on, among other issues,
allowing religious
charities
to compete on an equal basis for participation in federally funded
programs, reducing
taxes, promoting the use of education
vouchers, supporting oil drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge, maintaining a balanced federal budget,
and restructuring of the armed
forces. In foreign policy, he stated that he was against using
the U.S. armed forces in "nation
building" attempts abroad.
Bush became President
on January
20, 2001
as the winner of one of the closest general elections in U.S.
history, defeating Democratic
Vice
President Al
Gore in 30 of 50 states for a narrow victory by five electoral
votes (Bush-271, Gore-266). Gore won a plurality of the
nationwide popular vote by approximately 540,000 votes out of 105
million, a margin of barely one-half of one percent. It was the first
presidential election since the 1888
election in which a candidate lost the popular vote while winning
the Electoral College vote. The Electoral College outcome could have
been altered by a difference of only a few hundred (537/2)
popular votes in Florida.
The Florida vote, which
favored Bush by a tiny margin in the initial count, was heavily
contested after concerns were raised about flaws and irregularities
in the voting process, and became the subject of a series of
contentious court cases. After a Supreme
Court decision in mid-December favoring Bush, Gore conceded the
election. The election results are still disputed by many, though no
longer contested in any legal venue. Bush won Florida's 25 electoral
votes by a mere 537 votes. See U.S.
presidential election, 2000.
In the 2004 election,
Bush won a second term with a margin of 3.5 million popular votes
over John
Kerry. Bush was the first presidential candidate since his father
in 1988
to win a majority of the popular vote, but his margin over Kerry of
about 3 percent was the smallest victory margin for a sitting
President since Woodrow
Wilson in 1916.
As in the 2000 election, there were charges raised about inaccurate
counting of votes and other irregularities, although in 2004 they did
not lead to recounts that could affect the result. See 2004
U.S. Election controversies and irregularities. George W. Bush is
now the only President to survive a bid for reelection after losing
the popular vote in his first election. The other three, John
Quincy Adams, Rutherford
B. Hayes and Benjamin
Harrison, were each defeated in their bid for a second term.
Main article: Foreign
policy of the George W. Bush administration
George
W. Bush flanked by wife Laura Bush, Marta Sahagún Fox, and
Mexican President Vicente
Fox
Bush
reading The Pet Goat on the morning of September 11, 2001
During his first
presidential visit to Europe in June 2001, Bush came under harsh
criticism from European leaders for his rejection of the Kyoto
Protocol, which is aimed at reducing carbon
dioxide emissions that may contribute to global
warming. The treaty, however, had already been rejected by the
United
States Senate on the grounds that it would exempt polluting
nations classified as "developing," such as China.
In November 2004, Russia
ratified the treaty, giving it the required minimum of nations to put
it into force. This leaves USA, with the largest emissions in the
world, in a politically uncomfortable position.
Bush imposition of a
tariff
on imported steel and on Canadian soft lumber was controversial
in light of his pursuit of other free market policies, and attracted
criticism both from his fellow conservatives and from nations
affected. The steel tariff was later rescinded under pressure from
the World
Trade Organization.
During his campaign,
Bush's foreign policy platform included support of a stronger
economic and political relationship with Latin America, especially
Mexico, and a reduction in involvement in "nation-building" and other
small-scale military engagements. However, after the September
11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, the administration focused much more
on foreign policy in the Middle
East.
Shortly after the
attacks, a war was launched against Afghanistan
to topple the Taliban,
which harbored Osama
bin Laden. This action had fairly strong international support,
and the Taliban government folded quickly after the invasion.
However, subsequent nation-building efforts in concert with the
United
Nations under Hamid
Karzai have proved troublesome, and bin Laden was never
apprehended nor believed to have been killed. A large contingent of
troops and advisors remains through 2004. See U.S.
invasion of Afghanistan for details. Democratic
elections were held on October
9, 2004,
although marred by flawed registration and validation and threatened
withdrawal of 15 of 18 presidential candidates. International
observers called the elections "fairly democratic" at the "overall
majority" of polling centers. The election was won by Hamid
Karzai with 55.4% of the votes. [10]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3977677.stm)
On December
14, 2001,
Bush scrapped the 1972
Anti-Ballistic
Missile Treaty, which had been a bedrock of U.S.-Soviet
nuclear stability during the Cold
War, arguing it was no longer relevant. Instead, Bush focused
resources on a ballistic missile defense system. The proposed system
has been the subject of much scientific
criticism. Field tests have been mixed, with both some successes
and failures. It is scheduled to start deployment in 2005.
A ballistic missile defense system will not stop cruise missiles, or
missiles transported by boat or land vehicle. Hence, many critics of
the system believe it is an expensive mistake, built for the least
likely attack, a nuclear tipped ballistic missile. Bush has also
increased spending on military research and development and the
modernization of weapons systems, but cancelled programs such as the
Crusader
self-propelled artillery system. The administration also began
initial research into bunker-busting nuclear missiles.
Beginning in 2002
and escalating in spring 2003,
Bush pressed the UN to act on its disarmament mandates to Iraq,
precipitating a diplomatic
crisis. He began by pushing for UN weapons inspections in Iraq,
which he received with passage of the UN
Security Council Resolution 1441, which allowed inspectors lead
by Hans
Blix and Mohamed
ElBaradei to investigate Bush's allegations. Increasing pressure
from the United States in the spring of 2003 forced the UN weapons
inspectors to leave the country, unable to verify the existence of
WMD (weapons
of mass destruction). The Bush administration examined the
possibility of a new resolution from the Security
Council, but when it became clear that the majority of the
members (including most of the permanent members with vetoing power)
would vote against such a resolution the matter was never taken to a
vote (cf. The
UN Security Council and the Iraq war). The United States managed
to gather a group of countries to support a war, a total of about
forty. They have been called "coalition
of the willing" and while most of them are small there were some
notable exceptions such as the United
Kingdom, Japan,
Spain,
and Poland.
Spain has since pulled out of the war; Poland has announced that it
will withdraw troops in 2005.
The United States
invaded Iraq in March, citing the old resolution and the lack of Iraq
cooperation. The original stated goal of the war was to stop Iraq
from deploying and developing WMD and to topple the dictator
Saddam
Hussein. The war proved extremely divisive, without any clear
resolution and some of the U.S.'s long-term allies such as France
and Germany
strongly opposed to it. In many countries there have also been
civilian
opposition and antiwar protests, on a scale not seen since the
Vietnam
War. The war was called illegal by the Secretary
General of the United Nations Kofi
Annan.
While the Iraqi armed
forces fell apart within a few days the problems in Iraq have since
escalated. The difficulties in the occupation and implementation of a
democracy, the failure to find Saddam's alleged weapons, and claims
about information having been allegedly spun or distorted to support
the war have all been used to challenge the Bush administration both
domestically and from abroad. These claims have been corroborated by
investigations and reports by the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence. Nevertheless, Bush states that
he still believes it was the right decision, because a demonstrably
brutal tyrant has been overthrown and can no longer threaten the
world. See 2003
invasion of Iraq for full coverage.
In July of 2002,
Bush cut off all funding to the United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Bush claimed that the UNFPA
supported forced abortions
and sterilizations
in China.
Bush's foreign policy
is influenced by the neo-conservative
think
tank Project
for the New American Century, many of whose members have
prominent positions in the Bush administration. Many argue that the
administration is far more inspired by the Heritage
Foundation, and to a lesser degree the Cato
Institute, although these organizations lack representation in
the administration.
Main article: Domestic
policy of the George W. Bush administration
George
W. Bush raises his arm to greet an audience of firefighters on
November 4, 2003, as California Governor-Elect Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Gov. Gray
Davis listen.
George
W. Bush speaks at a campaign rally in St. Petersburg, Florida,
October 19, 2004
President Bush has
endorsed an amendment
to the United
States Constitution that defines marriage as being between a man
and a woman, which would ban same-sex
marriage, but leaves open the possibility of civil
unions. Bush has tended to be opposed to forms of affirmative
action, but expressed appreciation for the Supreme Court's ruling
upholding selecting college applicants for purposes of diversity.
Although President Bush did meet with the National
Urban League, he is the first sitting President not to meet with
the NAACP
since Herbert
Hoover.
President Bush has
implemented three tax
cuts during his term in office that eliminated the "marriage
penalty" and the "death tax" and reduced marginal tax rates. These
cuts were enacted by Congress with large bipartisan majorities, but
were later criticized as regressive give-aways. Bush advocates the
partial privatization of Social
Security wherein an individual would be free to invest a portion
of his Social Security taxes in personal retirement accounts. This
initiative has not yet been considered by Congress.
Bush signed the
Medicare
Act of 2003, which added prescription drug coverage to Medicare,
subsidized companies that sell these drugs, and prohibited the
Federal government from negotiating discounts with drug companies.
Of the US$2.4 trillion
budgeted for 2005,
about US$401 billion [11]
(http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2004/nr20040202-0301.html)
are planned to be spent on defense. This level is generally
comparable to the defense spending during the cold war. [12]
(http://www.d-n-i.net/charts_data/evolution_of_the_fy_2003_budget.htm)
In January of 2003,
Bush signed the No
Child Left Behind Act, which targets supporting early learning,
measures student performance, gives options over failing schools, and
ensures more resources for schools. Critics (including Senator Kerry
and the National
Education Association) say schools were not given the resources
to help meet new standards despite a 50% increase in federal
education spending. Some state governments are refusing to implement
provisions of the act as long as they are not adequately funded.
[13]
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52720-2004Feb18.html)
Scientists have
repeatedly criticized the Bush administration for reducing funding
for scientific research, setting restrictions on federal funding of
stem
cell research, ignoring scientific consensus on global
warming, and hampering cooperation with foreign scientists by
enforcing deterring immigration and visa restrictions. In February
2004, over
5,000 scientists (including 48 Nobel Prize winners) from the
Union
of Concerned Scientists signed a statment "opposing the Bush
administration's use of scientific advice." They felt that "the Bush
administration has ignored unbiased scientific advice in the
policy-making that is so important for our collective welfare."
[14]
(http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/page.cfm?pageID=1320)
[15]
(http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=5476374)[16]
(http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5722898/)
On January
14, 2004,
Bush announced a "space
vision" (http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/01/14/bush.space/index.html),
calling for a return to the Moon
by 2020,
the completion of the International
Space Station by 2010
and eventually sending astronauts
to Mars.
However, the plan faces funding problems, and Bush has not mentioned
the initiative since his speech. [17]
(http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/8572141.htm?1c).
Bush's environmental
record has been largely criticized by environmentalists, who charge
that his policies cater to industry demands to weaken environmental
protections. He did sign the Great Lakes Legacy Act of 2002
authorizing the Federal government to begin cleaning up pollution and
contaminated sediment in the Great Lakes. He signed the Brownfields
Legislation in 2002, accelerating the cleanup of abandoned industrial
sites, or brownfields, to better protect public health, create jobs,
and revitalize communities. In December 2003, President Bush signed
legislation implementing key provisions of his Healthy Forests
Initiative.
Bush's cabinet
possesses the largest number of minorities
of any U.S. federal cabinet to date, including the first two
Asian-American
federal cabinet secretaries. It is also, according to the Guinness
Book of Records, the wealthiest cabinet ever.
Only one non-Republican
is present 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.
His cabinet includes
figures prominent in past Republican administrations, notably
Colin
Powell, who had served as United
States National Security Advisor under Ronald
Reagan and Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George
H. W. Bush, and Secretary
of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld, who had served in the same position under Gerald
Ford.
Following his victory
in the 2004
Presidential election, Bush has begun the process of allowing
Cabinet members who do not wish to serve in his second term to
resign; the first round began on November
9, with the resignations of Attorney
General John
Ashcroft and Secretary
of Commerce Donald
Evans. Ashcroft said that he would remain in office until his
successor was appointed and confirmed. On November
10, Bush announced the nomination of Alberto
R. Gonzales as Attorney General.
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Among the more
criticized appointments have been John
Negroponte, Elliott
Abrams, Otto Reich, and John
Poindexter for their roles in the Iran-Contra
Affair and for allegedly covering up human rights abuses in
Central
and South
America. Additionally, some appointments have been accused of
being nepotism,
including: Michael Powell (son of Secretary of State Colin Powell) as
FCC Chairman, 28-year-old J.
Strom Thurmond Jr (Sen. Strom
Thurmond's son) as South Carolina's U.S. Attorney, Eugene
Scalia (Supreme Court Justice Antonin
Scalia's son) as Solicitor for the Labor Department, Janet
Rehnquist (U.S. Chief Justice William
Rehnquist's daughter) as Inspector General of the Department of
Health and Human Services (later fired for firearms charges and
inappropriate job terminations), and Elizabeth
Cheney (Vice Pres. Dick Cheney's daughter) to the newly-created
position Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near-East Affairs.
Partial list:
In the time of national
crisis following the September
11, 2001 attacks, Bush briefly enjoyed approval ratings of
greater than 85 percent. Bush maintained these extraordinary ratings
(the highest approval ratings of any president since such regular
polls began in 1938)
for some months following the attack, though they gradually dropped
to lower levels.
During the 2002
midterm congressional elections, Bush had the highest approval rating
of any president during a mid-term election since Dwight
Eisenhower, and subsequently the Republican Party retook control
of the Senate
and added to their majority in the House
of Representatives. These results marked an unusual deviation
from the historic trend of the President's party losing congressional
seats in the midterm elections, and was just the third time since the
Civil
War that the party in control of the White House gained seats in
both houses of Congress in a midterm election (others were 1902
and 1934).
One explanation for this historic event is that Bush's wartime
popularity carried over to other Republicans in races for legislative
office. Another is that the singularly close election of Bush in
2000
complicates expectations based on general historic trends.
In 2003,
Bush's approval ratings continued their slow descent from the
2001
highs, with 13 major polls agreeing on a
remarkably stable and consistent 1.7% per month decline (http://www.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Approval.htm)
for his entire presidency with the exceptions of only three
significant increases: immediately after 9/11, during the Iraq War,
and the capture of Saddam Hussein. By late 2003,
his approval numbers were in the low to middle 50s. Nevertheless, his
numbers were still solid for the third year of a Presidency, when the
President's opponents typically begin their campaigns in earnest.
Most polls tied the decline to growing concern over the U.S.-led
occupation of Iraq and the economy's slow recovery from the
2001
recession. Late during the Democratic primary, most major polls
showed Bush losing to the various Democratic challengers by a narrow
margin. Polls of May 2004
showed anywhere from a 53 percent approval rating [19]
(http://www.rasmussenreports.com/Bush_Job_Approval.htm)
to a 46 percent approval rating. [20]
(http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/polls/usatodaypolls.htm)
Composite time-series graphs of Bush's approval ratings from
January
2001 to
May
2004 are
available at [21]
(http://www.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Approval.htm)
[22]
(http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/files/pollkatzmainGRAPHICS_8911_image001.gif),
an analysis of G. W. Bush's popularity over time is available at
[23]
(http://www.polisci.wisc.edu/~behavior/perspective(Oct2003).pdf).
George W. Bush has been
the subject of both high praise and stringent criticism, and has been
called by some the "love him or hate him" president. The former have
focused on matters such as the economy,
homeland security, and especially his leadership after the September
11 attacks; the latter on matters such as the economy, the controversial
2000 election, and the occupation
of Iraq.
President
Bush and French President Jacques
Chirac during the G-8 sessions, July 21, 2001.
Bush's popularity
outside the United States is generally lower. In many parts of the
world he is very unpopular, with many reporting a dislike of his
personality and foreign policy. The 2003
Invasion of Iraq particularly provoked charges of unilateralism.
Recent polls indicate erosion of support among Europeans for Bush,
for example a drop from 36% to 16% favorability over the last year in
Germany.[24]
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3081254.stm)
A broader Associated Press/Ipsos survey of industrialized nations
found that a majority of people in France,
Italy,
Germany,
Mexico,
Spain—in
addition to Canada
and the UK,
where Anglo-American
cooperation traditionally reigns—have an unfavorable view of
Bush and his policy on foreign affairs, although significant
minorities continue to report favorable views. [25]
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/04/world/main604135.shtml)
In Muslim countries Bush's unfavorability ratings are particularly
high, often over 90%. [26]
(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/opinion/02wright.html)
Among the non-U.S. nations polled in a worldwide study, Bush's
popularity was highest in Israel,
where 62% reported favorable views. [27]
(http://www.cbc.ca/news/america/poll.html)
A July and August 2004
survey by the University
of Maryland and GlobeScan,
Inc. of 34,330 people in 35 nations found that, in 30 out of 35
countries polled, a majority or plurality would have preferred to see
Democratic presidential candidate John
Kerry win in the 2004 election. Kerry was strongly preferred by
traditional European allies like Norway
(74% for Kerry to 7% for Bush), Germany
(74% to 10%), France
(64% to 5%), the Netherlands
(63% to 6%), Italy
(58% to 14%), Spain
(45% to 7%), and the United
Kingdom (47% to 16%). Also other allies such as Japan
(43% to 23%), Mexico
(38% to 18%), Turkey
(40% to 25%) and South
Africa (43% to 29%). The only countries where President Bush was
preferred by a majority were the Philippines,
Nigeria,
and Poland.
India
and Thailand
were divided. [28]
(http://www.globescan.com/news_archives/GlobeScan-PIPA_Release.pdf)
An October [29]
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,5860,1327656,00.html)poll
by a range of major international newspapers show that in Australia,
Britain, Canada, France, Japan, Spain and South Korea a majority of
voters share a rejection of the Iraq invasion, contempt for the Bush
administration and a growing hostility to the U.S.; however, while
they all oppose the Bush government's politics, they do not express a
dislike of American people. Another poll found that Israel was the
only country surveyed in which a majority favored President Bush over
Senator Kerry, most likely a reflection of Israeli satisfaction with
Bush's anti-terror policies.
|
Wikiquote
has a collection of quotations by or about George
W. Bush. |
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Wikisource
has original works written by or about George
W. Bush. |
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See the
images for George
W. Bush on the Commons. |
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Bill Clinton |
2001— |
Incumbent |
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1995–2000 |
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2000, 2004 (won) |
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<![endif]>![[22]](http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/files/pollkatzmainGRAPHICS_8911_image001.gif){kind=link}