1. Baby Bush and Obama
2000 and on

2. The 2000 Election Most bitterly contested election in 100 years
Gore/Lieberman
Moderate populism
Shadow of Clinton
Bush/Cheney
“Compassionate Conservative”
Roughly ½ of eligible voters went to polls
Voting irregularities
Florida

3. The Aftermath…. Close election in Florida
Bush lead pop vote in FL, Gore wanted recount in 4 Democratic counties
Ballot irregularities, inaccurate registration, incomplete lists, old voting machines, butterfly ballots, hanging chads
Katherine Harris (R-Sec State & manager of Bush campaign in FL) refused recount, declared Bush winner
Florida Supreme Court approved recount
Bush appealed to U.S. Supreme Court
5-4 Court supported Bush and ruled against it
Gore won national popular vote
Bush won electoral college vote (Mainly because all ballots were not counted in FL, he kept the 27 electoral votes)

4. President George W. Bush (“Baby Bush”)
Reversal of Clinton’s policies
$1.3 Trillion tax cut
Economic recession
Globalization and Y2K
Rolled back environmental protection
Immigration, borders and cheap labor

5. US & Globalization
The very same capitalist system promoted by the US, exported globally, brought changes to the US
Immigration to US fueled by globalization and movement of capital, search for cheap labor
Global capital left the US, wages declined, cheap goods imported, produced by lower wage workers
Attack on unions, benefits, entitlements
“Wal-Mart economy”
Small population, massive resource use & pollution
2000 Mexico was second largest trading partner
Cultural intermixture vs. fear and reaction

6. September 11th, 2001 Attack on World Trade Center Nearly 3,000 dead
Islamic fundamentalists attacked symbol of economic and cultural imperialism OR economic freedom and opportunity…
Bush became a “War President”
Osama Bin Ladin

7. Invasion of Iraq, 2003
Bush administration tied 9/11 attacks, Bin Laden and Al Qaeda to Iraq and Saddam Hussein (no evidence to support it)
Global terrorist threat and “Axis of Evil”
Remake the Middle East into pro-Western democracies favorable to the US
“Mission Accomplished”
War dragged on but did not result in the capture of Bin Laden (not until 2011)
Cost the US several trillion dollars

8. The Act Improves Counter-Terrorism Efforts in Several Ways:
USA Patriot Act
“Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism”
The Act Improves Counter-Terrorism Efforts in Several Ways:
The Patriot Act allows investigators to use the tools that were already available to investigate organized crime and drug trafficking
Allows law enforcement to use surveillance against more crimes of terror.
Allows federal agents to follow sophisticated terrorists trained to evade detection.
Allows law enforcement to conduct investigations without tipping off terrorists.
Allows federal agents to ask a court for an order to obtain business records in national security terrorism cases.
2. The Patriot Act facilitated information sharing and cooperation among government agencies so that they can better "connect the dots."
3. The Patriot Act updated the law to reflect new technologies and new threats.
Allows law enforcement officials to obtain a search warrant anywhere a terrorist-related activity occurred.
Allows victims of computer hacking to request law enforcement assistance in monitoring the "trespassers" on their computers.
4. The Patriot Act increased the penalties for those who commit terrorist crimes.
Prohibits the harboring of terrorists.
Enhanced the inadequate maximum penalties for various crimes likely to be committed by terrorists
Enhanced a number of conspiracy penalties
Punishes terrorist attacks on mass transit systems.
Punishes bioterrorists
Eliminates the statutes of limitations for certain terrorism crimes and lengthens them for other terrorist crimes.

9. Hurricane Katrina and President Bush
August 29, hit the Gulf Coast region (Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana)
New Orleans was hit especially hard
Levees broke and the city was flooded
President Bush’s response was seem as inadequate.
Bush criticized for praising the director of FEMA (Director Brown) when FEMA was actually mishandling the emergency response
FEMA did not seem to know where the emergency shelters were located or how many people were in need.
Considered the biggest domestic failure of the Bush administration.

10. 2008- The Election of Barack Obama
Constitutional Lawyer, Harvard Law Review
First African American President
Moderate/liberal
Economic crisis
Health Care
National debt
Crippled GOP