1. The 2000’s

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. Bush II Reversal of Clinton’s policies $1.3 Trillion tax cut
Economic recession
Globalization and Y2K
Rolled back environmental protection
2000 census and multiple identities
Immigration, borders and cheap labor

5. 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

6. Invasion of Iraq, ???
Bush administration tied 9/11 attacks, Bin Laden and Al Qaeda to Iraq and Saddam Hussein
Global terrorist threat and “Axis of Evil”
Remake the Middle East into pro-Western democracies favorable to the US
War dragged on…Where’s Bin Laden?
Several trillion dollars

7. Election of Barak Obama
Constitutional Lawyer, Harvard Law Review
Bi-racial
Moderate/liberal
Economic crisis
Health Care
National debt
Crippled GOP