The George W. Bush Years

I. The 2000 ElectionA. Al Gore received more votes than Bush, but

Bush won in the electoral college granting him the victory.

B. Florida was especially close, Gore asked for a recount but the court denied his request.

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II.Returning to Conservative Policies?

A) Bush chose to spend the surplus, left by Clinton by giving millionaires a tax cut.

B) He also increased federal spending more than any president since Johnson.

C) He maintained the relationship between the republican party and evangelicals by promoting social values.

III. 9/11/2001

A) The terrorist group Al-Queda hijacked and flew two planes into the WTC and a third into the Pentagon.

IV. Response to 9/11A) Congress passed the Patriot Act which gave law

enforcement more power to investigate “suspected terrorist”.

B) Bush created the Department of Homeland Security which also established a new cabinet position.

C) The military launched an attack in Afghanistan to go after Al-Queda.

D) The nation was very united in supporting Bush’s policies following 9/11.

V. The War in AfghanistanA. President Bush demanded that the Taliban

government hand over Bin Laden or face attack.B. The Taliban refused so the US launched an

invasion.C. The Taliban regime was ousted and a new

democratic government was instituted. D. However the nation was not secure and the job

was not done.E. Despite this, the Bush administration took it’s

attention off of Afghanistan to focus and launched an unprovoked war against Iraq.

VI. Iraq WarA. The Bush administration believed that

Iraq had nuclear weapons and the US military could easily take out Hussein's Regime.

B. They extremely underestimated how challenging the task would be.

C. The media did a bad job of fact-checking what the government said and anybody who disagreed was called unpatriotic and faced political consequences.

D. After Hussein was taken from power the nation erupted in to a civil war.

E. It took several years along with a surge in troops before the violence decreased.

VII. 2004 electionA. Bush narrowly beat out Senator John Kerry to win a

second term.B. Kerry chose a little known state senator from Illinois,

Barack Obama to give the keynote address at the Democratic convention.

C. This speech made Obama very popular among democrats.

VIII. Hurricane Katrina

A) Struck the Gulf Coast with devastating force.

B) Poor handling of evacuation, recovery and aid caused many people to loose confidence in the Bush administration.

IX. 2006 Mid-TermsA) Americans were dissatisfied with Bush because the

economy was bad and the war in Iraq was dragging on.

B) Democrats took control of both houses of congress.

C) The Democrats chose Nancy Pelosi to be the first female Speaker of the house.