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| Birth Name(s) : George W. Bush |
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Full George W. Bush Biography
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the forty-third and current President of the United States of America, originally inaugurated on January 20, 2001. Bush was first elected in the 2000 presidential election, and reelected for a second term in the 2004 presidential election. He previously served as the forty-sixth Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000, and is the eldest son of former United States President George Herbert Walker Bush.
Facing opposition in Congress, Bush held town hall-style public meetings across the U.S. in 2001 to increase public support for his plan for a $1.35 trillion tax cut program—one of the largest tax cuts in U.S. history. Bush and his economic advisers argued that unspent government funds should be returned to taxpayers. With reports of the threat of recession from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Bush argued that such a tax cut would stimulate the economy and create jobs. Others, including the Treasury Secretary at the time Paul O'Neill, were opposed to some of the tax cuts on the basis that they would contribute to budget deficits and undermine Social Security.
Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana on August 27, and in Mississippi and Alabama on August 28; he authorized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to manage the disaster, but his announcement failed to spur these agencies to action. The eye of the hurricane made landfall on August 29, and New Orleans started to flood due to levee breaches; later that day, Bush declared that a major disaster existed in Louisiana, officially authorizing FEMA to start using federal funds to help with the recovery effort. On August 30, Department of Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff declared it "an incident of national significance," triggering the first use of the newly created National Response Plan. However, Bush remained on an extended working vacation at his Texas ranch, rather than returning to the Capital. Three days later, on September 2, National Guard troops first entered the city of New Orleans. The same day, Bush toured parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and declared that the success of the recovery effort up to that point was "not enough."
Due to mounting criticism as the disaster in New Orleans intensified, Bush claimed full responsibility for the failures on the part of the federal government in its response to the hurricane. Criticisms of Bush focused on three main issues. First, leaders from both parties attacked the president for having appointed incompetent leaders to positions of power at FEMA, most notably Michael D. Brown, who worked for the Arabian Horse Association before commanding FEMA. Bush had praised the work of Brown just as weaknesses in the FEMA response were becoming obvious to the public. Second, many people argued that the inadequacy of the federal response was the result of the Iraq War and the demands it placed on the armed forces and the federal budget. Third, in the days immediately following the disaster, Bush denied having received warnings about the possibility of floodwaters breaching the levees protecting New Orleans. However, the presidential videoconference briefing of August 28 shows Max Mayfield warning the president that overflowing the levees was "obviously a very, very grave concern." Critics claimed that the president was misrepresenting his administration's role in what they saw as a flawed response.
In a September 20, 2001 speech, Bush condemned Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, and issued the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, where bin Laden was operating, an ultimatum to "hand over the terrorists, or … share in their fate." Bush announced a global War on Terrorism, and after the Afghan Taliban regime was not forthcoming with Osama bin Laden, he ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban regime.
Bush began his presidency with approval ratings near 50%; however, following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Bush gained an approval rating of greater than 85%, maintaining 80–90% approval for four months after the attacks. Since then, his approval ratings and approval of handling of domestic and foreign policy issues have steadily dropped. Bush has received heavy criticism for his handling of the Iraq War, his response to Hurricane Katrina, his mixed positions on LGBT rights, and to the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse, NSA warrantless surveillance, Scooter Libby and Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp controversies. Additionally, critics have decried his frequent use of signing statements, contending that they are unconstitutional. The decision of Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) the House Judiciary Chair to hold hearings on Bush’s use of “signing statements”, has been hailed by the president’s critics as a step towards impeachment.
Bush has been widely criticized internationally; he was targeted by the global anti-war and anti-globalization campaigns, and criticized for his foreign policy in general. Bush's policies were also the subject of heated criticism in the 2002 elections in Germany and the 2006 elections in Canada. Bush was openly condemned by current and former international leaders such as Gerhard Schröder, Jean Chrétien, Mohammad Khatami, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Romano Prodi, Paul Martin, and particularly Hugo Chávez. Later in Bush's presidency, tensions arose between himself and Vladimir Putin, which has led to a cooling of their relationship. |
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