 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
This article is about the current and ongoing presidential campaign of George W. Bush, the incumbent President of the United States. See George W. Bush for a detailed biography and information about his current presidency, and George W. Bush presidential campaign, 2000 for a description of his first presidential campaign. See U.S. presidential election, 2004 for general information on the 2004 election.
George W. Bush's major opponent is Democratic Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, whose primary campaign was successful in securing the majority of Democratic delegate votes. For his presidential campaign, see John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004.
President Bush, facing no major challengers for the 2004 Republican presidential nomination, had an early advantage in fundraising, and raised over $130 million before early March 2004, when John Kerry emerged as the Democrats' presumptive nominee. Bush's fundraising totals were greater than all of the Democratic candidates during the Democratic primaries combined.
Bush's campaign lauched its first major set of television commercials on March 3, 2004. Although these four spots (three in English and one in Spanish) contained no reference to Senator Kerry, two (one in English and the one in Spanish, both titled, "Safer, Stronger") generated controversy for their inclusion of four seconds of images drawn from the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, including the wreckage of the World Trade Center site, images of New York firefighters (the New York firefighters' union supported Kerry), and the image of a flag-draped coffin being carried out of the attack site.
Some families of 9/11 victims accused the Bush campaign of being insensitive to the memory of those who died and of exploiting the tragedy for his personal political gain. Bush campaign advisor Karen Hughes defended the ads as "very tasteful" and noted that 9/11 was a defining event for Bush's presidency.
The main topic of this heated discussion is the use of actual images of the attack. The use of images from the attack, said Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, on Face the Nation, implies support from New York firefighters. Rendell claims that a New York firefighters union head supports Kerry for President. But although the International Association of Firefighters was the first union to support Kerry, the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York endorsed the President for re-election in August 2004.
Defenders of the Bush messages liken his messages to those of Franklin D. Roosevelt's re-election campaign, which used images of the December 7 attack by Japan on the United States and advised Americans to "Remember Pearl Harbor."
George Bush received endorsements from many Republicans, Democrat Senator Zell Miller of Georgia and former (12 year) mayor of New York City Ed Koch. The Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York, representing 20,000 active and retired firefighters, endorsed the President on August 31, 2004.
Bush's campaign has not officially announced a campaign slogan. However, Bush's campaign made several bus tours bearing de facto slogans. These include the "Yes, America Can" Bus Tour and the "Heart and Soul" Bus Tour , which used the slogan "Moving America Forward".
George W. Bush kept Dick Cheney as his running mate, but there was continuing speculation during the summer of 2004 that he might have been replaced; notably, former New York Senator Al D'Amato publicly stated that Bush should replace Cheney. Speculation about vice presidential possibilities (besides Cheney) included:
George W. Bush, as well as his Democrat opponent John F. Kerry, has refused, on 23 separate occasions, to respond to Project Vote Smart's National Political Awareness Test.
President Bush opposes abortion. In his words, "The promises of our Declaration of Independence are not just for the strong, the independent, or the healthy. They are for everyone -- including unborn children. We are a society with enough compassion and wealth and love to care for both mothers and their children, to see the promise and potential in every human life."
President Bush established the Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, which allows the federal government to fund community aid programs that are provided by a religious institution. He has proposed a youth mentoring program for disadvantaged students and children of prisoners.
Bush supports making the tax cuts passed during his first term permanent; he maintains that they made the recession shallower than it would have been.
President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires mandatory standardized testing, forces schools that do not meet standards to provide alternate options for students, and attempts to close the race and gender gap in schools. His FY 2005 budget proposes a 49% increase in elementary and secondary education compared to the FY 2001 budget.
President Bush's Clear Skies Act repeals or reduces air pollution controls, including environmental protections of the Clean Air Act. His FY 2005 budget provides $4.4 billion for conservation programs. He signed legislation pushing for the cleanup of abandoned industrial sites (also known as brownfields) and keeping forest fires at bay. He was under criticsm for rejecting the Kyoto Protocol which would commit the United States to reducing greenhouse gas emissions which are believed to cause global warming. The Bush administration has stated that this would cost the economy up to $400 billion.
After the September 11th terrorist attacks, President Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act and created the Department of Homeland Security. He also created the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) and the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC). Is currently promoting the idea of an independent "Czar of Intelligence" outside of the White House in response to the 9/11 Commission's findings.
Presient Bush submitted his National Security Strategy of the United States . The "three pillars" of this are to
The White House looks at five nations as successes in his foreign policy.
Supports continued American involvement in Afghanistan at the request of the government. Believes President Hamid Karzai that Afghanistan is making progress.
In a series of negotiations which involved Libya, Britain, and the United States, Libya turned over materials that are necessary to the production of nuclear weapons.
Supports continued American presence in Iraq at the request of the Iraq interim government. Promotes having democratic elections by January of 2005.
Pakistan's border with Afghanistan places that nation in a strategic location. Pakistan has cooperated with the United States since the September 11th attacks, arresting suspected terrorists and providing intelligence on terrorist plans and communications.
President Bush is putting pressure on the Saudi Royal Family to directly combat terrorism and to seize the assets of terrorists operating within their borders.
President Bush has a strong belief in "protecting the sanctity of marriage." He does not support gay marriage and has been pushing for an amendment banning same-sex marriage.
President Bush gave many promises during his acceptance speech to the 2004 Republican National Convention. At the end of his speech, he encouraged listeners to view his in order to learn more about his agenda if he wins his next presidential term. His speech promises include the following which his campaign is called "A Plan for A Safer World & More Hopeful America":
As a result of Bush's speech in NYC, the incumbent President was able to do something his opponent John Kerry was unable to do much of...get a significant bounce in the polls. The day after the convention was finished, the polls showed a double-digit lead over Kerry, although when the poll asked about the economy both candidates were still in a dead heat.
The foundation of President Bush's campaign for re-election is ideological conservatism. Members of the campaign team believe there are clear ideological differences between George W. Bush and John Kerry, and believe this contrasts with the 2000 Presidential election, in which both candidates attempted to portray themselves as "centrists". Critics have argued that the crux of Bush's campaign is the suggestion that John Kerry would be soft on terrorism in comparison to George Bush, and to present Bush as a "war President". They also claim that the Bush campaign is concerned mainly with personalities rather than tackling ideological issues.
Much of the opposition to the Bush campaign (and vis-a-vis support to the Kerry campaign) takes the form of "Anybody but Bush" - voters who would vote for anyone instead of George W. Bush.
|
||||
| View Live Article | This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License | |
||
