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George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current (2001-) President of the United States of America. Immediately prior to attaining the office, he was Governor of the State of Texas.

Bush was the winner of one of the closest elections in American history, defeating Democratic Vice President Albert Gore by only 5 electoral votes. See U.S. presidential election, 2000.

Among his cabinet appointees are: Colin Powell, US Secretary Of State; Spencer Abraham, US Secretary Of Energy; Gale Norton, US Secretary Of Interior; and Tommy Thompson, US Secretary Of Health And Human Services. His controversial appointee for the important US Attorney General post is John Ashcroft, and Condoleeza Rice is his US National Security Advisor.

Personal background and career

Bush was born in Connecticut, the son of George Bush, the eventual 41st President of the United States of America, and grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He received a Bachelor's degree from Yale University with an undistinguished academic record and membership in Delta Kappa Epsilon and the Skull and Bones Society, then a Master's of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. He served as an F-102 pilot for the Texas Air National Guard, before beginning his career in the oil and gas business in Midland in 1975, working in the energy industry until 1986. His forays into the industry were disastrous, losing millions of dollars in this late period in the industry, as oil prices collapsed. After working on his father's successful 1988 presidential campaign, he assembled the group of partners from his father's close friends that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989.

He served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers until he was elected Governor of Texas on November 8, 1994. He went on to become the first Texas governor to be elected to consecutive four-year terms. His tenure in office featured many achievements and, despite a reputation for bipartisan leadership, some controversy, even international controversy; for example, during Bush's tenure, Texas saw a sharp rise in capital punishment.

His career is remarkable for his rapid political ascent; for example, both the previous president, Bill Clinton, and Bush's opponent, Al Gore, had spent their entire adult lives in politics.

He is the first president with an MBA degree.

Bush is married to Laura Welch Bush, a former teacher and librarian, and they have twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna. Bush's brother Jeb is the governor of Florida. His father George Bush was the 41st president and his grandfather, Prescott Bush, served as senator from Connecticut. The Bush family has been intimately involved in American and global politics and business throughout this century.

He has deliberately distanced himself from his Connecticut roots, considering himself a Texan, embracing its culture and style. He had serious problems with alcohol for years after college, including a drunk driving arrest in Maine. He later forswore alcohol and became a born-again Christian. Bush shares his father's tendency for stumbling on words and thus making unintentionally humorous or nonsensical statements.

Criticism of Bush the candidate centered less around policy than on the stereotyping that he was, in a word, "dumb". This is based not only on his dissipated youth, his verbal gaffes, and his lack of interest in policy details he considers unimportant, but also on his embrace of Texan culture. See Internet humor/George W. Bush lexicon for an example of the association of Bush with Texan stereotypes, which may be viewed as positive or negative, depending on which side of the fence you prefer.

In both America and England, Bush is commonly referred to as "Dubya", in imitation of his pronunciation of the middle initial of his name. It is not clear how much mockery is intended in the typical invocation of this nickname.

Platform

Bush's original platform, before the 2001 recession, the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, and the 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan (though the platform has not changed significantly):

• Economy: The rich pay most taxes, and the current system weighs the income tax against the upper income brackets; Bush's proposed tax plan reduces the taxes on the top income brackets by a greater percentage than middle-income brackets. Bush also supported raising the Earned Income Tax Credit, which would primarily affect the lower brackets of income-tax-affected citizens. His slogan was, "Whoever pays taxes gets a tax break"

• Education: policy named No Child Left Behind, includes mandatory national testing and some support for school vouchers.

• Drilling in ANWR and other domestic fields to decrease dependence on oil imports, particularly from the Middle East.

• Redesign of military with emphasis on supermodern hardware, flexible tactics, speed, less international deployment, fewer troops. This includes developing a system to defend against ballistic missile attacks, despite strong objections both domestically and internationally.

The Environment

Bush has a systematic policy of reducing the federal government's environmental regulations, which Green campaigners and mainstream environmentalists see as necessary, but which others see as unnecessarily harming the proper development of the economy.

• Not signing the Kyoto Protocol, which would have mandated that American organizations reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.
• Not attending the 2002 Earth Summit, held in Johannesburg. (His father attended the conference in 1992 when it was held in Rio de Janeiro.)
• Proposing drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Foreign policy

Bush's most significant foreign policy platform before coming to office involved support of a stronger economic and political relationship with Latin America, in particular Mexico, and a reduction in involvement in "nation-building" and other small-scale military engagements, as well as some withdrawal from other international efforts, such as the Kyoto Protocol.

This all changed following the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack. His foreign (and domestic, to a lesser degree) policy is now defined, above all, by the "War on Terrorism". This policy is marked by a move away from U.N. led efforts toward active unilateralism.

Americans on the political left as well as citizens and leaders of a number of other countries, particularly in Western Europe, complain that Bush has tended to act without first consulting them. Key objections include rejecting the Kyoto Protocol, and threatening to invade countries such as Iraq with or without international support.

Legislation signed

Partial list:

• May 13, 2002: Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (aka H.R. 2646, 2001 Farm Bill)
• USA PATRIOT Act

See also:

• US Election 2000

External links

• 2002 State of the Union Address

• history of his political career - partisan
• bushnews.com - anti-Bush news site