George W. Bush is the current [2001]
PresidentOfTheUnitedStates, the 43rd. Formerly the Governor of the state of Texas.
Bush was born July 6, 1946, and grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He received a bachelor's degree from Yale University and 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. After working on his father's successful 1988 presidential campaign, he assembled the group of partners that purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989.
He served as managing general partner of the Texas Rangers until he was elected Governor on November 8, 1994. We went on to become the first Texas Governor to be elected to consecutive four-year terms.
Bush is married to Laura Welch Bush, a former teacher and librarian, and they have 18-year-old twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna.
Bush was the winner of a controversial election process which ended with a ruling by the USSupremeCourt?. Among his cabinet members/appointees are ColinPowell?, USSecretaryOfState?; SpencerAbraham?, USSecretaryOfEnergy?; GaleNorton?, USSecretaryOfInterior?; and TommyThompson?, USSecretaryOfHealthAndHumanServices?. His appointee for the important and controversial USAttorneyGeneral? post is JohnAshcroft?, and CondoleezaRice? is his USNationalSecurityAdvisor?.
[edited from whitehouse.gov]
Discussion:
My thinking is that on this topic we should try to refrain from
being political. Some people like him, others don't. The same
thing is of course true for BillClinton.
Election controversy: [Possibly to be moved elsewhere?]
The first president of the UnitedStates who has not been elected by the voters but by courts. It not political (I am german), but a fact : He did gather less votes than Al Gore.
- The US 2000 Presidential election was very controversial, but the statement above oversimplifies the controversy. The UnitedStatesConstitution explicitly describes the procedure for electing the president. The people do not elect a president directly, but instead elect people to the ElectoralCollege? (which selects the president). The ElectoralCollege? system was originally seen as a means to prevent the excesses of a pure DemocracY.
- The 2000 election was not the first time that the US popular vote was different than the result of the ElectoralCollege?. Since states give all of their electoral votes to the winner of the state election, small majorities in highly-populated states can beat larger majorities in less-populated states.
- The biggest election controversy was over the results from the state of FloridA?, which was determined by less than 1000 votes out of over 6,000,000 votes cast. The results were challenged, and a series of recounts, attempted recounts, and court cases began. In some of the important legal cases the local courts ruled against recounts, but were overruled by the Florida Supreme Court.
- The US Supreme Court avoided ruling on the legal issues at first, but finally issued a ruling that overruled the Florida Supreme Court and effectively prohibited further recounts in Florida. The final vote was 5-4, and was split by the apparent political alignment of the court. Many people have claimed that the court's move was more political than legal. (For instance, some who voted to overturn the Florida court have been strong advocates of "states rights" in other contexts.)
- Shortly after the Supreme Court's final ruling, Al Gore conceded the 2000 presidential election.
Controversy over issues:
Recently elected president of the United States who broke records for the number of prisoners put to death during his tenure as Govenor of Texas.
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