1. The 2000s

2. President George W. Bush
The shift of southern white conservatives after the 1960s made the Republican Party more conservative; political polarization occurred.
2000 presidential election dispute
Bush v. Gore

3. 2001 tax cuts, 2003 tax cuts
War on Terrorism: September 11 led to invasion of Afghanistan with the goal of killing Osama bin laden and defeat Taliban.
Department of Homeland Security
PATRIOT Act
Bush Doctrine: Containment & deterrence did not work; pre-emptive attack

4. 2002 State of the Union: “axis of evil” = North Korea, Iraq, Iran
Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2003: claimed Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
In four weeks, US military occupied Baghdad and captured Hussein.
Torture revealed at Abu Ghraib, and Bush was criticized for going into Iraq without a plan to control the country
2007: “surge” of 30,000 troops to restore order

5. After 2004 re-election, Bush wanted Congress to privatize Social Security to provide amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
August, 2005: Hurricane Katrina: FEMA failed to anticipate the crisis and did not respond well to it.
Democrats won both houses of Congress in 2006.
Bush appointed John Roberts as Chief Justice and Samuel Alito

6. Great Recession of 2008: War on Terror, tax cuts, and an unstable housing market
Bush stimulus package and TARP: Troubled Assets Relief Program to give money to US banks and restore credit market; controversial in both parties.
Great Recession and unpopular war in Iraq led to election of Barrack Obama in 2008: Obama took eight states that had been won by Bush in 2004.

7. President Obama
Used TARP funds to bail out General Motors and Chrysler
Executive orders to ban torture and expand stem-cell research
First law signed: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: strengthened protection of equal pay for women.
Failed to keep campaign promise to close Guantanamo Bay

8. 2010, Obama Care
Tea Party and 2010 mid-term elections: focused on limited government and campaigns on gun rights, school prayer, and anti-immigration: Republicans gained control of House, creating gridlock
2012 Congress least-productive in history, passing only 61 bills
End of Iraq War in 2011: 4,500 Americans, 100,000 Iraqi deaths
2011, Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan

9. 2012: re-election: Obama had 71% of the Hispanic vote
Budget Brinksmanship: Congress unable to agree on taxes, so the “sequester” went into effect in 2013
Congress shut down government for 16 days in 2013 in a failed effort to defund Obamacare.
Congress’s approval rating dropped to 10%

10. Obama Doctrine: support negotiations over War (Iran) but in contrast to that, Obama has continued use of drones
Appointment to the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan (Merrick Garland)
Shelby Country v. Holder (2013): struck down provision that certain states with a history of voter discrimination obtain federal approval for new voter laws
2010: “Don’t ask, don’t tell” repealed
2013: Supreme Court ruled 1996 Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional & 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges legalized gay marriage.

11. 2012: US Supreme Court upheld Obamacare, and again in 2015.
Key issues for 2017: Middle East foreign policy, Immigration Reform, income equality, North Korea