Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Julian E. Zelizer is professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of Arsenal of Democracy, On Capitol Hill, and Taxing America. He is a frequent contributor to CNN.com, Politico, and the New York Times, among others.

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"An all-star cast of historians examines the perplexing presidency of George W. Bush--the 'compassionate conservative' who frequently ended up allied with the hard right, the 'uniter' who presided over one of the nation's most divisive political eras, the advocate of 'humility' on the world stage who fiercely championed unilateral presidential powers. After the journalists and pundits have had their say, the historians are here to put Bush's tumultuous tenure in historical perspective. An essential resource for anyone seeking to understand contemporary American politics."--Jacob S. Hacker, coauthor of Winner-Take-All Politics and Off Center

"With clarity and precision, some of America's most prominent historians of politics, law, and international relations examine the controversial presidency of George W. Bush. Their assessments of Bush's administration are sober, rigorous, and eye-opening. Together these essays will provide a foundation for the next generation of scholarship on early twenty-first-century America."--Thomas J. Sugrue, author of Not Even Past: Barack Obama and the Burden of Race

"George W. Bush once stated that 'we'll all be dead' by the time history casts its judgment on his presidency. Instead, in this engaging and timely portrait of the Bush era, eleven leading scholars assess the 'war on terror,' the resurrection of the imperial presidency, the effects of tax cuts and corporate deregulation, and other foreign and domestic policies promoted by big-government conservatism. While acknowledging the administration's political accomplishments, the contributors to this volume emphasize the ultimate failures of the Bush presidency and the conservative movement's strategies of governance."--Matthew D. Lassiter, University of Michigan

"Analytically shrewd and historically rich, this harvest of a book convenes a group of leading historians to assess the country's recent past. Ranging from tax cuts to terrorism, and encompassing questions of ideology, multiculturalism, and presidential capacity, the contributions to this volume establish the scope and agenda for future studies of George W. Bush's tumultuous presidency."--Ira Katznelson, Columbia University

"This impressive collection features brilliant essays by some of America's best historians on the presidency of George W. Bush. It's all here--from the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision that sealed Bush's first-term victory to the stunning financial crisis that closed his tenure in office. This stimulating and highly accessible volume is must reading for scholars, journalists, and concerned citizens."--Eric M. Patashnik, author of Reforms at Risk

"This is a superb collection of essays. I am impressed with the range of issues they cover and the lucidity with which each essay illuminates a particular topic. Their interleaved and overlapping evidence reminds a general reader of the layers of meaning embedded in every political decision taken by the Bush administration--and the sometimes unfortunate consequences. This is an important and timely book."--Alice Kessler-Harris, author of In Pursuit of Equity

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THE PRESIDENCY OF George W. Bush

Princeton University Press

Contents

List of Contributors........................................................................................................ixAcknowledgments.............................................................................................................xi1 Establishment Conservative: The Presidency of George W. Bush JULIAN E. ZELIZER...........................................12 How Conservatives Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Presidential Power JULIAN E. ZELIZER.................................153 A Sword and a Shield: The Uses of Law in the Bush Administration MARY L. DUDZIAK.........................................394 George W. Bush and the "War on Terror" TIMOTHY NAFTALI...................................................................595 Anatomy of an Unnecessary War: The Iraq Invasion FREDRIK LOGEVALL........................................................886 Transformative Economic Policies: Tax Cutting, Stimuli, and Bailouts JAMES T. PATTERSON..................................1147 Wreaking Havoc from Within: George W. Bush's Energy Policy in Historical Perspective MEG JACOBS..........................1398 Ideology and Interest on the Social Policy Home Front NELSON LICHTENSTEIN................................................1699 Creating Their Own Reality: The Bush Administration and Expertise in a Polarized Age DAVID GREENBERG.....................19910 Compassionate Conservatism: Religion in the Age of George W. Bush KEVIN M. KRUSE........................................22711 Minorities, Multiculturalism, and the Presidency of George W. Bush GARY GERSTLE.........................................25212 From Hubris to Despair: George W. Bush and the Conservative Movement MICHAEL KAZIN......................................282Notes.......................................................................................................................303Index.......................................................................................................................363

Chapter One

The Presidency of George W. Bush

Julian E. Zelizer

Following the tragic events of 9/11, when al Qaeda terrorists crashed three airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Americans turned their frightened eyes toward George W. Bush to see just what kind of president he would be.

Most people weren't sure what they would find. The new president was still hard to define. His campaign in 2000 had sent mixed signals on a variety of issues. Bush, the son of former president George H. W. Bush (1989-93), had run as a "compassionate conservative" who understood that in certain areas the federal government was necessary. He assured supporters he would use the power of the federal government to ameliorate problems such as inadequate primary education programs. "Big government is not the answer," Bush told Republicans at his acceptance speech at the Philadelphia convention. "But the alternative to bureaucracy is not indifference. It is to put conservative values and conservative ideas into the thick of the fight for justice and opportunity."

At the same time, Bush remained loyal to the Reagan Revolution by assuring voters he would pursue tax cuts, deregulation, and reduced spending. He was determined to avoid the fate of his father, who had accepted a tax increase in 1990, contradicting his famous campaign pledge, "Read my lips: no new taxes," and had thus alienated conservatives from his administration. On foreign policy, Bush criticized President Bill Clinton and his opponent, Vice President Al Gore Jr., for having deployed troops on international peacekeeping missions that were not vital to the national interest. Yet at the same time, Bush called for a tougher posture against rogue states such as Iraq and North Korea and supported increased funding for the Pentagon.

Further complicating Bush's presidency was the fact that he had been elected in an extraordinarily close and contested election. Problems with the ballots in Florida had resulted in a recount, court battles, and a controversial Supreme Court decision in December in Bush v. Gore that was needed to cement his victory. As a result, some Americans did not accept his presidency as legitimate, feeling that the election had literally been stolen from Gore. Many others who accepted the outcome of the judicial process, including some Republicans, remained skeptical that Bush had the skills and gravitas to succeed.

In his first few months in the White House, Bush did not fully reveal what his agenda would be. In some cases he appeared to be exactly the conservative that the right wing had hoped for. The president started his term with an executive order that weakened clean water standards. He then pushed a regressive tax cut through Congress by employing a highly partisan strategy. Pleasing the right wing of the GOP, Bush announced in August that he was sharply curtailing embryonic stem-cell research. But the administration was not entirely predictable. In his first year, Bush worked with Senate Democrats to enact the No Child Left Behind law, legislation that extended the role of the federal government in education. Bush also made a number of high-level cabinet appointments of African Americans and Latino Americans, moves that Gary Gerstle in chapter eleven demonstrates reflected a genuine commitment to pursue ethnic and racial diversity.

Nor was there a clear trajectory on foreign policy before 9/11. The administration had rejected multilateralism when it aggressively pushed to reinvigorate the missile shield program and withdrew from several international agreements. Bush talked tough against the Chinese government but walked away from a military confrontation after the Chinese captured a downed U.S. spy plane and the pilots on board.

While questions about Bush's core agenda lingered throughout his eight years in the White House, what did become clear, to the surprise of many of his opponents, was that the administration developed four relatively coherent objectives, some of which they arrived in Washington ready to pursue and others that evolved only after they had control of the White House and lived through the crisis of 9/11, in an effort to bring to fruition the battles conservatives had been waging since the 1940s.

The administration's first objective was to craft federal policies that facilitated the economic and demographic shift that had been taking place since the 1970s, with the transfer of economic and political power to the service-, high-tech-, and oil-based economic sectors of the Sun Belt. The shift in power had been occurring over several decades as the South and Southwest experienced sizable increases in population and surging economic growth. Southern states, boasting of their nonunionized workforces and low tax rates, had worked hard to entice businesses through tax incentives and direct economic subsidies. Workers moving to this region left behind stagnant economies in the Northeast and Midwest. Retirees moved to these low-tax states because air conditioning made living conditions more tolerable.

As Nelson Lichtenstein and Meg Jacobs show in their respective chapters, Bush's election had depended on the growing influence of these states, as they were populated by voters who formed the electoral base of the modern...