President Bush: Where He Went Wrong

Outline

Thesis: In the past five years, President Bush has proven himself to be an unsuitable and incapable president due to several problems concerning social and economic stability in the U.S., foreign affairs, and military issues

I. Introduction

II. Social and economic issues

A. Social problems

1. Faith-based initiative

2. Gay Marriage

3. Abortion

4. Underfunding of "No Child Left Behind Act"

B. Economic problems

1. Stock market declining

2. Overall inflation

3. Gasoline prices

4. Iraqi War funding

III. Foreign Affairs

A. How the world views the U.S. & President Bush

B. Bush disregarded the U.N. policy of Iraqi War

C. Temporary Worker Program

D. Darfur, Sudan Genocide

VI. The Iraqi War

A. 9/11 and the plans to fight terror

B. Osama Bin-laden and Afghanistan

C. Troops invade Iraq

D. The cost of war

1. Monetary costs

2. Soldiers

V. Conclusion

Since the beginning of America, all presidencies and elections have been surrounded by some controversy. However, the 2000 election of our current president, George W. Bush inflated the discord of such an influential event to a whole new level. Even from the beginning, Bush was not favored by the majority of the American public. Though Bush's political opponent, Al Gore, conceded the election after a lengthy thirty-six day legal battle, Gore departed the campaign with the higher amount of popular votes; 539, 897 more to be exact. President Bush won the election by a mere five electoral votes (The United States Election of 2000). Since then, the public opinion of Bush has steadily decreased. In the past five years, President Bush has proven himself to be an unsuitable and incapable president due to several problems concerning social and economic stability in the U.S., foreign affairs, and military issues.

On the home front, the presidency of George W. Bush has caused numerous social and economic problems. While the controversies over abortion and same-sex marriages aren't fresh, Bush uses "faith-based initiative" to justify his presidential actions. However, our constitution makes clear the right of the people to choose and practice their own religion without government interference. The Bush Administration made clear their support of the Christian religion above other religions by disbursing over $1.1 billion to Christian groups for community service purposes. However, no regulations were set on how the groups could spend the money. Furthermore, no Jewish or Muslim groups received funds (Kitty 615).

When the controversy arose over same-sex marriages, Bush, once again, used his faith in an attempt to amend to constitution. He supported the Defense of Marriage

Act, which would prevent federal recognition of same-sex marriage and allow states to

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ignore same-sex licenses from outside their borders. President Bush said that "the union of a man and woman...is encouraged by every religious faith." Bush's comments on gay marriage were condemned by Democratic Party leader as a way to write discrimination into the Constitution. "It is wrong... and shameful to use attacks against gay and lesbian families as an election strategy," said Democratic National Committee Chairman, Terry McAuliffe (Ban on Same-sex marriages).

Bush also used his personal beliefs in an attempt to make abortion illegal. This is also in conflict of separation of church and state. Bush, being extremely pro-life, made third-trimester and partial-birth abortions illegal in November 2003. Bush's view on abortion not only affects Americans. He decided to block U.S. funds to international family planning groups that offer abortion and abortion counseling (Gordon, J.). The administration has also denied $34 million annually for the U.N. Population Fund. The fund provides birth control, maternal and child health care, and HIV/AIDS prevention services for women in some of the world's most impoverished regions. It did not provide money for abortion. It is estimated that this funding could have prevented 2 million unwanted pregnancies, 800,000 induced abortions and 4,700 maternal deaths, as well as 77,000 infant and child deaths each year (Lenfestey).

On an even more important issue, education, Bush has failed to make progress. After his election he signed the No Child Left Behind Act on January 8th of 2002. Since then, then bill has been horribly underfunded. Congressional Republicans have refused to fund No Child Left Behind at the levels they originally agreed to, preventing teachers and

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schools to fully realize the goals established in this law. To date, nearly $27 billion has been withheld from America's public education system, and West Virginia alone did not get $66 million in public school funding last year promised by Congress and the President (Broken Promises). In fact, every single state in America has had promised funds withheld.

During the Clinton Administration, the U.S. enjoyed economic stability. Unemployment decreased steadily, and when Clinton left office the U.S. has a budget surplus of $200 billion (Bill Clinton). Thanks to Bush and the Iraqi War the U.S. is now in debt eight trillion dollars (Hall). In addition, the stock market is declining daily. Enron, an energy company backed by Republicans, suffered the largest bankruptcy in American history. Thousands of workers lost their 401(k) savings due to this collapse (The End of Enron).

Inflation is also a major problem affecting America since the beginning of the Bush Administration. This isn't directly because of any act passed by President Bush. This is