Presidency of George W. Bush

George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office after defeating the Democratic incumbent vice president Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2004 presidential election, he narrowly defeated Democratic nominee John Kerry, to win re-election. Alongside Bush's presidency, the Republican Party also held their majorities in the House of Representatives under Speaker Dennis Hastert and the Senate under Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist during the 108th and 109th U.S. Congress. Bush was constitutionally limited to two terms and was succeeded by Democrat Barack Obama, who won the 2008 presidential election. He is the eldest son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush.

A decisive event reshaping Bush's administration were the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In its aftermath, Congress created the Department of Homeland Security and Bush declared a global war on terrorism. He ordered an invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to overthrow the Taliban, destroy al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. He also signed the controversial Patriot Act in order to authorize surveillance of suspected terrorists. In 2003, Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq, alleging that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. Intense criticism came when neither WMD stockpiles nor evidence of an operational relationship with al-Qaeda were found. Before 9/11, Bush had pushed through a $1.3 trillion tax cut program and the No Child Left Behind Act, a major education bill. He also pushed for socially conservative efforts, such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and faith-based welfare initiatives. Also in 2003, he signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, which created Medicare Part D.

In economic terms, Bush's legacy is mixed, with GDP growth running at 2.3% annualised from the start of 2001 to the third quarter of 2008. This was 1.4% below the rate under Bill Clinton, and notably weaker than the 3.3% average since 1953. The average hourly wage for households only grew by 1.1% adjusted for inflation compared to 6.7% under Clinton. From January 2001 to October 2008, 4,414,000 jobs were created. However, productivity posted the best average annual growth since Lyndon B. Johnson's tenure and corporate profits grew 9.4% in current dollars, the best advance since Reagan.^[1]

During his second term, Bush reached multiple free trade agreements and successfully nominated John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. He sought major changes to Social Security and immigration laws, but both efforts failed. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq continued, and in 2007 he launched a surge of troops in Iraq. The Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina and the dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy came under attack, with a drop in his approval ratings. The 2008 financial crisis dominated his last days in office as policymakers looked to avert a major economic disaster, and he established the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to buy toxic assets from financial institutions.

At various points in his presidency, Bush was among both the most popular and unpopular presidents in U.S. history. He received the highest recorded approval ratings in the wake of the September 11 attacks, but also one of the lowest such ratings during the Iraq War and the 2008 financial crisis. Although public sentiment of Bush has improved since he left office, scholars ranked his presidency as below-average.^[2]