George W. Bush

George Walker Bush (/Л?dК'Й"Йâ„-dК' Л?wЙ'kЙљ Л?bКЉКÑ"/ (helpÐ'*info); born July 6, 1946) is the forty-third and current President of the United States of America. He served as the forty-sixth Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 and is the eldest son of former American President George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Bush. He was inaugurated as President on January 20, 2001 and his current term is scheduled to end at noon EST (17:00 UTC) on Tuesday, January 20, 2009.[4]

After graduating from college, Bush worked in his family's oil businesses. He made an unsuccessful run for the United States House of Representatives in 1978. He co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards to become Governor of Texas in 1994. In a close and controversial election Bush, who lost the nationwide popular vote but won the electoral vote, was elected to the Presidency in 2000 as the Republican candidate.

Bush signed into law a $1.35 trillion tax cut program in 2001.[5] After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Bush ordered an invasion of Afghanistan and in October 2001 announced a global War on Terrorism in order to overthrow the Taliban, destroy Al-Qaeda, and to capture Osama bin Laden. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002. In March 2003, Bush and the Congress asserted Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction and ordered the invasion of Iraq.[6] Aboard the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, Bush gave the Mission Accomplished speech, proclaiming, "in the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."[7]

Bush ran for re-election against the Democratic Party's nominee, Senator John Kerry in 2004. Kerry debated Bush's handling of the Iraq War and domestic issues.[8] Bush was re-elected on November 2, 2004 garnering 50.7% of the