4. “New Democrat” - shift away
from traditional Democratic Party
values
• Move people off welfare
• Grow private business
• Strong national defense
• Pro death penalty
• Push for a balanced budget
5. Clinton Domestic Policy
First priority: Health Care reform
In charge: Hillary Clinton
Goal: universal coverage
Problems:
• Doctors & insurance industry disagree
• Take too much time, fails to pass
6. Early Accomplishments:
• Family and Medical Leave Act (1993)
• Brady Handgun Bill (1994) 5-day waiting period
before purchasing a handgun
• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
• Minimum Wage increase
7. Welfare Reform
• Worked with Republicans in Congress.
• Required work for welfare recipients with school age
kids.
• Max of 5 years for benefits.
• Cut welfare rolls by 50% + internet boom tax revenues =
balanced budget
8. 1994 Republican Revolution
• First Republican control of Congress for since 1954
• Contract with America: “Era of big government is over.”
• Newt Gingrich, Speaker of House
11. 1993 World Trade Center Bombing
February 26, 1993: Al-Qaeda car bomb killed seven, injured 1042
Foreshadowed 9/11
12. Growth of Terrorism
April 19, 1995:
Oklahoma City Bombing
Anti-government militia
members Timothy McVeigh
and Terry Nichols kill 168 die,
wound 800+
"Think about the people as if they were storm
troopers in Star Wars. They may be individually
innocent, but they are guilty because they work
for the Evil Empire.”
- Timothy McVeigh on the deaths of bombing
13. Columbine High School massacre
April 20, 1999: Two students kill 12 students and a teacher,
injured 21, then committed suicide
More attention paid to bullying, teen isolation.
14. Monica Lewinsky Affair
Perjury? Impeachment!
• Clinton accused of
lying under oath
Congress impeaches
for perjury
• Not guilty, lied in
press statements but
never in federal
courts.
15. CNN Foreign Policy
Unsure of new role as sole superpower:
• Bosnia/Kosovo
• Somalia “Black Hawk Down”
• Rwanda
26. No Child Left Behind (2003)
"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?”
--Florence, South Carolina, Jan. 11, 2000
As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when
standards are high and results are measured."
- on NCLB, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2007
28. War in Afghanistan, 2001-present
Goal: Remove the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist party which
had been harboring Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda forces
responsible for the 9/11 attacks
29. War in Iraq, 2003-2011
Goal: Remove Saddam Hussein from
power; falsely suspected of having WMD
NO CONNECTION TO 9/11!
33. First Presidential Campaign
• Close primary campaign against Hilary Clinton
• Ran against Republican candidate John McCain
(R-AZ) and VP candidate Sarah Palin
• First bi-racial American president
34. Domestic Policy
• Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of
2009 relaxed the statute of
limitations for equal pay lawsuits
• Appointed two women to the U.S.
Supreme Court – Sonia Sotomayor
and Elena Kagan
• 2009 proposed new regulations
on power plants, factories, and oil
refineries in an attempt to limit
greenhouse gas emissions
35. Domestic Policy
• Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate
Crimes Prevention Act (2009) expands the
1969 U.S. federal hate crime law to include
crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or
perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender
identity, or disability
• Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act
(2010) ends the process of the federal
government giving subsidies to private banks
to give out federally insured loans
• Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010
ended the policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell” that
prevented gay and lesbian people from serving
openly in the United States Armed Forces
36. Economic Policies
• American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 $787
billion economic stimulus package
aimed at helping the economy
recover from a deepening
worldwide recession
• Obama intervened in the troubled
automotive industry by issuing
loans to General Motors and
Chrysler
– Car Allowance Rebate System (“Cash
for Clunkers”) temporarily boosted
37. 2010: Patient’s Bill of Rights protecting consumers insurance
industry abuses. Cost-free preventive services begin for many
Americans.
2011: Medicare patients get free preventive services, 50%
discount on brand-name drugs
2013: Open enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace
2014: All Americans will have access to affordable health
insurance. Individuals and small businesses can compare
health plans on a level playing field. Middle and low-
income families will get tax credits that cover part of coverage
2010 Affordable Health Care Act
aka “Obamacare”
38. Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
• April 20, 2010 - explosion on BP
offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of
Mexico causing a major sustained
oil leak
39. Foreign Policy
• Obama has attempted to implement
a new type of American foreign
policy in which the US is seen as
more outreaching to other
communities
• On September 24, 2009, Obama
became the first sitting U.S.
president to preside over a meeting
of the United Nations Security
Council
40. Iraq War
• On February 27, 2009, Obama announced
that combat operations in Iraq would end
within 18 moths
• The Obama administration scheduled the
withdrawal of combat troops to be
completed by August 2012, decreasing
troop’s levels from 142,000 to a
transitional force of 50,000 until the end
of 2011
• On August 31, 2010, Obama announced
that the United States combat mission in
Iraq was over
• October 21, 2011 Obama announced
that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in
time to be “home for the holidays”
41. War in Afghanistan
• Early in his presidency, Obama wanted
to bolster U.S. troop strength in
Afghanistan
• He announced an increase in troop
levels of 17,000 in February 2009
• He replaced General McKiernan with
Lt. General McChrystal in May 2009
indicating that McChrystal’s Special
Forces experience would facilitate the
use of counterinsurgency tactics
• On December 1, 2009, Obama
announced the deployment of 30,000
more troops to Afghanistan
• McChrystal was replaced by General
Petraeus in June 2010
42. Death of Osama Bin Laden
• Intelligence developed by the CIA
determined what they believed to be the
location of Osama Bin Laden in
Abbottabad, Pakistan
• After meeting with his national security
advisors, Obama authorized a “surgical
raid” of the compound by Navy
SEALs, SEAL Team Six
• The operation took place on May 1,
2011, resulting in the death of Bin
Laden and the seizure of many
documents, computer drives, and disks
from the compound
• Bin Laden’s body was identified
through DNA testing and was given a
burial at sea
43. Second Presidential Campaign
• On April 4, 2011, Obama announced his re-
election campaign for 2012
• As the incumbent president, he ran virtually
unopposed in the Democratic Party presidential
primaries
• This time, Obama ran against Mitt Romney, the
former governor of Massachusetts, and his
running mate, Paul Ryan
• On November 6, 2012, Obama won 322 electoral
votes to be re-elected president of the United
44. Gun Control
• On January 16, 2013, one month after the
shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School,
President Obama signed 23 executive orders
and outlined a series of sweeping proposals
regarding gun control
• He urged Congress to reintroduce an expired
ban on “military-style” assault weapons,
impose limits on ammunition magazines,
introduce background checks on all gun sales,
pass a ban on possession and sale of armor-
piercing bullets, and introduce harsher