This timeline will go from 2005-2013 in After 1900 followed by part II, which shall be posted in chat in accordance to the rules about current politics.
(The map used in this infobox was created by TrueGrit - credit goes to him!)
The 2004 Presidential Election was close, but fortunately, not too close. Election Day began as the sun rose over the east coast to find long lines at the poll. This was an early sign of the voter turnout, which had skyrocketed five points higher than in 2000. The day continued to see extensive waits in precincts across the country while both President Bush and Senator Kerry made last minute appeals to the few remaining undecided voters. By the time the polls closed, there was still great uncertainty among the public. It was directed not so much against who'd win, but rather, by how big of a margin they’d win by. But the anxiety over another possible scenario in which neither candidate emerged outright as victor was not the only fear of the electorate.
Just three years since the 9/11 attacks and the War on Terror that was subsequently declared, America was still stuck in the horrid throes of war. Though the NATO coalition’s invasion of Afghanistan was quick, the elusive Bin Laden escaped into the mountains while the Taliban regime that had fallen quickly regrouped and launched a guerilla insurgency against the western occupiers. Just over a year later, the long simmering crisis over Iraq’s use, possession, and construction of weapons of mass destruction came to a head. NATO forces, led by the United States, launched an invasion to disarm Iraq and bring about Saddam Hussein’s downfall once and all. Though their superior air power (displayed in a massive bombing campaign against Iraqi military installations in Baghdad called “shock ‘n ‘awe) and better equipped and trained ground forces were quickly able to route the Baathist regime of President Hussein, the subsequent occupation of Iraq and the dissolution of their military only contributed more to the chaos.
At home, the situation was only just a little bit brighter. The President had passed a major Education reform package commonly known as No Child Left Behind, had shepherded controversial tax cuts through Congress, and presided over a still booming economy. Though
there was increased chatter about the possibility that the housing bubble’s burst could throw the economy into a tailspin, the stock market was still soaring and the good times never seemed so good. Throughout the 2004 campaign, the President had used the economy’s growth as a distraction from the administration's controversial foreign policy. His opponent, Senator Kerry, continued to warn against the unilateral neoconservative foreign policy throughout the campaign. The chasm between these two candidates was wide, as was the divide between their supporters. If the Republicans were drunk on post-9/11 jingoism, the Democrats were wired with increasing anxiety over the Bush administration opening up a third war in Iran or North Korea. Republican voices, particularly on conservative talk radio, called those Democrats who spoke out against the war as “traitors.” Democrats, particularly those in Hollywood, bemoaned Bush supporters as “rednecks.”
When election day finally neared, every American voter was given the chance to privately vent their frustration or to place their hope in a candidate. Polling showed the race was a dead heat, though strong polling out of Florida - the state known for the 2000 recount debacle - showed Bush holding a near seven point lead. This early lead was an optimistic start to election night for Bush’s team, who were expecting the race to be wrapped up by midnight, even if the popular vote totals were tight. Kerry, however, was not deterred. His own internal polling showed him gaining more ground in the rust belt than expected in the waning days of the election, and it was believed at Kerry’s campaign headquarters that Ohio would be the tipping state of 2004 rather than Florida. This would prove to be true.
By 1:00 AM on election night, the optimism at Bush headquarters evaporated slowly as the returns came in. While Bush had won an overwhelming victory over Kerry in Florida due to traditionally conservative Democrats from the northern portion of the state crossing over to support the war-time Commander-in-Chief. Bush’s efforts to portray Kerry as a tax-and-spend liberal also contributed to the surprisingly high support for the President. But Ohio was still too close to call. This was not expected by Bush’s campaign staff. There was also the possibility that Kerry could win the popular vote (the Senator had held a steady lead all night among the raw vote totals), which would result in Bush earning the distinction to be the first president ever to be elected without winning the popular vote in either of his campaigns. As Ohio’s final precincts began trickling in, the Kerry lead expanded, and it was not long after that the Associated Press would call the election for the Senator from Massachusetts. In his concession speech, President Bush gracefully called for his supporters to unite around President-elect Kerry, while President Kerry likewise hailed the man he’d soon succeed for his work in Africa fighting HIV/AIDS as well as for his response to the 9/11 attacks. The 2004 campaign would ultimately be defined as a public rebuke of the neoconservative ideology that permeated throughout the Bush White House. The approach offered by Kerry (a more pragmatic and less unilateral policy) was seen as more feasible in a world that was only increasingly unstable, offered the chance to “reset” the global situation. Bush would later write in his memoirs Decision Points that he had placed too much confidence in the public’s post-9/11 perception of him, wrongfully believing that his reelection prospects were stronger due to him being a wartime President when in fact many were questioning the direction of the country and America's role abroad.
As George W. Bush prepared to ride off into the political sunset, John Kerry tied on his necktie and put his suit jacket on as he prepared to report for duty.
The Kerry transition team was hard at work in Washington, where the outgoing Bush administration continued to work cooperatively as promised by the President in his concession speech. Though the outgoing President was less than thrilled about being relegated the same political fate as his father before him - that of "one termer" - he was also sincerely invested in ensuring that the handover of power played out without acrimony, as his own transition had been plagued by tensions with the departing Clinton staffers. So bitter were they over the President's controversial victory in 2000 that they had actually gone as far as to remove the W keys off the computer keyboards across the White House in one final slight to the new President. Determined to avoid such gimmicks, Bush's administration stridently worked to cooperate and brief incoming appointees to the fullest extent possible. As a result of the commitment made by Bush, the incoming Kerry administration was able to quickly vet and announce a number of new officials at all levels of government. The President-elect, seeing the influence held by advisers like Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney during the previous four years, planned for a new culture of transparency and openness that promised an "open door" system in which he'd more accessible to aides and less dependent on his Chief of Staff to act as "gatekeeper." But this promise would be dispelled as fantasy from the immediate start of the transition process.
Former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman was announced as the next Chief of Staff, but her main priority was managing the administration’s relationship with the federal bureaucracy rather than engaging in political or electoral fights. Campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill was quickly named as the next White House Deputy Chief of Staff shortly after Herman's appointment, with Cahill taking on a more political role that allowed for her to function as both an ideological hatchetwoman and political strategist. Also named as Senior Advisers to the President-elect were Cameron Kerry, his brother, along with longtime friend and aide David McKeen. The communications team saw Stephanie Cutter assume the role of Communications Director whereas campaign spokesperson Dag Vega was named press secretary. Bob Shrum meanwhile was given the newly created title of “Chief Strategist,” a vaguely defined position which gave him the ability to work both in the White House and inside Kerry’s other political aspirations, such as shaping the groundwork for the eventual reelection campaign in 2008. His influence and power was tempered by the presence of Cahill, and Shrum was largely reduced to being a mouthpiece for the President whose primary function was to defend the administration on friendly television programs on networks like MSNBC.
At the helm of the transition process was Jim Johnson, a former executive at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as an important adviser to the campaign. The Minnesota lawyer and executive has long been rumored to be seeking a top post in the administration, and it was well known within the Beltway even before the election that Johnson was interested in the Treasury. Thus it was not a surprise when the President-elect announced Johnson would indeed take on the role of Treasury Secretary in mid-December, the first official announcement about the cabinet. Immediately after the announcement, the Johnson nomination was met with a chorus of opposition. Senate Republicans seized upon the fact that the nominee had received exuberant bonuses during his tenure at Fannie Mae, in which he allegedly deferred over $200 million in federally appropriated funds to reward top executives. Johnson was not the only cabinet nominee who had their hands in the cookie jar; the President-elect's rumored choice for Attorney General was also tangled up in the Fannie Mae bonuses scandal. Jamie Gorelick, who cut her teeth as Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno, was unveiled as the President-elect’s choice to head the Justice Department, but she too fell under intense scrutiny. Unlike Johnson, Gorelick was in tune with the political reality. Choosing to withdraw her name from consideration as the next Congress prepared to convene, the President-elect’s transition team quickly found a replacement: taking Gorelick’s place would be one of her successors in the Justice Department’s second highest ranked position, former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder. Johnson however refused to take his name out of consideration initially, insisting that he had done no wrong and had nothing to hide.
Other nominees were less controversial. Former UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was nominated to serve as Secretary of State, which was well received by Republicans in the Senate. So was the nomination of former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, who was selected to serve as Secretary of Defense. But the President-elect also sought out former rivals from the primary process, with former Vermont Governor Howard Dean being controversially nominated for the Department of Health and Human Services while former Congressman Richard Gephardt was selected to serve as the next Secretary of Labor. Other more notable nominations included Tim Wirth as Interior Secretary, Governor Gary Locke of Washington as Secretary of Commerce, Congresswoman Juanita Millender-MacDonald being placed at the Transportation Department, and Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack being named Secretary of Agriculture. King County Executive Ron Sims was tasked with taking over the Department of Housing and Urban Development, while former Governor Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire agreed to lead the Department of Education. Wounded war hero Max Cleland was placed in charge of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, while longtime Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts took over the Department of Energy. Lastly, Congresswoman Jane Harman was nominated to serve as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Less notable positions also needed to be filled. Diplomat Richard Morningstar is appointed Ambassador to the United Nations, while the Environmental Protection Agency was left in the hands of Gina McCarthy, a longtime friend and environmental official who had served in the state government of Massachusetts. Fred Hochberg, the former Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration during the final two years of the Clinton presidency, was promoted to the top job at the SBA.
The cabinet choices by the incoming President reflected the pragmatic brand of liberalism that he intended to bring to Washington. But even early on during the transition process, a troubling duality seemed to emerge in his administration that would be a harbinger of things to come. While Commerce Secretary Gary Locke was tasked with pursuing economic growth and greater investment into small or locally owned businesses, Secretary of Labor-designee Richard Gephardt was already privately warning that Locke’s more lax approach to confronting China on the global marketplace could erode protections for American workers. Gephardt’s warning to the President-elect was weakened by the soon to be White House Chief of Staff Alexis Herman, who limited his access to Kerry to the point that he considered withdrawing his name from consideration before being convinced by Vice President-elect John Edwards to stay.
Other early examples of discord during the transition team included the rivalry that had arisen between Howard Dean and Senator Hillary Clinton over healthcare reform. The President-elect was anxious to start on a healthcare reform package that would dramatically expand insurance coverage to millions of Americans, a key campaign promise of his. It was no secret that Senator Clinton of New York, who herself led a failed effort to devise a universal healthcare system during her husband’s first term as President, was eying a spot in the cabinet. While Kerry considered Senator Clinton to be more than qualified, he saw a much better opportunity in his former primary rival Howard Dean. The former Vermont Governor was better suited to unite the party, and on top of that, he was a physician himself. Though Kerry’s ideal healthcare plan was more palatable to moderates and tied to the market, he admired Dean’s quest to introduce some form of public option and trusted the incoming HHS Secretary to help formulate and push such historic legislation through Congress. There was only one hang-up however - Congress was still mostly in Republican hands. The effective tie between Republicans and the Democrats left Vice President Edwards the tie breaking vote in the Senate, but the Republican House majority ensured that any major policy endeavor of the kind would need bipartisan support.
Of course, there was news going on outside of Washington once the election had ended. The Christmas holiday through New Years Eve offered the President-elect a chance to enjoy one final sojourn to Martha’s Vineyard for one last vacation as a private citizen. A new video tape of Ayman al- Zawahiri, the deputy leader of Al Qaeda, emerged during this period in which he egged on insurgent attacks against American troops in Iraq and also called for young Arabs to launch a wave of attacks against Israel as well. There was also the matter of the President-elect’s Senate seat, which he resigned from on December 26th. In an effort to bolster his bipartisan credentials and win over Democrats ahead of his 2006 reelection bid, Governor Romney angered many in his party by appointing Shannon O’Brian to the seat. Romney, who had defeated O’Brian in the gubernatorial election, also signed a bill passed by the state legislature scheduling a special election to replace him in the Senate for the duration of his term. Immediately, Republican businessman Charlie Baker announced he’d run for the seat as a Republican, while the interim Senator O’Brian took her name out of the running, perhaps hoping for a rematch against Romney in 2006. O'Brian's decision left moderate Congressman Stephen Lynch in a heated primary battle with the more progressive Congressman Jim McGovern for the Democratic nomination. The race, which was set to take place in March, immediately became the subject of scrutiny as the press declared it to be an indicator of the Democratic Party’s base’s leanings as well as a referendum on Kerry’s first hundred days in office. As 2004 turned towards 2005, the President-elect was soon back hard at work as he returned from Martha's Vineyard to began drafting his inaugural speec, while the incumbent prepared to return to Texas to live out his remaining days as a painter and fundraiser for various veteran’s causes. The President and First Lady, per tradition, hosted the Kerry family at the White House as the final days of the 43rd President’s spectacularly controversial term came at last to it’s final standstill. As Kerry took his final glimpses of the White House as a visitor, his mind turned towards the pressing realities and responsibilities that would so very soon fall upon him.
President-elect Kerry arrives at his inauguration.
Only two weeks before the inauguration of President-elect Kerry, the 109th Congress opened on January 3rd, with Hastert returning as Speaker while Harry Reid emerged as Majority Leader in the Senate (though his majority was not affirmed until the swearing in of Vice President Edwards at the inauguration seventeen days later). The Democrats were ecstatic that they had retaken the Presidency, but it didn’t take too long for their hopes to turn to frustration. 55 Republican Congressmen signed onto a challenge to the certification of Ohio’s electoral votes, citing allegations of voter fraud and other irregularities. Led by Senator Jim Inhoffe (R-OK), their efforts to force Speaker Hastert to hold a vote on the matter ultimately failed. Though they could not stop the transfer of power to President Kerry, they did succeed in energizing the conservative wing of the party. Amplified by Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck on the airwaves, the rumors of electoral fraud in Ohio took on a life of its own. In the most extreme conservative quarters of the Republican Party, there was a pervasive concern that the man who would soon be the 44th President was not legitimately elected to the office that he was about to assume; of course, there had been just as many if not more Democrats who were bitter about the controversial Bush vs. Gore ruling four years earlier, an argument that many Republican leaders seized upon and used to dismiss media concerns over the increasingly conspiratorial rhetoric coming from the right.
On January 2nd, 2005, just a day before the Congress was to convene, the President-elect resigned his seat in the Senate. The following morning, incumbent Republican Governor Mitt Romney surprised and angered many in his party when he announced he would appoint his former rival in the 2002 gubernatorial race to the seat instead at a time when a tie existed in the chamber. Naming Shannon O'Brian to the seat, Governor Romney argued that it was unfair to appoint a Republican to a seat that had been in Democratic hands for decades, instead claiming that it was the duty of the people to determine the next Senator at the polls. Thus, the Governor pushed for the legislature to schedule a special election for March to fill the seat through 2009. O'Brian, who indicated upon her appointment that she would not run in the special election, prepared to go to Washington as speculation mounted over who would take the President-elect's Senate seat. Congressman Jim McGovern and Congressman Stephen Lynch entered the race, setting up a primary battle between the more progressive minded McGovern and the centrist Lynch on the Democratic side, while businessman Charles Baker was unopposed in the Republican primary. Though the Democrats were favored, the divided partisan makeup of the Senate ensured that the special election for the President-elect’s seat was widely watched.
As the inauguration neared, the Kerry transition team was in full gear. With all nominations to executive and diplomatic positions made, there was hope that the President could hit the ground running with a fully staffed team within a week after taking office. It was in the final week before the inaugural festivities when the Washington Post began dredging up old controversies related to Jim Johnson’s bonuses at Fannie Mae. Republican Senators were galvanized by the new information, which had shown that Johnson had significantly downplayed the amount of money he received from Fannie Mae as bonuses by nearly $15 million dollars. Several progressive Democratic Senators including Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) publicly called for Kerry to pull the nomination in response, and the President-elect dispatched Mary Beth Cahill to Capital Hill in a desperate effort to smooth over the situation with liberal Democrats. The meetings proved fruitless, and the controversy continued to grow. On January 19th, with less than twenty four hours before the inauguration to go, Jim Johnson announced he would remove himself from consideration as Treasury Secretary, thus sending the President-elect and his team back to the drawing board to find a suitable nominee.
The following morning, the President and President-elect made the traditional trip with one another to the capital. Their conversation was light, almost jovial as if between two lifelong friends, as they progressed towards the Capitol building. The crowds cheered as President-elect Kerry was administered the oath of office, with the applause matched by the roar of the military band striking up a rousing rendition of Hail to the Chief. On the national mall, a 21 gun salute to the new Commander in Chief was fired in celebration as President John Kerry prepared to deliver his inaugural address. In his speech, Kerry reaffirmed America’s commitment to NATO as the newly minted President vowed to pursue a new approach to foreign policy, vowing to lead by conviction and work constructively with allies. His speech, which was generally well received by the public and press, was followed with a whirlwind of parades and black tie inaugural balls. But when the sun rose over Washington the next day, the reality of the responsibilities of the Presidency set in. Determined to start his Presidency with bold moves, the new President launched his term by signing a string of executive orders, including a reversal on the “Mexico City” policy which allowed for the funding of birth control and abortion procedures in foreign countries, as well as another order that called for an internal audit of the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping, which acting Attorney General James Comey complied with. Afterwards, an Oval Office meeting with top aides was conducted to coordinate the early stages of an effort to work with Congress to pass a healthcare reform bill.
They would find that this would be easier said than done.
Though the new President was a twenty year veteran of Congress whereas Bill Clinton was a former Governor and spent his career mostly outside of Washington, the healthcare issue was a touchy and delicate one which inspired passionate debate among Americans. Having watched from the Senate as then First Lady Hillary Clinton led the White House’s unsuccessful effort to pass healthcare reform in the early 1990s, Kerry was determined to do things differently. The President believed that the Congress should lead the effort to pass such legislation, and that the White House’s role would be to mediate. Trusting in his fellow Senators, the President encouraged Senator Reid and the Democratic caucus to reach out to moderate Republicans like Susan Collins and Arlen Specter in order to put the Republican led House on the defensive rather than offensive. This decision ultimately proved to be more divisive within his administration than it was in Congress. Senator Clinton, citing her previous efforts, quickly inserted herself into the drafting of the bill and became the de facto leader of the effort, with only Senator Reid himself having the power to rein her in. This left Health and Human Services Secretary Howard Dean cut off from the process, and though he used the early cabinet meetings to argue before the President the case for universal coverage via a public option, it was of little use. Knowing that such a plan could never pass through the Republican controlled House of Representatives, the President denied Dean’s ambitions to lead the charge on healthcare, which quickly left the former Vermont Governor and one time presidential rival in a powerless, boringly bureaucratic role in a process that should have demanded his oversight. Dean’s exclusion from this process was an early example of the 44th President’s management style. With Alexis Herman taking on the role of Chief of Staff, the White House saw a return to a more traditional role for the position. Acting both as gatekeeper and a top adviser, Herman quickly took to acting as a barrier between the President and many members of his cabinet when dissent emerged within the administration. This would prove to be a point of contention within the Kerry White House as the President’s term wore on.
While the Senate Democrats worked incrementally on healthcare, there was more luck in pushing an education bill. With the active help of Jeanne Shaheen, the Education Secretary, Senators Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Betty Castor (D-FL) introduced the Great Teacher for Every Child Act. The legislation would raise teacher salaries in underperforming schools by $5,000 dollars a year, which was met with opposition from the teacher’s union because it would entangle school performance and teacher salaries. The bill would also establish a National Education Trust Fund. which would exist to help fund schools in states facing budgetary cuts, a proposal that many Republicans believed to be unnecessary. But the overall plan was acceptable to many Senate Republicans, even as many of the body’s more conservative members (particularly Senators Allen (R-VA), Coburn (R-OK), DeMint (R-SC), and Sessions (R-AL) complained about the bill’s nearly $230 billion dollar price tag. After a short period of debate, the Senate adopted the act by a vote of 69-31, sending it to the Republican controlled House of Representatives after eleven days of debate. The Republican controlled House quickly fractured along factional lines during the early phase of the Great Teacher for Every Child Act, a sign that Speaker Hastert’s caucus was increasingly ungovernable in the wake of President Bush’s defeat. Conservative Republicans, already fired up against President Kerry’s proposed healthcare overhaul, were quick to vocalize their opposition to what they perceived as a federal takeover of education. With his caucus clearly at odds with the National Education Trust Fund, several Republicans proposed that the National Education Trust Fund be used to keep schools in compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act. On January 31st, the new President met privately with Speaker Hastert and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid to work out a possible compromise.
Presidential Approval Rating (January, 2005) Approve: 55% Disapprove: 37% Undecided: 8% Credit to @Sabot Cat for some of the domestic policy ideas here.
President Kerry and Treasury Secretary designee Stuart Eizenstat.
The winter snow flurried down over Washington as January turned to February. While the new President had made marginal progress on some agenda items through use of executive orders, the Republican majority in the House and the Senate being tied 50-50 ensured that any real progress would come only after a protracted political fight. But while Kerry had gotten off to a slow start, there was still plenty of reason to be optimistic. Senate Minority leader Bill Frist (R-TN) had expressed interest in pursuing a plan similar to the health insurance program in Massachusetts, the brainchild of Republican Governor Mitt Romney. But Frist's desire to work with the administration on healthcare came at a cost. Immediately, there was conservative outcry as Republican incumbents were deluged with letters from constituents voicing their anger at any potential compromise. Egged on by radio hosts and television pundits, the conservative wing of the Republican Party, embittered by the defeat of President Bush and emboldened by the GOP's hold on Congress, declared war on the nascent administration as the healthcare fight got underway,
After Jim Johnson’s nomination was rejected by the Senate, President Kerry was forced to seek a new appointee. Though he had initially offered the job to Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, the Senator declined. Unknown to the public was the fact that the longtime Senator, who had maintained deep ties with the finance industry, was the beneficiary of a program called "Friends of Angelo" at CountryWide that offered mortgages on favorable terms to several figures. Knowing that the revelation of such information would surely derail his nomination and embarrass the administration, Dodd chose to remain in the Senate, and instead suggested the President appoint Larry Summers, a former Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton and well known Harvard economist. But Kerry found an alternative in Stuart Eizenstat, a former adviser to President Carter who served as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury under Bill Clinton. Though Republicans raised their concerns and criticized his record, he ultimately cleared confirmation by a vote of 62-38 after a series of relatively smooth hearings and a robust debate within the Senate.
But public attention soon shifted from Washington to Rome, where Pope John Paul II battled pneumonia in the ICU of a Rome hospital. As the ailing Pontiff's health failed, America’s second Catholic President led the nation in prayer for the Pope at his first National Prayer Breakfast at the White House. The rumors trickling out of the Vatican were of personal interest to the President, and the continuously declining health of the popular leader of the Catholic faith remained largely a somber backdrop to other events playing out at home and abroad. The President found himself praying for others beyond the Pope; with each passing week since taking office, there was at least one soldier injured or killed. It was only the fifth day of his Presidency when he was, for the first time, forced by tragic circumstances to write the family of a fallen service member killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq. By the end of February, he had written over a dozen or so letters of this nature.
The administration’s national security team had spent much of the first month clarifying strategic foreign policy goals and recalibrating the nation’s approach to using military force. Vowing to adopt a multilateral strategy, Secretary of State Holbrooke was dispatched to Brussels on February 7th to confirm the new administration’s commitment to NATO and the War on Terror. In his private conversations with Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, the President reportedly gave the UK the greenlight to begin their own draw-down of forces from Iraq. Though the contents of their discussions were not disclosed officially to the public, a leak from Downing Street claims that Kerry had told Blair of his intention to remove American forces from Iraq by the start of 2008. The White House denied these reports, but insisted that the eventual withdrawal of American combat forces remains the ultimate foreign policy objective of the new Kerry administration. Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke made an official tour of the Middle East, stopping off in Afghanistan, Jordan, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to inform critical regional leaders about the redirection taken by the administration in regards to Iraq.
The fight for control of Iraq, much less Baghdad itself, remained as fierce as it was under the previous President. In fact, the changing of the guard in the Oval Office resulted in a resurgence of insurgent and militia activity across Iraq, with Islamists eager to prove their devotion to the cause of Jihad to the new President. Sunni insurgents were not the only hostile enemy in Iraq; sectarian militias, long repressed by the now imprisoned Saddam Hussein, now roamed the streets of Baghdad with Iranian supplied rifles. Desiring to both defend the Iranian revolution and the rights of the Shia majority, these militias in Iraq became increasingly influential, and their willingness to fight coalition forces as well as the Iraqi government was an alarming sign to the NATO commanders on the ground.
It was not long after Holbrooke returned from the Middle East that the White House announced plans for an early March summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to be held in Slovenia. A firm believer in the Clinton administration’s approach to NATO expansion, the President was wary of the former KGB agent turned Russian President. Citing Iranian nuclear ambitions, the preceding administration had worked with Poland and the Czech Republic to develop a missile shield. but President Putin was not fooled; after all, Russian intelligence, like American intelligence, signaled that Iran was still years away from constructing an atomic bomb. In the eyes of the Russian government, the shield was just further NATO encroachment on the former Soviet Union. It was the hope of the President that a deal could be reached with Putin in order to isolate the Iranian nuclear program, though both UN Ambassador Richard Morningstar and Secretary of State Holbrooke warned Kerry that Putin simply could not be trusted. The nuclear shield in Eastern Europe would prove to be the biggest obstacle to the President's efforts to diplomatically isolate Iran; within the confines of the Oval Office, the new President was indecisive over the utility of the missile shield, wavering on whether or not isolating Iran was worth alienating Russia any further.
The fight within Congress was easing up; while healthcare and education programs continue through the long drafting process, another opportunity for bipartisan cooperation presented itself. In introducing the Military Families Bill of Rights to the House of Representatives, Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL) joined Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sought new protections and rights for military families. Democrats and Republicans quickly flocked around the idea, which among other provisions increased death benefits for American personnel killed in action from $12,000 to $250,000 dollars. The legislation also guaranteed war widows the right to remain in government housing for a year after and established a “Military Families Bill of Rights.” Another component of the bill, which would have automatically made the children of fallen soldiers eligible for the Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP). Despite having a price tag of over $10 billion dollars, the plan was well received nationally and promptly passed by the House on February 396-39 on Monday, February 28th, 2005. February ended with progress being made as the President was hailed for his success in pushing the Military Families Bill of Rights through the Republican dominated House of Representatives by a vote of 429-0, though six members of the House were absent. Though the Senate still had to approve the bill, the broad support among both parties for the legislation ensures that it will reach the President’s desk in a matter of days. As winter began to turn towards Spring, the Kerry administration both reveled in this early victory as well as much as they dug in for the education and healthcare fights still to come. Relying on @Sabot Cat's timeline for detail here on some domestic policy issues again. "The Real Deal" inspired a lot of the domestic policy aspects of this timeline, though events of the timeline are dramatically different (sorry, no Gore '08).
Congressman Stephen Lynch & businessman Charlie Baker faced off in a special election.
The spring presented the President with new opportunities as negotiations in Congress continued over the healthcare reform plan. On Tuesday, March 1st, Congressman Stephen Lynch defeated Congressman Jim McGovern in a heated primary to replace President Kerry, while the Republicans overwhelmingly nominated Charlie Baker over radically anti-gay pastor Scott Lively. Though Kerry remained officially neutral in the primary, it was no secret that the White House and the Democratic Party establishment preferred Lynch to the more progressive McGovern, viewing the more moderate Lynch as a more reliable voice in the Senate than McGovern. Lynch was also viewed as a more electable figure; by the standards of the reliably Democratic state of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker was a relatively strong candidate with an independent streak that threatened to lure away moderate voters who might otherwise support the Democratic Party. The conclusion of the Senate primaries set in motion a month-long campaign before the April 5th vote, with most polls showing Congressman Lynch maintaining a solid lead over Baker. Despite the endorsement of incumbent Governor Mitt Romney and the backing of wealthy donors, Baker struggled to galvanize voters in the President’s home state, where the administration was extremely popular.
The fight for an education overhaul continued, with Senators Castor (D-FL) and Gregg (R-NH) acting as conduits between the Republicans and the President. A compromise was reached after a month of negotiations behind the scenes in which the Republicans agreed to a National Education Trust Fund so long as state governments were guaranteed the right to use the funds on education programs tailored to their local school districts' individual needs. The compromise draft of the Great Teacher for Every Child Act was passed by the House of Representatives by a margin of 370-65 and referred back to the Senate, where it was quickly shepherded through the conference committee process. While some progressives in the Senate like Senator Boxer (D-CA), Feingold (D-WI), and Leahy (D-VT) voiced opposition to what they deemed Republican-lite legislation, it became increasingly likely that the bill would pass the Senate in early April. Congressional Democrats were more divided over how to move forward with healthcare. Secretary Dean found himself still largely sidelined during this process, being able to address his concerns with President Kerry only for brief moments at weekly cabinet meetings. His attempt to gain a private meeting with the President was stymied by Chief of Staff Alexis Herman, who was skeptical of Dean’s proposed public option. As Herman tightly controlled access to the Oval Office, Dean was effectively left out out of the drafting process from the very onset of the Kerry administration.
While Dean and the liberal wing of the party hoped to convince the President to intervene and push for a public option, the President’s reticence to interfere with the Democratic congressional caucus’s efforts to draft legislation did little to endear him to progressives in the party. Dean weighed resigning from the cabinet just two months into the President’s term, but ultimately decided to stay on in the hopes that progressive allies within the Congress would attempt to push for a public option themselves. But Secretary Dean’s fight for Medicare-for-All was not hampered by the President’s Chief of Staff alone. Senate Minority Leader Bill Frist, a physician by trade as well, had repeatedly expressed a desire to work with the administration in the pursuit of expanding coverage and insurance options for lower and middle class Americans. The possibility that Frist could bring in a large number of Republican Senators made it even harder for Dean to push for Medicare expansion due to the risk of alienating moderate Republicans who might be otherwise inclined to support the plan. Privately speaking to the GOP caucus of the Senate, Frist defended his support and warned that inaction on healthcare could impact the 2006 midterm elections. His remarks, ultimately, would be the seeds of his downfall. Within days, a number of conservative Republican politicians back home in Tennessee began criticizing the Senator more openly, and rumors of a primary challenger emerging discouraged bipartisan cooperation with the administration on the grounds that it could impact the GOP’s prospects in the upcoming midterm election. The meeting would prove to have long term consequences for the internal dynamic of the Republican Senate caucus. Many conservatives, already questioning Frist’s leadership, lost confidence in him. Back in Tennessee, a number of conservative Republican figures in the House and State Legislature began to sense vulnerability in Frist, who was up for reelection in 2006. It did not take long for Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to begin making his move to replace Frist, quietly sowing the seeds of support among the more conservative wing of the party.
Internationally, the world seemed as chaotic as Washington D.C. was. In Afghanistan and Iraq, insurgents continued to inflict casualties on NATO coalition forces in both countries. While the war in Afghanistan was quieter, having largely devolved into a cat-and-mouse game with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, Iraq was seemingly getting worse by the day. Sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni militias increasingly flared up while Iraqi security forces were helpless to stop it. After consulting with allied leaders (primarily with British Prime Minister Blair, French President Chirac, and German Chancellor Schroder), the President announced a plan to replace the western military presence with an Arab Stabilization Force that would be composed of peacekeepers from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. A small American garrison in Baghdad would be retained in order to help train and equip the new Iraqi army, who would eventually take on the duties of the proposed Arab Stabilization Force. The plan was pushed before the United Nations by Ambassador Richard Morningstar, who promoted what President Kerry and Secretary Holbrooke called “the roadmap to peace” fiercely before the United Nations Security Council.
In the backdrop of the war, the Pope’s health began to turn for the worse. Having been significantly weakened by pneumonia, Pope John Paul II returned to the Vatican after several weeks in the hospital. His body began to fail him as he developed septic shock, and for days he drifted in and out of consciousness. Crowds began to pack Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican to hold vigil for the ailing Pontiff, but finally, on the night of March 31st, Pope John Paul II at last relinquished his soul. The death of the beloved Pope sent the Catholic world into deep mourning as President Kerry, himself a Catholic, led the world’s tribute to the Polish born Pope in the aftermath of his demise. The Pope’s demise sparks a flurry of speculation about the ensuing election of a successor in the coming weeks.
The month began with the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, which was conducted at the Vatican basilica with a large number of world leaders in attendance. President Kerry was joined by Presidents Jimmy Carter, George HW. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush as he led the American delegation to the funeral in his first overseas trip as President. Fifteen days later, white smoke began to pour out of the Vatican's famed Sistine Chapel as bells tolled and crowds flocked to Saint Peter’s Square once more to witness the announcement of a new Pope. For two weeks, the media speculated that Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany or Cardinal Bergolio of Argentina were leading contenders for the Papal Crown, and after multiple rounds of balloting, it was Cardinal Ratzinger who prevailed over several other potential contenders. Taking the name Benedict XVI, the Pope paid homage to his predecessor in his first remarks as Pontiff as talk of canonization of the late John Paul II spreads among the Cardinals. Like his predecessor, Benedict XVI is a relatively conservative figure within the Catholic Church, and is anticipated to be an institutionalist in terms of his style of managing the Church's affairs.
There were wedding bells tolling elsewhere. At Windsor Castle, Prince Charles marries his longtime companion Camilla Parker-Bowels in a civil ceremony. Due to their respective divorces, it was agreed that the Prince’s new spouse would take the title of Duchess of Cornwall rather than Queen upon the Prince of Wale's eventual succession to the British throne. The British public largely supports the marriage in spite of the controversial divorce of the heir and the late Princess Diana, who subsequently died in a 1997 car crash. Despite the lingering legacy of Diana, the scaled down royal wedding is marked as a happy and unifying event, and the British public by and large is supportive of the union. While the royal wedding was the subject of considerable media attention, Capitol Hill was abuzz with activity that went mostly unnoticed.
One political story that was not ignored however was the high profile race to replace John Kerry in the Senate. With interim Senator Shannon O’Brian’s tenure set to come to end, Democratic nominee Stephen Lynch handily defeated Charlie Baker. Lynch’s victory ensured that the Democrats would continue to hold on to the seat all the way through 2008, and prevented the Republicans from gaining a majority in the upper chamber. A moderate Democrat by the standards of the Bay State, Lynch is sworn in the following day by Vice President John Edwards and immediately took his seat in the Senate. The Democratic victory in the special election was never really in any doubt, though the partisan makeup of the Senate ensured that the race received an unusually large amount of coverage from the media. In addition to being well publicized, the special election was also abnormally expensive, with both parties dumping millions of dollars into the race.
The spring saw a lot of diplomatic activity as Secretary of State Holbrooke’s staff and lower level appointees began to assume their offices. Holbroke was dispatched to Beijing in mid-April with the mission of securing Chinese support for economic sanctions against North Korean until the regime of Kim Jong Il dismantled his nuclear program. This was a tall order; the Chinese regime had no desire to have a united, American aligned Korea on their border, seeing North Korea as a useful bulwark against America. Yet the enigmatic and unpredictable regime in North Korea also presented the even worse threat of nuclear war along their border. The Communist Party elites in Beijing were keen on upholding the status quo, which meant that North Korea for the time being would be continually dependent on Chinese aid, which kept them (mostly) compliant while also keeping the South Koreans, Japanese, and Americans on their toes. While Holbrooke’s efforts failed in Beijing, he had better luck in Seoul and Tokyo, where a tentative agreement to construct a missile defense shield in and around the Sea of Japan was reached. Days later, an infuriated North Korea launched a missile over Japan as an open display of their nuclear ambitions and military capability.
April saw the debate surrounding healthcare reform continuing to rage. While the Democrats in the House and Senate were divided over whether or not to pursue a public option, the Republicans were unified in their opposition to what they deemed “socialist medicine.” House Speaker Dennis Hastert declared that any attempt to “federalize” healthcare would be dead on arrival, before demanding greater concessions from Democrats that would empower state governments by offering block grants to each state. Minority Leader Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid both outright rejected Hastert’s proposal, with Pelosi claiming that the GOP was holding healthcare hostage. As it became increasingly clear that both parties were fracturing over the issue with competing visions, the President began to ponder whether or not his initial strategy of giving Congress autonomy over the drafting of the plan was worthwhile. With his approval ratings slowly declining just four months into his term, the minds of many in Washington were thinking about the not so immediate future.
Though the 2006 midterms were over a year and a half away, the President’s lackluster first one hundred days began to excite prospective Republican candidates. In Florida, Congressman Adam Putnam announced he’d seek the Senate seat held by Bill Nelson, setting him on course for a clash with Lt. Governor Toni Jennings and Congressman Mark Foley in the Republican primary. Lt. Governor Michael Steele of Maryland was also recruited as a candidate, giving the GOP a shot at picking up a seat in the state for the first time in decades. Some Republican incumbents like Lincoln Chafee faced primary challengers from the right, while others like Rick Santorum and George Allen both face strong Democratic opponents in the form of Bob Casey Jr. and Jim Webb, a former Navy Secretary. In Vermont, Republican Governor Jim Douglas was set to face off against independent Congressman Berne Sanders, a self described socialist. All the while, the Republican grassroots, still aggrieved over President Bush’s defeat, began questioning Kerry’s motivations in pursuing healthcare. This election based anger, combined with the anxiety and jingoistic mindset of post-9/11 America, formed a perfect storm that was about to uproot Washington.
While healthcare was a polarizing issue, the education plan remained popular. After the House and Senate worked in conference to hammer out a final agreement on the bill, the Great Teacher for Every Child cleared the Senate by a 63-37 vote. Signing the bill into law surrounded by children from a local D.C. elementary school, the President and Secretary of Education Shaheen hailed the passage of the bill as a major step forward in improving the education system. With his first major legislative victory now behind him, the President's first 100 days or so in office concluded with only minimal progress being made. Hoping to reset his administration's direction, the President looked towards settling the war in Iraq once and for all...
President Kerry and President Saakashvili of Georgia.
On May 1st, as President Putin oversaw the annual May Day military parade from the Kremlin, President Kerry found himself enroot to Europe for his first overseas trip as President. The annual May Day parade in Moscow was larger than usual, with nuclear capable missiles being paraded through Red Square in a manner not dissimilar to North Korea. This was no coincidence - as President Kerry watched the parade from Air Force One as it glided over German airspace bound for the Ukraine, his National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Secretary of State Holbrooke explained the significance of the threat. President Kerry hastily rewrote his arrival speech to affirm the administration’s commitment to NATO expansion and a nuclear shield in Eastern Europe in response to Putin's not so discrete signaling, as well as embracing Yulia Tymoshenko, the reformist, pro-EU Prime Minister of the Ukraine, as an important regional ally. Tymoshenko, who had expressed support for Ukraine obtaining NATO membership, was known to be a fierce opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regional ambitions. Though President Kerry was eager to see both Ukraine and Georgia admitted to the treaty, Tymoshenko’s Russian funded opposition vowed to stall or stop Ukrainian membership in the nation’s legislature.
The President’s visit to Georgia would be defined by a notorious and harrowing incident; having addressed a crowd in Tblisi’s Liberty Square, President Kerry was seconds away from exiting the stage with the Georgian President when Vladimir Arutyunian, aged 27, pulled the pin from a hand grenade and hurled it towards the stage. The subsequent explosion, which occurred within fifty feet of Presidents Kerry and Saakashvili killed a French photographer and injured 31 additional people. Within seconds, Secret Service Agents rushed both men off stage and evacuated the President and First Lady to an unknown location as American and international news channels broke into their coverage to discuss the assassination attempt as the status of the President's condition was unknown. It soon became clear that the President had escaped injury, and despite the assassination attempt (the first time in nearly 25 years that a President came under direct attack) Kerry continued onward with the visit and spoke critically of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged support for separatist groups in Abkhazia and Ossetia.
Would-be assassin Vladimir Arutyunian seconds before the incident.
Back in Washington, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) introduced the Healthy Children and Families Act, which quickly became known as the Clinton-Tauscher Act in political parlance. The plan would require Congress to dramatically raise funding of the Children’s Health Insurance Plan creating what Clinton deemed “kiddy-care,” a plan which would use Medicare funds to cover all medical, hospital, and pharmaceutical expenses for children and teens under the age of 18 within the United States. The plan immediately won the support of Secretary Dean, who viewed the proposal as a chance to expose the American populace to the benefits of a public option. Both Clinton and Tauscher took to the airwaves and media in order to highlight the plan, with Senator Clinton appearing on programs like CNN’s Larry King Live, and NBC’s Meet the Press. On the other side of the aisle, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) led the charge in opposition, warning that the CHIP expansion plan was essentially a dry run towards a Canadian style single payer healthcare system. Other Senators, including Allen (R-VA), Brownback (R-KS), Coburn (R-OK), DeMint (R-SC), and Sessions (R-AL) rallied together against the Clinton-Tauscher plan.
Fired up by radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh, and television hosts like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly, the conservative wing of the Republican Party roared in disapproval of the plan. Within days of the bill being introduced, small, sporadic protests across the country began to pop up. Growing in number, marchers in cities and suburbs took to the sides of roads, court houses, and state legislatures with handmade signs, most of which read some sort of variation of “hands off my healthcare.” These protests became something of a movement over the course of May, with the largest gathering taking place in Boston, where demonstrators clad in colonial era garb dumped thousands of bottles of Iced Tea into the harbor. Thus, the “Tea Party” movement was born. It did not take long for the growing number of outraged conservatives to flock to organizations like Freedom Works or Americans for Prosperity, both which became powerfully effective grassroots organizations.
Back in the former Soviet Union, events began to escalate when demonstrators took to the streets in Uzbekistan, having been inspired by the recent Orange Revolution in Ukraine. The country’s leader Islam Karimov ordered troops to open fire on the crowds of demonstrators, resulting in an unknown number of civilians being massacred. Worsening the situation was a surge of activity among the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who used the chaos to launch several attacks on Uzbek military forces near the southern border of Afghanistan. The reports trickling out of the central Asian nation progressively worsened, with rumors of arrested demonstrators being tortured and even boiled alive by the regime. After President Kerry spoke out forcefully against the human rights abuses and called for sanctions, President Karimov, acting perhaps on the behalf of Vladimir Putin, ordered the United States to abandon its military facility at Karshi-Khanabad Air Base. President Kerry and Secretary of Defense Sam Nunn were compelled to comply, in spite of the strategic value of the location. The expulsion forced the State Department to rapidly work to construct another regional airbase in one of the more friendly neighboring Central Asian nations, while the Secretary of Defense hurriedly worked to evacuate US personnel and technology located at the Uzbek airfield.
The month saw some political activity, with the primaries for the 2005 New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections being held. In New Jersey, former US Attorney and establishment favorite Chris Christie bests former Mayor Steve Lonegan in a heated GOP primary while Senator Jon Corzine went unchallenged on the Democratic side. Down south in Virginia, Richmond Mayor Tim Kaine and State Attorney General Jerry Kilgore won their respective primaries over minor perennial candidates. Though neither race would be decided until November, the off-year elections were widely expected to be an early referendum on the first year of Kerry’s tenure. As the month of May came to a close, the President looked ahead with a degree of angst to a long, drawn out summer.
Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine.
In June, the healthcare fight came to a standstill. After months of intraparty feuding, the President had lost confidence in Congress’s ability to craft a comprehensive healthcare reform bill. As a result, the President deployed his Chief of Staff Alexis Herman and his brother Cameron Kerry (who served as the most influential domestic policy adviser) to unite the Democratic caucus around a common goal. To accomplish this, Senator Clinton and Congresswoman Tauschers’ plan was integrated as the basis for the reform package, which would grant Medicare coverage to all American children. In addition, adults aged eighteen years and older were required by an individual mandate to purchase health insurance, though an amendment was added which allowed young Americans to stay on their parents insurance until the age of 25 later on. A number of tax cuts, loophole closures, and rebates were implemented to ease the burden on working class families trying to purchase health insurance, while companies were required by law to no longer discriminate against those with preexisting conditions. Lastly, online insurance market places and cooperatives were established to make it easier for those subject to the individual mandate to find affordable plans. The Affordable Care Act, as it was officially titled, was at last brought forward for a vote in the Senate on Wednesday, June 15th, after a robust debate, where it passed 54-46 after Senators Chafee (R-RI), Collins (R-ME), Snowe (R-ME), and Specter (R-PA) broke ranks with the Republican leadership. Despite this victory, the Republican controlled House remained skeptical at best and outright opposed at worst. The “Hastert rule” was employed once again, with the Speaker refusing to bring the bill up for a vote, stalling the process much to the White House's dismay.
With the White House now unwillingly in the mix due to the failure of Congressional Democrats to craft a bipartisan bill, President Kerry employed his long history in Washington, reaching out to moderate Republican Representatives in the hope of attracting the twelve Republicans votes needed to overcome the GOP majority. As opposition to the plan increased among the Republican base, it became harder and harder for some, such Congresswoman Connie Morella (R-MD), to cross the aisle due to the risk of a primary challenger emerging from the right. The White House began an aggressive campaign against what the President deemed “a do nothing Congress” while aligned PACs began flooding the airwaves to counteract the Republican led media campaign against the Affordable Care Act. Negotiations with Speaker Hastert as well as Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA), Tom DeLay (R-TX), and Roy Blunt (R-MO) broke down on day one after the Republicans made it clear that any form of a public option would simply not be entertained.
The President distracted himself with foreign policy concerns; traveling to the Middle East, Kerry visits Israel, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia for high level talks with the Saudi King, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari about the future of the American military presence in the region. With Iraq teetering on full blown civil war between Shia and Sunni militias, Secretary of Defense Sam Nunn warned that an early withdrawal of troops from Iraq would only worsen the situation and give rise to greater Iranian regional influence. Instead, both Secretary Holbrooke and Secretary Nunn argued that the American presence in Iraq should continue until 2007 at the earliest. Secretary Nunn even raised the possibility of using a “surge” strategy to weaken Al Qaeda and stabilize the country before a “Arab Security Force” composed of Kuwaiti, Omani, Saudi, and UAE troops who would take over the role of the NATO coalition forces.
While Republican and conservative anxiety ran at an all time high over the healthcare effort, the pro-war fervor of the Republican Party began to abate. With casualties in Iraq growing worse, the American public became increasingly confused and cynical about the end-goal of the operation while the continuous search for the supposed weapons of mass destruction turned up empty handed. On the other hand, a majority of Republicans and Democrats alike still supported the war in Afghanistan and viewed the elimination of Al Qaeda as a top national security priority. The war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda has been largely quieter than Iraq, and progress was being made as the western coalition in stabilizing large parts of the country. Whereas Kerry was committed to ending American involvement in the war in Iraq, he was less keen on withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan as long as Osama Bin Laden remained on the run.
As June gave way to July, it was clear that the “honeymoon” phase of Kerry’s presidency had ended. Despite the popularity of the Great Teacher for Every Child Act, its provisions either had not taken effect yet or failed to make any immediate substantial changes. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Edward McElroy remained an outspoken critic of the bill, warning that the legislation would ultimately tie teacher’s salaries to the academic performance of their students. Labor Secretary Richard Gephardt attempted to reconcile the administration and the AFT, meeting privately with members of the AFL-CIO board, of which the AFT was a major component. Yet the Secretary of Labor, despite his long record in Congress as a stalwart of the union cause, was unable to bridge the divide. Similar talks with Education Jeanne Shaheen failed to bring any change, with the Secretary explaining afterwards that “sometimes you gotta say no to your best friends.”
The summer was well underway for millions of American school children, who in about six weeks time would be returning to a changed education system. As America prepared to mark Independence Day, Congress remained hard at work as the August recess neared. The fight for healthcare reform had largely stalled, and there was little hope that some form of legislation, compromise or not, would pass before summer’s end. The administration remained dedicated to the passage of healthcare reform, using the summer slowdown as a means to put pressure on wavering opponents as they prepared to return to their districts after Congress adjourned. But they were not the only ones engaged in the process. On Independence Day, hundreds of thousands of American conservatives and “Tea Party” activists converged in Washington for a massive demonstration against healthcare reform. Organized by the Koch funded Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, the crowd was addressed by a number of rising conservative figures, including Texas Governor Rick Perry, Senator George Allen, Senator Rick Santorum, and Jim DeMint, Congressman Ron Paul, and former Congressman Jack Kemp among other notables. The rally, the biggest of its kind since the burgeoning Tea Party movement began, was a galvanizing experience for Republicans in the House and grassroots activists alike.
The previous month had seen the President traveling to the Middle East, where he outlined his objectives and recommitted the United States’ mission to leave Iraq as a more stable and more democratic nation than before the 2003 invasion. He recommitted the United States to this goal at the G8 Summit in Scotland, where he joined his allied counterparts to lay out his vision for the future; all the while a figure from Iraq’s past, Saddam Hussein, continued to linger within the confines of a prison cell until his trial began, which was to commence in October. Secretary of State Holbrooke returned to Baghdad once again for the first round of high level talks with the Prime Minister about the possibility of reaching a status of forces agreement within two years. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, was hesitant about the Secretary of State’s advice to accept more American troops in Iraq however. Despite fierce fighting between Iraq’s two main religious sects, al-Jaafari insisted that Iraq could handle such affairs on their own. But the Prime Minister's position was alarming to Washington, particularly due to al-Jaafari’s longstanding ties to Shia cleric Al Sadr. At the advice of National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Secretary Nunn, the President agreed to slow down negotiations until a solution to restore security in Iraq could be reached.
On July 7th, the War on Terror’s epicenter shifted from Iraq and Afghanistan to the London Tube when Al Qaeda trained suicide bombers detonated themselves on subways and on a double-decker bus. The blasts killed 60 people and injured hundreds more in the worst Al Qaeda attack since 9/11 and the Madrid train bombings. Speaking with Prime Minister Tony Blair on the phone, the President offered the full services of the FBI and CIA in conjunction with Scotland Yard to root out any existing terror cells remaining in the United Kingdom. The attacks enraged Britons across the island, but support for continued British involvement remained at an all-time low. Largescale anti-terror raids take place across the United Kingdom in the weeks following the 7/7 bombings, resulting in the disruption of several other Al Qaeda cells active in Britain. In the United States, the terror threat level is increased as security precautions are taken in major American cities to avoid similar attacks on key transport hubs.
Former President George W. Bush came out of retirement for the first time since leaving office, speaking to NBC’s Matt Lauer in a widely watched interview aired on primetime television. Bush refrains from attacking the President, instead choosing to praise him for his education initiative and his work continuing the fight against AIDs in Africa. Though the President refrained from criticizing his successor, he did weigh in on the 2008 election, in which he publicly encouraged his younger brother Jeb Bush to seek the Presidency, ruling out a political comeback on his part. The former President also spends a considerable amount of time highlighting his various activities in retirement, such as promoting charitable efforts to support wounded veterans and first responders as well as his personal endeavors, such as managing his ranch in Crawford. The interview sees a minor boost in the former President's approval ratings, ironically coming at a time when Kerry’s approval ratings were beginning to erode.
Protests at a town hall hosted by Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).
August was arguably the most strenuous month of the President’s first year in office. For starters, the ongoing fight for healthcare reform was stagnate due to Congress vacating Washington for the summer recess. Across the country, hundreds of “town hall” events were being hosted by members of Congress, with healthcare dominating almost the entirety of the discourse. In a weird paradox, Republican incumbents found themselves under fire from progressive activists while many Democrats, even those in solidly supportive districts, faced the wrath of the burgeoning Tea Party movement. The unifying factor of these events were the partisan tensions that surfaced and all too often boiled over into altercations and even a handful of brawls. With over a hundred arrests at various town-hall events, the Senate evenly split, and with Kerry’s approval ratings hovering at 50-50%, it seemed as if America was only becoming more and more divided.
Events abroad were as chaotic as the town hall meetings were. On August 1st, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia died, resulting in the Crown Prince (and de-facto regent) Abdullah taking the throne. The King was promptly buried as per Islamic custom, and the new King quickly renewed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to combating radical Islam and countering Iranian meddling. Tensions were flaring up in the Holy Land, with a suicide bomber striking Tel Aviv in retribution for the recent murder of three Palestinians by an Israeli settler on the West Bank. Secretary Holbrooke encouraged Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to show restraint, but low scale clashes and street fights continued as Palestinians took to the streets on the West Bank to protest Israeli encroachment.
In Washington, rumors begin swirling that Supreme Court Justice Sandra O’Connor would soon announce her retirement. The rumors were so widespread that President Kerry and Attorney General Eric Holder began to vet potential appointees to the court, but their efforts proved to be pointless when Justice O’Connor confirmed she would not retire from the bench even though her husband was in poor health and battling dementia. The media speculation about Justice O’Connor dominated much of the last week of August, with occasional reference to the small tropical depression approaching Florida.
In the Gulf of Mexico, a storm was brewing. Tropical Storm Katrina had soaked southern Florida before moving westward towards the Gulf, where it rapidly increased in speed and intensity, virtually overnight transforming into a monster category five storm that was on a collision course for New Orleans. The interstates leading out of the city were jammed as tens of thousands prepared to evacuate the city, creating a sense of panic and impending disaster. Many of the city’s most underprivileged and impoverished residents were simply unable to evacuate due to a lack of a vehicle or refused to leave out of fear that their homes would be looted. The Governor, Kathleen Blanco, attempted to remedy the crisis by commandeering hundreds of school buses, but many were unwilling, unable, or unconcerned and thus refused. The National Guard set up an emergency shelter at the New Orleans Superdome, though the site was far from suited for such an event. Thousands of desperate citizens took refuge in the Superdome throughout the storm, lingering for days in squalid conditions as the storm raged around them.
The storm tore its way across the Gulf Coast, leaving devastation in its wake. The levees which surrounded the Big Easy were built to prevent such severe flooding, but they failed quickly as water began pouring into a city which was famous worldwide for being below sea level. Thousands of families were forced up into their attics or even onto the roofs of their homes as the water levels rose, and many drowned in the streets that just days earlier were packed with fleeing vehicles. At the Superdome, a portion of the roof itself was peeled away leaving those inside both in terror and partially exposed to the elements. But as the storm blew northward, it rapidly lost speed and was quickly downgraded. As the National Guard began rescue operations and attempted to resupply the people stuck in the desperate situation at the Superdome and other shelters, looting broke out across the city. Hundreds were missing or feared dead, with famed musician Fats Domino being one of the casualties. The National Guard units arriving in the city at times came under fire, with one guardsmen being killed by a looter who had joined a mob that was rampaging through a partially flooded Walmart. That same night, police on the Danzinger bridge open fire upon an advancing crowd of protesters, many of whom were angered by the poor response by FEMA. Four people were killed and three others injured, sparking racial tensions that threatened to boil over into outright disorder. Hours after that, a helicopter trying to land near the Superdome fell under fire from an unknown sniper.
As the recovery began, many citizens of the city returned to find their homes destroyed or underwater. The sheer amount of damage resulted in a massive population shift from New Orleans to other nearby cities like Birmingham, Memphis, or Houston. The reconstruction was estimated to cost billions, and Congress was hastily reconvened to push a relief bill as quickly as possible. Driven by Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Congressman Bobby Jindal (R-LA), the reconstruction of the city would include a complete overhaul and strengthening of the surrounding levees as well as a more efficient evacuation and preparedness plan among other provisions. While Congress hurriedly worked on a relief package, FEMA head Setti Warren fell under fire from critics who claim FEMA was vastly unprepared. As residents of New Orleans returned to their destroyed homes and flood ravaged city, many questioned if the Big Easy would ever be the same again.
Flooding in New Orleans.
Sweltering in the summer heat, destitute citizens of the city began to turn on President Kerry, Director Warren, Governor Blanco, and Mayor Ray Nagin. Senator David Vitter also was criticized due to his lack of involvement in the Jindal-Landrieu recovery package. Black Americans, who were politically the very beating heart of the Democratic Party’s coalition, grew increasingly outraged at the lack of an effective response. Civil rights leaders like Al Sharpton called for the President to travel to New Orleans, but White House Press Secretary Dag Vega insisted at the daily White House press conference that the President would eventually visit the city in early September, for fear that his presence in the city would detract from necessary relief efforts. Throughout the storm and the aftermath, President Kerry would be criticized for his seemingly aloof nature and perceived indifference to the situation in New Orleans. His response to the Hurricane would come to haunt him in coming years, and the President himself would years later describe the days following the storm as the low point of his Presidency.
Katrina was bad enough, but the President had new concerns to be worried about. While meeting in the Oval Office with the entirety of Louisiana and Mississippi's’ congressional delegation to hear the needs and concerns for the rebuilding process, Deputy Chief of Staff and presidential counselor Mary Beth Cahill quickly entered, whispered into the President’s ear, and then left without saying a word; it turned out that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, William Rehnquist, had died at the age of 80 after a battle with thyroid cancer. With Congress returning from the August recess (which had been cut short at the end of August due to Katrina), the President now had to fight a three front war. With the Republican House being intransigent towards healthcare, the ongoing reconstruction and rescue operations in New Orleans, and the incoming battle to replace Rehnquist on the Supreme Court. With the help of Eric Holder, the Attorney General, a list of potential candidates was drafted and the vetting process began. A previous bout of speculation over the future of Justice O'Connor ensured that such a list was already in place, streamlining and expediting the process of selecting a replacement.
Later on in that same week, the President at last travelled to New Orleans, doing a flyover of the flooded city and the failed levees which surrounded it. Afterwards, the Presidential party landed and promptly boarded a helicopter which took them to the Superdome, now devoid of people but still damaged and still filled with abandoned cots. The smell of urine and feces lingered from a makeshift latrine, with flies buzzing about it in the sweltering heat. It was a scene of desolation and squalor during the storm, and the odor that remained stood as a testimony to the situation. The public reaction outside of New Orleans was even worse, as Americans supportive and critical of the president alike felt the federal, state, and local governments had failed to both prepare and properly respond to the storm.
The UN General Assembly convened in New York not long afterwards in mid-September. A number of foreign antagonists such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took swipes at the Kerry administration’s response to the storm. These remarks caused the US delegation to walk out of the assembly hall in protest, and Kerry used the time to hold one-on-one talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair instead. UN Ambassador Caroline Kennedy - daughter of the former President - led the United States response to the heated rhetoric of Chavez and Ahmadinejad, and vowed to use America's veto power on the UN Security Council to prevent China and Russia from strengthening these anti-American leaders and their regimes. Discussions between the President and global partners, particularly British Prime Minister Tony Blair, result in an agreement to launch a NATO led "mop up" operation within Iraq aimed at disarming the Shia and Sunni militias that have been fighting each other in the streets of Baghdad and other major cities.
With Katrina, the UN General Assembly, the wars, and the four year anniversary of 9/11 being observed, it was a surprise to no one that little traction would be made towards healthcare reform in September. Though President Kerry remained dead set on passing a healthcare bill before his first year in office came to a close, the ball was in the Republican's court, and they were determined to show the President that a public option simply was not on the table. As time passed, September soon gave way to October, with the onset of autumn nipping at the heels of the fading summer. The Jindal-Landrieu Relief and Reconstruction Act was quickly shepherded through the House and the Senate, passing 401-34 in the House and 99-0 in the Senate, an effort that took up most of the Congress's collective energy. Signed into law by the President, the plan appropriated $100 billion to the states of Mississippi and Louisiana. Though the storm was long over by early October, New Orleans remained scarred, battered, and devastated.
In the wake of Katrina, the President was facing intense criticism even from some quarters of his own party. It was the worst possible timing, but also, the last possible chance, for the President to announce another unpopular decision: a surge in Iraq. Though withdrawal from Iraq was a critical goal of the administration, the President explained in a Rose Garden speech that it was simply impossible given the state of the country two years past the invasion and removal of Saddam Hussein. Thus, four battalions of American soldiers were deployed into Iraq in the beginning of October, as part of the effort to combat insurgent and sectarian violence. The President’s popularity, which was already fading from his post-inauguration peak, began to sink even faster as progressives and anti-war Democrats became frustrated by the lack of a withdrawal plan ten months into his term. Negotiations between Prime Minister al-Jaafari and Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke seemed to be going nowhere, worsening the sense of stalemate. Worried that al-Jaafari was becoming increasingly partial to Iranian influence and Shia clerics like Muqtada al-Sadr, the President instructed CIA Director Lee Hamilton (a former Congressman from Indiana) to begin covertly influencing activities in the Iraqi parliament with the hope of eroding his base of support in the legislature.
The deployment of additional troops initially only resulted in an increase of attacks on American military personnel. The chief of the Department of Defense’s central command was John Abizaid, the top general in charge of operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq, who was tasked with overseeing the mission to disarm the militias and stabilize the country. The American reinforcements were scattered across the country, with the bulk of the new arrivals finding themselves stationed in Baghdad, where the violence was most pervasive. It took only a week for General Abizaid to devise a largescale sweep of Baghdad to root out terrorist cells. First, known hideouts and bomb making factories were targeted, followed by raids on hidden militia armories and stockpiles across the city. These raids resulted in several armed paramilitary factions losing a considerable amount of supplies and ammunition.
While Iraq dominated the headlines, the President and Attorney General had at last found a candidate to fill Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s seat on the Supreme Court. Born in Puerto Rico, Jose Cabranes studied law at Columbia, Yale, and Cambridge before being appointed to the federal judiciary by Jimmy Carter. Having risen as a prominent lawyer and crusader for civil rights, Cabranes career in the judiciary continued until he reached the status as judge on the Second Circuit’s Court of Appeals. The Judge’s moderate record and academic bonafides made him a less controversial nominee than some of the others considered, including Harvard Law Dean Elena Kagan and Judges Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Wood.
Republicans in the Senate were pleasantly surprised by the Cabranes nomination, as he was considered a moderate with a maverick streak that would often put him on the conservative side of the judicial system from time to time. The President, having been locked in a year long dual with Congress, was in desperate need of an easy win. Despite this, many progressive Democrats bemoaned what they perceived to be a wasted opportunity. The President defended the nomination in his first Meet the Press appearance on NBC, the first since taking office, claiming that Cabranes was a politically unbiased and well qualified candidate to replace Rehnquist. Within a week's time, Cabranes was before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) worked with Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) to push the nomination through committee with a final vote of 15-1 (the lone dissenting vote was cast by Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama). Afterward, Cabranes’s nomination went before the Senate for a full vote, where it took only a day of debate before a final vote was called. Confirmed by a vote of 91-9, Carbranes would be promptly sworn into office at the White House’s East Room the following day. Assuming the office of Chief Justice at the age 64 after a lengthy career in law and the judiciary, Carbranes made history as the first Latino to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Chief Justice Jose Cabranes.
As this played out in the backdrop, gubernatorial elections in New Jersey, Virginia, and a mayoral race in New York City neared. While Mayor Michael Bloomberg was a lock for reelection, the races in New Jersey and Virginia were closer. In New Jersey, bombastic former US Attorney Chris Christie was gaining ground against Senator Jon Corzine, while Virginia’s Attorney General Jerry Kilgore found himself leading Richmond Mayor Tim Kaine by a narrow margin. As these elections approached, a flurry of potential 2008 candidates made themselves available. In Virginia, Senator George Allen campaigned vigorously for Kilgore, while former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Governor Mitt Romney raced to the aid of the Christie campaign. It became clear that the two elections were not just referendums on the President, but also an early indicator of how the GOP will proceed in the post-Bush era.
Governor-elect Chris Christie celebrates his victory in New Jersey's gubernatorial election.
The off year elections in New Jersey, New York City, and Virginia have typically been viewed as an early test for a new administration’s popularity. In 2005, the verdict of the voters was loud and clear. In New Jersey, bombastic former federal attorney Chris Christie defeats Senator Jon Corzine by a vote of 50-46%, while in New York, Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg is reelected to another term by an overwhelming margin. Lastly, in Virginia, Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore beats Richmond Mayor Tim Kaine 50-47%. The exit polls in all three elections point to healthcare being the main driving force for conservative/Republican voters, who went enthusiastically to the polls in order to deliver a stinging blow to the Democratic administration.
With the off-year elections a sign of things to come in the 2006 midterms, the administration found itself still in a rut over healthcare. Congressional leaders led by House Minority Leader Pelosi, privately urged the President to again water down the bill in order to increase the likelihood that it passes through the Republican controlled House, but President Kerry insisted that it was unlikely that a true compromise bill could be developed by this point in time. Citing both regional concerns and economic data provided to him by Treasury Secretary Eizenstat, the President insisted that CHIP should be funded and expanded as per the original part of the bill. Republicans seethed, and the gridlock was destined to continue for the time being. "Kiddy Care," the President insisted, was non-negotiable.
With both the approval rating of the President and Congress dropping fast, it became clear that there was no other option than to push it through for an up and down vote. While Kerry needed only 23 votes to pass the bill, the GOP delegation in the House were much more unified around Hastert than the Senate Republicans were around Frist. At the prodding of his brother Cameron and Deputy Chief of Staff Mary Beth Cahill, the President began inviting bipartisan delegations of Congressmen to the Oval Office for a series of meetings in which he threw out every promise he could hurl. To a delegation of House members representing large swathes of rural America, he promised the creation of the Medibank as a means to expand access to healthcare in underserved agricultural areas. To members from suburban districts, he promised free healthcare for children and tax-free health services. In the cities, he promised further infrastructure funding and greater federal support for urban programs.
Finally, after addressing numerous House members over the course of mid November, the President took one final step to pushing through the healthcare bill. From the Oval Office, the 44th Commander-in-Chief took to the airwaves for a live address from the White House. In his 45 minute long speech, Kerry carefully deconstructed Republican talking points with almost surgical precision and outlined clearly what exactly was and wasn’t part of the changes being proposed. Dismissing theories about “death panels” and “rationing,” the President ended his remarks by asking viewers to call their congressman or woman and insist that the bill be brought forward for a final vote once and for all. The response unnerved Hastert, who did not predict the amount of support the bill had in many Republican districts, particularly suburban swing seats. Within days, many Republican members of Congress had joined in the call demanding a floor vote on the bill, even from some opposed to the legislation. Final debate on the bill concluded, and the chamber fell quiet as the vote went underway. Anxious to be back in their districts ahead of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, the increasingly close results as the vote continued kept the nation transfixed. As the CSPAN cameras trained themselves on the Speaker, the final result was read. The Affordable Care Act had been passed by a vote of 222-213 on November 23rd, and was signed into law the following day at a Rose Garden ceremony.
The defeat was a humiliation for Speaker Hastert, who decided days later to stand down as Speaker and from Congress after the 2006 elections. This was not immediately announced, but Hastert wasn’t alone. Senator Frist, having been instrumental in getting the bill through the Senate, announced he’d keep his term limit promise and would not seek reelection in 2006. He also confirmed his intention to stand down as Minority Leader, with Senator Mitch McConnell being elected 45-0 as his successor (Senators Chafee, Collins, Gregg, Snowe, and Specter abstained). Replacing McConnell as whip was Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, while Rick Santorum continued as Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.
The healthcare fight, which had consumed the entirety of Kerry’s first year in office, exposed deep flaws and divisions within both parties. The President had hoped after his election victory in 2004 that he’d be able to appeal to both the third way Clinton wing of the Democratic Party as much as he did with the liberal and progressive wing represented by the likes of Howard Dean, Russ Feingold, and the late Paul Wellstone. The fight to unite the Democrats around a common healthcare bill had only resulted in chaos, with Senator Clinton, Secretary Dean, and Senator Frist all competing with one another over which version of the bill should be passed. The infighting among these three competing bills became so convoluted that President Kerry, who initially was aloof from the process, was forced to parachute in and hammer out a compromise plan.
The Republicans were also facing whiplash, with Speaker Hastert and Senator Frist both being effectively powerless in the wake of the healthcare defeat. With the support of Tea Party activists, Mitch McConnell ascended to the position of Minority Leader and stated clearly his mission: “I am here” began McConnell in his first speech to the Senate in his new capacity, “to make sure that John Kerry will be a one term President.” A new era in Washington had begun, characterized by increasing hyper-partisanship, mutual mistrust, and shifting political coalitions. The healthcare fight would prove to be just the beginning.
The Federal Reserve’s top post was emptied over the Holiday Season after longtime Chairman Alan Greenspan announced his intention to retire. Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin was soon afterwards announced as the President’s pick for the Federal Reserve Board's Chairmanship, with the Senate Finance Committee scheduling hearings for early in January. With his long history in the realm of American politics and expertise in crafting financial policy despite his career as a lawyer, the appointment of Rubin to head the nation’s central banking system was not particularly controversial. Despite the bipartisan support for Rubin, he was not without his critics. Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and George Allen (R-VA) tried to galvanize conservative opposition, but their vocal protests were ignored by the majority of the Senators. In the House of Representatives, Congressman Ron Paul was the most outspoken opponent of Rubin's nomination, and he pressed the Republican majority to pass legislation that would allow for the auditing of the Federal Reserve system. But being a member of the House, Paul had no vote in the confirmation process, which was exclusively in the domain of the Senate. Despite this, the nomination of Robert Rubin brought increased attention to the libertarian leaning Texas Congressman, who became a more nationally known figure on the right as a result.
On the international stage, there was a new face making headlines. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a fierce critic of the United States and Israel, publicly called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” in a fiery anti-Semitic speech. As an unrepentant Islamist and a nationalist, Ahmadinejad’s voice quickly became prominent worldwide, which at times would put him into conflict with the Ayatollah himself. With a gift for invective that was matched only by North Korean propaganda broadcasts, the new Iranian President (who by trade was a scientist) was a cheerleader for a nuclear Iran and very autocratic in his ruling style. Ahmadinejad would be the latest entry into what Secretary of State Holbrooke jokingly called “the axis of anger.” Among Ahmadinejad’s peers included Burma's Than Shwe, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Libya’s Muammar Qadaffi, North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Syria’s Bashir al-Assad, Uzbekistan’s Islam Karimov, and Venezuala’s Hugo Chavez, all of whom were united against what they denounced as American and NATO imperialism.
The hard fought battle for healthcare reform had seriously impacted the President’s perception of Washington. Originally believing that policy initiatives should begin organically in Congress, the President learned the hard way that the general disunity and factional infighting within his own party only exposed the futility of so high an expectation. The President, seeking to build on his momentum, called a meeting with the top Congressional Democrats in order to plot out the next move on their agenda. Encouraged by House Minority Leader Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the President had settled on immigration reform as his next political project. Both Pelosi and Reid believed that the DREAM Act could be passed with the help of Republicans, many of whom believed that immigration reform was vital for increasing agricultural yields and economic growth. Preparing for his first State of the Union address on February 2nd, Kerry extensively laid out the case for a comprehensive immigration reform plan, one which would increase border security in exchange for a path to citizenship.
Christmas was marked in the White House by the First Family with a quiet sense of calm and relief. The President’s first year in office was a constant series of soaring victories and crashing defeats. He had grown into the role, finding that not all of his expectations were realities. One notable change in the Kerry White House was the growing influence of Alexis Herman; the Chief of Staff was originally hired to manage the White House’s executive functions while Mary Beth Cahill would handle his outside political operations. Yet Herman, who implored Kerry to adopt a more streamlined style of management, had largely eclipsed Cahill and adviser Bob Shrum by the end of the year. Herman had carefully groomed and coaxed the President’s most trusted adviser, his brother Cameron Kerry, into supporting her efforts to rein in and organize the White House staff, with some in Washington even referring to her as “the Prime Minister” due to her increasing policy influence.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) touts immigration reform with Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
The President’s new year began on a positive note when the Senate voted 62-38 to confirm Robert Rubin as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board after a relatively smooth process in the Senate. Despite conservative opposition fueled by concerns over monetary policy, spending, and inflation, the Senate's confirmation of Rubin was a sign that the Washington establishment could stand strong in the face of populist opposition as well as an indication that bipartisanship in Washington was not entirely dead despite the cries coming from the pundit class. But while Washington was still largely united over critical federal appointments and other personnel decisions, matters of policy were more heated. The year’s beginning marked the beginning of the midterm campaign, with several candidates jumping into the Senate and Gubernatorial races after the holiday season concluded. The President, having passed a polarizing healthcare bill, sought to achieve one more substantial victory before November. The immigration battle seemed like low hanging fruit. Though the economy was slowing down, there was still a large need for seasonal labor, predominantly in the agricultural sector, which presented the President with the opportunity to streamline the immigration system. Since the Reagan era, there seemed to be a bipartisan consensus within the Washington establishment on the issue, but the President and his allies did not anticipate the pushback from the public at large. While the number of border detentions continued to rise at a slow but steady pace, there was increasing anxiety about the growing population of undocumented immigrants in America. The Tea Party movement provided an outlet for these sentiments, amplifying a clear and loud message in opposition to any kind of mass amnesty. Having been exhausted by the chaotic push for healthcare, the President was not looking for another prolonged fight, but rather, the elusive promise of an easy bipartisan solution. Choosing the immigration issue to score these points would quickly prove to be a mistake.
Though the Republican base was firmly opposed to amnesty, the party’s financial backers were supportive of a path to citizenship that could greatly expand the labor pool. The fight within the ranks of the Republican Party over immigration reform was one of the earliest examples of the growing chasm between the Republican voter and the Republican Party itself. While some, including former Congressman Jack Kemp, argued that the GOP would be doomed by demographics if action was not taken, others like Congressman Tom Tancredo warned that any amnesty bill would result in the significant erosion of American sovereignty. These factors created an inverse of the Democratic Party’s own discord over healthcare, which made a narrower immigration bill more desirable in the eyes of President Kerry. The proposed DREAM Act offered this way out. The bill granted citizenship to undocumented youth, who could apply for legal status after completing college or military service. It also creates the Deferred Action Program, which allows for the parents of these students or service members permanent residency status. Though the amnesty options were more limited than some liberal Democrats would care for, the opportunity to shore up their level of support among America’s fastest growing demographic was enough to secure their votes for the time being. Some moderate Republicans such as Senator John McCain (R-AZ), a potential challenger to President Kerry in 2008, voiced their support for the DREAM Act at great political risk.
Already having a hard enough time corralling his caucus, Speaker Hastert and the Republican leadership suddenly had another pressing reality to face when former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay announced he would resign from Congress after being indicted for money laundering and campaign finance violations. With Speaker Hastert set to stand down after the elections in November, there was an impending fracture waiting as several Republican members of Congress eyed the top job. Acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt was the leading contender to take over the Speakership, though Congressmen John Boehner (R-OH) and David Dreier (R-CA) also flirted with the idea of taking the top job. Meanwhile, Eric Cantor (R-VA) began maneuvering to take over as Whip.
In Iraq, the surge that began in October was beginning to show results. Shia militias were more willing to disarm voluntarily after American forces spent most of the previous three months dismantling several Al Qaeda cells around Baghdad, while training of the Iraqi security forces continued to strengthen the Iraqi government's hold over the country. But talks with Prime Minister a-Jaafari were going nowhere, and the subtle American effort to undermine him politically had resulted in a second Iraqi general election in December. This election resulted in a new government headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was more pliable to the whims of Washington and willing to work with Secretary of State Holbrooke and Secretary of Defense Nunn. With a Prime Minister more willing to cooperate with the Pentagon, the President at last had the flexibility to begin building the Arab coalition that would eventually fill the American role. This process was begun in early January, when the new Saudi King was hosted at the White House. Due to the complicated internal politics of his Kingdom, which adhered to one of the strictest interpretations of Sunni Islam in practice, the Saudi King was unwilling to deploy his own forces to Iraq, but agreed to help fund the proposed Arab Stabilization Force. Terrified of an Islamist uprising not dissimilar to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, King Abduallah promised to use his influence over the Gulf States to form an anti-Iranian bulwark, insisting only that the United States pull out of Iraq by the end of 2007 with the hopes that it would relieve the internal pressure on the Saudi elites from their own radical clerics.
President Kerry and King Abdullah, pictured in 2005.
Israel, like Iraq and Saudi Arabia, also saw a change in leadership. Under investigation for corruption, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon collapsed and died following a massive stroke. Ehud Olmert took over as interim Prime Minister, leading a government that had been thrown into turmoil. Though President Kerry had for the better part of a year entertained an ambition to bring together the Israeli and Palestinian leadership, the death of Sharon was a serious setback. Worsening matters was the victory of Hamas in Palestinian elections, resulting in the Islamist party taking control of the Gaza Strip. This was the cause of great concern for the government of Prime Minister Olmert, putting any planned talks on the backburner indefinitely. Kerry would lose the opportunity to be peacemaker, but he did gain the chance to host one. The end of January saw Pope Benedict XVI travel to Washington, Philadelphia, and New York, for a weeklong visit to the United States. For President Kerry, a Roman Catholic himself, the visit was an empowering spiritual experience which he’d go on to describe in his post-presidential memoir Reporting for Duty as being spiritually revitalizing. Sorry for the delay! I've had a lot going on work wise, and what little time I've had has been devoted to another project as of late. This is continuing though, and I promise to update this as regularly as I can. It is written up through 2012, so I should be able to maintain a pretty steady update pace like before.
Thank God, I was able to recover my files from my old laptop. This will continue.
Chapter Fifteen:
Former Vice President Cheney on NBC's popular morning show.
February would prove to be quite the month for former Vice President Cheney, who appears on NBC’s Today Show on the morning of Wednesday, February 1st, for a wide ranging interview intending to publicize his memoirs. Cheney turned heads by unequivocally ruling himself out as a potential presidential candidate in 2008, stating bluntly "not only no, but hell no." But the former Vice President's book tour was continuously interrupted by hecklers as the ongoing Scooter Libby controversy lingered over him, and there was frequent chatter in the media about Cheney's potential precarious position. Libby, Cheney's former Chief of Staff, would go on to be convicted a year later on charges relating to the leaking of classified information to the media. Claiming that he had done so on the orders of Vice President Cheney, Libby was trying to use this information to manipulate the media into supporting the 2003 invasion of Iraq as part of a wider public relations campaign being waged by the Bush White House in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the launch of the War on Terror. Cheney tried to escape the growing legal woes of his former staff by joining a GOP donor on a hunting trip on the estate of former Ambassador Anne Armstrong a few weeks later, but this also ended in disaster after the former Vice President shot and injured his hunting partner, who was rushed via helicopter to the nearest hospital in critical condition.
In Iraq, the war’s fury turned its focus from the American forces towards the civilian population instead. Pushed on the defensive since the start of the surge, Sunni jihadists launched a series of attacks against softer targets with catastrophic results. The historic Al-Askari mosque in Samarra, Iraq, was destroyed by a suicide bomber in one of the most shocking events of the war, for example. In fact, the blast at the mosque was so powerful that it's dome collapsed down upon the worshipers below, killing over a hundred people. A week of intense sectarian violence followed, with 25 American soldiers being killed in various attacks across Iraq. The attack inflamed supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, and it did not help that the fiery invective exhortations of the Iranian Supreme Leader were whipping the Shia population of Iraq into a frenzy. Worse yet was the fact that the Revolutionary Guard under the command of Qasem Soleimani began training militant groups and constructing IEDs to be used against American targets and convoys as part of a more direct and concerted effort to destabilize the government of Iraq and drive the American and Coalition forces out of the region for good.
One issue that arose in February was the Equal Pay debate; the long desired push by women to end the wage gap by prohibiting gender based payroll discrimination had by 2006 become somewhat of a bipartisan issue that enjoyed support even among some conservatives. The bill was introduced by Congresswomen Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Connie Morella (R-MD), quickly gaining bipartisan support as Committee hearings over pay discrepancies in workplaces were scheduled and conducted. While women's groups were delighted by the easy progress of their push to enforce equal pay for equal work and the support coming from all corners of Congress, civil liberties groups were saddened by the partisan gridlock over the impending renewal of the PATRIOT Act. While prominent liberals such as Senators Boxer (D-CA), Feingold (D-WI), and Wyden (D-OR) all spoke out passionately against the act, which authorized extensive government surveillance efforts in the name of counterterrorism efforts. But they had trouble attracting any Republican support at all, particularly in the Senate, where not a single one of their Republican colleagues voiced opposition to the PATRIOT Act's extension. In the House of Representatives, there was some marginal pushback against the reigning neoconservative ideology that defined the politics of the Republican Party, coming from the likes of libertarians like Ron Paul (R-TX) and moderate northeastern Republicans like Wayne Gilchrist (R-MD) among others. Other conservative columnist and commentators, such as Patrick Buchanan and Tucker Carlson, echoed this opposition, but they were drowned out by the reliably pro-war, patriotically charged hawks such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, both whom were practically drunk on post 9/11 jingoism. Using parliamentary tactics and proposing amendments that would water the bill down, the increasingly marginalized opposition to the PATRIOT Act were able to stall the passage of the extension for the time being, but wavering Democrats were likely to ensure its eventual passage.
Congressman Mark Foley, a rising star in Florida politics.
As the November midterms loomed, political jockeying and campaign activity increased. In Florida, Attorney General Charlie Crist - a candidate to succeed term limited incumbent Jeb Bush - announced a lawsuit against the federal government, protesting that the individual mandate imposed by the healthcare bill was unconstitutional. A number of other Republican Governors, including Chris Christie of New Jersey and Rick Perry of Texas, would soon follow in his footsteps. Florida’s Senate race was also heating up, with Congressman Mark Foley and Congressman Adam Putnam competing for the GOP nomination to challenge incumbent Bill Nelson. Up in New York, George Pataki was set to win a fourth term against a weak field of challengers. Westward in Michigan, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard was leading Senator Debbie Stabenow, while down in Virginia, the Democrats divided between the more liberal leaning Richmond Mayor Tim Kaine, progressive minded businessman Harris Miller, and populist former Navy Secretary Jim Webb. Once believed to be endangered incumbents, controversial Senators like George Allen (R-VA) and Rick Santorum (R-PA) were still in contention, though both races remained reasonably close even as the political headwinds seemed to favor the Republican Party.
Congressman Ron Paul - the leading GOP critic of the Iraq War.
By spring, the ideological evolution of the Republican Party in the Kerry era had become increasingly clear; moving beyond neoconservatism, which was effectively discredited after the reelection defeat of President Bush, the Tea Party movement was pulling the needle to the right. The increasingly conservative base of the Republican Party was, by and large, still supportive of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, though a greater number of middle American voters had begun to question further proposed foreign adventurism. At home, the “America First” rhetoric of Pat Buchanan from the 1990s was dusted off and brought into political syndication. Another growing faction of the GOP was the libertarian/free market wing. Some from this small but expanding sliver of the Republican base, like Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, tacked to a socially conservative brand of constitutionalism while others like former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld espoused a more mainstream brand of small government politics. Equally skeptical of the neoconservative foreign policy agenda, though less open to the isolationist agenda of the libertarian purists or the America Firsters within the party, the growing “classical liberal” wing of the party championed a more socially liberal and fiscally conservative course. Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina were notable faces of this faction’s anti-regulation agenda.
With the Republican Party still searching for it's ideological soul following the repudiation of neoconservatism, the few political figures who could bridge these various regional and philosophical divides saw their stature rise within the ranks of the Grand Old Party. But without a Republican President in the Oval Office, and with a relatively unpopular, polarizing, or otherwise boring congressional leadership, the Republican Party lacked an ideological leader who could unite its factions under a common purpose. There was even debate over who exactly defined what is and what wasn’t conservative, with previously respected thought leaders among the conservative intelligentsia being shelved in favor of fresher voices. Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O’Reilly soon found themselves with record viewers, while respected commentators including former Education Secretary Bill Bennett and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich found a second wind. It was during this period that the “Conservative Inc '' brand of political grifters first began to flourish, hawking all variety of books and political causes. Prototype campaigns had existed before (the Swiftboat controversy pushed by Jerome Corsi for example), but the growing access to the internet and technological advances created a wild west atmosphere on the right for the duration of the Kerry presidency.
The new anti-war strain in the Republican Party began to become more vocal, making issues like taxation and budgetary concerns more appealing to middle of the road candidates attempting to appeal to the conservative base. But among independent voters, the wars overseas were more unpopular than ever. Led by the likes of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, a "kook coalition" (as Senator McCain labeled them) in opposition to the continuation of the conflict in Iraq. Joined by Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Walter Jones (R-NC), Dennis Kuinich (D-OH), and Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), and Barbara Lee (D-CA), Paul had authored and introduced a bill which would have required President Kerry to withdraw all American forces from Iraq within 90 days. While the bill was overwhelmingly defeated, some surprise votes in favor of the resolution would come from Congressmen Tom Tancredo (R-CO) and Steve King (R-IA) as well as Louie Gohmert (R-TX). The increasing casualties inflicted in Iraq had begun to blunt the initial perception that the war would be quick and easy; with no clear end yet in sight, many once avidly pro-war right wingers across the country began to turn against the conflict, citing a lack of direction or purpose.
The DREAM Act was introduced to the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Ilena Ros-Lehetin (R-FL) and Congressman Luis Guttierez (D-IL), largely implementing most of the proposals raised by President Kerry. The argument over the DREAM Act was not as polarizing as the healthcare battle, due to its limited scope. Though Congressman Tom Tancredo led the charge against it, the provisions of DACA program were well defined enough for the liking of Speaker Hastert. After a month of debate, attempted amendments, and other minor procedural fights, the bill was passed through the House of Representatives 268-167, with broad support ranging from corporate America to immigrant rights groups. Brought before the Senate by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Betty Castor (D-FL), the tight partisan makeup of the body ensured that the quick process in the House of Representatives would not be replicated as March came to a quiet end.
Senator Betty Castor - a driving force behind the DREAM Act.
Former Senator Mike Gravel announces a longshot primary campaign to President Kerry.
The 2008 election began in earnest as the first major party candidate filed his candidacy with the FEC. Former Senator Mike Gravel, aged 75, announced he would primary President Kerry from the (far) left. Having served in the Senate from 1968 until his 1980 reelection defeat, Gravel was an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, the military-industrial complex, and the threat of the “imperial presidency” to the peace of the world. Though the President dismissed the challenge from Gravel (Press Secretary Dag Vega had never even heard of him until first pressed about the rise of a primary challenger), the Senator delivered his announcement at the National Press Club, generating headlines for showing up alone (having traveled at his own expense) and controversially questioning whether the 9/11 Report was fully factual. But while Gravel was the first, he was not entirely alone.
Though he had not officially announced any intent to run for President, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) planned a challenge of his own. Waiting to be reelected once more from his Cleveland based district, the progressive Congressman had a national presence due in part to his own longshot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 that he could build on. With a far more successful career than Gravel, Kucinich believed his campaign could put New Hampshire into play. Two others were also rumored to be mulling runs of their own - the most notable was The Reverend Al Sharpton, who despite owing hundreds of thousands to the FEC over campaign finance violations, was also making waves and had taken to criticizing the President over the response to Hurricane Katrina. Then there was of course Lyndon LaRouche, who despite a federal prison sentence and advanced age continued forward with his bizarre ideology and cult following. Though only Gravel had announced his campaign, the chatter about a more serious challenger emerging did not abate.
Across the Atlantic, the United Kingdom marks the 80th birthday of the Queen, which is celebrated across the nation without incident despite concerns about terrorism. The government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair had begun the withdrawal of all 8,000 military personnel from Iraq during April, adding to a sense of optimism that boosted and sustained his governing Labor Party in the polls as the United Kingdom celebrated their monarch with a swell of patriotic sentiments. Things are less pleasant further south in Africa, where rebel forces in Chad seize control of N’Djamena from President Idris Ibery, who flees for exile in Paris. All the while, in Thailand, opposition parties announce they will not contest an upcoming election, and encourage citizens not to vote on the grounds that Prime Minister Thaskin Shinawatra is planning to rig the elections in his favor. These events, though important and regionally impactful, are largely overshadowed by events at home, however.
The FBI successfully thwarted a plot to bomb the New York City subway system, arresting three Afghan immigrants and one Pakistani in the process. The stalled attack gives a sense of urgency about the ongoing terroristic threat, resulting in the Senate voting to renew the PATRIOT Act by a vote of 89-11. It later would clear the House of Representatives before the month's end, being passed 385-50. This development was not welcomed by civil liberties activists, who were less than enthusiastic about the President due to his lack of action on rolling back Bush era surveillance programs. The President's decision to sign the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act was seen as a betrayal by some liberal Democrats, who were already disappointed with the Kerry administration's compromise on the healthcare bill.
April 20th saw the opening of the internet based insurance markets, a provisional of the Affordable Care Act. Due to millions of Americans overlogging the website, it quickly crashed and would be offline for several hours, creating a wave of public anger over the confusing and glitchy process. Though the website was eventually back online after twelve hours, there would be continuous crashes and server disruptions that would continue for the duration of the month. Meanwhile, tax rebates had been sent out in the mail as per another provision of the act. But the anticipated checks were far below the cost of a monthly insurance payment, and many lower income Americans with adult children were not eligible for the CHIP “KiddieCare” program. As a result, the ACA’s impact on the average American’s wallet had been seemingly overstated. The process of signing children up for the Medicare “KiddieCare” program was equally arduous and technologically challenged. But in spite of these controversies, Health and Human Services Howard Dean insisted that the problems could be solved by the Department’s IT staffers.
The ACA website was plagued by outages in its early weeks.
By May, the growing problem with the Department of Health and Human Services’s online features had created a number of headaches for the administration. With the promise of an easy and efficient online sign-up system evaporating, American consumers descended in droves upon insurance agencies across the country, waiting in long lines for hours in many cases to sign up for various new programs. At the direction of the President, KiddieCare sign ups were made available in paper forms which were hastily mailed out to families across the country in order to relieve pressure on the online sign up. The massive influx of mail to the Department’s headquarters in Washington created a massive backlog which would take months to work through, yet another example of the federal bureaucracy failing to keep pace with the administration's ambitious domestic agenda. The President was forced to waive all punishments that would otherwise be employed against those who resisted the requirements of the individual mandate as a result of this backlog, despite Press Secretary Dag Vega's almost daily insistence that the situation was being adeptly handled. The crisis further widened the chasm between the President and HHS Secretary Howard Dean, who was ultimately canned at the end of the month in response to his poor handling of the ACA’s implementation. President Kerry nominated former Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) to fill Dean’s former role on Monday, April 24th, 2006, much to the disappointment of progressives.
The fight over the DREAM Act moved forward throughout April; while some self-styled Chicano activists led by organizations such as La Raza Unita pulled off massive “Day without an Immigrant” protests, in which undocumented workers in the United States went on a day long strike to vocalize their role in the economy. The effort failed to make any considerable impact on the general public’s support for the proposed legislation, but it certainly did demonstrate the organizing ability of Hispanic community activist organizations. Having won 53% of the Hispanic vote in 2004, the President believed that galvanizing support among the Latino populace could swing Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and possibly even Texas in his favor in the best case situation. Yet Republican opposition to immigration reform remained relatively strong; despite maverick voices like Senator McCain and establishment favorites like Susan Collins throwing their weight behind the DREAM Act, the Republican base remains stridently against the bill, making its passage all the more of a challenge for President Kerry.
Back in Washington, a scandal was brewing. Congressman Mark Foley, who was locked in a fierce primary battle with fellow Congressman Adam Putnam, was revealed to have been engaged in inappropriate behavior with teenaged male congressional pages. The revelation of numerous sexually suggestive or otherwise explicit emails from Foley to his young aides results in his departure from politics, resigning in shame days later. Foley's fall paves the way for Putnam to cruise to victory in the Republican Senate primary, placing him on an electoral collision course with incumbent Senator Bill Nelson. The Foley scandal is compounded by GOP gubernatorial nominee and Congressman Jim Gibbon of Nevada, who was accused of sexual assault by a waitress. These indiscretions on the part of these Republican incumbents were a boon to Democrats, who until this point in the midterm campaign had been largely on the defensive.
Abroad, Iranian President Ahmadinejad was making noise again, calling for the European Union to drop sanctions against his country. Threatening to withdraw Iran from the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, the new Iranian President went so far as to challenge President Kerry to a personal debate on the issue. Dismissively declining Ahmadinejad's offer, the White House insisted that the American policy towards Iranian nuclear ambitions would remain firmly in place until the regime in Tehran took a more transparent approach and allowed UN weapons inspectors into the country to ensure their nuclear programs were indeed for civilian purposes. But Iran was not alone; North Korea’s nuclear program was also advancing despite American diplomatic pressure, and there was some evidence that they were exporting such technology to nations like Syria. Led by Secretary Holbrooke, the US policy of strategic patience continued in cooperation with other NATO powers and regional partners. But the erratic nature of North Korea's enigmatic dictator Kim Jong Il created a shadow of uncertainty that lingered over the State Department as they carefully assessed the best approach to the North Korean nuclear program.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad and a representative of Kim Jong Il meet in Tehran.
The ruins of Abu al-Zarqawi's compound following the fatal airstrike.
The start of the summer saw two developments related to the War on Terrorism; first was the Royal Canadian Mounted Police thwarting a planned truck bomb attack in Toronto that was inspired by Al Qaeda. The plotters, all of whom were young immigrants from Pakistan, were reportedly just days away from executing the attack when investigators closed in on them, only narrowly avoiding a major tragedy unlike any other in Canadian history. While authorities had success at home when it came to such plots, the hellscape that Iraq had devolved into was nearing its bloody peak as casualties from sectarian violence continued to surge. But while continuous attacks on American and coalition forces in the country hamper counter-terrorism operations, the Islamist movement in the country was dealt a serious blow when Abu al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian born leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed in an airstrike on his compound. The death of al-Zarqawi is a major blow to the insurgency and a key propaganda victory for the United States at a time when the pervasive sense of pessimism over the course of the war was running high.
After a lengthy fight in the House of Representatives, the DREAM Act was passed 225-210, advancing to the Senate. Though the Republican Party overall was largely opposed to the bill due to their opposition to “amnesty,” there remained a significantly vocal minority that was supportive of the administration’s efforts. Led by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), a number of Republican Senators broke rank and voiced their support for the bill. This effort was largely a result of the Arizona Republican’s presidential ambitions, which he had been entertaining since his 2000 campaign was scuttled. Regardless of his motivation, McCain was able to bring Senators Collins (R-ME), Chafee (R-RI), DeWine (R-OH), Domenici (R-NM), Murkowski (R-AK), and Snowe (R-ME) on board in support of the legislation, and his group became known as the “Gang of Six.” The Senate also took up the nomination of Tom Daschle to head the Department of Health and Human Services in June, but his nomination was scuttled by concerns about his tax returns emerged in the press; the former Senate Democratic leader was simply too polarizing in such a partisan atmosphere to push through such an evenly split chamber in any event. After Daschle pulled his name out of consideration, President Kerry instead named Deputy Secretary Mary Wakefield to the position. Confirmation hearings for Wakefield commenced relatively quickly towards the end of the month, with her administrative expertise putting otherwise skeptical Republicans at ease as the federal bureaucracy comes into focus following the healthcare fiasco.
Joe Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, had been a fierce critic of the President’s Iraq policies from the very beginning. With the situation in Iraq growing worse by the day, the Senator was increasingly at odds with the Democratic base over the course of America's future in the conflict. Facing a strong primary challenge from the left in the form of Ned Lamont, Lieberman stunned Washington when he announced his decision to leave the Democratic Party and join the Republicans at a Capitol Hill press conference on the morning of Wednesday, June 14th, 2006. This decision gave the Republicans the one additional seat needed to break the tie in the Senate, resulting in McConnell taking over as the Majority Leader of the Senate. Lieberman’s defection resulted0 in Alan Schleslinger, the Republican Senate candidate, dropping out of the race under pressure from the state GOP, who subsequently nominated Lieberman as their candidate after a meeting of the Connecticut Republican Party’s executive committee. The loss of Joe Lieberman was a crippling blow to the Democratic Party's momentum heading into the midterm elections, with Lieberman - a relatively reliable liberal on social issues for the most part - becoming an in-demand guest on conservative radio shows and on Fox News in the days that followed.
Lieberman’s defection was a big hit for Democratic morale, in spite of his unpopularity among members of the party. The loss of the Senate majority ended Vice President Edwards tie-breaking role, and endangered the passing of the DREAM Act. The Republican Party capitalized on the Lieberman defection by recruiting a number of strong candidates in 2008, including Governor John Hoeven (R-ND) and Congressman Mike Castle (R-DE) among others. As the midterms drew increasingly close, Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)’s leadership as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee was hailed by her colleagues. Though the Republican Party was grappling with the Foley scandal, Dole’s leadership kept her fellow Republicans on message and their campaigns well funded. The unpopularity of both the ACA and the DREAM Act was enough to stoke the fire of the Republican base, which was committed to actualizing Mitch McConnell’s ambition to make John Kerry a one term President.
