Bush and Obama Comparison

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction2

Background of the study2

Purpose of the Research3

Hypothesis3

Chapter 2: Literature Review5

Chapter 3: Methodology10

Research Method10

Literature Selection Criteria10

Search Technique10

References12

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background of the study

There's plenty of foreign policy context, but there's no acknowledgment of the fact that Obama's continuation of heightened executive powers does not occur in a vacuum when it comes to heightened executive powers in other policy matters. This is the same president who has expanded the federal government more than any other president has done, all under the banner of responding to an emergency that the legislation in question had little to do with.

Purpose of the Research

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defence with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." (American) Ike, a lifelong military man and the head of the Allied forces during World War II, was not just warning the American people about the military-industrial complex but was trying to motivate Americans to stay informed about our political system and its relationship with the defence industry. Now at the turn of the century Ike's warning has not only come to fruition during the last 20 yrs, but is now at its peak.

Hypothesis

There is, after all, a significant difference between the Bush and Obama Administrations when it comes to playing politics. Whether you like the policies or not—Wehner obviously doesn't—the Obama Administration has laid an awful lot of substance on the table without political garnish, including some pretty difficult stuff, like tax increases, a cap-and-trade program and a stimulus plan that could prove to be too timid or philosophically misguided. Obama is taking a tremendous political risk in pushing for an alternative energy economy that might not prove robust enough to provide the basis for the new prosperity the President has promised.

He is resolutely proceeding with a reasonable, realistic foreign policy that involves diplomacy as well as appropriate military action—the beef-up of forces in Afghanistan, the use of Predators and special ops in Pakistan. He has offered a daily flow of substantive events to promote these programs. Eisenhower left the Whitehouse with a warning for the American people about its future, during his farewell speech he said, "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Generally speaking, the Obama Administration has tweaked and modified a few things on a not-very-significant level. There have been a few major denouncements of things the Bush Administration hadn't done for a few years but was still defending as right. There have been a few minor adjustments. But on each separate item among the 11 policy planks Goldsmith has identified, the changes aren't much, and in some ...