POLITICAL CLIMATE 2004-2012

POLITICAL CLIMATE 2004-2012

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Political Climate 2004-2012

The United States has undergone significant changes in terms of political maturity between the year 2004 and the year 2012. This can be attributed to the foreign wars and military involvement of the United States as well as the financial crisis and ensuing recession of 2008. in addition, issues such a economic disparities between the rich and the poor in the united states resulted in the calls for change as evident in the 2008 election in the country.

The election and reelection of Barrack Obama was aimed at regulation of foreign policies and curbing the growing national debt (Gans and Mulling 2011, 31). His election was largely attributed to the growth of populism towards issues such as healthcare, national debt and putting a hold on military involvement in foreign countries that has been associated with growing expenditures in the country. The use of social media gained preference among politicians and provided an essential platform for engagement with the electorate on popular issues of concern.

Both President Bush and Obama assumed liberal positions. Bush called for enhanced democracy and freedom for people by fighting terrorism and engaged the country in foreign wars such as in Iraq and Afghanistan (Gans and Mulling 2011, 33). Obama on the other hand has sought to adhere to popular opinion to withdraw the troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan and reduce government expenditure for military involvement in foreign countries.

There has been greater levels of engagement of the youthful population in the country that have been credited for election and subsequent reelection of Obama as president. This has been evident by the large number of internet based electoral activities that he used to gain reelection and prominence with the youth. In addition, this period saw the emergence of the Tea Party that is largely ideologically driven made up of Republican candidates as opposed to the traditional moderate Republicans (Gans and Mulling 2011, 35).

Bibliography

Gans, Curtis, and Matthew Mulling. 2011. Voter turnout in the United States, 1788-2009. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press.