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Dean’s Demise and Taking on Bush

Daniel Kreiss

in Taking Our Country Back: The Crafting of Networked Politics from Howard Dean to Barack Obama

This chapter begins with Dean’s “Sleepless Summer Tour” and ends with Kerry’s defeat at the hands of George W. Bush. Dean’s eight-city tour drew tens of thousands to rallies, revealing the extent of ... More

This chapter begins with Dean’s “Sleepless Summer Tour” and ends with Kerry’s defeat at the hands of George W. Bush. Dean’s eight-city tour drew tens of thousands to rallies, revealing the extent of the candidate’s national support and the power of staffers’ use of the Internet to mobilize supporters across the country. The success of Sleepless Summer provides a revealing contrast to what was happening on the ground in Iowa, which the campaign’s leadership began to realize was seriously flawed. Staffers on the ground in Iowa faced significant data issues and lacked basic tools for organizing volunteers and contacting voters, even as national campaign staffers faced extensive data and systems issues of their own. Ineffective television advertisements left the campaign broke, and Dean had little hope for a better outcome than third. Dean’s highly publicized “scream” that endlessly replayed on national television effectively ended his candidacy. The chapter concludes by following the work of a number of Dean’s staffers and consultants who joined the campaign of John Kerry to work on Internet operations.Less

The Vietnam War as a Christological Crisis

Jonathan H. Ebel

in G.I. Messiahs: Soldiering, War, and American Civil Religion

The American soldier figured prominently in the civil religious crisis of the Vietnam War, both as an interpreter of war and as a symbol of the nation’s moral standing and ethical capacities. This ... More

The American soldier figured prominently in the civil religious crisis of the Vietnam War, both as an interpreter of war and as a symbol of the nation’s moral standing and ethical capacities. This chapter examines governmental and popular presentations of the Vietnam-era soldier and argues that these presentations often featured divergent interpretations of the relationship between the soldier and the government, whose will he embodied. In civil religious terms this was a Christological controversy, paralleling disagreements in the early Church over the precise nature of the incarnation and the saving work of the Christ figure. In the end, the purity of soldierly service and sacrifice was maintained through removal of the stain of compulsion from soldiering for America.Less

2004: The Paradigm Shift

Jennifer Stromer-Galley

in Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age

This chapter examines the practices of the 2004 presidential campaigns. This election cycle exhibits an important shift from the mass-media campaigning paradigm to the networked media campaigning ... More

This chapter examines the practices of the 2004 presidential campaigns. This election cycle exhibits an important shift from the mass-media campaigning paradigm to the networked media campaigning paradigm. Howard Dean’s remarkable rise in the polls and financial success came after capitalizing on the affordances of digital communication technologies (DCTs) for two-step flow. The best illustration of this paradigm shift, though, is in the candidacy of Wesley Clark, which started as a netroots movement, and eventually became a front-runner campaign. The clash between the netroots and a new way of campaigning and the campaign professionals’ historic way of mass-mediated campaigning reveals the paradigm shift. In the meantime, George Bush continued to build a comprehensive data file of offline and online voter behavior for microtargeted messaging; and, John Kerry conducted analytic testing of website design and e-mail messaging features to maximize effects. Both practices were harbingers of future election cycles.Less

Senators Kerry and McCain: Empowering the Commanders in Chief

Ryan C. Hendrickson

in Obama at War: Congress and the Imperial Presidency

This chapter examines the legislative records of Senators John Kerry (D–Mass.) and John McCain (R–Ariz.) related to U.S. war powers. Both senators have long and sustained records of supporting ... More

This chapter examines the legislative records of Senators John Kerry (D–Mass.) and John McCain (R–Ariz.) related to U.S. war powers. Both senators have long and sustained records of supporting presidents who make sweeping claims of constitutional authority for using force. McCain has backed nearly every use of force during his congressional career and has fought against congressional attempts to limit the commander in chief. In his time as a senator, Kerry often voiced his support for congressional war powers and the War Powers Resolution, but in practice he, like McCain, actively backed presidential military ambitions. Assessing these senior senators’ views and actions over a number of presidencies provides greater insight on the war powers interplay during the Obama administration and helps explains how and why Congress has so often abdicated its constitutional and legislative responsibilities to check the commander in chief.Less

Consultants and Presidential Campaigns, 2000 and 2004

Dennis W. Johnson

in Democracy for Hire: A History of American Political Consulting

In 2000, Vice President Al Gore, with the wind at his back, squandered his advantages and lost to George W. Bush and his disciplined team of advisers. Gore was advised by Donna Brazile, Carter Eskew, ... More

In 2000, Vice President Al Gore, with the wind at his back, squandered his advantages and lost to George W. Bush and his disciplined team of advisers. Gore was advised by Donna Brazile, Carter Eskew, Harrison Hickman and Paul Maslin, and Stanley Greenberg. The Republicans were determined not to repeat the mistake of choosing an unelectable candidate like Bob Dole. The senior Bush advisers were Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, and Joe Allbaugh. In 2004 a weakened Bush was able to hold off a strong challenge from John Kerry, thanks in large part to Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman reaching out to Christian conservatives with the same-sex issue and making national security a priority. Howard Dean made great use of online communication and new technologies in his primary campaign. The Kerry team was headed by Robert Shrum. Also important in this race was the Swift Boat anti-Kerry ad campaign.Less

2004: The Paradigm Shift

Jennifer Stromer-Galley

in Presidential Campaigning in the Internet Age

This chapter examines the practices of the 2004 presidential campaigns. This election cycle exhibits an important shift from the mass media campaigning paradigm to the networked media campaigning ... More

This chapter examines the practices of the 2004 presidential campaigns. This election cycle exhibits an important shift from the mass media campaigning paradigm to the networked media campaigning paradigm. Howard Dean’s remarkable rise in the polls and financial largesse came after capitalizing on the affordances of DCTs for two-step flow. The best illustration of this paradigm shift, though, is in the candidacy of Wesley Clark, which started as a “netroots” movement and eventually became a frontrunner campaign. The clash between the netroots and a new way of campaigning and the historically professional way of mass-mediated campaigning illustrates the paradigm shift. In the meantime, George Bush continued to build a comprehensive data file of offline and online voter behavior for microtargeted messaging. And John Kerry conducted analytic testing of website design and e-mail messaging features to maximize effects. Both practices were harbingers of future election cycles.Less

I Could Throw All of You out the Window: The Democrats

Russell Frank

in Newslore: Contemporary Folklore on the Internet

This chapter examines the overlapping newslore about former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the material prompted by the men who followed him as the Democratic Party’s standard bearers including Al ... More

This chapter examines the overlapping newslore about former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the material prompted by the men who followed him as the Democratic Party’s standard bearers including Al Gore and John Kerry. It explains that most jokes about Clinton were about his sexual appetite, particularly his alleged involvement with Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, and Monica Lewinsky. It suggests that the jokes about Democratic presidential candidates Gore and Kerry have something to do with their defeat against George W. Bush despite their intelligence and experience.Less

Religion and the “Outsider” Candidates

Charles F. Irons

in Faith in the New Millennium: The Future of Religion and American Politics

This chapter discusses the ways in which presidential candidates from outside the Protestant mainstream have ironically reinforced Protestant taxonomies of religion and conventions regarding the ... More

This chapter discusses the ways in which presidential candidates from outside the Protestant mainstream have ironically reinforced Protestant taxonomies of religion and conventions regarding the separation of church and state. In the early republic, Thomas Jefferson endorsed a version of secularism that was anything but neutral. Instead, he protected space for specifically Protestant kinds of “religious” activity, namely engagement with texts, an inner transformation, and voluntary association in communities of the faithful. Moreover, Jefferson strove to make “reasonableness” a gauge of “good” or permissible religion, and struck out violently against any attempts to constrain another’s conscience. When twenty-first-century candidates such as Mitt Romney, John Kerry, and even Barack Obama have found themselves in Jefferson’s shoes—as members or representatives of minority religious traditions—they have followed his pattern of advocating for space at the table in a way that only further entrenches Protestant privilege.Less

The Final Inheritance: August 7, 2004—Steilacoom, Washington

Andrew Marble

in Boy on the Bridge: The Story of John Shalikashvili's American Success

The chapter explores General John Shalikashvili’s retirement. After overviewing his continued efforts to help maintain military readiness, care for servicemembers and their families, and improve ... More

The chapter explores General John Shalikashvili’s retirement. After overviewing his continued efforts to help maintain military readiness, care for servicemembers and their families, and improve international security policy, particularly through work with William Perry’s Preventive Defense Project, the chapter highlights how the opportunity to give a speech in support of Senator John Kerry’s nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate was an opportunity to thrust Shalikashvili back onto the national stage. The chapter also details a series of heart-related problems that plagued him in retirement, including one stroke that crippled him in 2004 and the final one that eventually took his life in 2011. The chapter explains the family legacy of heart issues that troubled both sides of his family tree, and details how this “last inheritance” did much to strip away the aspects of family inheritance—self control, diplomacy, and intellect—that helped him achieve his American dream.Less

The Impossible Triangle: Obama-Netanyahu-Abbas

Shlomo Ben-Ami

in Prophets without Honor: The Untold Story of the 2000 Camp David Summit and the Making of Today's Middle East

Obama arrived in the White House with ambitions about America’s reconciliation with the Muslim world, and a historic nuclear deal with Iran. But, his belief that an Israeli-Palestinian peace was ... More

Obama arrived in the White House with ambitions about America’s reconciliation with the Muslim world, and a historic nuclear deal with Iran. But, his belief that an Israeli-Palestinian peace was central to such grand strategic endeavors clashed with Benjamin Netanyahu who refused to see the link. Netanyahu, nonetheless, agreed to engage in talks with the Palestinians. He even agreed to a freeze of settlements expansion. Having failed to achieve any progress during his first term, the President left the Palestinian file in the hands of his second term Secretary of State, John Kerry. A Framework Agreement negotiated through Kerry’s good services ended in failure. Netanyahu agreed to surprisingly bold peace formulae—including an endorsement of the 1967 borders—but Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas refused to accept the proposed Framework for not meeting Palestinian requirements on issues such as refugees, Jerusalem and security. Israeli concerns about the regional context—Iran’s rise and the turmoil of the Arab Spring—did not favor a more forthcoming attitude to a Palestinian peace. Netanyahu’s rightwing coalition’s push for the expansion of settlements was another factor inhibiting progress.Less

America’s War in Iraq: 2003–2005

Timothy Andrews Sayle, Jeffrey A. Engel, Hal Brands, and William Inboden (eds)

in The Last Card: Inside George W. Bush’s Decision to Surge in Iraq

This chapter traces the emerging concerns and contradictory signals reaching George W. Bush up until the end of 2005. Two years after he stood before a banner that read “mission accomplished,” Bush's ... More

This chapter traces the emerging concerns and contradictory signals reaching George W. Bush up until the end of 2005. Two years after he stood before a banner that read “mission accomplished,” Bush's war in Iraq dragged on. Military officials and intelligence analysts warned of a growing insurgency as early as late 2003. Others hoped political developments would slowly, but surely, overtake opposition, bringing peace and stability to the country. Though Iraqi politics frequently concerned the Bush administration, the president had politics of his own to worry about in the fall of 2004. Iraq played a central role in the close-fought election between Bush and Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry. Bush won, and as is commonly the case, key personnel retired or shifted responsibilities for the second term. American public opinion faltered a year after Bush's inauguration, which proved the high point of his second-term popularity. Policy makers in turn feared they would lose political support at home before Iraq itself had time to stabilize. The administration persisted in its basic strategy in Iraq, while attempting to explain it more effectively at home with publication of the National Strategy for Victory in Iraq (NSVI).Less

Elections During Wartime

in In Time of War: Understanding American Public Opinion from World War II to Iraq

Twenty months after the United States led the invasion of Iraq, Americans marched to the polls to cast their votes for president. From the beginning of the 2004 campaign, the Iraq War cast a long ... More

Twenty months after the United States led the invasion of Iraq, Americans marched to the polls to cast their votes for president. From the beginning of the 2004 campaign, the Iraq War cast a long shadow over the election. In the end, George W. Bush, who predicated his electoral strategy on embracing the role of commander in chief, defeated his Democratic opponent, John Kerry, who won the presidential nomination in large part because his military experiences during the Vietnam War made him—at least in theory—an attractive candidate to the American public during a wartime election. This chapter explores how war affects elections, focusing on the wartime elections of the 1940s and the 2000s. Although elections during wartime might, on their face, appear different from elections during times of peace, the underlying structure of choice is rooted in the same normal ebb and flow of domestic politics. This chapter also discusses the 1945 general election in Britain, which saw the Labour Party win over Winston Churchill and the Conservatives.Less

The 2014 Elections

Carter Malkasian

in The American War in Afghanistan: A History

Chapter Seventeen, “The 2014 Elections,” describes the 2014 elections crisis, the ongoing battles in the provinces, and the death of Mullah Omar.

Conclusion

Kenneth L. Marcus

in The Definition of Anti-Semitism

The conclusion explains how anti-Semitism can best be defined with respect to each of the various contexts described above. More broadly, the conclusion demonstrates that a theoretically ... More

The conclusion explains how anti-Semitism can best be defined with respect to each of the various contexts described above. More broadly, the conclusion demonstrates that a theoretically sophisticated definition of this term must fully account for anti-Semitism’s ideological, attitudinal, and practical qualities; its persisting latent structure within Western cultures; its continuities and discontinuities with analogous phenomena; its chimerical quality; its potentially self-fulfilling character; and its role in the construction of Jewish identity. Finally, the conclusion comments on how this analysis can address the various examples that are raised earlier in the volume, such as the Toulouse massacre; the Harvard “One State” conference; the Günter Grass poem, recent incidents at the University of California at Berkeley, Irvine, and Santa Cruz; and the movement to impose boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on Israel; as well as examples involving John Kerry, Bernie Madoff, and Eric Cantor.Less