576 ChaPter^11
military budget of $612 billion. The U.S. military budget now exceeds the rest
of the world combined and is more than ten times greater than the country
with the next biggest military budget, China. Barack Obama, who pledged
to significantly reduce military spending, especially with the reduction of
troops in the Middle East, still submitted a $500 billion defense budget in
2014, by far the biggest in the world.Barack Obama: “Hope and Change” or More of the Same?
Barack Obama was a virtually-unknown senator from Illinois when he daz-
zled the crowd at the 2004 Democratic Convention with a stirring speech
about American values and America’s future. To millions, especially younger
Americans, he was a reminder of John Kennedy, a similarly handsome young
man with brains and “vigor.” Though Hillary Clinton, the wife of ex-Presi-
dent Bill Clinton and a senator from New York, seemed to be the likely can-
didate, Obama was charismatic and well-organized and won the nomination.
He promised “Hope and Change” for an America weary of war and eco-FIGuRE 11-7 Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden at the
Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C., January 2009