868 Chapter 32 Shocks and Responses: 1992–Present
roars from delighted conservatives. As her joke sug-
gested, Palin was a new type of feminist: a former
beauty queen who hunted and fished; an ardent
defender of traditional family values who pursued an
extravagantly ambitious career.
Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton, now a sena-
tor from New York, emerged as frontrunner. But she
was soon eclipsed by Barack Obama, a first-term sena-
tor from Illinois (see Chapter 31, American Lives,
“Barack Obama,” pp. 824–825). Clinton had voted
for the war in Iraq while Obama opposed it; otherwise
they agreed on most issues. During the primary cam-
paign, Obama exuded an almost serene self-possession
while Clinton often seemed ill-at-ease. Obama won
the Democratic nomination and named Joe Biden, a
senator from Delaware, as his running-mate.
During the general election McCain pointed out
that Obama had failed to serve even a single full term
as U.S. senator: Obama, he claimed, was unqualified
for the presidency. But McCain’s choice of Palin
deprived McCain of his strongest issue. Palin had
served as governor for only two and a half years;
before that she was mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska.
When critics questioned her experience in foreign
affairs, her breezy reply—“You can actually see
Russia from land here in Alaska”—cast doubt on
McCain’s judgment.
Obama criticized the Republican administration
for waging war against Iraq, thereby diverting
resources that might have crushed the main 9/11
culprits: the Taliban in Afghanistan and Osama bin
Laden, who remained at large. Obama proposed
moving troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. He also
advocated a major expansion of federally backed
health care. McCain sought to send more troops to
Iraq: The “war on terror” did not allow retreats. He
also criticized Obama’s health-care proposal as a
major step toward socialized medicine.
McCain, a conservative, accepted public support
to help finance his campaign, while Obama, a liberal,
rejected public financing—the first candidate to do
so. (The campaign finance reform law of 1976, passed
after the Watergate scandal, limited the amount that
could be spent in publicly supported campaigns.)
Obama proceeded to raise a staggering $750 million,
much of it from small contributors, and vastly out-
spent McCain. Obama also demonstrated an ability to
mobilize and energize young people, especially
through new electronic media. (See the introduction
to Chapter 9, pp. 246–247.) By late summer, he was
ahead in the polls.
But as the campaign was heating up, a tremor
rocked the foundations of the global economic system.after the election Bush dismissed Defense Secretary
Rumsfeld, acknowledging voter “displeasure with the
lack of progress in Iraq.” But the president vowed to
remain. “America’s going to stand with you,” Bush
promised Iraqi leaders.
Democrats named Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the
House of Representatives, the first woman to hold
that position. Insofar as the speaker follows the vice
president in chain of succession, Pelosi became the
highest-ranking woman ever to hold office in the
United States. In January 2007, when Bush called for
a modest increase in troop levels in Iraq, Pelosi and
some prominent Democrats opposed the measure.
The Democratic leadership in Congress voted to
reduce funding for the war, actions Bush vetoed.
In January, 2007 Bush named General David
Petraeus to command a“surge”in American troop
levels in Iraq. Petraeus advanced a doctrine summa-
rized by the phrase: clear, hold, and build. The troops
were to remove insurgents from a region, establish
military control over it, and build stronger ties with
the Iraqi people. Initially, Petraeus made little
progress. The losses among American military per-
sonnel mounted (see American Lives, “Four Heroes,”
pp. 866–867). Petraeus shifted more military tasks to
the Iraqis and reduced operations that would likely
lead to high civilian casualties. He also worked to
bring former Sunni leaders into the Iraqi government.
By the spring of 2008, the violence in Iraq had
declined; the “surge” appeared to be working.
2008: McCain v. Obama
By the spring of 2008 John McCain, a Republican
senator from Arizona, was far ahead in the race for
the Republican nomination. McCain had piloted a
navy fighter-bomber during the Vietnam war. After
his plane was shot down over North Vietnam, he was
held as a prisoner-of-war for six years; occasionally he
was tortured. Now seventy-one, McCain if elected
would be the oldest person to serve as a first-term
president. (Reagan was sixty-nine when first elected
president and seventy-three when reelected.)
Although McCain’s positions were similar to those of
Bush, McCain had often criticized the president and
described himself as a “maverick.”
True to his own label, he surprised pundits by
naming Sarah Palin, the little-known governor of
Alaska, as running mate. Her youth (forty-four) coun-
terbalanced McCain’s age. Palin also exhibited a down-
to-earth feistiness. “What’s the difference between a
pitbull and a hockey mom?” she asked during her
acceptance speech. Her reply—“Lipstick”—brought