- published: 20 May 2012
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- author: thechicagocouncil
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Austria
Austria (
i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] (
listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: 
Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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Belgium
Belgium (i/ˈbɛldʒəm/ BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speakers, mostly Flemish (about 60%), and the French-speakers, mostly Walloons (about 40%), plus a small group of German-speakers. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government.
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Bulgaria
Coordinates: 42°45′N 25°30′E / 42.75°N 25.5°E / 42.75; 25.5
Bulgariai/bʌlˈɡɛəriə/ (Bulgarian: България, IPA: [bɤ̞ɫˈɡarijɐ]), is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and the Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 14th-largest country. Its location has made it a historical crossroad for various civilisations and as such it is the home of some of the earliest metalworking, religious and other cultural artifacts in the world.
Prehistoric cultures began developing on Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period. Its ancient history was marked by the presence of the Thracians, and later by the Greeks and Romans. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian ethnicity and state dates back to the First Bulgarian Empire, which dominated most of the Balkans and functioned as a cultural hub for Slavic peoples during the Middle Ages. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for nearly five hundred years. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 resulted in the Third Bulgarian State, recognised in 1908. The following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both World Wars. In 1946 it became a Communist republic with a single-party system until 1989, when the Communist Party allowed multi-party elections. After 1990 Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and a market-based economy.
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Cyprus
Cyprusi/ˈsaɪprəs/ (Greek: Κύπρος, Kýpros, IPA: [ˈcipɾos]; Turkish: Kıbrıs, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs]), officially the Republic of Cyprus (Greek: Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία, Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía, IPA: [cipɾiaˈci ðimokɾaˈtia]; Turkish: Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti, IPA: [ˈkɯbɾɯs dʒumhuɾijeˈti]), is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria, Lebanon, northwest of Israel and north of Egypt. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and the Republic of Cyprus is a member state of the European Union.
The earliest known human activity on the island dates back to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, which has been declared a World Heritage Site with an "enhanced protection" status in the event of armed conflict by UNESCO, along with the archaeological sites of Paphos and the Painted Churches of the Troodos Region. Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world.
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Czech Republic
The Czech Republic (i/ˈtʃɛk/ CHEK;Czech: Česká republika, pronounced [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka] ( listen), short form Česko Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛskɔ]) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the north, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. Its capital and largest city, with 1.3 million inhabitants, is Prague.
It is a pluralist multi-party parliamentary representative democracy, a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group.
The Czech state, formerly known as Bohemia, was formed in the late 9th century as a small duchy around Prague, at that time under dominance of the powerful Great Moravian Empire (which reached its greatest territorial extent during the reign of Svatopluk I from the House of Mojmír). After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power was transferred from Moravia to Bohemia, under the Přemyslids. During the rule of Přemyslid dukes/kings and their successors, the Luxembourgs, the country reached its greatest territorial extent (13th–14th century). Life in the country was significantly affected by the Hussite wars, during which it faced economic embargo and crusades from all over Europe. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg monarchy as one of its three principal parts alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) led to the further centralization of the monarchy including forced recatholization and Germanization. During radical reforms in the 18th century the Bohemian Crown was even de facto abolished (1749). In the 19th century the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia which was formed in 1918, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I.
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Denmark
The Kingdom of Denmark (Danish: Kongeriget Danmark, pronounced [ˈkɔŋəʁiːəð ˈdanmɑɡ̊] ( listen)) is a constitutional monarchy and sovereign state consisting the country of Denmark in northern Europe and two autonomous constituent countries, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and Greenland in North America. The kingdom is a unitary state with some power being devolved from Denmark proper to Greenland and the Faroe Islands; this polity is referred to as the Danish Realm. Denmark proper is the hegemonial area, where judicial, executive, and legislative power resides. The Faroe Islands are defined to be a community of people within the kingdom, and the Greenlandic people are defined as a separate people with the right to self-determination.
Denmark is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, located southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland and many islands, most notably Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Falster and Bornholm, as well as hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago.
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Finland
Coordinates: 65°N 27°E / 65°N 027°E / 65; 027
Finlandi/ˈfɪnlənd/ ( Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.
Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities, and an autonomous region of the Åland Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area, which consists of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.
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France
France (Englishi/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km2 / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
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Germany
Germany (i/ˈdʒɜrməni/), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union. It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.
A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, was documented before AD 100. During the Migration Period, the Germanic tribes expanded southward, and established successor kingdoms throughout much of Europe. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation while southern and western parts remained dominated by Roman Catholic denominations, with the two factions clashing in the Thirty Years' War, marking the beginning of the Catholic–Protestant divide that has characterized German society ever since. Occupied during the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of Pan-Germanism inside the German Confederation resulted in the unification of most of the German states into the German Empire in 1871 which was Prussian dominated. After the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the subsequent military surrender in World War I, the Empire was replaced by the Weimar Republic in 1918, and partitioned in the Treaty of Versailles. Amidst the Great Depression, the Third Reich was proclaimed in 1933. The latter period was marked by Fascism and World War II. After 1945, Germany was divided by allied occupation, and evolved into two states, East Germany and West Germany. In 1990 Germany was reunified.
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Greece
Greecei/ˈɡriːs/ (Greek: Ελλάδα, Ellada, IPA: [eˈlaða] ( listen) historically in Katharevousa and Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάς, Hellas, IPA: [eˈlas] and [helːás] respectively), officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Elliniki Dimokratia, IPA: [eliniˈci ðimokraˈtia]), is a country in Southern Europe, politically considered part of Western Europe.Athens is the capital and the largest city in the country (its urban area also including Piraeus). The population of the country is around 11 million.
Greece has land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a vast number of islands (approximately 1,400, of which 227 are inhabited), including Crete, the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, and the Ionian Islands among others. Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest at 2,917 m (9,570 ft).
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Hungary
Hungaryi/ˈhʌŋɡəri/ (Hungarian: Magyarország [ˈmɒɟɒrorsaːɡ] ( listen)) is a country, which is located in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The country's capital, and largest city, is Budapest. Hungary is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD, the Visegrád Group, and is a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian, also known as Magyar, which is part of the Finno-Ugric group and is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.
Following a Celt (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (AD 9 - c. 430) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late 9th century by the Hungarian prince Árpád, whose great-grandson Saint Stephen I was crowned with a crown sent by the pope from Rome in 1000 AD. The Kingdom of Hungary lasted for 946 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centres of the Western world. After about 150 years of partial Ottoman occupation (1541–1699), Hungary was integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy, and later constituted half of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy (1867–1918).
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Italy
Italyi/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
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Latvia
Latviai/ˈlætviə/ (Latvian: Latvija), officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republika), is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia (border length 343 km), to the south by Lithuania (588 km), to the east by the Russian Federation (276 km), to the southeast by Belarus (141 km), and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden. With 2,067,887 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi) it is one of the least populous and least densely populated countries of the European Union. The capital of Latvia is Riga. The official language is Latvian and the currency is called Lats (Ls). The country has a temperate seasonal climate.
The Latvians are a Baltic people, culturally related to the Lithuanians. Together with the Finno-Ugric Livs (or Livonians), the Latvians are the indigenous people of Latvia.Latvian is an Indo-European language and along with Lithuanian the only two surviving members of the Baltic branch. Indigenous minority languages are Latgalian and the nearly extinct Finno-Ugric Livonian language. In terms of geography, territory and population Latvia is the middle of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Latvia and Estonia share a long common history: historical Livonia, times of German (Teutonic Order), Polish-Lithuanian, Swedish, Russian, Nazi German and Soviet rule, 13th century Christianization and 16th century Protestant Reformation. Both countries are home to a large number of ethnic Russians (26.9% in Latvia and 25.5% in Estonia) of whom some are non-citizens. Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant, except for the region of Latgalia in the southeast which is historically predominantly Roman Catholic.
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Leiden University
Leiden University (Dutch: Universiteit Leiden), located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close relationship. The Queens Juliana and Beatrix and crown-prince Willem-Alexander studied at Leiden University. In 2005 Queen Beatrix received a rare honorary degree from Leiden University.
Leiden University has six faculties, over 50 departments and more than 150 undergraduate programmes and enjoys an outstanding international reputation. Shanghai Jiao Tong University's 2011 Academic Ranking of World Universities ranks Leiden University as the 65th best university worldwide. Times Higher Education World University Rankings consistently rank Leiden University as the best university in Continental Europe for Arts and Humanities. The University is associated with at least sixteen recipients of the Nobel Prize. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group, the Europaeum and the League of European Research Universities.
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Lithuania
Lithuania (i/ˌlɪθuːˈeɪniə/ or /ˌlɪθjuːˈeɪniə/; Lithuanian: Lietuva), officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika) is a country in Northern Europe, the largest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark. It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and a Russian exclave (Kaliningrad Oblast) to the southwest. Lithuania has an estimated population of 3.2 million as of 2011, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The Lithuanians are a Baltic people, and the official language, Lithuanian, is one of only two living languages (together with Latvian) in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family.
For centuries, the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea was inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, who was crowned as King of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the first Lithuanian state, on 6 July 1253. During the 14th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe: present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.
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Luxembourg
Luxembourg (i/ˈlʌksəmbɜrɡ/ LUKS-əm-burg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg, Dutch: Groothertogdom Luxemburg), is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland ("good country") in the south. Luxembourg has a population of over half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres (998 sq mi). A representative democracy with a constitutional monarch, it is ruled by a grand duke. It is now the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the world's highest GDP (nominal) per capita according to the IMF. Its historic and strategic importance dates back to its founding as a Roman era fortress site and Frankish count's castle site in the Early Middle Ages. It was an important bastion along the Spanish Road when Spain was the principal European power influencing the whole western hemisphere and beyond in the 16th–17th centuries.
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Malta
Maltai/ˈmɒltə/, officially known as the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta), is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya, with Gibraltar 1,755 km (1,091 mi) to the west and Alexandria 1,508 km (937 mi) to the east. Malta covers just over 316 km2 (122 sq mi) in land area, making it one of the world's smallest states. It is also one of the most densely populated countries worldwide. The de facto capital city of Malta is Valletta; the largest town, Birkirkara. The main island comprises many towns, which together form one Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with a population of 368,250 according to Eurostat. The country has two official languages, Maltese (constitutionally the national language) and English.
Throughout history, Malta's location has given it great strategic importance, and a succession of powers including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Habsburg Spain, Knights of St John, French and the British ruled the islands. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a republic in 1974, whilst retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004. Malta is also party to the Schengen Agreement and in 2008 it became part of the eurozone.
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Netherlands
The Netherlands (
i/ˈnɛðərləndz/; Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdə(r)lɑnt] or [ˈneɪ̯də(r)lɑnt] (
listen); West Frisian: Nederlân; Papiamento: Hulanda) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with some islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague. The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces (a case of pars pro toto; see terminology of "the Netherlands").
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Poland
Polandi/ˈpoʊlənd/ (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska; Kashubian: Pòlskô Repùblika; Silesian: Polsko Republika), is a country in Central Europe, bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi), making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38 million people, which makes it the 34th most populous country in the world and the sixth most populous member of the European Union, being its most populous post-communist member. Poland is a unitary state made up of 16 voivodeships. Poland is a member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Economic Area, International Energy Agency, Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, International Atomic Energy Agency, G6, Council of the Baltic Sea States, Visegrád Group, Weimar Triangle and Schengen Agreement.
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Portugal
Portugali/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula . Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.
The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation state.
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Republic of Ireland
Ireland (/ˈaɪərlənd/ or /ˈɑrlənd/; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. Its capital is Dublin. The population of the state was 4.59 million in 2011. It is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy, with an elected president serving as head of state. In the 1937 constitution, the name of the state is given as simply "Ireland". The Constitution of Ireland (Article 4) and the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 provides that the "Republic of Ireland" (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann) is "the description of the state".
Ireland is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations. A developed country with the seventh highest Human Development Index, Ireland is also highly ranked for press freedom, economic freedom and democracy and political freedom.
The modern Irish state was established in 1922 as the Irish Free State, a dominion within the British Empire, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty which brought an end to the Irish War of Independence. The partition of Ireland had already been provided for in previous British legislation in 1921 in response to opposition to Irish Home Rule or independence by Unionists, who formed a majority in the north-eastern part of the country. Six of the nine counties in the northern province of Ulster were established under that legislation as Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, with which the Irish state shares its only land border. The state is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south east, and the Irish Sea to the east.
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Romania
Romania (i/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Roumania; or Rumania;Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.
At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people.
The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact.
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Rotterdam
Rotterdam (
/ˈrɒtərdæm/; Dutch [ˌrɔ.tər.ˈdɑm] ( listen)) is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam constructed in 1270 on the Rotte River, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre. Its strategic location at the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta on the North Sea and at the heart of a massive rail, road, air and inland waterway distribution system extending throughout Europe is the reason that Rotterdam is often called the "Gateway to Europe".
Located in the Province of South Holland, Rotterdam is found in the west of the Netherlands and at the south end of the Randstad. The population of the city proper was 616,250 on February 1st 2012. The population of the greater Rotterdam area, called "Rotterdam-Rijnmond" or just "Rijnmond", is around 1.3 million people. Rotterdam is one of Europe's most vibrant, multicultural cities. The city is known for its university (Erasmus), its cutting-edge architecture, its lively cultural life, its striking riverside setting, its maritime heritage and the Rotterdam Blitz.
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Slovakia
The Slovak Republic (short form: Slovakiai/sloʊˈvɑːkiə/ or /sləˈvækiə/; Slovak: Slovensko (help·info), long form Slovenská republika (help·info)) is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is the capital, Bratislava, and the second largest is Košice. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, United Nations, OECD and WTO among others. The official language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic language family.
The Slavs arrived in the territory of present day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries during the migration period. In the course of history, various parts of today's Slovakia belonged to Samo's Empire (the first known political unit of Slavs), Principality of Nitra (as independent polity, as part of Great Moravia and as part of Hungarian Kingdom), Great Moravia, Kingdom of Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Habsburg Empire, and Czechoslovakia. A separate Slovak state briefly existed during World War II, during which Slovakia was a dependency of Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1944. From 1945 Slovakia once again became a part of Czechoslovakia. The present-day Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
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Slovenia
Slovenia (i/sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh-VEE-nee-ə, Slovene: Slovenija), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija, [reˈpublika sloˈveːnija]) is a Slavic nation state, situated in South-Central Europe, at the crossroad of main European cultural and trade routes. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million. It is a parliamentary republic, member of the European Union and NATO. Relative to its geography, history, economy, culture, and language, it is a very diverse country distinguished by a transitional character. It is characterised by a high economic and social level. Its capital and largest city is Ljubljana.
The territory of Slovenia is mainly hilly or mountainous and has an exceptionally high landscape and biological diversity and a mosaic structure, which are a result of natural attributes and the long-lasting presence of humans. Four major European geographic units interweave here: the Alps, the Dinaric Alps, the Mediterranean, with a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and the Pannonian Plain. The climate is temperate and significantly influenced by the variety of territory, with a strong interaction of the continental climate, the sub-Mediterranean climate and Alpine climate across most of the country. The country is one of the water-richest in Europe, with a dense river network, a rich aquifer system, and significant karstic underground watercourses. Over half of the territory is covered by forest.
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Spain
Spain (i/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.
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Sweden
Sweden (i/ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən; Swedish: Sverige [ˈsværjɛ] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund.
At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.4 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54 /sq mi) with the population mostly concentrated to the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. Sweden's capital city is Stockholm, which is also the largest city.
Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the 17th and early 18th century. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, practicing "non-participation in military alliances during peacetime and neutrality during wartime". However, Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.
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The Hague
The Hague (Dutch: Den Haag pronounced [dɛnˈɦaˑχ] ( listen), officially 's-Gravenhage pronounced [ˈsχraˑvə(n)ˌɦaˑɣə] ( listen)) is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants (as of 1 September 2011), and more than one million inhabitants including the suburbs, it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation.
The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government and parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State, but the city is not the capital of the Netherlands which constitutionally is Amsterdam. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands lives at Huis ten Bosch and works at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague. Most foreign embassies in the Netherlands and 150 international organisations are located in the city, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, which makes The Hague one of the major cities hosting the United Nations, along with New York, Vienna and Geneva.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
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Abraham Kuyper
Abraham Kuijper (Maassluis, 29 October 1837– Den Haag, 8 November 1920) generally known as Abraham Kuyper, was a Dutch politician, journalist, statesman and theologian. He founded the Anti-Revolutionary Party and was prime minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905.
Kuyper was home schooled by his father, Jan Frederik Kuyper, who was a minister for the Dutch Reformed Church in Hoogmade, Maassluis, Middelburg and Leiden. He had no formal primary education, but received secondary education at the Gymnasium of Leiden.
In 1855 he graduated from the gymnasium and began to, study literature, philosophy and theology at Leiden University. He received his propaedeuse in literature in 1857, summa cum laude, and in philosophy in 1858, also summa cum laude. He also took classes in Arabic, Armenian and physics.
In 1862 he was promoted to doctor in Theology on the basis of a dissertation called "Disquisitio historico-theologica, exhibens Johannis Calvini et Johannis à Lasco de Ecclesia Sententiarum inter se compositionem" (Theological-historical dissertation showing the differences in the rules of the church, between John Calvin and John Łaski). In comparing the views of John Calvin and Jan Łaski, Kuyper showed a clear sympathy for the more liberal Łaski. During his studies Kuyper was a member of the modern tendency within the Dutch Reformed Church.
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Andrus Ansip
Andrus Ansip (born 1 October 1956) is the current Prime Minister of Estonia, and chairman of the market liberal Estonian Reform Party (Estonian: Reformierakond).
Born in Tartu, Ansip graduated from the University of Tartu with a degree in Chemistry in 1979. He worked as an engineer at Tartu State University from 1979–1983 (with a two-year break for mandatory military service). He was an Instructor in the Industry Department and Head of the Organisational Department of the Tartu District Committee of the Estonian Communist Party from 1986–1988. Ansip has been involved in several banking and investment ventures. He has served as a Member of the Board of Directors of the People’s Bank of Tartu (Estonian: Rahvapank), Chairman of the Board of Livonia Privatisation IF, and CEO of Investment Fund Broker Ltd (Estonian: Fondiinvesteeringu Maakler AS). He also has served as Chairman of the board for Radio Tartu.
In 1998, Ansip was elected as Mayor of Tartu as a candidate of the centrist-right Reformierakond (Reform Party), a position which he held until 2004, to great popular acclaim and very high ratings in the opinion polls. He had run in previous elections for the Riigikogu, the Estonian Parliament, but had always given up his seat in order to remain Mayor. He was succeeded by fellow Reform Party member Laine Jänes.
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Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel, German: [aŋˈɡeːla doʁoˈteːa ˈmɛʁkl̩] ( listen); née Kasner (born 17 July 1954) is the Chancellor of Germany and Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Merkel is the first female Chancellor of Germany.
A physical chemist by professional background, Merkel entered politics in the wake of the Revolutions of 1989 and briefly served as the deputy spokesperson for Lothar de Maizière's democratically elected East German government prior to the German reunification. Following reunification in 1990, she was elected to the Bundestag, where she has represented the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since. She served as Federal Minister for Women and Youth 1991–1994 and as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety 1994–1998 in Helmut Kohl's fourth and fifth cabinets. She was Secretary General of the CDU 1998–2000, and was elected chairperson in 2000. From 2002 to 2005, she was also chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary coalition.
After her election as Chancellor following the 2005 federal election, she led a grand coalition consisting of her own CDU party, its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), until 2009. In the 2009 federal election, the CDU obtained the largest share of the votes, and formed a coalition government with the CSU and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP).
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Austria
Austria (i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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Barend Biesheuvel
Barend Willem Biesheuvel (April 5, 1920 - April 29, 2001) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Anti Revolutionary Party (ARP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from July 6, 1971 until May 11, 1973.
He previously served as a Member of the House of Representatives from November 6, 1956 until July 24, 1963. And a Member of the European Parliament from March 7, 1961 until July 24, 1963. He became Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Minister for Suriname and Netherlands Antilles Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister from July 24, 1963 until April 5, 1967 in the Cabinets Marijnen, Cals and Zijlstra. He became the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives from February 16, 1967 until July 6, 1971 and a Member of the House of Representatives from February 23, 1967 until July 6, 1971. After the Dutch general election of 1971, Biesheuvel became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinets Biesheuvel I and II. After the Dutch general election of 1972 Biesheuvel again served as the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives from November 30, 1972 until March 7, 1973 and a Member of the House of Representatives from December 7, 1972 until March 7, 1973
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Ben Knapen
Hubertus Petrus Maria "Ben" Knapen (born January 6, 1951) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He is the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet Rutte serving since October 14, 2010. His portfolio comprises European Union matters, as well as international aid.
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Boyko Borisov
Boyko Metodiev Borisov (Bulgarian: Бойко Методиев Борисов, IPA: [ˈbɔjko mɛˈtɔdiɛf boˈrisof]; born 13 June 1959) is a Bulgarian politician who has been Prime Minister of Bulgaria since July 2009. Previously he was Mayor of Sofia from 8 November 2005 until his election as Prime Minister.
After his party, GERB, won the July 2009 parliamentary election, Borisov became Bulgaria's 50th Prime Minister on 27 July 2009.
Borisov was born in 1959 in Bankya (then a village, today a town part of greater Sofia) to Ministry of Internal Affairs official Metodi Borisov and elementary school teacher Veneta Borisova. Between 1982 and 1990, he assumed different positions in the Ministry of Internal Affairs as a firefighter and later as a professor at the Police Academy in Sofia. As a National Security Office member, Borisov took part in the protection of crops and haylofts during the name-changing campaign towards ethnic Turks in the 1980s. He quit the Ministry in 1990. In 1991 he founded a private security company, Ipon-1, and later guarded personalities like Todor Zhivkov and Simeon II. Borisov has been actively participating in karate championships since 1978, serving as the coach of the Bulgarian national team and a referee of international matches. He currently has a 7th dan black belt in karate and is the chairman of the Bulgarian Karate Federation. Borisov has also been a coach for the Bulgarian national karate team for many years.
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Dalia Grybauskaitė
Dalia Grybauskaitė (pronounced [ˈdaːlʲæ ɡʲrʲiːbɒʊsˈkaɪtʲeː], born 1 March 1956) is the current President of Lithuania, inaugurated on 12 July 2009. She had previously been Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Finance Minister, and European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget. Often referred to as the "Iron Lady" or the "Steel Magnolia", Grybauskaitė is Lithuania's first female head of state.
Grybauskaitė was born on 1 March 1956 in a working-class family in Vilnius. Her mother, Vitalija Korsakaitė (1922–1989), was born in the Biržai region and worked as a saleswoman; her father, Polikarpas Grybauskas (1928–2008), worked as an electrician and driver. Grybauskaitė attended Salomėja Nėris High School. She has described herself as not among the best of students, receiving mostly fours in a system where five was the highest grade. Her favourite subjects were history, geography and physics.
Grybauskaitė began participating in sport at the age of eleven, and became a passionate basketball player. At the age of nineteen, she worked for a year at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society as a staff inspector. She then enrolled in Saint Petersburg State University, then known as Zhdanov University, as a student of political economy. At the same time, she began working in a local factory. In 1983, Grybauskaitė graduated with a citation and returned to Vilnius, taking a secretarial position at the Academy of Sciences. Work in the Academy was scarce, however, and she moved to the Vilnius Party High School, where she lectured in political economy and global finance. Between 1983 and 1990 she was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In 1988, she defended her PhD thesis at Moscow's Academy of Social Sciences of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (now the Russian Academy of State Service).
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David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron (pronunciation: /ˈkæmərən/; born 9 October 1966) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. He represents Witney as its Member of Parliament (MP).
Cameron studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Oxford, gaining a first class honours degree. He then joined the Conservative Research Department and became Special Adviser to Norman Lamont, and then to Michael Howard. He was Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications for seven years.
He was defeated in his first candidacy for Parliament at Stafford in 1997, but was elected in 2001 as the Member of Parliament for the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney. He was promoted to the Opposition front bench two years later, and rose rapidly to become head of policy co-ordination during the 2005 general election campaign. With a public image of a youthful, moderate candidate who would appeal to young voters, he won the Conservative leadership election in 2005.
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Dimitris Christofias
Demetris Christofias (also spelled Dimitris Christofias) , Greek: Δημήτρης Χριστόφιας, Φασίστας, (born 29 August 1946) is a left-wing Greek Cypriot politician who has been the sixth President of Cyprus since 2008. Christofias was the General Secretary of AKEL and is Cyprus's first, and the European Union's first and so far only, communist head of state. He won the 2008 Cypriot presidential elections in the second round of voting. Throughout the election campaign, he pledged to restart talks with Turkish Cypriots in order to find a solution to the Cyprus dispute and reunify the island. He has also supported the closure of the British military bases on Cyprus.
Christofias was born on 29 August 1946 in the village of Dhikomo, Kyrenia. Christofias became involved in leftist politics early in his youth and held several positions with the youth movement of AKEL (the Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus). His father, who died in 1987, was a builder, member of the Pancyprian Federation of Labour (PEO).
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Dirk Jan de Geer
Jonkheer Dirk Jan de Geer (14 December 1870 – 28 November 1960) was a Dutch nobleman, lawyer, conservative statesman and prime minister of the Netherlands (1926–1929, 1939–1940). He was disgraced for advocating a peace settlement between the Kingdom and Nazi Germany in 1940.
Born in Groningen, he was a descendant of the de Geer family painted by Rembrandt. After receiving his doctorate in law in 1895, De Geer worked as a journalist and acted as town councillor of Rotterdam (1901–1907). He served as a Christian Historical (CHU) member of Parliament.
De Geer was a stable and respected politician before the war. After the end of the fifth cabinet of Colijn he was asked to form a government. However, he was not suited for the role of prime minister of a nation at war as he knew himself. When the Germans attacked the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, the situation soon became very serious. Because of this the government decided to flee to London.
When in London, De Geer advocated negotiating a separate peace between the Netherlands and the Third Reich. He damaged the Dutch government and the Dutch morale by openly stating that the war could never be won. He was finally removed from office on the instigation of the iron-willed Queen Wilhelmina, and replaced by Gerbrandy.
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Dries van Agt
Andreas Antonius Maria "Dries" van Agt (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈdris fɑn ˈɑxt]; born February 2, 1931) is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from December 19, 1977, until November 4, 1982.
He previously served as Minister of Justice from July 6, 1971 until September 8, 1977 in the Cabinets Biesheuvel I, II and Den Uyl. And Deputy Prime Minister from May 11, 1973 until September 8, 1977 in the Cabinet Den Uyl. He resigned as Minister of Justice and Deputy Prime Minister to become the first Christian Democratic Appeal Party leader and the first Parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal in the House of Representatives which he served from May 26, 1977 until December 19, 1977 and a Member of the House of Representatives from June 8, 1977 until December 19, 1977. Van Agt became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinets Van Agt I, II and III. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for his Third cabinet.
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Ed Nijpels
Eduardus Hermannus Theresia Maria (Ed) Nijpels (born 1 April 1950, Den Helder) is a Dutch politician.
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Elio Di Rupo
Elio Di Rupo (French pronunciation: [eljo di ʁypo]; b. 18 July 1951) is a Belgian socialist politician of Italian heritage. He is the Prime Minister of Belgium, and leader of the Socialist Party (PS). He became Prime Minister on 6 December 2011 and heads the Di Rupo I Government. Elio Di Rupo is the first francophone to hold the office since Paul Vanden Boeynants in 1979, as well as the country's first socialist Prime Minister since Edmond Leburton left office in 1974. He is also the first Belgian Prime Minister of non-Walloon or Flemish descent as well as the only openly gay leader of a European Union country.
Di Rupo is the son of two Italian immigrants. His father was born in San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore in the region of Abruzzo. Elio is the only child who was born in Belgium; his brothers and sisters were all born in Italy. When he was one year old, his father died in a car crash and his illiterate Roman Catholic mother was unable to raise all seven children. Because of financial reasons, three children were raised in the orphanage nearby.
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Enda Kenny
Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish Fine Gael politician, and has been the Taoiseach since 2011. He has led Fine Gael since 2002. He served as Minister for Tourism and Trade from 1994 to 1997. He is also a two-term Vice President of the European People's Party.
Kenny has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Mayo since 1975, having succeeded his father Henry Kenny. He is the longest-serving TD currently in Dáil Éireann, which makes him the incumbent Father of the Dáil.
Kenny led Fine Gael in the 2011 general election. He subsequently brokered an agreement with the Labour Party and formed a coalition government on 9 March 2011. He is Fine Gael's first Taoiseach since John Bruton from 1994 to 1997, and the first Fine Gael leader to win government in an election since Garret FitzGerald in 1982.
Enda Kenny was born in the village of Islandeady near Castlebar, County Mayo in 1951, the third child of five. He was educated locally at St. Patrick's National School in Cornanool and St. Gerald's College (De La Salle) in Castlebar. Kenny subsequently attended St Patrick's College of Education in Dublin and University College Galway. He briefly worked as a primary school teacher, and is a Gaeilgeoir.
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Frank de Grave
Franciscus Hendrikus Gerardus (Frank) de Grave (born 27 June 1955, Amsterdam) is a Dutch politician.
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Frans Weekers
Frans Hubertus Henricus Weekers (born October 17, 1967) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He is the State Secretary for Finance in the Cabinet Rutte serving since October 14, 2010. He previously served as a Member of the House of Representatives from May 19, 1998 until May 23, 2002 and again from June 3, 2003 until October 14, 2010. January 30, 2003 until October 14, 2010.
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Fred Teeven
Fredrik "Fred" Teeven (born August 5, 1958) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He is the State Secretary for Security and Justice in the Cabinet Rutte since October 14, 2010.
He served as the parliamentary leader of the Livable Netherlands party in the House of Representatives from May 16, 2002 until January 30, 2003, and a Member of the House of Representatives for that party from July 22, 2002 until May 27, 2003. He again returned to the House of Representatives as a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, serving from November 30, 2006 until October 14, 2010 when he became the State Secretary for Security and Justice in the Cabinet Rutte.
Fredrik Teeven born August 5, 1958 in Haarlem. He studied at the Vrije Universiteit and the University of Twente. And worked as a prosecutor, Teeven was known as a crimefighter, since he has led many investigations into organised crime. Teeven was involved in the prosecutions of Desi Bouterse, Mink Kok, Johan Verhoek, and Willem Holleeder. He is known to make deals with criminals to get evidence to prosecute individuals higher up in the criminal hierarchy.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt
John Fredrik Reinfeldt (pronounced [ˈfreːdrɪk ˈrajnˌfɛlt] ( listen); born 4 August 1965) is the Prime Minister of Sweden, leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party and former President of the European Council.
A native of Stockholm County, Reinfeldt joined the Moderate Youth League in 1983, and by 1992 had risen to the rank of chairman, a position he held until 1995. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1991, representing his home constituency. Following the 1994 defeat of the Moderate-led coalition government, Reinfeldt adopted a critical stance against the party leadership under Carl Bildt, which resulted in isolation within the party. However, following a change of leadership in 1999 and a bad result in the 2002 election, Reinfeldt gradually gained influence within the Moderate Party.
Reinfeldt was elected party leader on 25 October 2003, succeeding Bo Lundgren. Under his leadership, the Moderate Party has transformed its policies and oriented towards the centre, branding itself "the New Moderates" (Swedish: Nya moderaterna). Following the general elections held on 17 September 2006, Reinfeldt was elected Prime Minister by the new parliament on 5 October and presented his cabinet the following day. Together with the three other political parties in the centre-right Alliance for Sweden, Reinfeldt presides over a coalition government with the support of a narrow majority in the parliament. At the age of 41, he was the third youngest person to become Prime Minister of Sweden. After the 2010 election Reinfeldt's government was reduced to a minority government but also becoming the first centre-right government since before World War II to be re-elected, making Reinfeldt the first Moderate politician elected to two consecutive terms as Prime Minister. He is also the longest-serving Moderate Prime Minister in Swedish history.
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Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣɪːrt ˈʋɪldərs] or [ˈʝɪːrt ˈβ̞ɪldərs], born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch right-wing politician and the founder and leader of the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid – PVV), the third-largest political party in the Netherlands. Wilders is the Parliamentary group leader of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives. In the formation in 2010 of the current Rutte cabinet, a minority cabinet of VVD and CDA, he actively participated in the negotiations, resulting in a "support agreement" (gedoogakkoord) between the PVV and these parties, but withdrew his support in April 2012, citing disagreements with the cabinet on proposed budget cuts. Wilders is best known for his criticism of Islam, summing up his views by saying, "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam". Wilders' views regarding Islam have made him a deeply divisive figure in the Netherlands and abroad.
Raised a Roman Catholic, Wilders left the church at his coming of age. His travels to Israel as a young adult, as well as to neighbouring Arab countries, helped form his political views. Wilders worked as a speechwriter for the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie – VVD), and later served as parliamentary assistant to party leader Frits Bolkestein from 1990 to 1998. He was elected to the Utrecht city council in 1996, and later to the House of Representatives. Citing irreconcilable differences over the party's position on the accession of Turkey to the European Union, he left the VVD in 2004 to form his own party, the Party for Freedom.
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Gerd Leers
Gerardus Bernardus Maria "Gerd" Leers (born July 12, 1951) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He has been the Minister for Immigration, Integration and Asylum Affairs since October 14, 2010 in the Cabinet Rutte. He was a member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands between September 1990 and February 2002. He became Mayor of Maastricht in 2002, but he resigned following an affair concerning a holiday villa project in Byala, Varna Province in Bulgaria.
On September 4, 1990 Leers became a Member of the House of Representatives. He was a member of the permanent parliamentary commission for transport and water management. The political peak in his House of Representatives period was the Betuwe route, of which Leers was a strong proponent. However, he was also involved in a construction fraud scandal.
Leers became Mayor of Maastricht on February 1, 2002 after Karl Dittrich withdrew his candidacy. In 2008, he stood for mayor of The Hague and of Rotterdam. As mayor Leers took strict measures, such as the raid on the travellers camp Vinkenslag and stopping the subsidy to the football club MVV. He also was against amnesty for failed asylum seekers. In late 2004 Leers was chosen as best mayor of the Netherlands. This choice came after a conflict with the civil service, after heavy criticism from Leers.
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Gerrit Zalm
Gerrit Zalm (born May 6, 1952) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He served as Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister from May 27, 2003 until February 22, 2007 in the Cabinets Balkenende II and III. He served earlier as Minister of Finance in the Cabinets Kok I and II from August 22, 1994 until July 22, 2002. After his term as Minister of Finance ended in 2002 he was selected by the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy to succeed retiring Party leader and Parliamentary leader in House of Representatives Hans Dijkstal. He served in this position for a full year for before becoming Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Balkenende II.
He was the longest serving Minister of Finance in the History of the Netherlands and has been responsible for numerous reforms of the Economy of the Netherlands. He retired from politics after the completion of the term of the Cabinet Balkenende III.
On February 28, 2009 he was named as the CEO of the newly government owned bank ABN AMRO.
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Hans Hillen
Johannes Stefanus Joseph "Hans" Hillen (born June 17, 1947) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He is the current Minister of Defence in the Rutte cabinet.
Hillen studied sociology at Utrecht University. He has been a (sports) journalist for the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), teacher and civil servant (in the eighties he was spokesman of minister of Finance Onno Ruding and defender of his outspoken budget cuts) before entering in politics
From 1990 till 2002 he was a member of the House of Representatives and from 2007 till 2010 a member of the Senate. Since 14 October 2010 he's minister of Defence. He is in favor of a strong defence and close ties with NATO.
From 2003 till 2007 Hillen was president of CVZ, the Dutch council for the healthcare, and from 2005 till 2010 a member of the executive board of the Dutch employers' organization VNO-NCW. He also did some writing, he wrote columns for Elsevier and Katholiek Nieuwsblad.
Furthermore he is involved in the Edmund Burke Foundation, a Dutch conservative think tank. In 2004 he left the advisory council because a conflict of opinion with prominent co-member Bart Jan Spruyt, who wanted to found a new political party with Geert Wilders.
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Hans Hoogervorst
Hans Hoogervorst (born 19 April 1956 in Haarlem) is a Dutch political and business figure. He is chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board.
Hoogervorst was the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport of the Netherlands between May 2003 and February 2007. His previous positions in the Dutch government include Minister of Finance (2002–2003) and State Secretary (Deputy Minister) of Social Affairs and Employment (1998–2002).
After completing his secondary education, he studied history at the University of Amsterdam, graduating in 1981. He then went on to obtain a Master of Arts degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University SAIS in Washington, D.C. in 1983.
From 1983 to 1986 Hoogervorst worked as an international banking officer with the National Bank of Washington (Washington, D.C.) and from 1986 to 1987 as a policy officer for international monetary affairs at the Dutch Ministry of Finance. From 1988 to 1994 he was a policy assistant on finance to the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) parliamentary party in the House of Representatives and from 1994 to 1998 a Member of Parliament.
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Hendrikus Colijn
Hendrikus (Hendrik) Colijn (22 June 1869 – 18 September 1944) was a Dutch soldier, businessman and politician.
He was born in 1869 in the Haarlemmermeer to Antonie Colijn and Anna Verkuijl, who had migrated to the newly created Haarlemmermeer polder from the Land of Heusden and Altena for religious reasons. He was the first of six children - all of whom were born in Haarlemmermeer. Colijn grew up in the Land of Altena.
At the age of 16, he went to a Military Academy in Kampen for officer training, where he graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1892. In 1893, he married Helena Groenenberg and was sent to the Dutch East Indies. During his 16 years in the Dutch East Indies, he spent ten years in the Colonial Army, serving in the Aceh War as the lieuteant of J. B. van Heutsz, and six further years in the Colonial administration, having the same role towards van Heutsz when the latter became Governor General in 1904.
Colijn's letters to his wife from his period on Lombok reveal his participation in acts of brutality which by modern standards would be considered severe war crimes:
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Henk Bleker
Hinderk "Henk" Bleker (born 26 July 1953) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He is the State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation in the Cabinet Rutte serving since 14 October 2010. He previously served as the Party Chair of the CDA from 20 June 2010 until 14 October 2010.
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Henk Kamp
Henricus Gregorius Jozeph "Henk" Kamp (born July 23, 1952) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He is the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment since October 14, 2010 in the Cabinet Rutte.
He previously served as a Member of the House of Representatives from May 17, 1994 until July 22, 2002 when he became Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in the Cabinet Balkenende I, Kamp became acting Minister of Defense following the resignation of Benk Korthals on December 12, 2002 and remained as Minister of Defense in the successive Cabinets Balkenende II and III, he was succeed as Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment on May, 27 2003 by Sybilla Dekker at the inauguration of the Cabinet Balkenende II. After the Dutch general election of 2006 the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy became a opposition party and Kamp returned to the House of Representatives on November 30, 2006. He stepped down as a Member of the House of Representatives on December 18, 2008 after he was named as Commissioner of the Netherlands Antilles to lead the Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, he took office on January 1, 2009 and left October 10, 2010 the day the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved. Following the Dutch general election of 2010 the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy became the largest party in the House of Representatives and after the cabinet formation the Cabinet Rutte was formed and Kamp became Minister of Social Affairs and Employment.
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Herman Van Rompuy
Herman Achille Van Rompuy (pronounced [ˈɦɛɾmɑn vɑn ˈɾɔmpœy] ( listen); born 31 October 1947) is the first long-term and full-time President of the European Council (until the Treaty of Lisbon, the position had rotated among the prime ministers of the member states for six months each, since then they choose a President of their meetings for a 2½ year period, renewable once). This is an unelected position. A Belgian politician of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party, Van Rompuy served as the 49th prime minister of Belgium from 30 December 2008 until his predecessor (Yves Leterme) succeeded him on 25 November 2009. He has the Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold.
On 19 November 2009 Van Rompuy was elected by the members of the European Council as the first full time President of the European Council under the Treaty of Lisbon. He was appointed to chair the institution for the period starting from 1 December 2009 until 31 May 2012, though he only took up his position officially on 1 January 2010. On 1 March 2012 Herman Van Rompuy was re-elected by the heads of state or government of the 27 EU member states. His second term will last two and a half years, from 1 June 2012 to 30 November 2014.
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Ivo Opstelten
Ivo Willem Opstelten (born January 31, 1944) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He is the Minister of Security and Justice in the Cabinet Rutte since October 14, 2010.
He has served as Mayor of seven different Municipalities. Most recently as Acting Mayor of Tilburg from November 4, 2009 until July 16, 2010. He was Mayor of Utrecht from November 1, 1992 until February 16, 1999 when he became Mayor of Rotterdam which he served for nearly ten years until January 1, 2009. He was the Party Chair of People's Party for Freedom and Democracy between March 31, 2008 and October 14, 2010.
He studied law at Leiden University, where he specialised in constitutional and public law. He graduated end 1969 and worked from 1970 to 1972 at the municipality of Vlaardingen, before starting a long-term career as Mayor.
In 1972 he began as Mayor of Dalen, at the age of 28 the youngest Mayor of the Netherlands. In 1977 he became Mayor of Doorn. In 1980 he became the Mayor of Delfzijl, in 1983 he became Acting Mayor of Beerta because of the pregnancy of Mayor Hanneke Jagersma, a position he held for four months. In 1992 he made the switch to the fourth largest Municipality of the Netherlands Utrecht. In 1999 he was nominated as Mayor of Rotterdam the second city of the Netherlands. In 2002 he was praised for his handling of the aftermath of the assassination of politician Pim Fortuyn. He served as Mayor of Rotterdam for ten years. He resigned on January 1, 2009. He was succeeded by Ahmed Aboutaleb. On March 31, 2008 he was elected as the new Party Chair of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. On November 6, 2009 it was announced by Wim van de Donk, the Queen's Commissioner of North Brabant, that Opstelten had accepted the position as Acting Mayor of Tilburg after Mayor Ruud Vreeman's resignation was sought by the City council of Tilburg.
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Jacob de Kempenaer
Jacobus Mattheüs de Kempenaer (6 July 1793, Amsterdam – 12 February 1870, Arnhem) was a lawyer and politician in Arnhem, where he served as Chairman of the Board of Commerce, a Member of the Board of Arnhem and a Member of the Provincial States of Gelderland.
In the House of Representatives de Kempenaer was considered a liberal, and in 1844 he was among the nine men who initiated the amendment to the Constitution of the Netherlands. De Kempenaer was appointed to the Constitution Commission headed by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke in 1848, and as Minister of the Interior and de facto Prime Minister he played an important role in the creation of the revision of the Constitution. Having resigned his offices in 1849, de Kempenaer subsequently became a conservative, in opposition to Thorbecke.
De Kempenaer was married in Haarlem on August 19, 1818 to Dina Arnoldies Gerlings Jacoba (1796-1871). They had three sons and three daughters.
Nederland's Patriciaat, 39 ('s-Gravenhage 1953), 155. NP
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Jan de Quay
Jan Eduard de Quay (August 26, 1901 - July 4, 1985) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from May 19, 1959 until July 24, 1963.
He previously served as Minister of War from April 4, 1945 until June 24, 1945 in the Cabinet Gerbrandy III. He became Queen's Commissioner of North Brabant serving from November 1, 1946 until May 19, 1959. After the Dutch general election of 1959, de Quay became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinet De Quay. And as acting Minister of Defence from August 1, 1959 until September 4, 1959 following the resignation of Sidney J. van den Bergh.
After his premiership, De Quay remained in active politics and became a Member of the Senate from June 25, 1963 until November 22, 1966 when he became Minister of Transport and Water Management and Deputy Prime Minister in the caretaker Cabinet Zijlstra serving from November 22, 1966 until April 5, 1967. He became again a Member of the Senate serving from June 13, 1967 until September 16, 1969.
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Jan Heemskerk
Jan Heemskerk Abrahamszoon (30 July 1818 – 9 October 1897) was a Dutch politician, who became the prime minister of the Netherlands in 1874 until 1877, and again in 1883, until 1888. His son, Theo Heemskerk was also prime minister, in the period 1908-1913.
Heemskerk was born in Amsterdam in 1818. He studied law and became a lawyer, then a member of the House of Representatives. Originally he was a liberal politician, but became conservative, and was conservative when he was prime minister. He died in The Hague in 1897 at the age of 79.
Heemskerk's published works include
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Jan Jacob Rochussen
Jan Jacob Rochussen (23 October 1797 – 21 January 1871) was a Dutch politician. He served as Finance Minister from 1840 to 1843 and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1845 to 1851. He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 18 March 1858 to 23 February 1860.
Rochussen was born in the town of Etten, North Brabant, on 23 October 1797 to Jan Rochussen, a member of the provincial government, and his wife. In 1815 Rochussen served in a volunteer corps against Napoleon's armies.
Rochussen found employment as a tax collector in Schiedam, South Holland beginning in 1814. Over the next twelve years he served as tax collector in 's-Hertogenbosch, Rotterdam, and later Amsterdam. He was then selected as secretary at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, serving from 22 January until 10 August 1826. Leaving the chamber, he worked at an entrepôt - a trading post for the import and export of goods without paying duties - and eventually managed it from 18 July 1828 until 31 July 1840. It was during his time at the entrepôt that Rochussen found the favour of King William I; Rochussen later served as the king's adviser and became close to him.
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Jan Peter Balkenende
Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjɑn ˈpetər ˈbɑlkənˌɛndə] ( listen)) (born May 7, 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from July 22, 2002 until October 14, 2010.
He previously served as a Member of the House of Representatives from May 19, 1998 until July 22, 2002. After then CDA Party leader and Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives Jaap de Hoop Scheffer stepped down after a internal power struggle, between him and then CDA Party Chair Marnix van Rij. Balkenende succeed him in both positions, and became the CDA Lijsttrekker for the Dutch general election of 2002. The CDA became the surprising winner of the election, gaining 14 seats (from 29 to 43) and becoming the largest party in the House of Representatives. This success was in part owed to Balkenende and to his neutral attitude in the debate with LPF leader Pim Fortuyn, for not having participated in the supposed ‘demonization’ by the political Left. Fortuyn was assassinated during the national election campaign on May 6, 2002.
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Janez Janša
Ivan Janša (born 17 September 1958), baptized and best known as Janez Janša, is a Slovenian politician who has been Prime Minister of Slovenia since February 2012. He served as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2008, and has led the Slovenian Democratic Party since 1993. Janša was Minister of Defense from 1990 to 1994, holding that post during the Slovenian War of Independence (June–July 1991).
Born to a Roman Catholic working-class family of Grosuplje, he was called Janez (a version of the same name, known as John in English) since childhood. His father was a member of the Slovenian Home Guard from Dobrova near Ljubljana who had escaped Communist retaliation due to his young age. Janez graduated from the University of Ljubljana with a degree in Defence Studies in 1982, and became a trainee in the Defence Secretariate of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. In his younger years, he was a member of the League of Communists and one of the leaders of its youth wing. He became president of the Committee for Basic People's Defence and Social Self-Protection of the Alliance of Socialist Youth of Slovenia (ZSMS).
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Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Juncker (Luxembourgish: [ʒ̊ɑːŋ kloːd ˈjʊŋkɐ]; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourg politician, 23rd and current Prime Minister of Luxembourg since 20 January 1995. He is the longest-serving head of government of any European Union state, and the longest-serving democratically elected current head of any government in the world. He has been President of the Euro Group, the political control over the euro currency, since the creation of a semi-permanent position in 2005.
Elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Christian Social People's Party in 1984, Juncker was immediately promoted to Jacques Santer's cabinet as Minister for Work. He was Luxembourg's Minister for Finances from 1989 to 2009, and became Prime Minister when Santer became President of the European Commission in 1995. In his capacity of Prime Minister, he also served two six-month terms as President of the European Council, in 1997 and 2005.
Juncker was born in Redange and spent most of his childhood in Belvaux. His father had fought in World War II after being forcibly recruited into the Wehrmacht, and was a steelworker and a member of the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions. Juncker studied at Clairefontaine in Belgium before returning to Luxembourg to attain his baccalaureate in the Lycée Michel Rodange. Around that time, in 1974, he joined the Christian Social People's Party. Juncker went on to study law at the University of Strasbourg, attaining a Master of Law degree in 1979. Although he was sworn in to the Luxembourg Bar Council in 1980, he never practised as a lawyer.
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Jelle Zijlstra
Jelle Zijlstra (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjɛlə ˈzɛilstrɐ]; August 27, 1918 – December 23, 2001) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Anti Revolutionary Party (ARP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from November 22, 1966 until April 5, 1967.
He previously served as Minister of Economic Affairs from September 2, 1952 until May 19, 1959 in the Cabinets Drees III, IV and Beel II. He had a short stint as a Member of the House of Representatives from July 3, 1956 until October 3, 1956 and as the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives from June 14, 1956 until October 3, 1956. He became Minister of Finance from December 22, 1958 until July 24, 1963 in the Cabinets Beel II and De Quay. He served as a Member of the Senate from June 25, 1963 until November 22, 1966. Zijlstra became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the caretaker Cabinet Zijlstra and dual serving as Minister of Finance.
After his premiership, Zijlstra; A successful economist became the President of the Central Bank of the Netherlands serving from May 1, 1967 until January 1, 1982. He was widely respected for his expertise and integrity. On April 30, 1983 he was granted the honorary title of Minister of State, which he held until his death,
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Jelleke Veenendaal
Jelleke Veenendaal (born 15 December 1953 in Alkmaar) is a Dutch politician and member of House of Representatives for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). She was one of the three candidates in the 2006 VVD leadership election, but obtained only 803 votes (3%).[citation needed]
After attending a public elementary school in Utrecht, Veenendaal attended MULO. She graduated in 1971 specializing in the sciences. She worked for a development cooperation NGO in Frankfurt between 1971 and 1974. She continued to study for medical analyst at MBO-level, graduating in 1976. She took several jobs as a medical analyst in 1978-1979. She then endeavoured in travel, and had management functions with several foreign travel organisations, in the period 1979-1983. In 1984 she returned to the Netherlands, working as a medical analyst in Amsterdam. In 1989 she became a manager for the HEMS, which coordinates the restaurants and bistros at Schiphol Airport. She took an evening course in business administration, resulting in a completed HEAO-study in 1990. After her studies she took a job at the Chamber of Commerce of Alkmaar, as head of public relations. In 1993 she became a professional advisor for small businesses in Zaandam. In 1997 she temporarily quit working because of an illness. In 2001 she became commercial director of Reek Weegtechniek in Purmerend. A job she gave up in 2003, to enter parliament.
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Jerzy Buzek
Jerzy Karol Buzek [ˈjɛʐɨ ˈbuzɛk] ( listen) (born 3 July 1940) is a Polish engineer, academic lecturer and politician who was the ninth post-Cold War Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 13 June 2004, and he was elected as President of the European Parliament on 14 July 2009, succeeding Hans-Gert Pöttering. He is married to Ludgarda Buzek and is the father of Polish actress Agata Buzek.
Jerzy Karol Buzek was born to a Lutheran family on 3 July 1940 in what is now Smilovice in the Czech Republic. He was born into the prominent Buzek family, which participated in Polish politics in the Second Polish Republic during the interbellum. The family was part of the Polish community in Zaolzie. Buzek's father was an engineer. After the Second World War, his family moved to Chorzów. He is a Protestant.
In 1963 Jerzy Buzek graduated from the Mechanics-and-Energy Division of the Silesian University of Technology, specialising in chemical engineering. He became a scientist in the Chemical Engineering Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Since 1997 he has been a professor of technical science. He is also an honorary doctor of the universities in Seoul and Dortmund.
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Jo Cals
Jozef Maria Laurens Theo "Jo" Cals (July 18, 1914 – December 30, 1971) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from April 14, 1965 until November 22, 1966.
He previously served as a Member of the House of Representatives from August 19, 1948 until March 15, 1950, when he became State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science serving from March 15, 1950 until September 2, 1952 in the Cabinets Drees-Van Schaik and Drees I. He became Minister of Education, Culture and Science serving from September 2, 1952 until July 24, 1963 in the Cabinets Drees II, III, Beel II and De Quay. He again returned to the House of Representatives for two short periods, after the Dutch general election of 1956 and 1959. Serving from July 3, 1956 until October 3, 1956 and from March 20, 1959 until May 19, 1959. And again a Member of the House of Representatives from July 2, 1963 until April 14, 1965. After the fall of the Cabinet Marijnen, Cals became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinet Cals.
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Joan Röell
Jonkheer Joan Röell (Haarlem, Netherlands, 21 July 1844 – The Hague, 13 July 1914) was a Dutch nobleman, lawyer, politician and statesman. He was a member of a prominent Dutch noble family which produced many public administrators and politicians.
From 1894 to 1897 Röell headed the Dutch government as Prime Minister (formally: chairman of the Council of Ministers) and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Röell was a son of Herman Hendrik, Baron Röell, C.N.L., G.E.K. (1806–1883), member (1842) and registrar (1843–1858) of the Provincial States of North Holland, King's commissioner of the Province of Utrecht (1858–1860) and of the Province of North Holland (1860–1879), curator of the University of Utrecht (1859–1883), and Elisabeth van de Poll (1808–1862).
Röell married Utrecht 10 September 1868 with Jonkvrouw Eritia Ena Romelia de Beaufort (Utrecht 26 February 1843 – The Hague 20 February 1910). The couple had no children.
As a former registrar of the Provincial States of South Holland, Röell was familiar with the intricacies of local and regional government and water management. In 1877, he was elected to the House of Representatives for the district of Utrecht. When Röell was not re-elected in 1886, he became a member of the Senate.
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Johan de Witt
Johan de Witt, heer van Zuid- en Noord-Linschoten, Snelrewaard, Hekendorp and IJsselveere (24 September 1625 – 20 August 1672) was a key figure in Dutch politics in the mid 17th century, when its flourishing sea trade in a period of globalization made the United Provinces a leading European power during the Dutch Golden Age. De Witt controlled the Netherlands political system from around 1650 until shortly before his spectacular death in 1672 working with various factions from nearly all the major cities, especially his hometown, Dordrecht, and the city of birth of his wife, Amsterdam.
Johan de Witt was a member of the old Dutch patrician family De Witt. His father was Jacob de Witt, an influential regent and burgher from the patrician class in the city of Dordrecht, which in the seventeenth century, was one of the most important cities of the dominating province of Holland. Johan and his older brother, Cornelis de Witt, grew up in a privileged social environment in terms of education, his father having as good acquaintances important scholars and scientists, such as Isaac Beeckman, Jacob Cats, Gerhard Vossius and Andreas Colvius. Johan and Cornelis both attended the Latin school in Dordrecht, which imbued both brothers with the values of the Roman Republic.[citation needed]
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Joop den Uyl
Johannes Marten den Uijl, known as Joop den Uyl (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjoːp dɛn ˈœyl]; August 9, 1919 – December 24, 1987) was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from May 11, 1973 until December 19, 1977.
He previously served as a Member of the House of Representatives from November 6, 1956 until June 5, 1963. He became Minister of Economic Affairs from April 14, 1965 until November 22, 1966 in the Cabinet Cals. He became the Labour Party Party leader on September 13, 1966 and served as the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives from February 15, 1967 until May 11, 1973 and again a Member of the House of Representatives from February 23, 1967 until May 11, 1973. Den Uyl became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinet Den Uyl.
After his prime-ministership, Den Uyl remained in active politics and returned as the Parliamentary leader in House of Representatives from January 16, 1978 until September 10, 1981 and a Member of the House of Representatives from January 16, 1978 until September 11, 1981. He became Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Minister for Suriname and Netherlands Antilles Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister from September 11, 1981 until May 29, 1982 in the Cabinet Van Agt II. After the fall of this cabinet, Den Uyl again became the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives from September 7, 1982 until his resignation as Parliamentary leader and as the Labour Party Party leader on July 21, 1986, he was succeeded in both positions by Wim Kok. He served as a Member of the House of Representatives for the last time from September 16, 1982 until his death on December 24, 1987.
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José Manuel Barroso
José Manuel Durão Barroso (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛ mɐnuˈɛɫ duˈɾɐ̃w bɐˈʁozu]; born 23 March 1956) is the 11th and current President of the European Commission and a Portuguese politician. He served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 6 April 2002 to 17 July 2004.
Durão Barroso (as he is known in Portugal) graduated in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and has an MSc in Economic and Social Sciences from the University of Geneva (Institut Européen de l'Université de Genève) in Switzerland. His academic career continued as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. He did research for a PhD at Georgetown University and Georgetown's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. but his CV does not list any doctoral degree (except honorary). He is a 1998 graduate of the Georgetown Leadership Seminar. Back in Lisbon, Barroso became Director of the Department for International Relations at Lusíada University (Universidade Lusíada). He received honorary degrees from many Universities listed under honorary degrees.
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Jozias van Aartsen
Jozias Johannes van Aartsen (born December 25, 1947) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He is the Mayor of the Hague since March 27, 2008.
He served as the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality from August 22, 1994 until August 3, 1998 in the Cabinet Kok I. He became a Member of the House of Representatives for a short periode serving from May 19, 1998 until August 3, 1998. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from August 3, 1998 until July 22, 2002 in the Cabinet Kok II. He returned to the Member of the House of Representatives serving from May 23, 2002 until November 30, 2006, when the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy party leader and parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives Gerrit Zalm became Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Balkenende II, Van Aartsen became the parliamentary leader serving from May 27, 2003 until March 8, 2006. After disagreeing with Zalm about his position that the party leader shouldn't be a member of the cabinet unless that person is the Prime Minister, the parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives should be the party leader. After months of discussions and arguing, Van Aartsen took over as party leader from Zalm in all but name. After poor results in the Dutch municipal elections of 2006 he stepped down as parliamentary leader and party leader and was succeeded in both positions by Mark Rutte. In August 2006 Van Aartsen announced he would not run as a candidate for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy for the upcoming Dutch general election of 2006. In 2008 he was nominated to succeed Wim Deetman as Mayor of The Hague and took office on March 27, 2008.
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Jyrki Katainen
Jyrki Tapani Katainen (born October 14, 1971) is the current Prime Minister of Finland and the chairman of the National Coalition Party.
Katainen grew up in Siilinjärvi and was a part-time teacher until he became a member of the Siilinjärvi municipal council in 1993. He was elected member of the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta) from the district of Northern Savonia in 1999, served as the vice-chairman of his party since 2001, becoming its leader in 2004.
In March 2003, he was elected Vice President of the European People's Party (EPP) for a three-year term.
In the 2007 parliamentary election, the National Coalition led by Katainen won the second place from the Social Democrats. Katainen became the Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in the new cabinet with Center, National Coalition, Greens, and Swedish People's party.
In November 2008, the Financial Times named Katainen as the best finance minister in Europe. Katainen warned in 2009 that Europe's leaders must do more to prepare voters for “exit strategies” that bring spiralling public sector debts back under control, noting that "It is always politically difficult but we simply have no choice. We will have to do very painful things in forthcoming years when the economy has started to recover."
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Louis Beel
Louis Joseph Maria Beel (April 12, 1902 – February 11, 1977) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from July 3, 1946 until August 7, 1948 and again from December 22, 1958 until May 19, 1959. Because of his long service record he was considered by some as having the status of a statesman.
On November 22, 1956, he was granted the honorary title of Minister of State.
Louis Joseph Maria Beel was born on April 12, 1902 in Roermond, a town with a Bishop's see in the province of Limburg, in the very south of the Netherlands. He grew up in a predominantly Roman Catholic community and went to school at the famous Bisschoppelijk College (Diocesan College) of Roermond. He graduated in 1920 and found work as clerk-volunteer at the municipality of Roermond. Two years later he became secretary to the Educational Religious Inspector of the Roermond diocese, Monsignor Petrus van Gils. When in 1923 the Roman Catholic University was founded in Nijmegen (presently known als the Radboud University Nijmegen), Monsignor van Gils insisted on his secretary becoming a part-time law-student in Nijmegen. In 1924 Beel began commuting between Roermond and Nijmegen. After obtaining his bachelor's degree in 1925 he found a new job as an administrative assistant in the government of the eastern province of Overijssel. He moved to its capital, the town of Zwolle, and left his place of birth Roermond. During the time he lived in Zwolle Beel got married and his first child, a son, was born. In addition to being a provincial civil servant Beel accepted a part-time lectureship at an institute for professional training, Katholieke Leergangen, and he wrote his first articles on legal subjects.
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Mariano Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy Brey (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈɾjano raˈxoi]; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish People's Party politician and the current Prime Minister of Spain, having served since 21 December 2011.
Under Prime Minister José María Aznar, Rajoy was Minister of Public Administration from 1996 to 1999 and Minister of Education from 1999 to 2000; he then served as Deputy Prime Minister from 2000 to 2003. Rajoy led the People's Party into the March 2004 general election, but that election was won by the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in the aftermath of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Subsequently Rajoy was Leader of the Opposition from 2004 to 2011.
Born 27 March 1955 in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. Rajoy is the grandson of Enrique Rajoy Leloup, one of the drafters of the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia in 1932, who was removed from university teaching by the dictatorship to the early 1950s. He is the son of Mariano Rajoy Sobredo jurist, president of the Provincial Court Pontevedra, the city where he grew up.
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Mark Rutte
Mark Rutte (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmɑrk ˈrʏtə]; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He has been the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of General Affairs since 14 October, 2010 as head of the cabinet.
He previously served as State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment from 22 July 2002 to 17 June 2004 in the Cabinets Balkenende I and II. Subsequently he was State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science from 17 June 2004 until his resignation on 27 June 2006, when he was elected to succeed Jozias van Aartsen as the new VVD party leader.
At the 2006 general election the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy under Rutte lost six seats and he became opposition leader, serving during the Cabinet Balkenende IV. After the fall of the Cabinet Balkenende IV, a snap election was called, and Rutte was once again the VVD's lijsttrekker (top party list candidate) for the 2010 general election. The VVD won the highest number of votes cast, resulting in their occupying 31 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. After a long formation period, Rutte became prime minister and formed a cabinet. When he was sworn in on 14 October 2010, he became the first liberal Prime Minister in the Netherlands in 92 years. He resigned on 23 April 2012 after his government fell due to an impasse in talks on an austerity budget.
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Maxime Verhagen
Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen (born September 14, 1956) is a Dutch politician in the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He is the Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and Deputy Prime Minister since October 14, 2010 in the Cabinet Rutte.
He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament for the Netherlands from July 25, 1989 until July 19, 1994 representing the European People's Party. And a Member of the House of Representatives from May 17, 1994 until February 22, 2007. When CDA Party leader and Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives Jan Peter Balkenende became Prime Minister Verhagen succeed him as the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives during the Cabinets Balkenende I, II en III, during that time he became the unofficial Deputy leader of the CDA. He became the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet Balkenende IV serving from February 22, 2007 until October 14, 2010, he also served as Minister for Development Cooperation following the resignation from Bert Koenders. After the Dutch general election of 2010 CDA Party leader Jan Peter Balkenende resigned and Verhagen became the new Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives. After the 2010 Dutch cabinet formation Verhagen and People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) Party leader Mark Rutte made a coalition agreement with the Party for Freedom (PVV) of Party for Freedom. Verhagen became Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and Deputy Prime Minister in the new cabinet.
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Nick Clegg
Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is the British Liberal Democrat Leader since 2007 and currently the Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President of the Council (with special responsibility for political and constitutional reform) in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister. Clegg has been the Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2007, and a Member of Parliament (MP) representing Sheffield Hallam since 2005. He was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and an award winning journalist for the Financial Times.
Clegg was elected to the House of Commons at the 2005 general election and became the Liberal Democrats' Home Affairs spokesperson in 2006. Clegg became Deputy Prime Minister following the 2010 general election, when the Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government with the Conservative Party. As well as his parliamentary roles, Clegg has contributed to many pamphlets and books on political issues. He has also had a large number of jobs, including being a skiing instructor and working in the office of a bank in Helsinki.
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Nicolaas Pierson
Nicolaas Gerard Pierson (Amsterdam, 7 February 1839 – Heemstede, 24 December 1909) was a Dutch Liberal financial and economic expert, politician, and statesman, chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) of the Netherlands from 1897 until 1901.
Pierson was a professor economics and statistics at the University of Amsterdam and director and presiding director (president-directeur) of the De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch national bank. He was minister of Finance in the Cabinet Van Tienhoven. During his term of office he introduced an important tax revision. After serving as chairman of the Council of Ministers for four years he took a seat in the House of Representatives for the constituency of Gorinchem from 1905 to 1909. Pierson received an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge.
Pierson married in 1862 to Catharina Rutgera Waller, with whom he had no children.
Pierson's main two economist texts were Grondbeginselen der Staathuiskunde and Leerboek der Staathuiskunde, the latter being translated into English and Italian.
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Paul de Krom
Paul de Krom (born February 10, 1963) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He is the State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment in the Cabinet Rutte serving since October 14, 2010. He previously served as a Member of the House of Representatives from January 30, 2003 until October 14, 2010.
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Pedro Passos Coelho
Pedro Manuel Mamede Passos Coelho (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpeðɾu mɐnuˈɛɫ mɐˈmɛðɨ ˈpasuʃ kuˈeʎu]; born in Coimbra, July 24, 1964) is Portuguese politician, leader of the Social Democratic Party and Prime Minister of Portugal. Passos Coelho started very early in politics, becoming the national leader of the youth branch of the PSD. A business manager by trade, he was elected President of the Social Democratic Party and has led the XIX Governo Constitucional (19th Constitutional Government of Portugal) as head of government since 21 June 2011.
Pedro Passos Coelho was born in the parish of Sé Nova in Coimbra, Portugal, in 24 July 1964. He is the youngest son of a medical doctor, António Passos Coelho (born Vale de Nogueiras, Vila Real, Douro, 31 May 1926) and the woman he married in 1955, a nurse, Maria Rodrigues Santos Mamede (born Santana da Serra, Ourique, Baixo Alentejo, c. 1930). He has an older sister, Maria Teresa Mamede Passos Coelho, a medical doctor, and an older brother, Miguel Mamede Passos Coelho, who was born with cerebral palsy.
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Petr Nečas
Petr Nečas (born 19 November 1964; Czech pronunciation: [ˈpɛtr̩ ˈnɛtʃas]) is the current Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Leader of the Civic Democratic Party. He was sworn into office on 28 June 2010.
Previously, from 4 September 2006 to 8 May 2009, Nečas was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. In 1991, Nečas became a member of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). In March 2010, he replaced Mirek Topolánek as the leader of the party. The Civic Democratic Party won second place in the May 2010 Czech legislative election and shortly after that Nečas announced his intention to stand for the post of the chairman of the party.
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Piet de Jong
Petrus Josef Sietse "Piet" de Jong (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpit də ˈjɔŋ]; born April 3, 1915) is a retired Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from April 5, 1967 until July 6, 1971.
A veteran submarine commander of World War II. De Jong graduated from the Royal Netherlands Naval College in 1934, De Jong joined the Royal Netherlands Navy Submarine Service. And served on Submarine O-24 during World War II and ending the war as the Commanding officer of that vessel. The Submarine O-24 became one of the few surviving Dutch submarines. During his service in World War II he was awarded the Bronze Cross twice, the first in 1934 and the second in 1940. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross of the United Kingdom for his services during World War II.
He served as State Secretary for Defence from June 25, 1959 until July 24, 1963 in the Cabinet De Quay. He later became Minister of Defence serving from July 24, 1963 until April 5, 1967 in the Cabinets Marijnen, Cals and Zijlstra. After the Dutch general election of 1967, De Jong became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinet de Jong.
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Piet Hein Donner
Jan Pieter Hendrik "Piet Hein" Donner (born October 20, 1948) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He is the Vice President of the Council of State since February 1, 2012.
He previously served as a Member of the Council of State from December 22, 1997 until July 22, 2002. He became Minister of Justice serving from July 22, 2002 until September 21, 2006 in the Cabinets Balkenende I, II and III. He and Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment Sybilla Dekker resigned in the wake of a Dutch Safety Board enquiry into a fire at a cell block near Schiphol Airport. He then became a Member of the House of Representatives, serving from November 30, 2006 until February 22, 2007 when he became Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the Cabinet Balkenende IV, serving until October 14, 2010 when he became Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the Cabinet Rutte. He resigned on December 16, 2011 after he was elected the new Vice President of the Council of State succeeding Herman Tjeenk Willink, he was replaced as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations by fellow Christian Democratic Appeal party member Liesbeth Spies.
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Rita Verdonk
Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk (born October 18, 1955) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) later her own formed Proud of the Netherlands (Trots). She served as Minister for Integration and Immigration in Cabinets Balkenende II and III. During her time as Minister for Integration and Immigration she was considered to be the most powerful and influential Minister of the Cabinets Balkenende II and III. In 2006 after the Minister of Justice Piet Hein Donner resigned following a Netherlands Safety Board enquiry into a fire at a cell block near Schiphol Airport, she served as Minister of Justice from September 21, 2006 till September 22, 2006.
After the Dutch general election of 2006, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy lost seats and became the leading Opposition party against the Cabinet Balkenende IV. Verdonk became a Member of the House of Representatives, but after continuing disagreement with Party leader Mark Rutte she was expelled from the parliamentary faction of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy on September 13, 2007. One month later she cancelled her membership, after a reconciliation attempt failed and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy party board initiated a procedure of exclusion. In October 2007, she announced the creation of her own political movement, Proud of the Netherlands (Dutch: Trots op Nederland). She was the Lijsttrekker of the Proud of the Netherlands party for the Dutch general election of 2010, but didn't win any seats. On October 21, 2011 she announced her retirement from politics, leaving the future of the Proud of the Netherlands party unknown.
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Robert Fico
Robert Fico (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈrɔbɛrt ˈfit͡sɔ]), (born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who has been Prime Minister of Slovakia since April 2012. Previously he was Prime Minister from 4 July 2006 until 8 July 2010.
Fico was born in 1964, in the town of Topoľčany. His father was a forklift operator and his mother worked in a shoe store. He has two siblings, and is married to Svetlana Ficová; they have one son.
Fico graduated from the Law Faculty of the Comenius University at Bratislava, in what was then Czechoslovakia, and later worked for the Institute of State and Law of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. He joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1987. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, and the collapse of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, Fico joined the Party of the Democratic Left (SDL), a successor of the Communist Party of Slovakia. From 1994 to 2000 Fico represented Slovakia as its legal counsel at the European Court of Human Rights but lost all 14 cases which he handled.
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Ruud Lubbers
Rudolphus Franciscus Marie "Ruud" Lubbers (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈryt ˈlʏbərs] ( listen); born May 7, 1939) is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from November 4, 1982 until August 22, 1994.
He previously served as Minister of Economic Affairs from May 11, 1973 until December 19, 1977 in the Cabinet den Uyl. He became a Member of the House of Representatives from December 22, 1977 until November 4, 1982. When the Parliamentary leader of Christian Democratic Appeal in the House of Representatives Wim Aantjes resigned of a World War II controversy, Lubbers succeed him as Parliamentary leader, he served from November 7, 1978 until November 4, 1982. When the Christian Democratic Appeal Party leader and sitting Prime Minister Dries van Agt announced his retirement, Lubbers was chosen to succeed him. Lubbers became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinets Lubbers I, II and III. Lubbers was regarded by many during his time in office as an ideological heir to Margaret Thatcher. One of his campaign slogans was: "meer markt, minder overheid" (more market, less government).
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Schelto van Heemstra
Schelto Baron van Heemstra (November 14, 1807 – December 20, 1864) was a Dutch politician.
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Theo de Meester
Theodoor Herman "Theo" de Meester (Harderwijk, 16 December 1851 – The Hague, 27 December 1919) (union-liberal) was Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Finance Minister from 1905 to 1908.
De Meester was the son of Gerrit Abraham de Meester (1817–1864), who had been a member of the Dutch parliament for the Zwolle constituency from 1862 to 1864. A former administrator in the Dutch East Indies, De Meester's cabinet was inaugurated on 17 August 1905. It consisted of 5 liberal, 2 free-minded democratic, and 2 non-partisan ministers. It had no majority in either of the two Dutch chambers, and earned the nickname porcelain cabinet. His government first resigned in December 1906, when the defence budget for 1907 wasn't approved by the Dutch senate. That resignation was refused by Queen Wilhelmina, but the government fell in December 1907, when the Dutch parliament disapproved the defence budget for 1908. The government remained as a demissionair until 12 February 1908.
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Theo Heemskerk
Theodorus "Theo" Heemskerk (Amsterdam, 20 July 1852 – Utrecht, 12 June 1932), son of Jan Heemskerk, was a Dutch politician in the party ARP. From 1908 to 1913 Heemskerk was minister of the Interior and president of the Council of Ministers (a post later dubbed Prime Minister). Heemskerk is particularly known as the founder of the Dutch poverty and vaccination laws.
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Traian Băsescu
Traian Băsescu (born November 4th, 1951 in Basarabi, Romania) is the current president of Romania, serving since 2004. Mayor of Bucharest from 2000 to 2004, he was elected president in 2004, suspended from office in 2007 but reconfirmed a month later in a plebiscite. He was re-elected president for a second 5-year term in 2009, amidst allegations of electoral fraud that were ultimately dismissed by the Constitutional Court of Romania.
Băsescu was born in Basarabi (renamed Murfatlar in 2007), near the port city of Constanţa, the largest Romanian port on the Black Sea. Băsescu's father, Dumitru (d. 2002), was an army officer; his mother's first name is Elena (d. 2010). He has a brother, Mircea (b. 1953). Traian Băsescu and his wife Maria have two daughters.
Băsescu graduated from the Naval Institute of Constanţa in 1976 and became a merchant marine deck officer at Navrom, the Romanian state-owned shipping company. Between 1981 and 1987 he served as Captain on Romanian commercial ships. Throughout his career, questions have been raised about Basescu's links to the Securitate, the security services of the communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. But Basescu has said his links with the former Securitate were minimal, though some contact was obligatory at the time for somebody working abroad in a senior position. In 1984 he was promoted to Captain of the oil tanker Biruinţa, the largest ship of the then Romanian commercial fleet. In 1989, Băsescu moved to Belgium to head the Navrom Agency in Antwerp.
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Valdis Dombrovskis
Valdis Dombrovskis (born 5 August 1971) is the Prime Minister of Latvia. He previously served as Minister for Finance of Latvia and as a Member of the European Parliament for the New Era Party.
Born in Riga to a family with Polish roots, Dombrovskis graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the University of Latvia. He earned a Bachelor's degree in economics for engineers from Riga Technical University in 1995 and a Master's degree in physics from the University of Latvia in 1996. He has worked as a laboratory assistant at the Institute of Physics of Mainz University, Germany from 1995 to 1996, as an assistant at the Institute of Solid-State Physics of the University of Latvia in 1997, and as a research assistant at the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1998.
Dombrovskis has been a Member of the Board of the New Era Party since 2002. He was Minister of Finance of Latvia from 2002 to 2004 and a Member of the Latvian Parliament during its 8th parliamentary term (2002–2004). Then he was Observer at the Council of the European Union (2003–2004).
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Victor Marijnen
Victor Gerard Marie Marijnen (February 21, 1917 - April 5, 1975) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 24 July 1963 until 14 April 1965.
He previously served as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from May 19, 1959 until July 24, 1963 in the Cabinet De Quay. And as acting Minister of Health and Social Affairs from July 3, 1961 until July 17, 1961 following the resignation of Charles van Rooy. He served a short period as a Member of the House of Representatives from July 2, 1963 until July 24, 1963. After the Dutch general election of 1963, Marijnen became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinet Marijnen.
After his premiership, Marijnen remained in active politics and became again a Member of the House of Representatives from April 27, 1965 until January 14, 1966. He later became Mayor of The Hague serving from October 16, 1968 until his death on April 5, 1975.
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Viktor Orbán
Viktor Orbán (Orbán Viktor, Hungarian pronunciation: [orbaːn viktor]; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian conservative politician who is Prime Minister of Hungary having also served from 1998 to 2002. He leads Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union, which with the Christian Democratic People's Party in the 2010 elections won 52.73% of the votes and a two thirds majority (supermajority) of seats in the parliament of Hungary.
He was born on 31 May 1963 in Székesfehérvár and spent his childhood in two nearby villages, Alcsútdoboz and Felcsút. In 1977 his family moved to Székesfehérvár.
Orbán graduated from secondary school, where he studied English, in 1981. In the following two years he completed his military service, then studied law at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. After graduating from that institution in 1987 he lived in Szolnok for the two years, commuting to Budapest where he had a job as a sociologist at the Management Training Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
In 1989 Orbán received a scholarship from the Soros Foundation and spent four months in Oxford, where he studied at Pembroke College. His personal tutor in politics was Zbigniew Pelczynski. Orban quit Oxford in January 1990 and returned to Hungary to win a seat in Hungary's first post-communist parliament.
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Werner Faymann
Werner Faymann (German pronunciation: [ˈvɛɐ̯nɐ ˈfaɪman]; born 4 May 1960) is Chancellor of Austria and chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Austria SPÖ (see Faymann cabinet).
Born in Vienna, Austria,[citation needed] he studied law at the University of Vienna for two years but did not graduate.
From 1985 to 1988 Faymann was a consultant at the Zentralsparkasse Bank (now Bank Austria), which he left to become director and provincial chairman of the Viennese Tenants' counselling. He was also provincial chairman of Socialist Youth Vienna (Sozialistische Jugend Wien) from 1985 until 1994, when he became a member of the Viennese state parliament and municipal council; where he held various positions concerning housing construction and urban renewal.
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Willem Drees
Willem Drees ( Dutch pronunciation (help·info)) (July 5, 1886 – May 14, 1988) was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from August 7, 1948 until December 22, 1958.
He previously served as Member of the House of Representatives from May 9, 1933 until June 24, 1945. And as the Parliamentary leader of the Social Democratic Workers' Party in the House of Representatives from August 19, 1939 until June 24, 1945 when he became Minister of Social Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister serving from June 24, 1945 until August 7, 1948 in the Cabinets Schermerhorn-Drees and Beel I. He served again a short periode as a Member of the House of Representatives, after the Dutch general election of 1946 from June 4, 1946 until July 4, 1946. After the Dutch general election of 1948, Drees became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinets Drees-Van Schaik, Drees I, Drees II and Drees III. And as acting Minister of Colonial Affairs from March 15, 1951 until March 31, 1951 and as acting Minister of Finance from July 1, 1952 until September 2, 1952, following the resignations of Johannes Henricus van Maarseveen and Piet Lieftinck respectively. He again had two short stints as a Member of the House of Representatives after the Dutch general election of 1952 and 1952, serving from July 15, 1952 until September 2, 1952 and from July 3, 1956 until October 3, 1956.
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Wim Kok
Willem "Wim" Kok (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋɪm ˈkɔk] ( listen)); born September 29, 1938) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from August 22, 1994 until July 22, 2002.
A former Trade Union Leader, Kok served as Chairman of the Netherlands Association of Trade Unions from 1972 until 1976 when it merged to form the Federation Netherlands Labour Movement, Kok served as its first Chairman from 1976 until 1986 when he left to enter politics. He was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives on June 3, 1986 after the Dutch general election of 1986. The Labour Party Party leader and Parliamentary leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives Joop den Uyl announced that he was stepping down after serving twenty years as Party leader. Kok was elected to succeed him and became Party leader and the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives on July 21, 1986 and served as opposition leader during the parliamentary period of the Cabinet Lubbers II. For the Dutch general election of 1989 Kok became the lijsttrekker and the Labour Party lost 3 seats but the following cabinet formation resulted in a coalition agreement with the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) which formed the Cabinet Lubbers III. Kok became Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister serving from November 7, 1989 until August 22, 1994.
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Wim Schermerhorn
Willem "Wim" Schermerhorn (December 17, 1894 – March 10, 1977) was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1945 until 1946. He was the first Prime Minister after World War II.
Willem Schermerhorn was born on December 17, 1894 in Akersloot in the Dutch Province of North Holland. He grew up in a protestant family of farmers. He became professor at the Delft University of Technology on 7 September 1926. Schermerhorn remained professor until 1944, when he was removed by the German occupational forces because of his activities in the Dutch resistance. He was interned by the German occupational forces as a hostage in Sint-Michielsgestel from May 1942 until December 1943. After he was removed as professor in 1944 Schermerhorn went into hiding to avoid being taken prisoner by the German occupational forces.
On 24 June 1945 he became Prime Minister of the cabinet Schermerhorn/Drees, the first cabinet after World War II. Schermerhorn was the first Dutch Prime Minister who appointed civil servants with a political background, people like Koos Vorrink and Hendrik Brugmans (nicknamed 'The Schermerboys"). After the elections of 1946 he became a member of parliament, as a member of the social-democratic Labour Party. He remained a member of parliament until 1951. After his parliamentarian career ended he became director of the International Training Center for Aerial Survey in 1951 (until 1969).
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Wouter Bos
Wouter Jacob Bos (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋʌutər ˈbɔs]; (born July 14, 1963) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and management consultant. He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from May 19, 1998 until March 24, 2000 when he became State Secretary for Finance in the Cabinet Kok II following the resignation of Willem Vermeend who became Minister of Social Affairs and Employment. He returned to the House of Representatives on May 23, 2002 following the Dutch general election of 2002. The Labour Party suffered a landslide defeat in the election losing 23 seats, then Party leader Ad Melkert was blamed for the defeat and resigned. Bos announced his candidacy for the Labour Party leadership election and won by a landslide with 60% of the votes. Bos became the Labour Party party leader on November 19, 2002 and the Parliamentary leader of Labour Party in the House of Representatives on November 19, 2002 and became the lijsttrekker for the Dutch general election of 2003. The Labour Party was the largest winner of the election, gaining 19 seats (from 23 to 42) and became the second largest party in the House of Representatives. After a failed cabinet formation a new cabinet was formed with out the Labour Party. Bos served as opposition leader during the parliamentary period of the Cabinets Balkenende II and III. For the Dutch general election of 2006 Bos again as lijsttrekker lost 9 seats but the Labour Party remained the second largest party with 33 seats. The following cabinet formation resulted in a coalition agreement which formed the Cabinet Balkenende IV, comprising the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Labour Party (PvdA) and the ChristianUnion (CU). Bos became Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, the cabinet took office on February 22, 2007. The cabinet fell on February 20, 2010 as the result of disagreement between CDA and Labour Party over the extension of ISAF mission in Afghanistan. Bos resigned his position as Party leader and retired from active politics.
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Æneas Mackay
Æneas, Baron Mackay Jr. (29 November 1838 – 13 November 1909) was a prime minister of the Netherlands. He was a member of the Anti-Revolutionary Party.
Mackay was born in Nijmegen in 1839 into a family of Scottish origin. He became a lawyer in 1862 and worked as one until 1865. In 1888, he became prime minister, until 1890 when he was succeeded by Gijsbert van Tienhoven. He died in The Hague in 1909, at the age of 69.
Mackay's uncle, Æneas Baron Mackay Sr., was also a politician.
wn.com/Æneas_Mackay
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Mark Rutte at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 48:06
- Updated: 02 Dec 2012
Prime Minister of The Kingdom of The Netherlands Mark Rutte speaks at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
http://wn.com/Mark_Rutte_at_The_Chicago_Council_on_Global_Affairs
Prime Minister of The Kingdom of The Netherlands Mark Rutte speaks at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
David Cameron over Mark Rutte
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:30
- Updated: 13 Dec 2012
David Cameron over Mark Rutte: "Mark is completely focused on making government do what the people actually need it to do -- whether it's bringing your public's finances under control or getting police out of the office and into the streets, he showed a single-minded determination to bring change to the Netherlands and to make life better for its people."
http://wn.com/David_Cameron_over_Mark_Rutte
David Cameron over Mark Rutte: "Mark is completely focused on making government do what the people actually need it to do -- whether it's bringing your public's finances under control or getting police out of the office and into the streets, he showed a single-minded determination to bring change to the Netherlands and to make life better for its people."
- published: 25 Aug 2012
- views: 11710
- author: vvdtube
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte claims victory
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:52
- Updated: 21 Oct 2012
Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime minister, has claimed victory in the country's parliamentary elections. Preliminary results show his centre-right Liberal Party won 41 seats in the 150 member house. Earlier Dutch Labour Leader Diederik Samsom conceded defeat with 39 seats. Al Jazeera's Simon McGregor-Wood reports.
http://wn.com/Dutch_Prime_Minister_Mark_Rutte_claims_victory
Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime minister, has claimed victory in the country's parliamentary elections. Preliminary results show his centre-right Liberal Party won 41 seats in the 150 member house. Earlier Dutch Labour Leader Diederik Samsom conceded defeat with 39 seats. Al Jazeera's Simon McGregor-Wood reports.
- published: 13 Sep 2012
- views: 2708
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
President Obama's Bilateral Meeting with Prime Minister Rutte of the Netherlands
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:49
- Updated: 13 Dec 2012
President Obama and Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands make a statement after their bilateral meeting. November 29, 2011.
http://wn.com/President_Obama's_Bilateral_Meeting_with_Prime_Minister_Rutte_of_the_Netherlands
President Obama and Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands make a statement after their bilateral meeting. November 29, 2011.
- published: 29 Nov 2011
- views: 14396
- author: whitehouse
Speech Rutte op Verkiezingscongres
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 15:29
- Updated: 25 Nov 2012
Tijdens het Verkiezingscongres van de VVD in Rotterdam sprak Mark Rutte over de duidelijke keuze die Nederland op 12 september voorligt: de problemen doorschuiven of nu aanpakken.
http://wn.com/Speech_Rutte_op_Verkiezingscongres
Tijdens het Verkiezingscongres van de VVD in Rotterdam sprak Mark Rutte over de duidelijke keuze die Nederland op 12 september voorligt: de problemen doorschuiven of nu aanpakken.
- published: 25 Aug 2012
- views: 16338
- author: vvdtube
Geert Wilders en Mark Rutte : ruzie / vallen elkaar aan
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 23:25
- Updated: 13 Dec 2012
Geert Wilders en Mark Rutte : ruzie / vallen elkaar aan
http://wn.com/Geert_Wilders_en_Mark_Rutte_ruzie_vallen_elkaar_aan
Geert Wilders en Mark Rutte : ruzie / vallen elkaar aan
- published: 15 May 2012
- views: 31881
- author: OnlineNieuws
Speech Mark Rutte op VVD Congres in Den Bosch
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 16:12
- Updated: 14 Dec 2012
De speech van Mark Rutte op het VVD Congres in Den Bosch op zaterdag 24 november 2012.
http://wn.com/Speech_Mark_Rutte_op_VVD_Congres_in_Den_Bosch
De speech van Mark Rutte op het VVD Congres in Den Bosch op zaterdag 24 november 2012.
- published: 25 Nov 2012
- views: 1269
- author: vvdtube
Prime Minister Mark Rutte meets Russian alumni of Dutch universities
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:34
- Updated: 23 Apr 2012
This is a video from the official launch of the Netherlands Alumni Network in Russia (NANR) which took place in Moscow on 20 October. NANR was launched by Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte.
http://wn.com/Prime_Minister_Mark_Rutte_meets_Russian_alumni_of_Dutch_universities
This is a video from the official launch of the Netherlands Alumni Network in Russia (NANR) which took place in Moscow on 20 October. NANR was launched by Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte.
- published: 28 Dec 2011
- views: 817
- author: NufficNesoRussia
Dutch PM Mark Rutte resigns after failed austerity talks.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:26
- Updated: 04 May 2012
The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte has announced is to step down. Rutte announced he will hand his letter of resignation to the Queen Beatrix this afternoon (23 April). His announcement was sparked by the collapse over the weekend of talks on cuts to the budget amounting to about €16 billion. Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right Freedom Party, which has supported Rutte's government said on Saturday 21 April that they would not be supporting proposed austerity measures. In a tweet, Wilders said that his party would go "against Brussels diktats and the attack on the elderly". Rutte, who leads the centre-right Liberal Party, came to power in October 2010.
http://wn.com/Dutch_PM_Mark_Rutte_resigns_after_failed_austerity_talks
The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte has announced is to step down. Rutte announced he will hand his letter of resignation to the Queen Beatrix this afternoon (23 April). His announcement was sparked by the collapse over the weekend of talks on cuts to the budget amounting to about €16 billion. Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right Freedom Party, which has supported Rutte's government said on Saturday 21 April that they would not be supporting proposed austerity measures. In a tweet, Wilders said that his party would go "against Brussels diktats and the attack on the elderly". Rutte, who leads the centre-right Liberal Party, came to power in October 2010.
- published: 23 Apr 2012
- views: 2704
- author: Abdirizakxiireey
PowNews - Mark Rutte is Kampioen beloftes breken
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:23
- Updated: 29 Nov 2012
Uitzending: 27-11-2012
http://wn.com/PowNews_Mark_Rutte_is_Kampioen_beloftes_breken
Koefnoen - Sterren op het Doek met Mark Rutte 2
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:35
- Updated: 14 Nov 2012
http://wn.com/Koefnoen_Sterren_op_het_Doek_met_Mark_Rutte_2
Keynote Speech Mark Rutte
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:08
- Updated: 05 Dec 2012
Keynote speech of Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of The Netherlands at the seminar "Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage" in Istanbul on 7 November, 2012 For more information visit: csrseminar.org
http://wn.com/Keynote_Speech_Mark_Rutte
Keynote speech of Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of The Netherlands at the seminar "Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage" in Istanbul on 7 November, 2012 For more information visit: csrseminar.org
- published: 19 Nov 2012
- views: 44
- author: csrseminar
Speech Mark Rutte op VVD Congres (23 juni 2012)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:37
- Updated: 01 Dec 2012
Een passage uit de speech: "Nederland is niet gefinancierd op de pof. Nederland is gebouwd op keihard werken. Op mensen die niet alleen verantwoordelijkheid namen voor zichzelf, maar ook voor volgende generaties. En iedere generatie stapte weer op de schouders van de vorige. Eeuw na eeuw namen Nederlanders het heft van hun eigen geluk verder in handen. Stap voor stap en steen voor steen is hard gebouwd aan ons sterke vrije land." De volledige speech: www.vvd.nl
http://wn.com/Speech_Mark_Rutte_op_VVD_Congres_23_juni_2012
Een passage uit de speech: "Nederland is niet gefinancierd op de pof. Nederland is gebouwd op keihard werken. Op mensen die niet alleen verantwoordelijkheid namen voor zichzelf, maar ook voor volgende generaties. En iedere generatie stapte weer op de schouders van de vorige. Eeuw na eeuw namen Nederlanders het heft van hun eigen geluk verder in handen. Stap voor stap en steen voor steen is hard gebouwd aan ons sterke vrije land." De volledige speech: www.vvd.nl
- published: 23 Jun 2012
- views: 3758
- author: vvdtube
Mark Rutte and Barack Obama - White House Oval Office
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:44
- Updated: 02 Jun 2012
Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands visiting United States of America President Barack Obama. Date: November 29th 2011.
http://wn.com/Mark_Rutte_and_Barack_Obama_White_House_Oval_Office
Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands visiting United States of America President Barack Obama. Date: November 29th 2011.
- published: 29 Nov 2011
- views: 4294
- author: Amontisch
Mark Rutte: Dealing with the Eurozone Crisis
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:30
- Updated: 31 May 2012
http://wn.com/Mark_Rutte_Dealing_with_the_Eurozone_Crisis
Mark Rutte, un liberal de maneras suaves y políticas austeras
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:53
- Updated: 28 Nov 2012
fr.euronews.com El liberal Mark Rutte ha conseguido mantenerse en el poder defendiendo un progama pro-europeo a pesar de que entre la población el sentimiento anti comunitario no ha dejado de crecer desde el principio de la crisis. Durante la campaña, Rutte supo endurecer el tono de cara a la Unión Europea demostrando al mismo tiempo a los holandeses que el interés de su país es mantenerse cerca de Bruselas. Soltero, de 45 años de edad y licenciado en Historia, Rutte consiguió ganar las elecciones de 2010 convirtiéndose en el primer jefe de un Gobierno liberal desde la fundación de su partido en 1948. Mark Rutte recibió entonces el encargo de la Reina Beatriz de formar gobierno pero, tras haber ganado a los laboristas por apenas un escaño, los liberales se vieron forzados a formar una coalición con los democristianos y con los ultraderechistas del Partido de la Libertad liderado por Geert Wilders. Si en política de inmigración Rutte y Wilders consiguieron ponerse de acuerdo, fue al tratar el dossier europeo cuando ambos partidos empezaron a marcar sus diferencias. Para Mark Rutte el futuro de Holanda es inconcebible fuera del club comunitario y sus reglas. Y fue justamente sobre el asunto de la reducción del déficit público, para establecerlo en un 3% como exige Bruselas, cuando la coalición empezó a tambalearse. Tras meses de discusiones, Wilders, detractor de la Unión Europea y del euro, decidió retirarse de las negociaciones para aprobar un nuevo plan de ajustes ...
http://wn.com/Mark_Rutte,_un_liberal_de_maneras_suaves_y_políticas_austeras
fr.euronews.com El liberal Mark Rutte ha conseguido mantenerse en el poder defendiendo un progama pro-europeo a pesar de que entre la población el sentimiento anti comunitario no ha dejado de crecer desde el principio de la crisis. Durante la campaña, Rutte supo endurecer el tono de cara a la Unión Europea demostrando al mismo tiempo a los holandeses que el interés de su país es mantenerse cerca de Bruselas. Soltero, de 45 años de edad y licenciado en Historia, Rutte consiguió ganar las elecciones de 2010 convirtiéndose en el primer jefe de un Gobierno liberal desde la fundación de su partido en 1948. Mark Rutte recibió entonces el encargo de la Reina Beatriz de formar gobierno pero, tras haber ganado a los laboristas por apenas un escaño, los liberales se vieron forzados a formar una coalición con los democristianos y con los ultraderechistas del Partido de la Libertad liderado por Geert Wilders. Si en política de inmigración Rutte y Wilders consiguieron ponerse de acuerdo, fue al tratar el dossier europeo cuando ambos partidos empezaron a marcar sus diferencias. Para Mark Rutte el futuro de Holanda es inconcebible fuera del club comunitario y sus reglas. Y fue justamente sobre el asunto de la reducción del déficit público, para establecerlo en un 3% como exige Bruselas, cuando la coalición empezó a tambalearse. Tras meses de discusiones, Wilders, detractor de la Unión Europea y del euro, decidió retirarse de las negociaciones para aprobar un nuevo plan de ajustes ...
- published: 12 Sep 2012
- views: 211
- author: euronewses
Mark Rutte: de huizenprijzen moeten stijgen en daar gaat de VVD voor zorgen
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:50
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
Wat een figuur die Rutte..... rust, bezitsvorming, stijgende prijzen allemaal onzin.
http://wn.com/Mark_Rutte_de_huizenprijzen_moeten_stijgen_en_daar_gaat_de_VVD_voor_zorgen
Wat een figuur die Rutte..... rust, bezitsvorming, stijgende prijzen allemaal onzin.
- published: 31 Aug 2012
- views: 1662
- author: vastgoedzeepbel
Mark Rutte: Historical Ties and the Transatlantic Relationship
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:57
- Updated: 31 May 2012
http://wn.com/Mark_Rutte_Historical_Ties_and_the_Transatlantic_Relationship
Başbakanımız-Mark Rutte Ortak Basın Toplantısı
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 18:38
- Updated: 07 Nov 2012
Başbakanımız, Hollanda Başbakanı Mark Rutte ile Başbakanlık Merkez Bina'daki görüşmesinin ardından ortak basın toplantısı düzenledi. Sözlerine, Hollanda heyetini Ankara'da ağırlamaktan duyduğu memnuniyeti ifade ederek başlayan Başbakanımız, ilkbaharda Hollanda'ya iadeiziyaret yapmayı planladığını söyledi. Hollanda Başbakanı Rutte ile görüşmelerinin oldukça verimli geçtiğini ifade eden Başbakanımız, iki ülke arasındaki ilişkilerin 400'üncü yıl dönümünün yaşandığı süreçte, ülkeler arasındaki üst düzey ziyaretlerin artmasının önemine değindi. Başbakanımız, 2011'de 7 milyar avroya ulaşan iki ülke arasındaki ticaret hacminin, 2012'nin ilk 7 ayındaki sonuçlara göre 4 milyar avro düzeyinde seyrettiğini belirterek, ''Temenni ediyorum ki şu kalan süre içinde bu yılı en az zararla kapatırız diyorum iki ülke açısından'' diye konuştu. Türkiye'de 2 bin Hollanda firması faaliyette Türkiye'de 2 bin Hollanda firmasının faaliyette bulunduğunu kaydeden Başbakanımız, ''Adeta Almanya ile Hollanda arasında şirketler silsilesinin yarışı var. Almanya'nın 4 bin civarında firmasının Türkiye'de yatırımı var. Hollanda'nın 2 bin firmasının Türkiye'de yatırımının olması gerçekten anlamlı'' değerlendirmesinde bulundu. Hollanda'da 400 bin Türk vatandaşının yaşadığını hatırlatan Başbakanımız, Fransa'da 500 bin, Almanya'da da 3 milyon civarında soydaşın bulunduğunu kaydetti. Başbakanımız, ''Toplam 500 milyon içinde, sadece bu üç ülkede 4 milyon vatandaşımız var. Zaten Avrupa Birliği'nde aslında varız ...
http://wn.com/Başbakanımız-Mark_Rutte_Ortak_Basın_Toplantısı
Başbakanımız, Hollanda Başbakanı Mark Rutte ile Başbakanlık Merkez Bina'daki görüşmesinin ardından ortak basın toplantısı düzenledi. Sözlerine, Hollanda heyetini Ankara'da ağırlamaktan duyduğu memnuniyeti ifade ederek başlayan Başbakanımız, ilkbaharda Hollanda'ya iadeiziyaret yapmayı planladığını söyledi. Hollanda Başbakanı Rutte ile görüşmelerinin oldukça verimli geçtiğini ifade eden Başbakanımız, iki ülke arasındaki ilişkilerin 400'üncü yıl dönümünün yaşandığı süreçte, ülkeler arasındaki üst düzey ziyaretlerin artmasının önemine değindi. Başbakanımız, 2011'de 7 milyar avroya ulaşan iki ülke arasındaki ticaret hacminin, 2012'nin ilk 7 ayındaki sonuçlara göre 4 milyar avro düzeyinde seyrettiğini belirterek, ''Temenni ediyorum ki şu kalan süre içinde bu yılı en az zararla kapatırız diyorum iki ülke açısından'' diye konuştu. Türkiye'de 2 bin Hollanda firması faaliyette Türkiye'de 2 bin Hollanda firmasının faaliyette bulunduğunu kaydeden Başbakanımız, ''Adeta Almanya ile Hollanda arasında şirketler silsilesinin yarışı var. Almanya'nın 4 bin civarında firmasının Türkiye'de yatırımı var. Hollanda'nın 2 bin firmasının Türkiye'de yatırımının olması gerçekten anlamlı'' değerlendirmesinde bulundu. Hollanda'da 400 bin Türk vatandaşının yaşadığını hatırlatan Başbakanımız, Fransa'da 500 bin, Almanya'da da 3 milyon civarında soydaşın bulunduğunu kaydetti. Başbakanımız, ''Toplam 500 milyon içinde, sadece bu üç ülkede 4 milyon vatandaşımız var. Zaten Avrupa Birliği'nde aslında varız ...
- published: 07 Nov 2012
- views: 845
- author: AkPartiGenelMerkez
College Tour: Huwelijksaanzoeken aan premier Rutte
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:53
- Updated: 09 Dec 2012
joop.nl
http://wn.com/College_Tour_Huwelijksaanzoeken_aan_premier_Rutte
Dutch PM comes to Brussels with a "loaded gun" in his pocket - November EU Summit 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:45
- Updated: 11 Dec 2012
Speaking to journalists outside the European Council in Brussels, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday that he wants to "reduce" but "modernise" the EU long-term budget. "I always keep a loaded gun in my pocket", Rutte said.
http://wn.com/Dutch_PM_comes_to_Brussels_with_a_loaded_gun_in_his_pocket_November_EU_Summit_2012
Speaking to journalists outside the European Council in Brussels, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday that he wants to "reduce" but "modernise" the EU long-term budget. "I always keep a loaded gun in my pocket", Rutte said.
- published: 22 Nov 2012
- views: 2560
- author: EUXTV
Speech Mark Rutte VVD-congres "Maak Nederland Liberaler"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 16:12
- Updated: 02 Nov 2012
Speech minister-president Mark Rutte tijdens het VVD-congres "Maak Nederland Liberaler" op 26 november 2011 in Zaandam
http://wn.com/Speech_Mark_Rutte_VVD-congres_Maak_Nederland_Liberaler
Speech minister-president Mark Rutte tijdens het VVD-congres "Maak Nederland Liberaler" op 26 november 2011 in Zaandam
- published: 26 Nov 2011
- views: 7764
- author: vvdtube
Dutch are good example of how to cut budget and boost growth, says Rutte
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:27
- Updated: 23 Nov 2012
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday told journalists that the Netherlands are a good example to follow by other countries when it comes to cutting budget deficits while reforming its economy at the same time.
http://wn.com/Dutch_are_good_example_of_how_to_cut_budget_and_boost_growth,_says_Rutte
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday told journalists that the Netherlands are a good example to follow by other countries when it comes to cutting budget deficits while reforming its economy at the same time.
- published: 30 Jan 2012
- views: 549
- author: EUXTV
photo: AP / Nick Ut
14 Dec 2012
Former President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, meet 55-year-old Martha Sellers. For the past nine years, Sellers has worked as a Walmart cashier in Paramount, California ... More than 10,000 community members joined more than 30 striking employees who walked off the job to demand better working conditions. . "It was wonderful ... That's not too much to ask for." ... 1698 ... ....(size: 23.6Kb)
photo: AP / Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks
15 Dec 2012
The massacre of 26 children and adults at an elementary school in the US state of Connecticut elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, a 20-year-old described as brilliant but remote, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims ... He paused for several seconds to keep his composure as he teared up and wiped an eye ... ... "I'm numb ... Yes, yeah....(size: 8.8Kb)
photo: AP / Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks
15 Dec 2012
Newtown, Conn. Twenty schoolchildren were slaughtered by a heavily armed gunman who opened fire at a suburban elementary school in Connecticut on Friday, ultimately killing at least 27 people including himself in the one of the worst mass shootings in US history ... Authorities found 18 children and seven adults, including the gunman, dead at the school, and two children were pronounced dead later after being taken to a hospital ... Reuters ....(size: 7.5Kb)
photo: AP / Jessica Hill
14 Dec 2012
More than two dozen people, mostly elementary school children, were shot and killed at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school this morning, federal and state sources tell ABC News. The massacre involved two gunmen at a Connecticut school this morning, prompting the town of Newtown to lock down all of its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said today. State Police confirm that one shooter is dead ... at ABCNews.com ... ....(size: 4.5Kb)
photo: AP / Jessica Hill
15 Dec 2012
December 15, 2012 -- Updated 0947 GMT (1747 HKT). Newtown, Connecticut (CNN) -- The bodies of children and educators lay where they fell in a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school -- in classrooms and hallways -- as investigators worked to identity the dead early Saturday while piecing together the path of the gunman ... J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police. Timeline. School violence in U.S ... J ... HIDE CAPTION. << ... 1....(size: 24.9Kb)
Al Jazeera
15 Dec 2012
Several Scud missiles fired at rebels by Syria have landed "fairly close" to the Turkish border, NATO's senior military commander explaining why Patriot anti-missile batteries are being deployed to Turkey ... ... The Netherlands, which is sending two Patriot batteries and up to 360 personnel to operate them, expects its missiles to be operational by the end of January, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday ... News....(size: 19.8Kb)
Bloomberg
14 Dec 2012
“We gradually moved closer together but in the details this was difficult.” ... today ... German allies in the philosophical debate, such as Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, said any additional discipline should be applied to poorer-performing countries with below-average productivity or trade deficits. “The idea of a separate budget for the euro zone has disappeared behind the horizon -- we like that,” Rutte said ... James G ... ....(size: 8.1Kb)
Stars and Stripes
14 Dec 2012
STUTTGART, Germany — The U.S. will send two anti-missile Patriot batteries accompanied by 400 troops to Turkey as part of a NATO plan to help shield Turkey from a potential air strike from Syria, according to multiple media reports ... “This is a strong signal of allied solidarity,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday during a news conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte ... ....(size: 3.1Kb)
Stars and Stripes
14 Dec 2012
STUTTGART, Germany — The U.S. will send two anti-missile Patriot batteries accompanied by 400 troops to Turkey as part of a NATO plan to help shield Turkey from a potential air strike from Syria, according to multiple media reports ... “This is a strong signal of allied solidarity,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday during a news conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte ... ....(size: 3.1Kb)
Ha'aretz
14 Dec 2012
The U.S. will send two batteries of Patriot missiles and 400 troops to Turkey as part of a NATO force meant to protect Turkish territory from potential Syrian missile attack, the Pentagon said Friday.. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed a deployment order en route to Turkey from Afghanistan. It calls for 400 U.S ... 30 ... Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Thursday that the Netherlands, Germany and the U.S ... ....(size: 4.5Kb)
Reuters
14 Dec 2012
* FinMin says he is on the list of possible candidates. * Germany wants Eurogroup chair from triple-A country - report. By Gilbert Kreijger and Thomas Escritt ... But he did admit that his name was one of many being touted for the post ... Dijsselbloem, 46, was appointed finance minister last month after Prime Minister Mark Rutte's Liberal party won the general election in September and formed a coalition with the Labour party ... ....(size: 3.3Kb)
Tulsa World
14 Dec 2012
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey — The U.S. will send two batteries of Patriot missiles and 400 troops to Turkey as part of a NATO force meant to protect Turkish territory from potential Syrian missile attack, the Pentagon said Friday. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed a deployment order en route to Turkey from Afghanistan. It calls for 400 U.S ... 30 ... Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Thursday that the Netherlands, Germany and the U.S ... ....(size: 4.1Kb)
Reuters
14 Dec 2012
* NATO commander says Syria situation "chaotic, dangerous". * NATO concerned because Scuds can carry chemical warheads. By Adrian Croft ... The comments by U.S ... Stavridis also described the situation in Syria as "chaotic and dangerous" ... The Netherlands, which is sending two Patriot batteries and up to 360 personnel to operate them, expects its missiles to be operational by the end of January, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday....(size: 3.6Kb)
The Florida Times Union
14 Dec 2012
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (AP) — The U.S. will send two batteries of Patriot missiles and 400 troops to Turkey as part of a NATO force meant to protect Turkish territory from potential Syrian missile attack, the Pentagon said Friday. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed a deployment order en route to Turkey from Afghanistan calling for 400 U.S ... 30 ... Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Thursday that the Netherlands, Germany and the U.S ... ....(size: 3.6Kb)
Reuters
14 Dec 2012
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem would be willing to take over as head of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, his office said on Friday, after a clutch of reports linked him to the job ... SERIOUS CANDIDATE ... Dijsselbloem, 46, was appointed finance minister last month after Prime Minister Mark Rutte's Liberal party won a general election in September and formed a coalition with the Labour party ... ....(size: 4.1Kb)
The Himalayan
14 Dec 2012
• Move a deterrent against Syrian missiles • German‚ Dutch aid to extend support to NATO ally. Added At. 2012-12-14 8.44 PM ... Close. TURKEY ... Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said yesterday that the Netherlands, Germany and the US are working closely with Turkey “to ensure that the Patriots are deployed as soon as possible.” But he predicted they would not become operational before the end of January ... ....(size: 5.5Kb)
Richmond Times Dispatch
14 Dec 2012
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey — The U.S. will send two batteries of Patriot missiles and 400 troops to Turkey as part of a NATO force meant to protect Turkish territory from potential Syrian missile attack, the Pentagon said Friday. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta signed a deployment order en route to Turkey from Afghanistan calling for 400 U.S ... 30 ... Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Thursday that the Netherlands, Germany and the U.S ... ___ ... ....(size: 3.7Kb)
The Himalayan
14 Dec 2012
. Added At. 2012-12-14 5.12 PM. Last Updated At. 2012-12-14 5.12 PM. The Himalayan Times - Saved Articles(s). The headlines has been added to your saved article(s). To View your saved article(s)please Click Here ». Close. AP ... Gen Serdar Gulbas, center, Col. Christopher E ... 14, 2012. INCIRLIK AIR BASE. The U.S ... 30 ... Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Thursday that the Netherlands, Germany and the U.S ... ....(size: 6.3Kb)
| Mark Rutte | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Prime Minister of the Netherlands | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 14 October 2010 |
|
| Monarch | Beatrix |
| Deputy | Maxime Verhagen |
| Preceded by | Jan Peter Balkenende |
| Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the House of Representatives | |
| In office 29 June 2006 – 14 October 2010 |
|
| Preceded by | Jozias van Aartsen |
| Succeeded by | Stef Blok |
| State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science | |
| In office 17 June 2004 – 27 June 2006 |
|
| Prime Minister | Jan Peter Balkenende |
| Preceded by | Annette Nijs |
| Succeeded by | Bruno Bruins |
| State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment | |
| In office 22 July 2002 – 17 June 2004 |
|
| Prime Minister | Jan Peter Balkenende |
| Preceded by | Hans Hoogervorst |
| Succeeded by | Henk van Hoof |
| Member of the House of Representatives | |
| In office 28 June 2006 – 14 October 2010 |
|
| In office 30 January 2003 – 27 May 2003 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1967-02-14) 14 February 1967 (age 45) The Hague, Netherlands |
| Political party | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy |
| Residence | The Hague, Netherlands |
| Alma mater | Leiden University |
| Website | Government website |
Mark Rutte (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmɑrk ˈrʏtə]; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). He has been the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of General Affairs since 14 October, 2010 as head of the cabinet.
He previously served as State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment from 22 July 2002 to 17 June 2004 in the Cabinets Balkenende I and II. Subsequently he was State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science from 17 June 2004 until his resignation on 27 June 2006, when he was elected to succeed Jozias van Aartsen as the new VVD party leader.[1][2]
At the 2006 general election the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy under Rutte lost six seats and he became opposition leader, serving during the Cabinet Balkenende IV. After the fall of the Cabinet Balkenende IV, a snap election was called, and Rutte was once again the VVD's lijsttrekker (top party list candidate) for the 2010 general election. The VVD won the highest number of votes cast, resulting in their occupying 31 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. After a long formation period, Rutte became prime minister and formed a cabinet. When he was sworn in on 14 October 2010, he became the first liberal Prime Minister in the Netherlands in 92 years.[3] He resigned on 23 April 2012 after his government fell due to an impasse in talks on an austerity budget.
He is party leader of People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) since May 31, 2006.
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Early life[link]
Born in The Hague, Rutte attended a gymnasium high school, specialising in the arts, from 1979 till 1985. Although his original ambition was to attend the conservatory and become a concert pianist,[4] he went to study history at Leiden University, where he obtained a MA degree in History in 1992.[5] He combined his studies with a position in the board of the Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy, the youth organisation of the VVD, of which he was chairperson between 1988 and 1991.[6]
After his studies he entered the business world, working as a manager for Unilever and Calvé. Until 1997 he was part of the human resource-department of Unilever and played a leading role in several reorganisations. Between 1997 and 2000 he was personnel manager for Van den Bergh Nederland, a subsidiary of Unilever. In 2000 he became member of the Corporate Human Resources Group. And since 2002 he was director of Human Resources for IgloMora Groep, another subsidiary of Unilever.[7]
Between 1993 and 1997 he was a member of the national board of the VVD. He also served as a member of the VVD candidate committee for the general election of 2002. He was himself elected as a member of parliament in 2003.
Political offices[link]
Rutte served as State Secretary in the Social Affairs and Employment from 22 July 2002, until 17 June 2004 in the first and second Balkenende cabinets. He was responsible for fields including bijstand (municipal welfare) and arbeidsomstandigheden (Occupational safety and health). After the 2003 elections Rutte was briefly also a member of the House of Representatives, between 30 January and 27 May 2003.
Rutte served as State Secretary for Higher Education and Science, within the Education, Culture and Science, replacing Annette Nijs, from 17 June 2004 until 27 June 2006, in the second Balkenende cabinet. In office, Rutte has shown particular interest in making the Dutch higher education system more competitive internationally, by trying to make it more market oriented (improving the position of students as consumers in the market for education). He would have been succeeded by former The Hague alderman Bruno Bruins. Before Bruins could be sworn into office, the second Balkenende cabinet fell. In the subsequently formed third Balkenende cabinet Bruins succeeded Rutte as State Secretary.
When Rutte resigned as State Secretary in June 2006 it was to return to the House of Representatives and to become soon the Parliamentary leader of the VVD. Rutte became an important figure within the VVD leadership. He was campaign manager for the 2006 municipal elections.
2006 leadership election[link]
After the resignation of Jozias van Aartsen, the VVD having lost in the 2006 Dutch municipal election, the party held an internal election for 'lijsttrekker', where Rutte competed against Rita Verdonk and Jelleke Veenendaal. On 31 May 2006, it was announced that Mark Rutte would be the next 'lijsttrekker' of the VVD. He was elected by 51.5% of the party members. Rutte's candidacy was backed by the VVD leadership, including the party board, and many prominent politicians such as Frank de Grave, former minister of Defence, Ivo Opstelten, the mayor of Rotterdam and Ed Nijpels, the Queen's Commissioner of Friesland. The Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy, the VVD's youth wing, of which he had been chairperson, also backed him. During the elections he promised "to make the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy a party for everyone and not just of the elite". His youthful appearance has been likened to the successful former leader of the Labour Party, Wouter Bos.
On accepting the role of candidate-lijsttrekker, Rutte had made it clear that he wished to change the face of the VVD into a party where everyone, not just the "happy few" could feel comfortable. He had also stated that with the current social security ideas of the Labour Party, which he called too conservative, it was unlikely that they would cooperate or form a coalition after the elections. Later he stated that he felt that the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party was a party "the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy could do business with".
2006 Dutch general election[link]
For the Dutch general election, 2006, the VVD campaign with Rutte as leader did not get off to a good start. Rutte received criticism from within his own party for the campaign.[8] Rutte was said to be overshadowed by his own party members Rita Verdonk and Gerrit Zalm, as well as being unable to penetrate between Wouter Bos and Jan Peter Balkenende, who were generally seen as the prime candidates to become the next Prime Minister of the Netherlands. On 27 November, it became known that Rita Verdonk managed to obtain more votes than Mark Rutte; Rutte obtained 553,200 votes against Verdonk's 620,555.[8]
Decision to expel Rita Verdonk[link]
After repeated criticisms by Rita Verdonk on the policy of the VVD, Rutte expelled her on 14 September 2007, from the party's parliamentary faction.[9]
2010 Dutch general election[link]
In the Dutch general election, 2010, Rutte was once again the lijsttrekker for the VVD. With 31 seats, his party came out the biggest in parliament out of these elections, for the first time in the history of Dutch politics.[10] A long period of negotiations followed, with several personalities succeeding each other as informateur, or persons being appointed by the Queen, in order to find out what coalition could be formed.
Efforts to have a coalition of liberals, Christian-democrats and socialists failed. Instead the only possibility appeared to be a center-right coalition of liberals and Christian democrats (CDA), with the outside support of the Party for Freedom (PVV), led by Geert Wilders.
After having succeeded in making this minority government accepted by his own party, by the Christian democrats and by Geert Wilders, Rutte proceeded by appointing the ministers, with Maxime Verhagen (CDA) as his deputy prime minister.
Prime Minister[link]
On 8 October 2010 he was appointed formateur (charged with forming a new government) and formed his Cabinet. He presented his team to Parliament and it was confirmed in office by the smallest possible majority.
Rutte is the first Prime Minister of the Netherlands not from a Christian democratic party or the Labour Party since 1918 as well as the first liberal to become PM since Pieter Cort van der Linden, who was Prime Minister from 1913 till 1918.[10] He is also the first VVD PM.
In March 2012, seeking to comply with European Union requirements for the nation's deficit, Rutte began talks with coalition parties VVD and CDA and supporting party PVV on a budget for 2013, which would cut 16 billion Euros of spending. However, PVV leader Geert Wilders withdrew his party's support on April 21, stating that the budget would hurt economic growth,[11] causing the government to fall. Rutte submitted his resignation to Queen Beatrix on the afternoon of 23 April.[12] His government lasted for 558 days, making it one of the shortest Netherlands cabinets since World War II.[11] New elections are currently being prepared, which will probably be held on 12 September 2012.
Personal life[link]
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This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2011) |
Mark Rutte is unmarried.[13] He is a member of the Calvinist Reformed Protestant Church in the Netherlands. He still teaches two hours a week at the Johan de Witt College in The Hague[5].
Controversial statements[link]
In 2009, Rutte stated that Holocaust denial, although it is in itself ridiculous, should no longer be illegal.[14]
References[link]
- ^ "Mark Rutte teruggekeerd in Tweede Kamer". Denederlandsegrondwet.nl. http://www.denederlandsegrondwet.nl/9353000/1/j9vvihlf299q0sr/vhbuk0y8whvz?ctx=vg09lljrp5z7. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
- ^ "Government". Government.nl. 2011-12-14. http://www.government.nl/Government/Rutte_Government/Mark_Rutte. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
- ^ "Mark Rutte: eerste liberale premier sinds 1918". Eenvandaag.nl. http://www.eenvandaag.nl/binnenland/36482/mark_rutte_eerste_liberale_premier_sinds_1918. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
- ^ "Rutte had pianoleraar kunnen zijn". DePers.nl. http://www.depers.nl/binnenland/515537/Rutte-had-pianoleraar-kunnen-zijn.html. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
- ^ a b "CV | Mark Rutte". Rijksoverheid.nl. http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/regering/het-kabinet/bewindspersonen/mark-rutte/cv. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Biografie - Mark Rutte". Elsevier.nl. http://www.elsevier.nl/web/10148524/Artikel/Mark-Rutte.htm. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
- ^ a b Onvrede binnen VVD over Rutte, Algemeen Dagblad, 1 November 2006
- ^ Oranje, Joost and Guus Valk in NRC Handelsblad 15 September 2007, page 1 (front page)
Literal English translation:"Verdonk was yesterday formally expelled from the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy's parliamentary party in the House of Representatives after she had again voiced criticism of the party in the press."
Dutch original:Verdonk werd gisteren formeel uit de Tweede Kamerfractie van de VVD gezet, nadat zij in de pers opnieuw kritiek had geuit op de fractie." - ^ a b "Election 2010 – The Netherlands shifts to the right". nrc.nl. 10 June 2010. http://www.nrc.nl/international/election2010/article2561211.ece/The_Netherlands_shifts_to_the_right. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
- ^ a b "Dutch government falls in budget crisis". BBC News. 23 April 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17811509. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
- ^ Gilbert Kreijger and Thomas Escritt (23 April 2012). "Dutch Prime Minister resigns in budget cuts row". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/23/us-dutch-politics-idUSBRE83M0PB20120423. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
- ^ "Drs. M. (Mark) Rutte". parlement.com. http://www.parlement.com/9291000/biof/02396. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
- ^ "Rutte: Holocaust ontkennen moet kunnen - Binnenland - AD" (in (Dutch)). Ad.nl. 2009-05-26. http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1012/Binnenland/article/detail/2021286/2009/05/26/Rutte-Holocaust-ontkennen-moet-kunnen.dhtml?redirected. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
External links[link]
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mark Rutte |
Media related to Mark Rutte at Wikimedia Commons- Mark Rutte (Ministry of General Affairs)
- (Dutch) Drs. M. (Mark) Rutte (Parlement & Politiek)
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Hans Hoogervorst |
State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment 2002–2004 |
Succeeded by Henk van Hoof |
| Preceded by Annette Nijs |
State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science 2004–2006 |
Succeeded by Bruno Bruins |
| Preceded by Jan Peter Balkenende |
Prime Minister of the Netherlands 2010–present |
Incumbent |
| Minister of General Affairs 2010–present |
||
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Jozias van Aartsen |
Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 2006–present |
Incumbent |
| Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the House of Representatives 2006–2010 |
Succeeded by Stef Blok |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Rutte, Mark |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Dutch politician |
| Date of birth | 14 February 1967 |
| Place of birth | The Hague, Netherlands |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Mark_Rutte
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http://pt.wn.com/Mark Rutte
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This article is about the British Prime Minister. For other uses, see David Cameron (disambiguation).
| The Right Honourable David Cameron MP |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 11 May 2010 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Deputy | Nick Clegg |
| Preceded by | Gordon Brown |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| In office 6 December 2005 – 11 May 2010 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Tony Blair Gordon Brown |
| Preceded by | Michael Howard |
| Succeeded by | Harriet Harman |
| Leader of the Conservative Party | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 6 December 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Michael Howard |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills | |
| In office 6 May 2005 – 6 December 2005 |
|
| Leader | Michael Howard |
| Preceded by | Tim Yeo |
| Succeeded by | David Willetts |
| Member of Parliament for Witney |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 7 June 2001 |
|
| Preceded by | Shaun Woodward |
| Majority | 22,740 (39.4%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | David William Donald Cameron (1966-10-09) 9 October 1966 (age 45) London, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Samantha Sheffield (1996–present) |
| Children | Ivan Reginald Ian (Deceased) Nancy Gwen Arthur Elwen Florence Rose Endellion |
| Residence | 10 Downing Street |
| Alma mater | Brasenose College, Oxford |
| Religion | Church of England (Anglican) |
| Website | Party website |
David William Donald Cameron (pronunciation: /ˈkæmərən/; born 9 October 1966) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. He represents Witney as its Member of Parliament (MP).[1]
Cameron studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Oxford, gaining a first class honours degree. He then joined the Conservative Research Department and became Special Adviser to Norman Lamont, and then to Michael Howard. He was Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications for seven years.
He was defeated in his first candidacy for Parliament at Stafford in 1997, but was elected in 2001 as the Member of Parliament for the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney. He was promoted to the Opposition front bench two years later, and rose rapidly to become head of policy co-ordination during the 2005 general election campaign. With a public image of a youthful, moderate candidate who would appeal to young voters, he won the Conservative leadership election in 2005.[2]
In the 2010 general election held on 6 May, the Conservatives won 307 seats in a hung parliament. After five days of intense negotiations, Cameron formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. The 43-year-old Cameron became the youngest British Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool 198 years earlier.[3] Cameron leads the first coalition government of the United Kingdom since the Second World War.
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Family[link]
See also: Family of David Cameron and Samantha Cameron
David Cameron is the younger son of stockbroker Ian Donald Cameron (12 October 1932 – 8 September 2010)[4] and his wife Mary Fleur (née Mount, born 1934,[5] a retired Justice of the Peace, daughter of Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet).[6] His father, Ian, was born with both legs deformed and underwent repeated operations to correct them. Cameron's parents were married on 20 October 1962.[5] He was born in London, and brought up in Peasemore, Berkshire.[7] Cameron has a brother, Allan Alexander (born 1963, a barrister and QC)[8] and two sisters, Tania Rachel (born 1965) and Clare Louise (born 1971).[5][9] His father was born at Blairmore House, a country house near Huntly, Aberdeenshire, and died near Toulon in France on 8 September 2010.[10] Blairmore was built by his great-great-grandfather, Alexander Geddes,[11] who had made a fortune in the grain trade in Chicago, and returned to Scotland in the 1880s.[12]
Through his paternal grandmother, Enid Agnes Maud Levita, Cameron is a direct descendant of King William IV by his mistress Dorothea Jordan. This illegitimate line consists of five generations of women starting with Elizabeth Hay, Countess of Erroll, née FitzClarence, William and Jordan's sixth child,[13] through to Cameron's grandmother (thereby making Cameron a 5th cousin of Queen Elizabeth II).[14] Cameron's paternal forebears also have a long history in finance. His father Ian was senior partner of the stockbrokers Panmure Gordon, in which firm partnerships had long been held by Cameron's ancestors, including David's grandfather and great-grandfather,[9] and was a Director of estate agent John D. Wood. David Cameron's great-great grandfather Emile Levita, a German-Jewish financier (and descendant of Renaissance scholar Elia Levita) who obtained British citizenship in 1871, was the director of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China which became Standard Chartered Bank in 1969.[14] His wife, Cameron's great-great grandmother, was a descendant of the wealthy Danish Jewish Rée family on her father's side.[15][16] One of Emile's sons, Arthur Francis Levita (died 1910, brother of Sir Cecil Levita),[17] of Panmure Gordon stockbrokers, together with great-great-grandfather Sir Ewen Cameron,[18] London head of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, played key roles in arranging loans supplied by the Rothschilds to the Japanese Central Banker (later Prime Minister) Takahashi Korekiyo for the financing of the Japanese Government in the Russo-Japanese war.[19]
Cameron's maternal grandfather was Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet, an Army officer and the High Sheriff of Berkshire, and Cameron's maternal great-grandfather was Sir William Mount, 1st Baronet, CBE, Conservative MP for Newbury 1918–1922. Cameron's great-great grandmother was Lady Ida Matilda Alice Feilding. His great-great-great grandfather was William Feilding, 7th Earl of Denbigh, GCH, PC, a courtier and Gentleman of the Bedchamber.[20] His mother's cousin, Sir Ferdinand Mount, was head of 10 Downing Street's Policy Unit in the early 1980s. Cameron is the nephew of Sir William Dugdale, brother-in-law of Katherine, Lady Dugdale (died 2004) Lady-in-Waiting to HM The Queen since 1955,[21][22] and former Chairman of Aston Villa Football Club. Birmingham born documentary film-maker Joshua Dugdale is his cousin.[23]
Education[link]
From the age of seven, Cameron was educated at two independent schools: at Heatherdown Preparatory School at Winkfield, in Berkshire, which counts Prince Andrew and Prince Edward among its alumni. Due to good academic grades, Cameron entered its top academic class almost two years early.[24] At the age of thirteen, he went to Eton College in Berkshire, following his father and elder brother.[25] Eton is often described as the most famous independent school in the world,[26] and "the chief nurse of England's statesmen".[27] His early interest was in art. Cameron was in trouble as a teenager, six weeks before taking his O-Levels, when he was named as having smoked cannabis.[2] He admitted the offence and had not been involved in selling drugs, so he was not expelled, but was fined, prevented from leaving school grounds, and given a "Georgic" (a punishment which involved copying 500 lines of Latin text).[28]
Cameron passed 12 O-levels, and then studied three A-Levels in History of Art, History and Economics with Politics. He obtained three 'A' grades and a '1' grade in the Scholarship Level exam in Economics and Politics.[29] The following autumn he passed the entrance exam for Oxford University, where he was offered an exhibition.[30]
After leaving Eton in 1984,[31] Cameron started a nine month gap year. He worked as a researcher for Tim Rathbone, Conservative MP for Lewes and his godfather. In his three months he attended debates in the House of Commons.[32] Through his father, he was then employed for a further three months in Hong Kong by Jardine Matheson as a 'ship jumper', an administrative post.[33]
Returning from Hong Kong he visited the then Soviet Union, where he was approached by two Russian men speaking fluent English. Cameron was later told by one of his professors that it was 'definitely an attempt' by the KGB to recruit him.[34]
Cameron then began his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) at Brasenose College, Oxford.[35] His tutor, Professor Vernon Bogdanor, described him as "one of the ablest"[36] students he has taught, with "moderate and sensible Conservative" political views.[9] Guy Spier, who shared tutorials with him, remembers him as an outstanding student; "We were doing our best to grasp basic economic concepts. David - there was nobody else who came even close. He would be integrating them with the way the British political system is put together. He could have lectured me on it, and I would have sat there and taken notes.."[37] When commenting in 2006 on his former pupil's ideas about a "Bill of Rights" to replace the Human Rights Act, however, Professor Bogdanor, himself a Liberal Democrat, said, "I think he is very confused. I've read his speech and it's filled with contradictions. There are one or two good things in it but one glimpses them, as it were, through a mist of misunderstanding".[38]
While at Oxford, Cameron was a member of the elite student dining society the Bullingdon Club, which has a reputation for an outlandish drinking culture associated with boisterous behaviour and damaging property.[39] A photograph showing Cameron in a tailcoat with other members of the club, including Boris Johnson, surfaced in 2007, but was later withdrawn by the copyright holder.[40] Cameron's period in the Bullingdon Club is examined in the Channel 4 docu-drama When Boris Met Dave broadcast on 7 October 2009.[41] Cameron graduated in 1988 with a first class honours degree.[42]
Early political career[link]
Conservative Research Department[link]
After graduation, Cameron worked for the Conservative Research Department between September 1988[43] and 1993. A feature on Cameron in The Mail on Sunday on 18 March 2007 reported that on the day he was due to attend a job interview at Conservative Central Office, a phone call was received from Buckingham Palace. The male caller stated, "I understand you are to see David Cameron. I've tried everything I can to dissuade him from wasting his time on politics but I have failed. I am ringing to tell you that you are about to meet a truly remarkable young man."[44]
In 1991, Cameron was seconded to Downing Street to work on briefing John Major for his then bi-weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions. One newspaper gave Cameron the credit for "sharper [...] despatch box performances" by Major,[45] which included highlighting for Major "a dreadful piece of doublespeak" by Tony Blair (then the Labour Employment spokesman) over the effect of a national minimum wage.[46] He became head of the political section of the Conservative Research Department, and in August 1991 was tipped to follow Judith Chaplin as Political Secretary to the Prime Minister.[47]
However, Cameron lost to Jonathan Hill, who was appointed in March 1992. He was given the responsibility for briefing Major for his press conferences during the 1992 general election.[48] During the campaign, Cameron was one of the young "brat pack" of party strategists who worked between 12 and 20 hours a day, sleeping in the house of Alan Duncan in Gayfere Street, Westminster, which had been Major's campaign headquarters during his bid for the Conservative leadership.[49] Cameron headed the economic section; it was while working on this campaign that Cameron first worked closely with Steve Hilton, who was later to become Director of Strategy during his party leadership.[50] The strain of getting up at 4:45 am every day was reported to have led Cameron to decide to leave politics in favour of journalism.[51]
Special Adviser[link]
The Conservatives' unexpected success in the 1992 election led Cameron to hit back at older party members who had criticised him and his colleagues, saying "whatever people say about us, we got the campaign right," and that they had listened to their campaign workers on the ground rather than the newspapers. He revealed he had led other members of the team across Smith Square to jeer at Transport House, the former Labour headquarters.[52] Cameron was rewarded with a promotion to Special Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont.[53]
Cameron was working for Lamont at the time of Black Wednesday, when pressure from currency speculators forced the Pound sterling out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. At the 1992 Conservative Party conference, Cameron had difficulty trying to arrange to brief the speakers in the economic debate, having to resort to putting messages on the internal television system imploring the mover of the motion, Patricia Morris, to contact him.[54] Later that month Cameron joined a delegation of Special Advisers who visited Germany to build better relations with the Christian Democratic Union; he was reported to be "still smarting" over the Bundesbank's contribution to the economic crisis.[55]
Lamont fell out with John Major after Black Wednesday and became highly unpopular with the public. Taxes needed to be raised in the 1993 Budget, and Cameron fed the options Lamont was considering through to Conservative Central Office for their political acceptability to be assessed.[56] However, Lamont's unpopularity did not necessarily affect Cameron: he was considered as a potential "kamikaze" candidate for the Newbury By-election, which includes the area where he grew up.[57] However, Cameron decided not to stand.
During the by-election, Lamont gave the response "Je ne regrette rien" to a question about whether he most regretted claiming to see "the green shoots of recovery" or admitted "singing in his bath" with happiness at leaving the ERM. Cameron was identified by one journalist as having inspired this gaffe; it was speculated that the heavy Conservative defeat in Newbury may have cost Cameron his chance of becoming Chancellor himself, even though as he was not a Member of Parliament he could not have been.[58] Lamont was sacked at the end of May 1993, and decided not to write the usual letter of resignation; Cameron was given the responsibility to issue to the press a statement of self-justification.[59]
Home Office[link]
After Lamont was sacked, Cameron remained at the Treasury for less than a month before being specifically recruited by Home Secretary Michael Howard; it was commented that he was still "very much in favour".[60] It was later reported that many at the Treasury would have preferred Cameron to carry on.[61] At the beginning of September 1993, Cameron applied to go on Conservative Central Office's list of Prospective Parliamentary Candidates.[62]
According to Derek Lewis, then Director-General of Her Majesty's Prison Service, Cameron showed him a "his and hers list" of proposals made by Howard and his wife, Sandra. Lewis said that Sandra Howard's list included reducing the quality of prison food, although Sandra Howard denied this claim. Lewis reported that Cameron was "uncomfortable" about the list.[63] In defending Sandra Howard and insisting that she made no such proposal, the journalist Bruce Anderson wrote that Cameron had proposed a much shorter definition on prison catering which revolved around the phrase "balanced diet", and that Lewis had written thanking Cameron for a valuable contribution.[64]
During his work for Howard, Cameron often briefed the media. In March 1994, someone leaked to the Press that the Labour Party had called for a meeting with John Major to discuss a consensus on the Prevention of Terrorism Act. After an enquiry failed to find the source of the leak, Labour MP Peter Mandelson demanded assurance from Howard that Cameron had not been responsible, which Howard gave.[65][66] A senior Home Office Civil Servant noted the influence of Howard's Special Advisers saying previous incumbents "would listen to the evidence before making a decision. Howard just talks to young public school gentlemen from the party headquarters."[67]
Carlton[link]
In July 1994, Cameron left his role as Special Adviser to work as the Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications.[68] Carlton, which had won the ITV franchise for London weekdays in 1991, was a growing media company which also had film distribution and video producing arms. In 1997 Cameron played up the Company's prospects for digital terrestrial television, for which it joined with Granada television and BSkyB to form British Digital Broadcasting.[69] In a roundtable discussion on the future of broadcasting in 1998 he criticised the effect of overlapping different regulators on the industry.[70]
Carlton's consortium did win the digital terrestrial franchise but the resulting company suffered difficulties in attracting subscribers. In 1999 the Express on Sunday newspaper claimed Cameron had rubbished one of its stories which had given an accurate number of subscribers, because he wanted the number to appear higher than expected.[71] Cameron resigned as Director of Corporate Affairs in February 2001 in order to fight for election to Parliament, although he remained on the payroll as a consultant.[72]
Parliamentary candidacy[link]
Having been approved for the Candidates' list, Cameron began looking for a seat. He was reported to have missed out on selection for Ashford in December 1994 after failing to get to the selection meeting as a result of train delays.[73] Early in 1996, he was selected for Stafford, a new constituency created by boundary changes, which was projected to have a Conservative majority.[74] At the 1996 Conservative Party Conference he called for tax cuts in the forthcoming Budget to be targeted at the low paid and to "small businesses where people took money out of their own pockets to put into companies to keep them going".[75] He also said the Party, "Should be proud of the Tory tax record but that people needed reminding of its achievements ... It's time to return to our tax cutting agenda. The socialist Prime Ministers of Europe have endorsed Tony Blair because they want a federal pussy cat and not a British lion."[76]
When writing his election address, Cameron made his own opposition to British membership of the single European currency clear, pledging not to support it. This was a break with official Conservative policy but about 200 other candidates were making similar declarations.[77] Otherwise, Cameron kept very closely to the national party line. He also campaigned using the claim that a Labour Government would increase the cost of a pint of beer by 24p; however the Labour candidate David Kidney portrayed Cameron as "a right-wing Tory". Stafford had a swing almost the same as the national swing, which made it one of the many seats to fall to Labour: David Kidney had a majority of 4,314.[78][79]
In the round of selection contests taking place in the run-up to the 2001 general election, Cameron again attempted to be selected for a winnable seat. He tried out for the Kensington and Chelsea seat after the death of Alan Clark,[80] but did not make the shortlist.
He was in the final two but narrowly lost at Wealden in March 2000,[81] a loss ascribed by Samantha Cameron to his lack of spontaneity when speaking.[82]
On 4 April 2000 Cameron was selected as prospective candidate (PPC) for Witney in Oxfordshire. This had been a safe Conservative seat but its sitting MP Shaun Woodward (who had worked with Cameron on the 1992 election campaign) had "crossed the floor" to join the Labour Party; newspapers claimed Cameron and Woodward had "loathed each other",[83] although Cameron's biographers Francis Elliott and James Hanning describe them as being "on fairly friendly terms".[84] Cameron put a great deal of effort into "nursing" his potential constituency, turning up at social functions, and attacking Woodward for changing his mind on fox hunting to support a ban.[85]
During the election campaign, Cameron accepted the offer of writing a regular column for The Guardian's online section.[86] He won the seat with a 1.9% swing to the Conservatives and a majority of 7,973.[87][88]
Member of Parliament[link]
Upon his election to Parliament, he served as a member of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, a prominent appointment for a newly elected MP. Cameron's proposed that the Committee launch an inquiry into the law on drugs,[89] and urged the consideration of "radical options".[90] The report recommended a downgrading of Ecstasy from Class A to Class B, as well as moves towards a policy of 'harm reduction', which Cameron defended.[91]
Cameron determinedly attempted to increase his public profile, offering quotations on matters of public controversy. He opposed the payment of compensation to Gurbux Singh, who had resigned as head of the Commission for Racial Equality after a confrontation with the police;[92] and commented that the Home Affairs Select Committee had taken a long time to discuss whether the phrase "black market" should be used.[93] However, he was passed over for a front bench promotion in July 2002; Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith did invite Cameron and his ally George Osborne to coach him on Prime Minister's Questions in November 2002. The next week, Cameron deliberately abstained in a vote on allowing same-sex and unmarried couples to adopt children jointly, against a whip to oppose; his abstention was noted.[94] The wide scale of abstentions and rebellious votes destabilised the Iain Duncan Smith leadership.
In June 2003, Cameron was appointed as a shadow minister in the Privy Council Office as a deputy to Eric Forth, who was then Shadow Leader of the House. He also became a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party when Michael Howard took over the leadership in November of that year. He was appointed as the Opposition frontbench local government spokesman in 2004, before being promoted into the shadow cabinet that June as head of policy co-ordination. Later, he became Shadow Education Secretary in the post-election reshuffle.[95]
From February 2002[96] until August 2005 he was a non-executive director of Urbium PLC, operator of the Tiger Tiger bar chain.[97]
Leadership of the Conservative Party[link]
Leadership election[link]
Main article: Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 2005
Following the Labour victory in the May 2005 general election, Michael Howard announced his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party and set a lengthy timetable for the leadership election. Cameron announced formally that he would be a candidate for the position on 29 September 2005. Parliamentary colleagues supporting him initially included Boris Johnson, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, then Shadow Defence Secretary and deputy leader of the party Michael Ancram, Oliver Letwin[98] and former party leader William Hague.[99] Despite this, his campaign did not gain significant support prior to the 2005 Conservative Party Conference. However his speech, delivered without notes, proved a significant turning point. In the speech he vowed to make people, "feel good about being Conservatives again" and said he wanted, "to switch on a whole new generation."[100]
In the first ballot of Conservative MPs on 18 October 2005, Cameron came second, with 56 votes, slightly more than expected; David Davis had fewer than predicted at 62 votes; Liam Fox came third with 42 votes and Kenneth Clarke was eliminated with 38 votes. In the second ballot on 20 October 2005, Cameron came first with 90 votes; David Davis was second, with 57, and Liam Fox was eliminated with 51 votes.[101] All 198 Conservative MPs voted in both ballots.
The next stage of the election process, between Davis and Cameron, was a vote open to the entire Conservative party membership. Cameron was elected with more than twice as many votes as Davis and more than half of all ballots issued; Cameron won 134,446 votes on a 78% turnout, beating Davis's 64,398 votes.[102] Although Davis had initially been the favourite, it was widely acknowledged that Davis's candidacy was marred by a disappointing conference speech, whilst Cameron's was well received. Cameron's election as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition was announced on 6 December 2005. As is customary for an Opposition leader not already a member, upon election Cameron became a member of the Privy Council, being formally approved to join on 14 December 2005, and sworn of the Council on 8 March 2006.[103]
Cameron's appearance on the cover of Time in September 2008 was said by the Daily Mail to present him to the world as 'Prime Minister in waiting'.[104]
Reaction to Cameron as leader[link]
Cameron's relative youth and inexperience before becoming leader have invited satirical comparison with Tony Blair. Private Eye soon published a picture of both leaders on their front cover, with the caption "World's first face transplant a success".[105] On the left, New Statesman has unfavourably likened his "new style of politics" to Tony Blair's early leadership years.[106] Cameron is accused of paying excessive attention to image, with ITV News broadcasting footage from the 2006 Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth which showed him wearing four different sets of clothes within the space of a few hours.[107] Cameron was characterised in a Labour Party political broadcast as "Dave the Chameleon", who would change what he said to match the expectations of his audience. Cameron later claimed that the broadcast had become his daughter's "favourite video".[108] He has also been described by comedy writer and broadcaster Charlie Brooker as being "like a hollow Easter egg with no bag of sweets inside" in his Guardian column.[109]
On the right, Norman Tebbit, former Chairman of the Conservative Party, has likened Cameron to Pol Pot, "intent on purging even the memory of Thatcherism before building a New Modern Compassionate Green Globally Aware Party".[110] Quentin Davies MP, who defected from the Conservatives to Labour on 26 June 2007, branded him "superficial, unreliable and [with] an apparent lack of any clear convictions" and stated that David Cameron had turned the Conservative Party's mission into a "PR agenda".[111] Traditionalist conservative columnist and author Peter Hitchens has written that, "Mr Cameron has abandoned the last significant difference between his party and the established left", by embracing social liberalism[112] and has dubbed the party under his leadership "Blue Labour", a pun on New Labour.[113] Cameron responded by calling Hitchens a "maniac".[114] Daily Telegraph correspondent and blogger Gerald Warner has been particularly scathing about Cameron's leadership, arguing that it is alienating traditionalist conservative elements from the Conservative Party.[115]
Cameron is reported to be known to friends and family as "Dave", though he invariably uses "David'" in public.[116] Critics often refer to him as "Call me Dave", implying populism in the same way as "Call me Tony" was used in 1997.[117] The Times columnist Daniel Finkelstein has condemned those who attempt to belittle Cameron by calling him 'Dave'.[118]
Shadow Cabinet appointments[link]
His Shadow Cabinet appointments have included MPs associated with the various wings of the party. Former leader William Hague was appointed to the Foreign Affairs brief, while both George Osborne and David Davis were retained, as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and Shadow Home Secretary respectively. Hague, assisted by Davis, stood in for Cameron during his paternity leave in February 2006.[119] In June 2008 Davis announced his intention to resign as an MP, and was immediately replaced as Shadow Home Secretary by Dominic Grieve, the surprise move seen as a challenge to the changes introduced under Cameron's leadership.[120]
In January 2009 a reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet was undertaken. The chief change was the appointment of former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke as Shadow Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Secretary, David Cameron stating that "With Ken Clarke's arrival, we now have the best economic team." The reshuffle saw eight other changes made.[121]
European Conservatives and Reformists[link]
During his successful campaign to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party, Cameron pledged that the Conservative Party's Members of the European Parliament would leave the European People's Party group, which had a "federalist" approach to the European Union.[122] Once elected Cameron began discussions with right-wing and eurosceptic parties in other European countries, mainly in eastern Europe, and in July 2006 he concluded an agreement to form the Movement for European Reform with the Czech Civic Democratic Party, leading to the formation of a new European Parliament group, the European Conservatives and Reformists, in 2009 after the European Parliament elections.[123] Cameron attended a gathering at Warsaw's Palladium cinema celebrating the foundation of the alliance.[124]
In forming the caucus, which had 54 MEPs drawn from eight of the 27 EU member states, Cameron reportedly broke with two decades of Conservative cooperation with the centre-right Christian Democrats, the European People's Party (EPP),[125] on the grounds that they are dominated by European federalists and supporters of the Lisbon treaty.[125] EPP leader Wilfried Martens, former prime minister of Belgium, has stated "Cameron's campaign has been to take his party back to the centre in every policy area with one major exception: Europe. ... I can't understand his tactics. Merkel and Sarkozy will never accept his Euroscepticism."[125] The left-wing New Statesman magazine reported that the US administration had "concerns about Cameron among top members of the team" and quoted David Rothkopf in saying that the issue "makes Cameron an even more dubious choice to be Britain's next prime minister than he was before and, should he attain that post, someone about whom the Obama administration ought to be very cautious."[126]
Shortlists for Parliamentary Candidates[link]
Similarly, Cameron's initial "A-List" of prospective parliamentary candidates has been attacked by members of his party,[127] with the policy now having been discontinued in favour of gender balanced final shortlists. These have been criticised by senior Conservative MP and Prisons Spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe as an "insult to women", Widdecombe accusing Cameron of "storing up huge problems for the future."[128][129] The plans have since led to conflict in a number of constituencies, including the widely reported resignation of Joanne Cash, a close friend of Cameron, as candidate in the constituency of Westminster North following a dispute described as "a battle for the soul of the Tory Party".[129]
2010 general election[link]
Main article: United Kingdom general election, 2010
The Conservatives had last won a general election in 1992. The general election of 2010 resulted in the Conservatives, led by Cameron, winning the largest number of seats (306). This was, however, 20 seats short of an overall majority and resulted in the nation's first hung parliament since February 1974.[130] Talks between Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg led to an agreed Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition.
Prime Minister[link]
Main article: Premiership of David Cameron
On 11 May 2010, following the resignation of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister and on his recommendation, Queen Elizabeth II invited Cameron to form a government.[131] At age 43, Cameron became the youngest British Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool, who was appointed in 1812.[3] In his first address outside 10 Downing Street, he announced his intention to form a coalition government, the first since the Second World War, with the Liberal Democrats.
Cameron outlined how he intended to "put aside party differences and work hard for the common good and for the national interest."[3] As one of his first moves Cameron appointed Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, as Deputy Prime Minister on 11 May 2010.[131] Between them, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats control 363 seats in the House of Commons, with a majority of 76 seats.[132] On 2 June 2010, when Cameron took his first session of Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) as Prime Minister, he began by offering his support and condolences to those affected by the shootings in Cumbria.[133]
On 5 February 2011, Cameron criticised the failure of 'state multiculturalism', in his first speech as PM on radicalisation and the causes of terrorism.[134]
Policies and views[link]
Main article: Political positions of David Cameron
Self-description of views[link]
Cameron describes himself as a "modern compassionate conservative" and has spoken of a need for a new style of politics, saying that he was "fed up with the Punch and Judy politics of Westminster".[135] He has stated that he is "certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite."[136] He has also claimed to be a "liberal Conservative", and "not a deeply ideological person."[137] As Leader of the Opposition, Cameron stated that he did not intend to oppose the government as a matter of course, and would offer his support in areas of agreement. He has urged politicians to concentrate more on improving people's happiness and "general well-being", instead of focusing solely on "financial wealth".[138] There have been claims that he described himself to journalists at a dinner during the leadership contest as the "heir to Blair".[139] He believes that British Muslims have a duty to integrate into British culture, but notes that they find aspects such as high divorce rates and drug use uninspiring, and that "Not for the first time, I found myself thinking that it is mainstream Britain which needs to integrate more with the British Asian way of life, not the other way around."[140]
Daniel Finkelstein has said of the period leading up to Cameron's election as leader of the Conservative party that "a small group of us (myself, David Cameron, George Osborne, Michael Gove, Nick Boles, Nick Herbert I think, once or twice) used to meet up in the offices of Policy Exchange, eat pizza, and consider the future of the Conservative Party".[141]
Cameron co-operated with Dylan Jones, giving him interviews and access, to enable him to produce the book Cameron on Cameron.[142]
Cameron favours legalising same-sex marriage.[143]
Parliamentary votes[link]
During November 2001, Cameron voted to modify legislation allowing people detained at a police station to be fingerprinted and searched for an identifying birthmark to be applicable only in connection with a terrorism investigation.[144] In March 2002, he voted against banning the hunting of wild mammals with dogs,[145] being an occasional hunter himself.[146] In April 2003, he voted against the introduction of a bill to ban smoking in restaurants.[147] In June 2003, he voted against NHS Foundation Trusts.[148] Also in 2003, he voted to keep the controversial Section 28 clause.[149]
In March 2003, he voted against a motion that the case had not yet been made for the Iraq War,[150] and then supported using "all means necessary to ensure the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction".[151] In October 2003, however, he voted in favour of setting up a judicial inquiry into the Iraq War.[152] In October 2004, he voted in favour of the Civil Partnership Bill.[153] In February 2005, he voted in favour of changing the text in the Prevention of Terrorism Bill from "The Secretary of State may make a control order against an individual" to "The Secretary of State may apply to the court for a control order ..."[154] In October 2005, he voted against the Identity Cards Bill.[155]
Criticism of other parties and politicians[link]
Cameron criticised Gordon Brown (when Brown was Chancellor of the Exchequer) for being "an analogue politician in a digital age" and referred to him as "the roadblock to reform".[156] He has also said that John Prescott "clearly looks a fool" in light of allegations of ministerial misconduct.[157] During a speech to the Ethnic Media Conference on 29 November 2006, Cameron also described Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, as an "ageing far left politician" in reference to Livingstone's views on multiculturalism.[158]
Since becoming prime minister, he has reacted to press reports that Brown could be the next head of the International Monetary Fund by hinting that he may block Brown from being appointed to the role, citing the huge national debt that Brown left the country with as a reason for Brown not being suitable for the role.[159]
Cameron has accused the United Kingdom Independence Party of being "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists, mostly,"[160] leading UKIP leader Nigel Farage to demand an apology for the remarks. Right-wing Conservative MP Bob Spink, who later defected to UKIP, also criticised the remarks,[161] as did the Daily Telegraph.[162]
Cameron was seen encouraging Conservative MPs to join the standing ovation given to Tony Blair at the end of his last Prime Minister's Question Time; he had paid tribute to the "huge efforts" Blair had made and said Blair had "considerable achievements to his credit, whether it is peace in Northern Ireland or his work in the developing world, which will endure".[163]
In 2006, Cameron made a speech in which he described extremist Islamic organisations and the British National Party as "mirror images" to each other, both preaching "creeds of pure hatred".[164] Cameron is listed as being a supporter of Unite Against Fascism.[165]
Cameron, in late 2009, urged the Lib Dems to join the Conservatives in a new "national movement" arguing there was "barely a cigarette paper" between them on a large number of issues. The invitation was rejected by the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, who attacked Cameron at the start of his party's annual conference in Bournemouth, saying that the Conservatives were totally different from his party and that the Lib Dems were the true "progressives" in UK politics.[166]
Political commentary[link]
Allegations of social elitism[link]
While Leader of the Conservative Party, Cameron has been accused of reliance on "old-boy networks"[167] and attacked by his party for the imposition of selective shortlists of prospective parliamentary candidates.[127]
The Guardian has accused Cameron of relying on "the most prestigious of old-boy networks in his attempt to return the Tories to power", pointing out that three members of his shadow cabinet and 15 members of his front bench team were "Old Etonians".[167] Similarly, The Sunday Times has commented that "David Cameron has more Etonians around him than any leader since Macmillan" and asked whether he can "represent Britain from such a narrow base."[168] Former Labour cabinet minister Hazel Blears has said of Cameron, "You have to wonder about a man who surrounds himself with so many people who went to the same school. I'm pretty sure I don't want 21st-century Britain run by people who went to just one school."[169]
Some supporters of the party have accused Cameron's government for cronyism on the front benches, with Sir Tom Cowie, working-class founder of Arriva and former Conservative donor, ceasing his donations in August 2007 due to disillusionment with Cameron's leadership, saying, "the Tory party seems to be run now by Old Etonians and they don't seem to understand how other people live." In reply, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said when a party was changing, "there will always be people who are uncomfortable with that process".[170]
In a response to Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions in December 2009, Gordon Brown addressed the Conservative Party's inheritance tax policy, saying it "seems to have been dreamed up on the playing fields of Eton". This led to open discussion of "class war" by the mainstream media and leading politicians of both major parties, with speculation that the 2010 general election campaign would see the Labour Party highlight the backgrounds of senior Conservative politicians.[171][172]
Raising teaching standards[link]
At the launch of the Conservative Party's education manifesto in January 2010, Cameron declared an admiration for the "brazenly elitist" approach to education of countries such as Singapore and South Korea and expressed a desire to "elevate the status of teaching in our country". He suggested the adoption of more stringent criteria for entry to teaching and offered repayment of the loans of maths and science graduates obtaining first or 2.1 degrees from "good" universities. Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, said "The message that the Conservatives are sending to the majority of students is that if you didn't go to a university attended by members of the Shadow Cabinet, they don't believe you're worth as much." In response to the manifesto as a whole, Chris Keates, head of teaching union NASUWT, said teachers would be left "shocked, dismayed and demoralised" and warned of the potential for strikes as a result.[173][174][175]
South Africa[link]
In April 2009, The Independent reported that in 1989, while Nelson Mandela remained imprisoned under the apartheid regime, David Cameron had accepted a trip to South Africa paid for by an anti-sanctions lobby firm. A spokesperson for Cameron responded by saying that the Conservative Party was at that time opposed to sanctions against South Africa and that his trip was a fact-finding mission. However, the newspaper reported that Cameron's then superior at Conservative Research Department called the trip "jolly", saying that "it was all terribly relaxed, just a little treat, a perk of the job. The Botha regime was attempting to make itself look less horrible, but I don't regard it as having been of the faintest political consequence." Cameron distanced himself from his party's history of opposing sanctions against the regime. He was criticised by Labour MP Peter Hain, himself an anti-apartheid campaigner.[176]
Turkey and Israel[link]
In a speech in Ankara in July 2010, Cameron stated unequivocally his support for Turkey's accession to the EU, citing economic, security and political considerations, and claimed that those who opposed Turkish membership were driven by "protectionism, narrow nationalism or prejudice".[177][178] In that speech, he was also critical of Israeli action during the Gaza flotilla raid and its Gaza policy, and repeated his opinion that Israel had turned Gaza into a "prison camp",[177] having previously referred to Gaza as "a giant open prison".[179] These views were met with mixed reactions.[180][181][182]
At the end of May 2011, Cameron stepped down as patron of the Jewish National Fund[183][184] the first British prime minister not to be patron of the charity in the 110 years of its existence.[185]
Allegations of recreational drug use[link]
During the leadership election, allegations were made that Cameron had used cannabis and cocaine recreationally before becoming an MP.[186] Pressed on this point during the BBC programme Question Time, Cameron expressed the view that everybody was allowed to "err and stray" in their past.[187] During his 2005 Conservative leadership campaign he addressed the question of drug consumption by remarking that "I did lots of things before I came into politics which I shouldn't have done. We all did."[187]
Cameron and Andy Coulson[link]
In 2007 Cameron appointed Andy Coulson, former editor of the News of the World as his director of communications. Coulson had resigned as the paper's editor following the conviction of a reporter in relation to illegal phone hacking, although stating that he knew nothing about it.[188][189] In June 2010 Downing Street confirmed Coulson's annual salary as £140,000, the highest pay of any special adviser to UK Government.[190] In January 2011 Coulson left his post, saying coverage of the phone hacking scandal was making it difficult to give his best to the job.[188] In July 2011 he was arrested and questioned by police in connection with further allegations of illegal activities at the News of the World, and released on bail. Despite a call to apologise for hiring Coulson by the leader of the opposition Ed Miliband, Cameron defended the appointment, saying that he had taken a conscious choice to give someone who had screwed up a second chance.[191][192] On 20 July, in a special parliamentary session at the House of Commons, arranged to discuss the News of the World phone hacking scandal, Cameron said that he "regretted the furore" that had resulted from his appointment of Coulson, and that "with hindsight" he would not have hired him.[193][194] Coulson was detained and charged with perjury by Strathclyde Police on 30 May 2012.[195][196]
Standing in opinion polls[link]
In the first month of Cameron's leadership, the Conservative Party's standing in opinion polls rose, with several pollsters placing it ahead of the ruling Labour Party. While the Conservative and Labour Parties drew even in early spring 2006, following the May 2006 local elections various polls once again generally showed Conservative leads.[197][198]
When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister on 27 June 2007, Labour moved ahead and its ratings grew steadily at Cameron's expense, an ICM poll[199] in July showing Labour with a seven point lead in the wake of controversies over his policies. An ICM poll[200][201] in September saw Cameron rated the least popular of the three main party leaders. A YouGov poll for Channel 4[202] one week later, after the Labour Party Conference, extended the Labour lead to 11 points, prompting further speculation of an early election.
Following the Conservative Party Conference in the first week of October 2007, the Conservatives drew level with Labour[203] When Brown declared he would not call an election for the autumn,[204] a decline in his and Labour's standings followed. At the end of the year a series of polls showed improved support for the Conservatives[205] giving them an 11 point lead over Labour. This decreased slightly in early 2008,[206] and in March the Conservatives had their largest lead in opinion polls since October 1987, at 16 points.[207] In May 2008, following the worst local election performance from the Labour Party in 40 years, the Conservative lead was up to 26 points, the largest since 1968.[208]
In December 2008, a ComRes poll showed the Conservative lead had decreased dramatically [209] though by February 2009 it had recovered to reach 12 points.[210] A period of relative stability in the polls was broken in mid-December 2009 and by January 2010 some polls were predicting a hung parliament[211][212]
A YouGov poll on party leaders conducted on 9–10 June 2011 found 44% of the electorate thought he was doing well and 50% thought he was doing badly, whilst 38% thought he would be the best PM, 23% preferred Ed Miliband and 35% didn't know.[213]
Until his veto on treaty changes to the European Union in December 2011 amid the Eurozone crisis, most opinion polls that year had shown a slim Labour lead. However, many opinion polls showed that the majority of voters felt that Cameron made the right decision,[214] Subsequent opinion polls have shown a narrow lead for the Conservatives ahead of Labour.[215]
Personal life[link]
Cameron married Samantha Gwendoline Sheffield, the daughter of Sir Reginald Adrian Berkeley Sheffield, 8th Baronet and Annabel Lucy Veronica Jones (now The Viscountess Astor), on 1 June 1996 at the Church of St Augustine of Canterbury, East Hendred, Oxfordshire.[5] The Camerons have had four children. Their first child, Ivan Reginald Ian, was born on 8 April 2002 in Hammersmith and Fulham, London,[216] with a rare combination of cerebral palsy and a form of severe epilepsy called Ohtahara syndrome, requiring round-the-clock care. Recalling the receipt of this news, Cameron is quoted as saying: "The news hits you like a freight train... You are depressed for a while because you are grieving for the difference between your hopes and the reality. But then you get over that, because he's wonderful."[217] Ivan died at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, London, on 25 February 2009, aged six.[218]
David and Samantha Cameron have two daughters, Nancy Gwen[219] (born 2004), and Florence Rose Endellion (born 24 August 2010),[220] and a son, Arthur Elwen (born 2006).[221][222] Cameron took paternity leave when his second son was born, and this decision received broad coverage.[223] It was also stated that Cameron would be taking paternity leave after his second daughter was born.[220] His second daughter, Florence Rose Endellion, was born on 24 August 2010, three weeks prematurely, while the family was on holiday in Cornwall. Her third given name, Endellion, is taken from the village of St Endellion near where the Camerons were holidaying.[224][225]
A Daily Mail article from June 2007 quoted Sunday Times Rich List compiler Philip Beresford, who had valued the Conservative Leader for the first time, as saying: "I put the combined family wealth of David and Samantha Cameron at £30 million plus. Both sides of the family are extremely wealthy."[226] Another estimate is £3.2 million, though this figure excludes the million-pound legacies Cameron is expected to inherit from both sides of his family.[227][228]
In early May 2008, David Cameron decided to enroll his daughter Nancy at a State school. The Camerons had been attending its associated church,[229] which is near the Cameron family home in North Kensington, for three years.[230] Cameron's constituency home is in Dean, Oxfordshire, and the Camerons are key members of the Chipping Norton set. [231]
On 8 September 2010 it was announced that Cameron would miss Prime Minister's Questions in order to fly to southern France to see his father, Ian Cameron, who had suffered a stroke with coronary complications. Later that day, with David and other family members at his bedside, Ian died.[232][233] On 17 September 2010, Cameron attended a private ceremony for the funeral of his father in Berkshire, which prevented him from hearing the address of The Pope to Westminster Hall, an occasion he would otherwise have attended.[234]
Cameron supports Aston Villa Football Club.[235] He also owns a cat, Larry, who lives at 10 Downing Street.[236]
Cycling[link]
He regularly uses his bicycle to commute to work. In early 2006 he was photographed cycling to work followed by his driver in a car carrying his belongings. His Conservative Party spokesperson subsequently said that this was a regular arrangement for Cameron at the time.[237] Cameron's bicycle was stolen in May 2009 while he was shopping. It was recovered with the aid of The Sunday Mirror.[238] His bicycle has since been stolen again from near his house.[239] He is an occasional jogger and has raised funds for charities by taking part in the Oxford 5K and the Great Brook Run.[240][241]
Faith[link]
Speaking of his religious beliefs, Cameron has said: "I've a sort of fairly classic Church of England faith".[242] He states that his politics "is not faith-driven", adding: "I am a Christian, I go to church, I believe in God, but I do not have a direct line."[243] On religious faith in general he has said: "I do think that organised religion can get things wrong but the Church of England and the other churches do play a very important role in society."[242]
Questioned as to whether his faith had ever been tested, Cameron spoke of the birth of his severely disabled eldest son, saying: "You ask yourself, 'If there is a God, why can anything like this happen?'" He went on to state that in some ways the experience had "strengthened" his beliefs.[243]
Styles[link]
- David Cameron Esq (1966–2001)
- David Cameron Esq MP (2001–2005)
- The Rt Hon David Cameron MP (2005–)
Ancestry[link]
Among Cameron's ancestors is King William IV, who is his 5-times great-grandfather through an illegitimate daughter who was the mother of Agnes Duff, Countess Fife, who is shown in the ancestry chart below.[citation needed]
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See also[link]
References[link]
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- ^ Boden, Nicola (2010-09-09). "David Cameron's father dies in France after suffering a stroke while on holiday". London: Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1310200/David-Camerons-father-dies-France-suffering-stroke-holiday.html.
- ^ a b c d "David William Donald Cameron". The Peerage.com. http://www.thepeerage.com/p17890.htm. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
- ^ Debrett's Peerage 2011, p. B 714
- ^ Elliott, Francis; Hanning, James (2007), Cameron: the Rise of the New Conservative, HarperPress, ISBN 0-00-724366-9
- ^ "A. A. Cameron", Who's Who
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- ^ a b David Cameron ‘could be a direct descendant of Moses’ Times Online, 10 July 2009
- ^ Fischer, Joseph Hartvig Philip Rée og hans slægt; udg. paa Foranledning af Eduard Rée. Copenhagen, 1912, pp. 47, 56, 59, 61, 62 & 64
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- ^ JOHN DOWER and JAGO LEE Our Boys from the Bullingdon: The early years of David Cameron and Boris Johnson Daily Mail, 26 September 2009
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- ^ Cameron Minor's schooldays: How his extraordinary life at his exclusive prep school helped shape our PM
- ^ Francis Elliott and James Hanning (18 March 2007), "The many faces of Mr. Cameron", The Mail on Sunday (London), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=442913&in_page_id=1770, retrieved 4 September 2007
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- ^ House of Commons Hansard Debates for 12 Oct 2004 (pt 34), archived from the original on 30 June 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20070630192558/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo041012/debtext/41012-34.htm#41012-34_div256, retrieved 17 September 2007
- ^ House of Commons Hansard Debates for 28 Feb 2005 (pt 40), archived from the original on 26 August 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20070826160700/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmhansrd/vo050228/debtext/50228-40.htm#50228-40_div101, retrieved 19 September 2007
- ^ House of Commons Hansard Debates for 18 Oct 2005 (pt 35), archived from the original on 23 November 2007, http://web.archive.org/web/20071123131539/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/vo051018/debtext/51018-35.htm#51018-35_div60, retrieved 20 September 2007
- ^ "Cameron attacks 'past it' Brown", BBC News Online, 22 March 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2006.
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- ^ "Cameron hints at blocking Brown bid for IMF job". BBC News. 19 April 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13127225.
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- ^ Brendan Carlin, "Tory MP defends Ukip in racist row", Telegraph, 6 April 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2006.
- ^ "UKIP deserves better", Telegraph, 5 April 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2006.
- ^ "Cameron praises Blair achievement", BBC News Online, 27 June 2007. Retrieved 4 September 2007.
- ^ Hélène Mulholland (29 January 2007). "Muslim extremists are mirror image of BNP, says Cameron". Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/jan/29/religion.politics. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
- ^ Founding signatories, Unite Against Fascism, http://uaf.org.uk/about/founding-signatories/, retrieved 17 April 2010
- ^ Wheeler, Brian (20 September 2009). "Clegg rejects Tory alliance call". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8264994.stm. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
- ^ a b Taylor, Matthew (12 August 2006), "Under the Green Oak, an old elite takes root in Tories", The Guardian (London), http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,1843008,00.html, retrieved 15 February 2010
- ^ Robert Winnett and Holly Watt, "Focus: Reservoir toffs", Times Online, 8 October 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2006.
- ^ Greg Hurst, "Class attack by Blears on Tories", Times Online, 21 November 2006. Retrieved 28 November 2006.
- ^ Donor condemns Cameron leadership, BBC News, 7 August 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6934329.stm, retrieved 24 August 2007
- ^ Hall, Macer (3 December 2009), "Gordon Brown unleashes "class war" attack on David Cameron", Daily Express, http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/143798/Gordon-Brown-unleashes-class-war-attack-on-David-Cameron, retrieved 15 February 2010
- ^ Collins, Nick (21 January 2010), "The class war: British politics ahead of the general election", Daily Telegraph (London), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7044016/The-class-war-British-politics-ahead-of-the-general-election.html, retrieved 15 February 2010
- ^ Kirkup, James (7 February 2010), "David Cameron pledges 'brazen elitism' in teaching", Daily Telegraph (London), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/david-cameron/7014885/David-Cameron-pledges-brazen-elitism-in-teaching.html, retrieved 15 February 2010
- ^ Garner, Richard (18 January 2010), "'Only for elite' fear over Tory teaching deal", The Independent (London), http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/only-for-elite-fear-over-tory-student-loans-deal-1871847.html, retrieved 15 February 2010
- ^ "Teachers union warn David Cameron faces class war", Daily Mirror, 19 January 2010, http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/01/19/cam-s-facing-a-class-war-115875-21978076/, retrieved 15 February 2010
- ^ Jane Merrick, James Hanning (26 April 2009), "Cameron's freebie to apartheid South Africa", The Independent (London), http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-camerons-freebie-to-apartheid-south-africa-1674367.html
- ^ a b "PM's speech in Turkey". Number10.gov.uk. 27 July 2010. http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/speeches-and-transcripts/2010/07/pms-speech-in-turkey-53869. Retrieved 5 June 2011. "I am here to make the case for Turkey's membership of the European Union and to fight for it."
- ^ "Cameron 'anger' at slow pace of Turkish EU negotiations". BBC News. 27 July 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10767768.
- ^ Nicholas Watt; Harriet Sherwood (27 July 2010). "David Cameron: Israeli blockade has turned Gaza Strip into a 'prison camp'". The Guardian.
- ^ Simon Round (16 September 2010). "Interview: Gideon Levy: The veteran Israeli journalist says his country has behaved unacceptably over Gaza". The Jewish Chronicle. http://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/the-simon-round-interview/38184/interview-gideon-levy. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ Joel J. Sprayregen (9 August 2010), "Coping with Turkey's Islamist Lurch", American Thinker, http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/coping_with_turkeys_islamist_l.html, retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ Zalman Shoval (2 August 2010). "David Cameron looking both ways". The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=183421. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
- ^ Harriet Sherwood (29 May 2011). "David Cameron resigns as patron of the Jewish National Fund". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/may/29/david-cameron-resigns-patron-jnf?INTCMP=SRCH. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
- ^ Jonny Paul (2 June 2011). "Cameron denies political pressure led to JNF resignation". The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=223268. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
- ^ Robyn Rosen (2 June 2011). "Cameron's JNF split: it was Israel". The Jewish Chronicle. http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/49789/camerons-jnf-split-it-was-israel. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
- ^ Nicholas Lezard, "What cocaine says about you", Guardian Unlimited, 10 November 2005. Retrieved 6 November 2006.
- ^ a b "Cameron pressed on drugs question", BBC News, 14 October 2005. Retrieved 26 July 2008.
- ^ a b Torin Douglas (2011-01-21). "BBC News - Andy Coulson quits Downing Street communications role". Bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12251456. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
- ^ Merrick, Jane; Hanning, James; Chorley, Matt; Brady, Brian (2011-07-10). "The Battle of Wapping, Mk II - Press, Media". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/the-battle-of-wapping-mk-ii-2310041.html. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
- ^ ^ "David Cameron's PR director Andy Coulson paid £140,000". The BBC. 10 June 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
- ^ "News of the World phone hacking: Cameron announces public inquiries into Press regulation". London: Dailymail.co.uk. 2011-09-07. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012505/News-World-phone-hacking-Cameron-announces-public-inquiries-Press-regulation.html. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
- ^ Prime Minister's 'gross error of judgment' over former editor Andy Coulson - News - Scotsman.com
- ^ "David Cameron: 'I regret hiring Andy Coulson'". thisislondon.co.uk. 20 July 2011. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23971364-david-cameron-faces-questions-over-party-links-to-phone-hack-suspect.do. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
- ^ "'Sorry' David Cameron sees values of hindsight". London: The Independent. 20 July 2011. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sorry-david-cameron-sees-values-of-hindsight-2317454.html. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
- ^ Rose, Gareth (31 May 2012). "Scottish police charge Andy Coulson with Tommy Sheridan trial perjury". scotsman.com. http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/scottish-police-charge-andy-coulson-with-tommy-sheridan-trial-perjury-1-2326534. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
- ^ Carrell, Severin; Wintour, Patrick (30 May 2012). "Andy Coulson charged with perjury". guardian.co.uk. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/may/30/andy-coulson-charged-with-perjury. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
- ^ "Current voting intention", UKPollingReport.co.uk
- ^ Knowles, Daniel, "David Cameron", Daily Telegraph (London), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/david-cameron/, retrieved 15 June 2009
- ^ Patrick Hennessy and Melissa Kite "Gordon Brown has biggest lead over Tories" Sunday Telegraph, 15 July 2007
- ^ "The swing against Cameron" The Guardian, 19 September 2007
- ^ Julian Glover and Patrick Wintour, "Brown effect propels Labour to election-winning lead", The Guardian, 30 June 2007. Retrieved 30 June 2007.
- ^ "Ratings boost for Brown as defection talk rattles Tories" The Guardian, 26 September 2007
- ^ "Cameron bounces back" The Guardian, 5 October 2007
- ^ "Brown rules out autumn election" BBC News, 6 October 2007
- ^ "Tories 15-yr high"[dead link] News of the World, 2 December 2007
- ^ "Happy in Europe but still best friends with the US" The Guardian, 26 January 2008
- ^ "Support for Labour hits 25-year low", The Sunday Times, 16 March 2008.
- ^ YouGov, Sun survey results, YouGov, http://www.yougov.co.uk/extranets/ygarchives/content/pdf/Sun%2008%2005%2008%20toplines.pdf
- ^ Voting Intention UK Polling Report, 3 December 2008
- ^ Julian Glover (23 February 2009), "ICM opinion poll", The Guardian (London), http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/23/icm-poll-february-2009, retrieved 28 May 2009
- ^ Tom Clark (14 December 2009), "Tory lead cut to nine points in Guardian/ICM poll", The Guardian (London), http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/dec/14/tory-lead-nine-points-guardian-icm-poll, retrieved 31 January 2010
- ^ Walters, Simon (31 January 2010), "Tory poll lead slips as party denies David Cameron rift with George Osborne", Daily Mail (London), http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247426/Tory-poll-lead-slips-party-denies-David-Cameron-rift-George-Osborne.html, retrieved 31 January 2010
- ^ The Party Leaders[dead link] YouGov 14-Jun-2011
- ^ Simon Walters (11 December 2011). "David Cameron got it right: Most voters agree with PM vetoing EU treaty changes | Mail Online". London: Dailymail.co.uk. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2072616/David-Cameron-got-right-Most-voters-agree-PM-vetoing-EU-treaty-changes.html. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
- ^ "Cameron's EU veto wipes out Labour poll lead". Politics.co.uk. 2011-12-11. http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2011/12/11/cameron-s-eu-veto-wipes-out-labour-poll-lead. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
- ^ "Births England and Wales 1984–2006". Find My Past. http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp. Retrieved 13 April 2010. [dead link]
- ^ Quoted in "Focus: Can Boy Wonder save the Tories?", The Sunday Times, 9 October 2005
- ^ Cameron's eldest son Ivan dies, BBC News, 25 February 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7909562.stm, retrieved 25 February 2009
- ^ "I want to be Gwen says Mrs Cameron", Daily Express, 25 August 2007
- ^ a b "Camerons announce birth of fourth child". BBC News. 24 August 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11074163. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
- ^ "Arthur Elwen Cameron meets the public", Evening Standard, 17 February 2007
- ^ David Cameron's wife expecting baby The Guardian, 22 March 2010
- ^ White, Roland (5 February 2006), Cameron puts in for spot of paternity leave, London: Times Online, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article727123.ece
- ^ "Camerons reveal daughter's name". BBC News (BBC). 25 August 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11089358. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
- ^ Croft, Adrian (24 August 2010). "UK PM David Cameron's wife gives birth to baby girl". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67N3DN20100824. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
- ^ Zoe Brennan, "'Dave' Cameron says he's in touch with reality ... but with so much wealth and blue blood you have to wonder", Daily Mail, 16 June 2007; Retrieved 8 January 2008
- ^ Samira Shackle, Stephanie Hegarty and George Eaton The new ruling class New Statesman 1 October 2009
- ^ Glen Owen The coalition of millionaires: 23 of the 29 member of the new cabinet are worth more than £1m... and the Lib Dems are just as wealthy as the Tories Mail on Sunday, 23 May 2010
- ^ Dr Russell Lloyd. "St Mary Abbots Church". St Mary Abbots Church. http://www.stmaryabbotschurch.org/. Retrieved 2011-07-08.
- ^ Leaders make state school choices BBC News, 9 May 2008
- ^ Caroline Dewar (2012-03-05). "Who's who in the Chipping Norton set". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/interactive-graphics/9124278/Whos-who-in-the-Chipping-Norton-set.html. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
- ^ Tapsfield, James (8 September 2010). "David Cameron's father dies after stroke". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-camerons-father-dies-after-stroke-2073550.html. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
- ^ "David Cameron's father seriously ill after stroke". The London Evening Standard. 8 September 2010. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23875455-david-camerons-father-seriously-ill-with-stroke.do. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
- ^ 2:46AM BST 17 Sep 2010 (2010-09-17). "David Cameron attends father's funeral". London: Telegraph.co.uk. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/david-cameron/8009233/David-Cameron-attends-fathers-funeral.html. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
- ^ Lisa Smith "David Cameron not bothered by Euro clash – he's a Villa fan" Birmingham Post, 20 May 2008, retrieved 21 May 2008
- ^ "Larry the cat to join David Cameron in Downing Street". BBC News. 15 February 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12460596. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^ Hypocrisy claim over Cameron bike, BBC News, 28 April 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4953922.stm, retrieved 4 August 2009
- ^ Cameron reunited with stolen bike, BBC News, 27 July 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7527403.stm, retrieved 4 August 2009
- ^ Cameron's bicycle is stolen again, BBC News, 6 May 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8035603.stm, retrieved 4 August 2009
- ^ David Cameron nearly runs out of puff in five-mile charity run for children's hospital Daily Mail (20 April 2009) Retrieved on 28 December 2009
- ^ David Cameron runs in charity mud race BBC News (28 December 2009) Retrieved on 28 December 2009
- ^ a b Geordie Greig David Cameron: Would I sack George Osborne? Yes absolutely if I have to ..., London Evening Standard, 6 November 2009. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
- ^ a b "The birth of disabled son tested my faith: Cameron", Daily Mail (London), 26 July 2007, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-471083/The-birth-disabled-son-tested-faith-Cameron.html, retrieved 28 December 2009
Further reading[link]
- Matt Beech and Simon Lee. The Cameron-Clegg Government: Coalition Politics in an Age of Austerity (2011)
- Timothy Heppell and David Seawright, eds. Cameron and the Conservatives: The Transition to Coalition Government (Palgrave Macmillan; 2012) 268 pages
External links[link]
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- David Cameron's columns (2001–2004) as Conservative Party diarist at The Guardian
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- The David Cameron story, Brian Wheeler, BBC News, 6 December 2005
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Shaun Woodward |
Member of Parliament for Witney 2001–present |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Tim Collins |
Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills 2005 |
Succeeded by David Willetts |
| Preceded by Michael Howard |
Leader of the Opposition 2005–2010 |
Succeeded by Harriet Harman |
| Preceded by Gordon Brown |
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 2010–present |
Incumbent |
| Minister for the Civil Service 2010–present |
||
| First Lord of the Treasury 2010–present |
||
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Michael Howard |
Leader of the Conservative Party 2005–present |
Incumbent |
| Order of precedence in England and Wales | ||
| Preceded by John Sentamu as Archbishop of York |
Gentlemen as Prime Minister |
Succeeded by Nick Clegg as Lord President of the Council |
| Order of precedence in Scotland | ||
| Preceded by William Hewitt as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland |
Gentlemen as Prime Minister |
Succeeded by John Bercow as Speaker of the House of Commons |
| Order of precedence in Northern Ireland | ||
| Preceded by Kenneth Clarke as Lord Chancellor |
Gentlemen as Prime Minister |
Succeeded by Nick Clegg as Lord President of the Council |
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.svg)
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Cameron, David |
| Alternative names | The Right Honourable David Cameron MP |
| Short description | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 9 October 1966 |
| Place of birth | Oxfordshire, England |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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| Barack Obama | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 44th President of the United States | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 20, 2009 |
|
| Vice President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | George W. Bush |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Barack Hussein Obama II[1] (1961-08-04) August 4, 1961 (age 50) Honolulu, Hawaii, United States[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Michelle Robinson (m. 1992) |
| Children | Malia (b.1998) Sasha (b.2001) |
| Residence | The White House |
| Alma mater | Occidental College Columbia University (B.A.) Harvard Law School (J.D.) |
| Profession | Community organizer Attorney Author Constitutional law professor United States Senator President of the United States |
| Religion | Christian,[2] former member of United Church of Christ[3][4] |
| Signature |  |
| Website | WhiteHouse.gov |
 |
This article is part of a series on Barack Obama |
|---|---|
The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009, when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Barack Obama is the first African-American president of the United States, as well as the first born in Hawaii.
His policy decisions have addressed a global financial crisis and have included changes in tax policies, legislation to reform the United States health care industry, foreign policy initiatives and the phasing out of detention of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He attended the G-20 London summit and later visited U.S. troops in Iraq. On the tour of various European countries following the G-20 summit, he announced in Prague that he intended to negotiate substantial reduction in the world's nuclear arsenals, en route to their eventual extinction. In October 2009, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
Contents
|
Transition period[link]
Main article: Presidential transition of Barack Obama
The presidential transition period began following Obama's election to the presidency on November 4, 2008. The Obama-Biden Transition Project was co-chaired by John Podesta, Valerie Jarrett, and Pete Rouse. During the transition period, Obama announced his nominations for his Cabinet and administration. Shortly after the election on November 4, Obama chose Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois as White House Chief of Staff.[5]
Cabinet nominations included former Democratic primary opponents Hillary Rodham Clinton for Secretary of State and Bill Richardson for Secretary of Commerce (although the latter withdrew on January 4, 2009). Obama appointed Eric Holder as his Attorney General, the first African-American appointed to that position. He also nominated Timothy F. Geithner to serve as Secretary of the Treasury.[6] On December 1, Obama announced that he had asked Robert Gates to remain as Secretary of Defense, making Gates the first Defense head to carry over from a president of a different party.[7] He nominated former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice to the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, which he restored to a Cabinet-level position.[8]
During his transition, he maintained a website Change.gov, on which he wrote blogs to readers and uploaded video addresses by many of the members of his new cabinet.[9] He announced strict rules for federal lobbyists, restricting them from financially contributing to his administration and forcing them to stop lobbying while working for him.[10] The website also allowed individuals to share stories and visions with each other and the transition team in what was called the Citizen's Briefing Book, which was given to Obama shortly after his inauguration.[11] Most of the information from Change.gov was transferred to the official White House website whitehouse.gov just after Obama's inauguration.[12]
Inauguration[link]
Main article: Inauguration of Barack Obama
Barack Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. He officially assumed the presidency at 12:00 noon, EST,[13] and completed the oath of office at 12:05 PM, EST. He delivered his inaugural address immediately following his oath. After his speech, he went to the President's Room in the House Wing of the Capitol and signed three documents: a commemorative proclamation, a list of Cabinet appointments, and a list of sub-Cabinet appointments, before attending a luncheon with congressional and administration leaders and invited guests.[14] To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of former President Abraham Lincoln, the same Bible that was used for Lincoln's inauguration was used in Obama's inauguration.[15]
In administering the oath, Chief Justice John G. Roberts misplaced the word "faithfully" and erroneously replaced the phrase "President of the United States" with "President to the United States" before restating the phrase correctly; since Obama initially repeated the incorrect form, some scholars argued the President should take the oath again.[16] On January 21, Roberts readministered the oath to Obama in a private ceremony in the White House Map Room, making him the seventh U.S. president to retake the oath; White House Counsel Greg Craig said Obama took the oath from Roberts a second time out of an "abundance of caution".[17]
First 100 days[link]
Main article: First 100 days of Barack Obama's presidency
Expectations[link]
Obama's 100th day in office was April 29, 2009. In his first post-election interview with 60 Minutes, Obama said that he has been studying Franklin Roosevelt's first 100 days,[18] while adding, "The first hundred days is going to be important, but it's probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference."[19]
Obama's first 100 days were highly anticipated ever since he became the presumptive nominee.[20] Several news outlets created web pages dedicated to covering the subject.[21] Commentators weighed in on challenges and priorities within domestic, foreign, economic, and environmental policy.[22][23][24][25] CNN lists a number of economic issues that "Obama and his team will have to tackle in their first 100 days", foremost among which is passing and implementing a recovery package to deal with the financial crisis.[24] Clive Stafford Smith, a British human rights lawyer, expressed hopes that the new president will close Guantanamo Bay detention camp in his first 100 days in office.[23] After aides of the president announced his intention to give a major foreign policy speech in the capital of an Islamic country, there were speculations in Jakarta that he might return to his former home city within the first 100 days.[26]
The New York Times devoted a five-part series, which was spread out over two weeks, to anticipatory analysis of Obama's first hundred days. Each day, the analysis of a political expert was followed by freely edited blog postings from readers. The writers compared Obama's prospects with the situations of Franklin D. Roosevelt (January 16, Jean Edward Smith),[27] John F. Kennedy (January 19, Richard Reeves),[28] Lyndon B. Johnson (January 23, Robert Dallek),[29] Ronald Reagan (January 27, Lou Cannon),[30] and Richard Nixon.
Legislation and executive orders[link]
Within minutes of taking the Oath of Office on January 20, Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, issued an order suspending last-minute federal regulations pushed through by outgoing President George W. Bush, planning to review everything still pending.[31] Due to the economic crisis, the President enacted a pay freeze for Senior White House Staff making more than $100,000 per year,[32] as well as announcing stricter guidelines regarding lobbyists in an effort to raise the ethical standards of the White House.[33] He asked for a waiver to his own new rules, however, for the appointments of William Lynn to the position of Deputy Defense Secretary, Jocelyn Frye to the position of director of policy and projects in the Office of the First Lady, and Cecilia Muñoz to the position of director of intergovernmental affairs in the executive office of the president, leading to some criticism of hypocrisy and violation of his pledge for governmental openness.[34][35]
In his first week in office, Obama signed Executive Order 13492 suspending all the ongoing proceedings of Guantanamo military commission and ordering the detention facility to be shut down within the year.[36][37][38] He also signed Executive Order 13491 - Ensuring Lawful Interrogations requiring the Army Field Manual to be used as a guide for terror interrogations, banning torture and other coercive techniques, such as waterboarding.[39] Obama also issued an executive order entitled "Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Personnel", setting stricter limitations on incoming executive branch employees and placing tighter restrictions on lobbying in the White House.[40] Obama signed two Presidential Memoranda concerning energy independence, ordering the Department of Transportation to establish higher fuel efficiency standards before 2011 models are released and allowing states to raise their emissions standards above the national standard.[41] He also ended the Mexico City Policy, which banned federal grants to international groups that provide abortion services or counseling.[42][43]
In his first week he also established a policy of producing a weekly Saturday morning video address available on whitehouse.gov and YouTube,[44][45][46] much like those released during his transition period.[47][48] The first address had been viewed by 600,000 YouTube viewers by the next afternoon.[49]
The first piece of legislation Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 on January 29, which revised the statute of limitations for filing pay discrimination lawsuits. Lilly Ledbetter joined Obama and his wife, Michelle, as he signed the bill, fulfilling his campaign pledge to nullify Ledbetter v. Goodyear.[50] On February 3, he signed the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIP), expanding health care from 7 million children under the plan to 11 million.[51]
 President Obama signs the ARRA into law on February 17, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. Vice President Joe Biden stands behind him.
 Obama addresses a joint session of Congress, with Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
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 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was a focal point of Barack Obama's February 24, 2009 Address Before a Joint Session of Congress.
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After much debate, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed by both the House and Senate on February 13, 2009. Originally intended to be a bipartisan bill, the passage of the bill was largely along party lines. No Republicans voted for it in the House, and three moderate Republicans voted for it in the Senate (Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania).[52] The bill combined tax breaks with spending on infrastructure projects, extension of welfare benefits, and education.[53][54] The final cost of the bill was $787 billion, and almost $1.2 trillion with debt service included.[55] Obama signed the Act into law on February 17, 2009, in Denver, Colorado.[56]
On March 9, 2009, Obama lifted restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research,[57] and in doing so, called into question some of George W. Bush's signing statements. Obama stated that he too would employ signing statements if he deems upon review that a portion of a bill is unconstitutional,[58][59] and he has issued several signing statements.[60]
Early in his presidency, Obama signed a law raising the tobacco tax 62 cents on a pack of cigarettes.[61] The tax is to be "used to finance a major expansion of health insurance for children", and "help some [smokers] to quit and persuade young people not to start".[61]
In October 2011, Obama instituted the We Can't Wait program, which involved using executive orders, administrative rulemaking, and recess appointments to institute policies without the support of Congress.[62] The initiative was developed in response to Congress's unwillingness to pass economic legislation proposed by Obama, and conflicts in Congress during the 2011 debt ceiling crisis.[63]
Approval ratings and opinion[link]
2009[link]
After his transition period, Obama entered office with an approval rating of 82%.[64] At the end of his first week, 68% of respondents in a Gallup poll approved of how Obama was handling his job, the second highest approval rating for a President shortly after being elected since World War II.[65] Throughout early February polls showed scattered approval ratings: 62% (CBS News),[66] 64% (USA Today/Gallup), 66% (Gallup), and 76% in an outlier poll (CNN/Opinion Research).[67][68] Gallup reported the congressional address in late February boosted his approval from a term-low of 59% to 67%.[69]
Throughout autumn 2009, Rasmussen estimated Obama's approval as fluctuating between 45% and 52% and his disapproval between 48% and 54%;[70] as of November 11, Pew Research estimated Obama's approval between 51% and 55% and his disapproval between 33% and 37% since July.[71]
Handling of the economy[link]
Rasmussen reported in mid-February 2009, that 55% of voters gave Obama good or excellent marks on his handling of the economy.[72] In early March, a The Wall Street Journal survey of 49 economists gave Obama an average grade of 59 out of 100, with 42% of the respondents surveyed giving the administration's economic policies a grade below 60 percent. In comparison, only 30% of those same economists considered the response of governments around the world to the global recession to have been adequate.[73] In April, a Gallup poll showed trust in Obama's economic policy with 71% saying they had "a fair amount" or "a great deal" of confidence in Obama's handling of the economy, higher than for Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, or leaders of Congress.[74] Another Gallup poll in June showed 55% of Americans approved Obama's overall handling of the economy, but 48% and 51% disapproved of his handling of the federal budget deficit and controlling federal spending, respectively.[75] A CBS News poll taken August 27–31 showed 53% of those polled approved of his handling of the economy.[76] A Rasmussen poll taken on November 12 found 45% of Americans rating Obama's handling of the economy as poor and 39% rating him as doing a good or excellent job. They found 72% of Democrats rated his handling of the economy as good or excellent, while only 10% of Republicans and 27% of voters not affiliated with either party agreed.[77]
2010[link]
On March 25, 2010, following his signing of landmark health care reform legislation into law, Obama's polling was revealed by Bloomberg to be 50%, with higher marks for relations with other countries (58%) and his running of the war in Afghanistan (54%). "Obama's approval rating is roughly equal to what Bill Clinton had at this point in his presidency, according to data maintained by Gallup (and) higher than the 45 percent Ronald Reagan recorded in April 1982" and more favorable than Democrats or Republicans office in 2010. They found Obama's approval rating was at 85% among Democrats, compared with 46% among independents and 11% among Republicans.[78]
Fox News released the results of two polls on April 8–9, 2010. The first showed a drop in Obama's approval rating to 43%, with 48% disapproving. In that poll, Democrats approved of Obama's performance 80–12%, while independents disapproved 49–38%.[79] The other poll, which concentrated on the economy, showed disapproval of Obama's handling of the economy by a 53–42% margin, with 62% saying they were dissatisfied with the handling of the federal deficit.[80] According to a Gallup Poll released April 10, 2010, President Obama had a 45% approval rating, with 48% disapproving.[81] In a poll from Rasmussen Reports, released April 10, 2010, 47% approved of the President's performance, while 53% disapproved.[82][83]
2011[link]
Obama's approval rating jumped to a high following the death of Osama Bin Laden on May 2, 2011. A GfK poll conducted May 5, 2011 found his approval rating to be 60%. During the debt ceiling debate in August 2011, Obama's approval rating dropped to the low-40s.[84]
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Major legislation[link]
2009[link]
- January 29: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
- February 4: Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act
- February 11: DTV Delay Act
- February 17: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- March 30: Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009
- April 21: Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act
- May 20: Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act
- May 20: Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009
- May 22: Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act of 2009
- June 22: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act
- August 6: Cash For Clunkers Extension Act
- October 22: Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act
- October 28: Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
- October 30: Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act
- November 6: Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009
2010[link]
- January 27: Emergency Aid to American Survivors of Haiti Earthquake Act
- March 4: Travel Promotion Act
- March 18: Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE Act)
- March 23: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- March 30: Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
- May 5: Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010
- May 17: Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act
- July 1: Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act
- July 21: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
- July 22: Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010
- July 22: Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010
- August 10: SPEECH Act
- September 27: Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010
- December 9: Animal Crush Video Prohibition Act of 2010
- December 13: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010
- December 17: Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010
- December 22: Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010
2011[link]
- January 2: James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 (H.R. 847)
- January 4: Food Safety and Modernization Act, Pub.L. 111-353, H.R. 2751
- August 2: Budget Control Act of 2011
- October 21: United States-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implemention Act
- October 21: United States-Panama Free Trade Agreement Implemention Act
- October 21: United States-South Korea Free Trade Agreement Implemention Act
Personnel[link]
Cabinet appointees[link]
Main articles: First 100 days of Barack Obama's presidency#Administration and Cabinet and Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet
 |
||
| The Obama Cabinet | ||
|---|---|---|
| Office | Name | Term |
| President | Barack Obama | 2009–present |
| Vice President | Joe Biden | 2009–present |
| Secretary of State | Hillary Clinton | 2009–present |
| Secretary of Treasury | Timothy Geithner | 2009–present |
| Secretary of Defense | Robert Gates* | 2006–2011 |
| Leon Panetta | 2011–present | |
| Attorney General | Eric Holder | 2009–present |
| Secretary of the Interior | Ken Salazar | 2009–present |
| Secretary of Agriculture | Tom Vilsack | 2009–present |
| Secretary of Commerce | Gary Locke | 2009–2011 |
| John Bryson | 2011–present | |
| Secretary of Labor | Hilda Solis | 2009–present |
| Secretary of Health and Human Services |
Kathleen Sebelius | 2009–present |
| Secretary of Education | Arne Duncan | 2009–present |
| Secretary of Housing and Urban Development |
Shaun Donovan | 2009–present |
| Secretary of Transportation | Ray LaHood | 2009–present |
| Secretary of Energy | Steven Chu | 2009–present |
| Secretary of Veterans Affairs | Eric Shinseki | 2009–present |
| Secretary of Homeland Security | Janet Napolitano | 2009–present |
| Chief of Staff | Rahm Emanuel | 2009–2010 |
| William Daley | 2011–2012 | |
| Jacob Lew | 2012–present | |
| Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency |
Lisa Jackson | 2009–present |
| Director of the Office of Management and Budget |
Peter Orszag | 2009–2010 |
| Jacob Lew | 2010–2012 | |
| Jeffrey Zients** | 2012–present | |
| Ambassador to the United Nations | Susan Rice | 2009–present |
| United States Trade Representative | Ron Kirk | 2009–present |
| *Retained from previous administration **Acting |
||
Twenty-two members of the Obama administration are either in the United States Cabinet (15) or are in positions considered to be Cabinet-level (7). The members of the Cabinet are the heads of the fifteen major departments (State, Defense, Justice, etc.), and the seven cabinet-level positions are the Vice President, White House Chief of Staff, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador to the United Nations, and the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.[85][86] Since Robert Gates was a member of the previous administration, his letter of resignation (a formality at the end of a President's term) was simply not accepted, and he did not need confirmation.[87] On January 19, 2009, Senate Democratic leaders requested fifteen of the twenty positions to be ratified by unanimous consent,[88] and seven gained unanimous confirmation by voice vote the next day: Ken Salazar, Steven Chu, Arne Duncan, Peter Orszag, Eric Shinseki, Tom Vilsack, and Janet Napolitano.[87][89] On January 21, Obama presided over the swearing in of the seven unanimous nominees.[90] Later that day, the Senate confirmed Hillary Clinton by a 94–2 vote. On January 22, several more confirmations were approved unanimously: Susan E. Rice, Ray LaHood, Lisa P. Jackson, and Shaun Donovan.[91] On January 26, the Senate confirmed Geithner by a 60–34 margin.[92][93]
At the conclusion of Obama's first week as President, Hilda Solis, Tom Daschle, Ron Kirk, and Eric Holder had yet to be confirmed, and there had been no second appointment for Secretary of Commerce.[93] Holder was confirmed by a vote of 75–21 on February 2,[94] and on February 3, Obama announced Senator Judd Gregg as his second nomination for Secretary of Commerce.[95] Daschle withdrew later that day amid controversy over his failure to pay income taxes and potential conflicts of interest related to the speaking fees he accepted from health care interests.[96] Solis was later confirmed by a vote of 80-17 on February 24,[97] and Ron Kirk was confirmed on March 18 by a 92-5 vote in the Senate.[98]
Gregg, who was the leading Republican negotiator and author of the TARP program in the Senate, after publication that he had a multi-million dollar investment in the Bank of America, on February 12, withdrew his nomination as Secretary of Commerce, citing "irresolvable conflicts" with President Obama and his staff over how to conduct the 2010 census and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[99][100] Former Washington governor Gary Locke was nominated on February 26[101] as Obama's third choice for Commerce Secretary and confirmed on March 24 by voice vote.[102]
On March 2, Obama introduced Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius as his second choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. He also introduced Nancy-Ann DeParle as head of the new White House Office of Health Reform, which he suggested would work closely with the Department of Health and Human Services.[103][104] At the end of March, Sebelius was the only remaining Cabinet member yet to be confirmed.[102]
Six high-ranking cabinet nominees in the Obama administration had their confirmations delayed or rejected among reports that they did not pay all of their taxes, including Tom Daschle, Obama's original nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.[105] Though Geithner was confirmed, and Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, thought Daschle would have been confirmed, Daschle withdrew his nomination on February 3.[96] Obama had nominated Nancy Killefer for the position of Chief Performance Officer, but Killefer also withdrew on February 3, citing unspecified problems with District of Columbia unemployment tax.[106] A senior administration official said that Killefer's tax issues dealt with household help.[106] Hilda Solis, Obama's nominee for Secretary of Labor, faced delayed confirmation hearings due to tax lien concerns pertaining to her husband's auto repair business,[107] but she was later confirmed on February 24.[97] While pundits puzzled over U.S. Trade Representative-designate Ron Kirk's failure to be confirmed by March 2009, it was reported on March 2 that Kirk owed over $10,000 in back taxes. Kirk agreed to pay them in exchange for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus's aid in speeding up the confirmation process;[108] he was later confirmed on March 18.[98] On March 31, Kathleen Sebelius, Obama's nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, revealed in a letter to the Senate Finance Committee that her Certified Public Accountant found errors in her tax returns for years 2005-2007. She, along with her husband, paid more than $7,000 in back taxes, along with $878 in interest.[109]
Notable non-Cabinet positions[link]
Appointees serve at the pleasure of the President and were nominated by Barack Obama except as noted.
- Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- Sheila Bair1 (2009–2011)
- Special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan
- Richard Holbrooke (2009–2010)
- Marc Grossman (2011–present)
- Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
- Retired General James L. Jones (2009–2011)
- Thomas E. Donilon (2011–present)
- Special envoy to the Middle East
- George J. Mitchell (2009–2011)
- David Hale (2011–present)
- Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Robert Mueller2 (2009–present)
- Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
- Leon Panetta (2009–2011)
- Michael Morell (Acting-2011)
- David Petraeus (2011–present)
- Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
- Christina Romer (2009–2010)
- Austan Goolsbee (2010–2011)
- Alan Krueger (2011–present)
- Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission
- Mary Schapiro (2009–present)
- Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of National Economic Council
- Lawrence Summers (2009–2010)
- Gene Sperling (2011–present)
- Chairman of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board
- Paul Volcker (2009–2011)
- Replaced by Council on Jobs and Competitiveness in 2011
- Chairperson of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness
- Jeffrey R. Immelt (2011–present)
1Appointed by George W. Bush in 2006 to a five-year term
2Appointed by George W. Bush in 2001 to a ten-year term
Judicial nominees[link]
Main articles: Barack Obama Supreme Court candidates and List of federal judges appointed by Barack Obama
United States Supreme Court[link]
Obama appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:
Further information: List of nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States
Other courts[link]
Outside of the Supreme Court, by October 2009, Obama had nominated fewer than two dozen judges to fill judicial vacancies, of which there were close to 100. This has prompted some Democrats to criticize the pace of Obama's judicial appointments as too slow.[110] In December 2009, Senator Patrick Leahy criticized Republicans for stalling those judicial nominations that had been made, noting that the Senate confirmed more district and circuit court nominees during the first year of the George W. Bush administration than it had approved by that point during the Barack Obama presidency.[111]
As of July 2010, Obama's nominees to the district and circuit courts had been confirmed at a rate of only 43.5 percent, compared to 87.2 percent during Bill Clinton's administration and 91.3 percent for George W. Bush. The Center for American Progress, which compiled the data, commented:
Judicial confirmations slowed to a trickle on the day President Barack Obama took office. Filibusters, anonymous holds, and other obstructionary tactics have become the rule. Uncontroversial nominees wait months for a floor vote, and even district court nominees—low-ranking judges whose confirmations have never been controversial in the past—are routinely filibustered into oblivion. Nominations grind to a halt in many cases even after the Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously endorsed a nominee. [112]
Policies[link]
Economy[link]
Upon entering office, Obama planned to center his attention on handling the global financial crisis.[113] Even before his inauguration he lobbied Congress to pass an economic stimulus bill,[114] which became the top priority during his first month in office.[115] As President, Obama made a high profile trip to Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. to dialog with Congressional Republicans and advocate for the bill.[116] On February 17, 2009, Obama signed into law a $787 billion plan that included spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals.[117] The tax provisions of the law reduced taxes for 98 percent of taxpayers, bringing tax rates to their lowest levels in 60 years.[118]
As part of the 2010 budget proposal, the Obama administration has proposed additional measures to attempt to stabilize the economy, including a $2–3 trillion measure aimed at stabilizing the financial system and freeing up credit. The program includes up to $1 trillion to buy toxic bank assets, an additional $1 trillion to expand a federal consumer loan program, and the $350 billion left in the Troubled Assets Relief Program. The plan also includes $50 billion intended to slow the wave of mortgage foreclosures.[117] The 2011 budget includes a three-year freeze on discretionary spending, proposes several program cancellations, and raises taxes on high income earners to bring down deficits during the economic recovery.[119]
In a July 2009 interview with ABC News, Biden was asked about the sustained increase of the U.S. unemployment rate from May 2007 to October 2009[120] despite the administration's multi-year economic stimulus package passed five months earlier. He responded "The truth is, we and everyone else, misread the economy. The figures we worked off of in January were the consensus figures and most of the blue chip indexes out there ... the truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited."[121][122] The White House indicates that 2 million jobs were created or saved due to the stimulus package in 2009[123] and self reporting by recipients of the grants, loans, and contracts portion of the package report that the package saved or created 608,317 jobs in the final three months of 2009.[124]
The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.1% and averaging 10.0% in the fourth quarter.[125] Following a decrease to 9.7% in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6% in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year.[125] Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8%, which was less than the average of 1.9% experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries.[126] GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a 1.6% pace, followed by a 5.0% increase in the fourth quarter.[127] Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7% in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year.[127] Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9% in 2010.[128]
During November–December 2010, Obama and a lame duck session of the 111th Congress focused on a dispute about the temporary Bush tax cuts, which were due to expire at the end of the year. Obama wanted to extend the tax cuts for taxpayers making less than $250,000 a year. Congressional Republicans agreed but also wanted to extend the tax cuts for those making over that amount, and refused to support any bill that did not do so.[129] All the Republicans in the Senate also joined in saying that, until the tax dispute was resolved, they would filibuster to prevent consideration of any other legislation, except for bills to fund the U.S. government.[130][131] On 7 December, Obama strongly defended a compromise agreement he had reached with the Republican congressional leadership that included a two-year extension of all the tax cuts, a 13-month extension of unemployment insurance, a one-year reduction in the FICA payroll tax, and other measures.[132] On December 10, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) led a filibuster against the compromise tax proposal, which lasted over eight hours.[133] Obama persuaded many wary Democrats to support the bill,[134] but not all; of the 148 votes against the bill in the House, 112 were cast by Democrats and only 36 by Republicans.[135] The $858 billion Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, which The Washington Post called "the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade",[136] passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress and was signed into law by Obama on December 17, 2010.[134]
Ethics[link]
Lobbying reform[link]
Early in his presidential campaign, Obama stated that "they [lobbyists] won't find a job in my White House", but softened his stance later in the campaign.[137] On January 21, 2009, Obama issued an executive order for all future appointees to his administration, which stated, no appointee who was a registered lobbyist within the two years before his appointment could participate on matters in which he lobbied for a period of two years after the date of appointment.[40] Three formal waivers were initially issued in early 2009, out of 800 executive appointments:[138][139] to William J. Lynn III, a lobbyist for Raytheon, to hold the position of Deputy Secretary of Defense;[34] to Jocelyn Frye, former general counsel at the National Partnership for Women and Families, to serve as Director of Policy and Projects in the Office of the First Lady; and to Cecilia Muñoz, former senior vice president for the National Council of La Raza,[138] to serve as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the Executive Office of the President.[139] As of March 21, 2009, at least thirty officials appointed by Obama had been lobbyists in the past five years.[137] Ten additional waivers were announced in September 2009.[140]
Not all recent former lobbyists require waivers; those without waivers write letters of recusal stating issues from which they must refrain because of their previous jobs.[138] USA Today reported that 21 members of the Obama administration have at some time been registered as federal lobbyists, although most have not within the previous two years.[141] Lobbyists in the administration include William Corr, an anti-tobacco lobbyist, as Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services[142] and Tom Vilsack, who lobbied in 2007, for a national teachers union, as Secretary of Agriculture.[141] Also, the Secretary of Labor nominee, Hilda Solis, formerly served as a board member of American Rights at Work, which lobbied Congress on two bills Solis co-sponsored,[143] and Mark Patterson, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's chief of staff, is a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs.[141]
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington have criticized the administration, claiming that Obama is retreating from his own ethics rules barring lobbyists from working on the issues about which they lobbied during the previous two years by issuing waivers. According to Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director, "It makes it appear that they are saying one thing and doing another."[141]
Transparency[link]
The Obama administration has said that all executive orders, non-emergency legislation, and proclamations will be posted to the official White House website, whitehouse.gov, allowing the public to review and comment for five days before the President signs the legislation.[144] The pledge was twice broken during Obama's first month in office when he signed SCHIP legislation and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act with less than the full five days of "sunlight before signing". The administration has said that they are still "working through implementation procedures and some initial issues with the congressional calendar".[145][146]
During his first week in office, Obama announced plans to post a video address each week on the site,[44] and on YouTube,[45] informing the public of government actions each week. During his speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Obama stated, "I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy."[147]
On January 21, 2009, by executive order, Obama revoked Executive Order 13233, which had limited access to the records of former United States Presidents.[148] Obama issued instructions to all agencies and departments in his administration to "adopt a presumption in favor" of Freedom of Information Act requests.[149] In April 2009, the United States Department of Justice released four legal memos from the Bush administration to comply voluntarily with a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.[150] The memos were written by John Yoo[151] and signed by Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury, then Principal Assistant Attorneys General to the Department of Justice, and addressed to John A. Rizzo, general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency.[152] The memos describe in detail controversial interrogation methods the CIA used on prisoners suspected of terrorism.[153][154] Obama became personally involved in the decision to release the memos, which was opposed by former CIA directors Michael Hayden, Porter Goss, George Tenet and John Deutch.[152] Former Vice President Dick Cheney criticized Obama for not releasing more memos; Cheney claimed that unreleased memos detail successes of CIA interrogations.[155]
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requires all recipients of the funds provided by the act to publish a plan for using the funds, along with purpose, cost, rationale, net job creation, and contact information about the plan to a website Recovery.gov so that the public can review and comment. Inspectors General from each department or executive agency will then review, as appropriate, any concerns raised by the public. Any findings of an Inspector General must be relayed immediately to the head of each department and published on Recovery.gov.[156]
On June 16, 2009, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration in order to get information about the visits of coal company executives. Anne Weismann, the chief counsel for CREW, stated "The Obama administration has now taken exactly the same position as the Bush administration... I don't see how you can keep people from knowing who visits the White House and adhere to a policy of openness and transparency." On June 16, MSNBC reported that its more comprehensive request for visitor logs since Obama's January 20 inauguration had been denied.[157] The administration announced that White House visitor logs will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis, with certain limitations, for visits occurring after September 15, 2009.[158] Beginning on January 29, 2010, the White House did begin to release the names of its visitor records.[159] Since that time, names of visitors (which includes not only tourists, but also names of union leaders, Wall Street executives, lobbyists, party chairs, philanthropists and celebrities), have been released. The names are released in huge batches up to 75,000 names at a time.[160] Names are released 90–120 days after having visited the White House. The complete list of names is available online by accessing the official White House website.[161]
Obama stated during the 2008 Presidential campaign that he would have negotiations for health care reform televised on C-SPAN, citing transparency as being the leverage needed to ensure that people stay involved in the process taking place in Washington. This did not fully happen and Politifact gives President Obama a "Promise Broken" rating on this issue.[162] After White House press secretary Robert Gibbs initially avoided addressing the issue,[163] President Obama himself acknowledged that he met with Democratic leaders behind closed doors to discuss how best to garner enough votes in order to merge the two (House and Senate) passed versions of the health care bill. Doing this violated the letter of the pledge, although Obama maintains that negotiations in several congressional committees were open, televised hearings. Obama also cited an independent ethics watchdog group describe his administration as the most transparent in recent history.[164]
The Obama administration has been characterized[165] as much more aggressive than the Bush and other previous administrations in their response to whistleblowing and leaks to the press. Three people have been prosecuted under the rarely used Espionage Act of 1917. They include Thomas Andrews Drake, a former National Security Agency (NSA) employee who was critical of the NSA's Trailblazer Project,[166][167][168] Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a State Department contractor who allegedly had a conversation about North Korea with James Rosen of Fox News,[169][170] and Jeffrey Sterling, who allegedly was a source for James Risen's book State of War. Risen has also been subpoenaed to reveal his sources, another rare action by the government.[171]
Foreign policy[link]
Main articles: Foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration and List of presidential trips made by Barack Obama
In his inaugural address, Obama suggested that he plans to begin the process of withdrawing from Iraq and continuing to focus on the war in Afghanistan. He also mentioned lessening the nuclear threat through "working tirelessly with old friends and former foes". He spoke about America's determination to combat terrorism, proclaiming America's spirit is "stronger and cannot be broken — you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you." To the Muslim world, Obama extended an invite to "a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect". He also said the USA would "extend a hand" to those "who cling to power through corruption and deceit" if they "are willing to unclench" their fists.[172] Shortly after his inauguration President Obama first called President Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Calls were also made to President Mubarak of Egypt, Prime Minister Olmert of Israel and King Abdullah of Jordan.[173] Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named George Mitchell as Special Envoy for Middle East peace and Richard Holbrooke as special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan on January 23, 2009.[174] At the same time, Obama called on Israel to open the borders of Gaza, detailing early plans on his administration's peace plans for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[175]
On February 18, 2009, Obama announced that the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan would be bolstered by 17,000 new troops by summer.[176] The announcement followed the recommendation of several experts including Defense Secretary Robert Gates that additional troops be deployed to the war-torn nation.[177][178]
Obama declared his plan for ending the Iraq War on February 27, 2009, in a speech at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, before an audience of Marines stationed there. According to the president, combat troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by August 2010, leaving a contingent of up to 50,000 servicemen and servicewomen to continue training, advisory, and counterterrorism operations until as late as the end of 2011.[179][180]
Other characteristics of the Obama administration on foreign policy include a tough stance on tax havens,[181] continuing military operation in Pakistan,[182] and avowed focus on diplomacy to prevent nuclear proliferation in Iran[183] and North Korea.[184]
On April 1, 2009, Obama and China's President, Hu Jintao, announced the establishment of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue and agreed to work together to build a positive, cooperative, and comprehensive U.S.-China relationship for the 21st century.[185]
In that same month, Obama requested that Congress approve $83.4 billion of supplemental military funding, mostly for the war in Iraq and to increase troop levels in Afghanistan. The request also includes $2.2 billion to increase the size of the US military, $350 million to upgrade security along the US-Mexico border, and $400 million in counterinsurgency aid for Pakistan.[186]
In May 2009, it was reported that Obama plans to expand the military by 20,000 employees.[187]
On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt.[188] The wide ranging speech called for a "new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States.[189][190] The speech received both praise and criticism from leaders in the region.[191][192][193][194][195] In March 2010, Secretary of State Clinton criticized the Israeli government for approving expansion of settlements in East Jerusalem.[196]
On April 8, 2010, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the latest Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), a "major" nuclear arms control agreement that reduces the nuclear weapons stockpiles of both countries.[197]
In March 2011, international reaction to Muammar Gaddafi's military crackdown on rebel forces and civilians in Libya culminated in a United Nations resolution to enforce a no fly zone in Libya. Obama authorized U.S. forces to participate in international air attacks on Libyan air defenses using Tomahawk cruise missiles to establish the protective zone.[198]
Guantánamo Bay detention camp[link]
On his first day in office, Obama requested a 120-day suspension of all trials for alleged terrorists held at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, so the new administration could "review the military commissions process, generally, and the cases pending before military commissions as of 2011[update], specifically".[199] Another order established a task force to lead a review of detention policies, procedures and individual cases. Obama addressed the State Department that "the United States will not torture" and drafted an executive order to close Guantánamo within a year.[200] On January 22, 2009, Obama signed an executive order ensuring safe, lawful, and humane treatment of individuals detained in armed conflicts. This order restricts interrogators to methods listed and authorized by an Army Field Manual.[201] A detainee released since Obama took office claimed in an interview with Agence France-Presse that conditions at Guantánamo had worsened, stating guards wanted to "take their last revenge" before the facility is closed.[202] On March 13, 2009, the administration announced that it would no longer refer to prisoners at Guantánamo Bay as enemy combatants, but it also asserted that the president has the authority to detain terrorism suspects there without criminal charges.[203]
The case review of detainee files by administration officials and prosecutors was made more difficult than expected as the Bush administration had failed to establish a coherent repository of the evidence and intelligence on each prisoner. By September 2009, prosecutors recommended to the Justice Department which detainees are eligible for trial, and the Justice Department and the Pentagon worked together to determine which of several now-scheduled trials will go forward in military tribunals and which in civilian courts. While 216 international terrorists are already held in maximum security prisons in the U.S., Congress was denying the administration funds to shut down the camp and adapt existing facilities elsewhere, arguing that the decision was "too dangerous to rush".[204] In November, Obama stated that the U.S. would miss the January 2010 date for closing the Guantánamo Bay prison as he had ordered, acknowledging that he "knew this was going to be hard". Obama did not set a specific new deadline for closing the camp, citing that the delay was due to politics and lack of congressional cooperation.[205] The state of Illinois has offered to sell to the federal government the Thomson Correctional Center, a new but largely unused prison, for the purpose of housing detainees. Federal officials testified at a December 23 hearing that if the state commission approves the sale for that purpose, it could take more than six months to ready the facility.[206]
Killing of Osama bin Laden[link]
Main article: Death of Osama bin Laden
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Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the next several months determined what they believed to be the location of Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad.[207] CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to Obama in March 2011.[207] Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs.[207] The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers and computer drives and disks from the compound.[208][209] Bin Laden's body was identified through DNA testing,[210] and buried at sea several hours later.[211] Within minutes of Obama's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square.[208][212] Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton,[213] and from many countries around the world.[214]
Overseas Contingency Operation[link]
Obama discontinued use of the term "War on Terror" and instead uses the term "Overseas Contingency Operation". However, Obama has stated that the U.S. is at war with Al-Qaeda, saying "Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred."[215]
In April 2010, the Obama administration authorized the targeted killing of the radical Muslim cleric and American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, who was believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them.[216]
Gun control[link]
During the presidential campaign, Obama announced that he favors measures that respect Second Amendment rights, while at the same time keeping guns away from children and criminals.[217][218] On February 25, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama administration would seek a new assault weapons ban across the United States, saying that it would have a positive impact on the drug-related violence in Mexico.[219] After the statement drew criticism from the NRA and some House Democrats, the Administration reportedly ordered the Justice Department to end public discussion of the issue.[220] Obama has signed into law two bills containing amendments reducing restrictions on gun owners, one which permits guns to be transported in checked baggage on Amtrak trains[221] and another which allows carrying loaded firearms in national parks located in states allowing concealed carry.[222][223]
See also: Operation Fast and Furious
Science and technology[link]
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Wikinews has related news: NSA to participate in U.S. cybersecurity |
Cybersecurity[link]
Obama initiated a 60-day review of cybersecurity[224] by Melissa Hathaway, a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, appointed Acting Senior Director for Cyberspace.[225][226]
The New York Times reported in 2009, that the NSA is intercepting communications of American citizens including a Congressman, although the Justice Department believed that the NSA had corrected its errors.[227] United States Attorney General Eric Holder resumed the wiretapping according to his understanding of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 that Congress passed in July 2008, but without explaining what had occurred.[228]
Environment[link]
On January 27, 2009, Obama issued two presidential memoranda concerning energy policy. One directed the Department of Transportation to raise fuel efficiency standards incrementally to 35 miles per US gallon (15 km/L) by 2020, and the other directed the Environmental Protection Agency to allow individual states to set stricter tailpipe emissions regulations than the federal standard.[41][229]
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides $54 billion in funds to double domestic renewable energy production, renovate federal buildings making them more energy-efficient, improve the nation's electricity grid, repair public housing, and weatherize modest-income homes.[230]
On February 10, 2009, Obama overturned a Bush administration policy that had opened up a five-year period of offshore drilling for oil and gas near both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been quoted as saying, "To establish an orderly process that allows us to make wise decisions based on sound information, we need to set aside" the plan "and create our own timeline".[231]
On May 19, 2009, Obama announced a plan to increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy national standards for gasoline mileage, by creating a single new national standard that will create a car and light truck fleet in the United States that is almost 40 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by 2016, than it is today, with an average of 35.5 miles per gallon.[232] Environmental advocates and industry officials welcomed the new program, but for different reasons. Environmentalists called it a long-overdue tightening of emissions and fuel economy standards after decades of government delay and industry opposition. Auto industry officials said it would provide the single national efficiency standard they have long desired, a reasonable timetable to meet it and the certainty they need to proceed with product development plans.[232]
On March 30, 2010, Obama partially reinstated Bush administration proposals to open certain offshore areas along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling. The proposals had earlier been set aside by President Obama after they were challenged in court on environmental grounds.[233]
On May 27, 2010, Obama extended a moratorium on offshore drilling permits after the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill which is considered to be the worst oil spill in U.S. history.[234][235] Although BP took responsibility for the disaster and its ongoing after effects, Obama began a federal investigation along with forming a bipartisan commission to review the incident and methods to avoid it in the future.[236][237][238] Obama visited the Gulf Coast on May 2 and May 28 and expressed his frustration on the June 8 NBC Today Show, by saying "I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."[239] Obama's response to the disaster drew confusion and criticism within segments of the media and public.[240]
NASA[link]
Main article: Space policy of the Barack Obama administration
Obama set up the Augustine panel to review the Constellation program in 2009, and announced in February 2010, that he was cutting the program from the 2011 United States federal budget, describing it as "over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation."[241][242][243][244][245] After the decision drew criticism in the United States, a new "Flexible path to Mars" plan was unveiled at a space conference in April 2010.[246][247][248] It included new technology programs, increased R&D spending, a focus on the International Space Station and contracting out flying crew to space to commercial providers.[249] The new plan also increased NASA's 2011 budget to $19 billion from $18.3 billion in 2010.[246]
In July 2009, Obama appointed Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, to be administrator of NASA.[250]
Stem cell research[link]
On March 9, 2009, Obama repealed a Bush-era policy that prevented federal tax dollars from being used to fund research on new lines of embryonic stem cells. Such research has been a matter of debate between those who emphasize the therapeutic potential of such research and those who suggest that elements of this research breach ethical limitations. Obama stated that "In recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values...In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent. As a person of faith, I believe we are called to care for each other and work to ease human suffering. I believe we have been given the capacity and will to pursue this research — and the humanity and conscience to do so responsibly."[251]
Social policy[link]
On January 23, 2009, Obama rescinded the Mexico City Policy, a measure from the Reagan and Bush eras that required any non-governmental organization receiving U.S. Government funding to refrain from performing or promoting abortion services in other countries.[252]
On June 17, 2009, Obama authorized the extension of some benefits (but not health insurance or pension benefits) to same-sex partners of federal employees.[253] Obama has chosen to leave larger changes, such as the repeal of Don't ask, don't tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, to Congress.[254][255]
On October 19, 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a directive to federal prosecutors in states with medical marijuana laws not to investigate or prosecute cases of marijuana use or production done in compliance with those laws.[256]
On December 16, 2009, President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, which repealed a 21-year-old ban on federal funding of needle exchange programs.[257]
On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, a bill that provides for repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy of 1993, that has prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces.[258] Repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" had been a key campaign promise that Obama had made during the 2008 presidential campaign.[259][260]
Health care reform[link]
See also: Health care reform in the United States
Once the stimulus bill was enacted, health care reform became Obama's top domestic priority. On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,000 page plan for overhauling the US health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of the year.[261]
The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the ten-year cost to the federal government of the major insurance-related provisions of the bill at approximately $1.0 trillion.[262] In mid-July 2009, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the CBO, testified that the proposals under consideration would significantly increase federal spending and did not include the "fundamental changes" needed to control the rapid growth in health care spending.[263][264] However after reviewing the final version of the bill introduced after 14 months of debate the CBO estimated that it would reduce federal budget deficits by $143 billion over 10 years and by more than a trillion in the next decade.[265]
After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over his administration's proposals.[266] In March 2010, Obama gave several speeches across the country to argue for the passage of health care reform.[267][268] On March 21, 2010, after Obama announced an executive order reinforcing the current law against spending federal funds for elective abortion services, the House, by a vote of 219 to 212, passed the version of the bill previously passed on December 24, 2009, by a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate. The bill, which includes over 200 Republican amendments, was passed without a single Republican vote. On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the bill into law. Immediately following the bill's passage, the House voted in favor of a reconciliation measure to make significant changes and corrections to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was passed by both houses with two minor alterations on March 25, 2010, and signed into law on March 30, 2010.[269][270]
Education reform[link]
On March 30, 2010, Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which ended the role of private banks in lending out federally-insured student loans.[271] By directly lending to students, the government is projected to save taxpayers $68 billion dollars over the next several years.[272] Federally-insured student loans will instead be distributed by the Department of Education.[273] The law also increased the amount of Pell Grant awards given each year, doubling its current funding.[274][275] Starting in 2014, the law permits borrowers to cap the amount they spend on student loans each year to ten percent of their discretionary income and have their balance forgiven if they have faithfully paid the balance of their loan over 20 years.[274][276] Additionally, the law seeks to make it easier for parents to qualify for Grad PLUS loans, and spends billions on poor and minority schools and $2 billion for community colleges.[272][273]
Gates arrest controversy[link]
Further information: Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy
From left to right: Gates, Crowley, and President Obama.
Photo taken before Vice President Biden's arrival.
On July 16, 2009, prominent African American Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., was arrested at his Cambridge, Massachusetts home by a local white police officer, Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley, for disorderly conduct. Gates, who was locked out of his house, had attempted to break into his own property, thus causing the initial alarm from a neighbor who called 9-1-1. The incident sparked national controversy over whether Gates's civil rights had been violated by Crowley. On July 21, the Cambridge Police Department dropped charges against Gates. On July 22, President Barack Obama, commented on the incident over national and international television, criticized the arrest, and stated the police acted "stupidly" in handling the incident. National law enforcement organizations and members objected to Obama's comments and criticized his handling of the issue. In the aftermath, Obama stated that he regretted his comments exacerbating the situation, and hoped that the situation could become a "teachable moment". To reduce tensions, on July 24, Obama invited both parties to the White House to discuss the issue over beers, and on July 30, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden joined Crowley and Gates in a private, cordial meeting in a courtyard near the White House Rose Garden; this became known colloquially as the "Beer Summit".[277]
Wall Street reform[link]
On July 21, 2010, Obama signed Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, considered to be the largest financial system overhaul since the New Deal. The law recognizes complex financial derivatives and makes rules to protect consumers from unfair practices in loans and credit cards by establishing a new consumer protection agency. At the signing ceremony in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington D.C. Obama proclaimed, "There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period." Obama also mentioned that "These reforms represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history." At the ceremony were Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the two committee chairmen who sponsored the bill.[278]
2010 midterm elections[link]
Due in large part to voter frustration over high unemployment and a stalled economy, Republicans won control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections. On reflection after the election, Obama blamed himself, in part, for the many Democrats who went down to defeat knowing that they had risked their careers to support his agenda of economic stimulus legislation and a landmark health care bill.[279] Democrats narrowly retained the Senate majority and will continue to control it through the 112th Congress.[280]
Obama called the elections "humbling" and a "shellacking".[281] He said that the results came because not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery.[282]
2012 re-election campaign[link]
On April 4, 2011, President Obama announced that he would seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election. The campaign will be based in Chicago and is being run by many former members of the White House staff and members of the successful 2008 campaign.[283]
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- ^ Amos, Jonathan (February 1, 2010). "Obama cancels Moon return project". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8489097.stm. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
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- ^ Obama scraps funding for Nasa's American Moon base mission. BBC
- ^ Art Chimes. "Expert Group Says NASA Budget Too Small for Big Space Plans". VOA News. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/a-13-2009-08-26-voa54-68820852.html. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
- ^ a b Clara Moskowitz (2010-06-24). "Misconceptions swirl around Obama space plan". msnbc.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37907917/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/misconceptions-swirl-around-obama-space-plan/. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
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- ^ "Review of U.S. Plans Committee". Human Space Flights Committee. http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/396093main_HSF_Cmte_FinalReport.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
- ^ "Federal Budget Fiscal Year 2011 - Fact Sheet on Innovation". Office of Management and Budget. 2010. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/factsheet_key_innovation/. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
- ^ "Ex-astronaut Bolden to lead Nasa". BBC. 2009-07-16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8154525.stm.
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- ^ "Obama Ends Global Family Planning Restrictions". NPR: National Public Radio. January 23, 2009.
- ^ Bailey, Holly (June 17, 2009). "Obama: LGBT Benefits Memo "Just a Start"". Newsweek. http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/06/17/obama-lgbt-benefits-memo-just-a-start.aspx. Retrieved June 17, 2009.
- ^ Ira Kantor (June 24, 2009). "Gay rights advocates protest Dem fundraiser". Boston Herald. http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20090624gay_rights_advocates_protest_dem_fundraiser/. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
- ^ "Donors say Obama slow on pledge to gays". msnbc.com. 2009-06-25. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31550347/ns/politics-white_house/. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
- ^ Office of Public Affairs (October 19, 2009). "Attorney General announces formal medical marijuana guidelines". U.S. Department of Justice. http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/October/09-ag-1119.html. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Ogden, David W. (October 19, 2009). "Memorandum for selected United States Attorneys: Investigations and prosecutions in states authorizing the medical use of marijuana". U.S. Department of Justice. http://www.justice.gov/opa/documents/medical-marijuana.pdf. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Stout, David; Moore, Solomon (October 20, 2009). "U.S. won't prosecute in states that allow medical marijuana". The New York Times: p. A1. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/us/20cannabis.html. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Johnson, Connie (October 20, 2009). "U.S. eases stance on medical marijuana. Attorney general says prosecuting such cases 'will not be a priority'". The Washington Post: p. A1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/19/AR2009101903638.html. Retrieved July 19, 2010. - ^ Egelko, Bob (December 18, 2009). "U.S. ends funding ban for needle exchanges". San Francisco Chronicle: p. A126. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/18/MNKM1B5S7L.DTL. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
- ^ Jesse Lee. "The President Signs Repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell": "Out of Many, We Are One"". Whitehouse.gov. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/12/22/president-signs-repeal-dont-ask-dont-tell-out-many-we-are-one. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
- ^ "'Don't ask, don't tell' repealed as Obama signs landmark law". The Guardian (London). December 22, 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/22/obama-repeals-dont-ask-dont-tell. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
- ^ "Obama to delay 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal". The Washington Times. November 21, 2008. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/21/obama-to-delay-repeal-of-dont-ask-dont-tell/. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
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- ^ U.S. Congressional Budget Office, Preliminary Analysis of Major Provisions Related to Health Insurance Coverage Under the Affordable Health Choices Act, June 15, 2009
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- ^ Reuters, "U.S. House Panel Passes Health Bill, Critics Slam Cost," The New York Times, July 17, 2009
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- ^ Somashekhar, Sandhya; Kane, Paul (March 18, 2010). "Democrats yet to decide on health-care bill bear the weight of Washington". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/17/AR2010031704184.html. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
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- ^ a b Montopoli, Brian (March 30, 2010). "Obama Lauds Passage of Education Reform". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20001419-503544.html.
- ^ a b "What would change if student lending legislation passes". The Washington Post. March 26, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032503578.html. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
- ^ a b Madison, Lucy (2011-10-26). "Who will benefit from Obama's student loan plan?". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20126172-503544/who-will-benefit-from-obamas-student-loan-plan/. Retrieved 2012-5-14.
- ^ Associated Press (30 March 2010). "Q&A: What does student loan overhaul mean for U.S., you?". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-03-30-student-loans_N.htm. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
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External links[link]
*"President Barack Obama: The Man and His Journey"
- "Obama's People" (photography: Nadav Kander)
- The Official White House YouTube page
- "President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address". The White House.
- "Wrapping Up Open for Questions". The White House.
- "President Obama's State of the Union Address" C-SPAN.
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| Geert Wilders | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Parliamentary leader – Party for Freedom House of Representatives of the Netherlands |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 23 November 2006 |
|
| Member of the House of Representatives – Party for Freedom | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 30 November 2006 |
|
| Member of the House of Representatives – Group Wilders | |
| In office 2 September 2004 – 30 November 2006 |
|
| Member of the House of Representatives – People's Party for Freedom and Democracy | |
| In office 26 July 2002 – 2 September 2004 |
|
| In office 25 August 1998 – 23 May 2002 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Geert Wilders (1963-09-06) 6 September 1963 (age 48) Venlo, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Political party | Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid – PVV) (2006–present) People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie – VVD) (1989–2004) |
| Spouse(s) | Krisztina Wilders (1992–present) |
| Residence | The Hague, Netherlands |
| Alma mater | Open University in the Netherlands |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Religion | None (agnostic) |
| Website | (Dutch) Party for Freedom website |
Geert Wilders (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣɪːrt ˈʋɪldərs] or [ˈʝɪːrt ˈβ̞ɪldərs], born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch right-wing politician and the founder and leader of the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid – PVV), the third-largest political party in the Netherlands.[1][2] Wilders is the Parliamentary group leader of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives. In the formation in 2010 of the current Rutte cabinet, a minority cabinet of VVD and CDA, he actively participated in the negotiations, resulting in a "support agreement" (gedoogakkoord) between the PVV and these parties, but withdrew his support in April 2012, citing disagreements with the cabinet on proposed budget cuts.[3] Wilders is best known for his criticism of Islam, summing up his views by saying, "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam".[4] Wilders' views regarding Islam have made him a deeply divisive figure in the Netherlands and abroad.
Raised a Roman Catholic, Wilders left the church at his coming of age. His travels to Israel as a young adult, as well as to neighbouring Arab countries, helped form his political views. Wilders worked as a speechwriter for the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie – VVD), and later served as parliamentary assistant to party leader Frits Bolkestein from 1990 to 1998. He was elected to the Utrecht city council in 1996, and later to the House of Representatives. Citing irreconcilable differences over the party's position on the accession of Turkey to the European Union, he left the VVD in 2004 to form his own party, the Party for Freedom.
Wilders has campaigned to stop what he views as the "Islamisation of the Netherlands". He compares the Quran with Mein Kampf and has campaigned to have the book banned in the Netherlands.[5][6][7] He advocates ending immigration from Muslim countries,[5][8] and supports banning the construction of new mosques.[9] Wilders was a speaker at the Facing Jihad Conference held in Jerusalem in 2008, which discussed the dangers of jihad, and has called for a hard line against what he called the "street terror" exerted by minorities in Dutch cities.[10] His controversial 2008 film about his views on Islam, Fitna, received international attention. He has been described in the media as populist[11][12][13] and labeled far-right,[14][15] though this is disputed by other observers.[11][16][17] Wilders, who has refused to align himself with other European far-right leaders such as Jean-Marie Le Pen and Jörg Haider, views himself as a right-wing liberal and has expressed concern of being "linked with the wrong rightist fascist groups."[18]
Wilders was banned from entering the United Kingdom between 12 February 2009 and 13 October 2009 by the Labour government, the Home Office saying his presence would be a "threat to one of the fundamental interests of society".[19] The ban was overturned after Wilders appealed[20] and he visited the UK in October 2009,[21] and again in March 2010 to show his film. In January 2009, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ordered Wilders' prosecution for "incitement to hatred and discrimination".[22] Wilders was acquitted of these charges on 23 June 2011.[23]
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Early life and career[link]
Wilders was born in the city of Venlo, in the northern part of the Dutch Province of Limburg on the southeastern border with Germany. He is the youngest of four children,[24] and was raised Catholic. He was born to a Dutch father and a Dutch mother born in the Dutch East Indies, of Dutch, Frisian, German[25][26] and Dutch-Indonesian descent or Indo heritage through her mother's side.[27][28] His father worked as a manager for the printing and copying manufacturing company Océ.[29] His father fled the area to avoid the Nazis and became so traumatised from the experience that he refused to physically enter Germany even forty years later.[30]
Wilders received his secondary education at the Mavo and Havo middle school and high school in Venlo. Reflecting passions that came to the fore later in his career, Wilders took a course in health insurance at the Stichting Opleiding Sociale Verzekeringen in Amsterdam and earned several law certificates at the Dutch Open University.
Wilders' goal after he graduated from secondary school was to see the world. Because he did not have enough money to travel to Australia, his preferred destination, he went to Israel instead.[30] For several years he volunteered in a moshav and worked for several firms, becoming in his own words "a true friend of Israel".[31] With the money he saved, he travelled to the neighbouring Arab countries, and was moved by the lack of democracy in the region. When he returned to the Netherlands, he retained Israeli ideas about counter-terrorism and a "special feeling of solidarity" for the country.[32]
Living in Utrecht, Wilders initially worked in the health insurance industry. His interest in the subject led him into politics as a speech-writer for the Netherlands' People's Party for Freedom and Democracy.[30][33] He started his formal political career as a parliamentary assistant to the party leader Frits Bolkestein, specialising in foreign policy. He held this job from 1990 to 1998. During this time Geert Wilders travelled extensively,[34] visiting countries all across the Middle East, including Iran, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Israel. Bolkestein was the first Dutch politician to address the consequences of mass immigration for Dutch society, including a sharp criticism of Muslim immigrants. He set an example for Wilders not only in his ideas but also in his confrontational speaking style.[30][34]
Personal life[link]
On 10 November 2004, two suspected attackers were captured after an hour-long siege of a building in The Hague. They were in possession of three grenades and were accused of planning to murder Wilders as well as a fellow MP, Ayaan Hirsi Ali.[35] The suspects were presumed to be members of what the Dutch intelligence agency, the General Intelligence and Security Service, has termed the Hofstadgroep. Since this incident Wilders has been under constant security protection because of frequent threats to his life.[36] In September 2007, a Dutch woman was sentenced to a one-year prison term for sending more than 100 threatening emails to Wilders.[37][38] Wilders remained the most threatened politician in the Netherlands in 2008.[39]
On 18 December 2009, the Rotterdam rapper Mo$heb was sentenced to 80 hours community service and a two-month suspended jail term for threatening Wilders in a rap titled "Wie is de volgende" ("Who's next"), which included that if he met Wilders, it would be "bam bam". The rapper also called on Wilders to take back his words if he wanted to stay alive and said "This is no joke. Last night I dreamed I chopped your head off". The public prosecutor said the threat could reasonably lead to Wilders fearing for his life or that he would be subjected to violence. The court agreed with this conclusion and said the rap was threatening. "A politician must be able to do his work", the judges said.[40]
Wilders is said to have been "deprived... of a personal life for his... hatred of Islam".[30] He is moved by his state-provided bodyguards to a different location every night, and does not receive visitors unless they are carefully screened and escorted at all times.[41] He is married to Krisztina Wilders (née Marfai), a former diplomat of Hungarian origin,[42] with whom he can only meet about once every week because of security concerns.[30] The restrictions on his life because of this, he said, are "a situation that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy".[28]
In January 2010, Karen Geurtsen, a Dutch journalist from the magazine HP-De Tijd, revealed a painful breach of security. She spent four months working undercover, posing as an intern, for the PVV party. She claimed that she had had unchecked access to Wilders. "I could have killed him", were the first words of the article that she published about this operation. According to her, she had "dozens" of opportunities to take his life.[43]
Wilders has acquired nicknames such as "Mozart" and "Captain Peroxide" because of his flamboyant platinum blond hairstyle.[33] Radio Netherlands calls him "the most famous bleach-blond since Marilyn Monroe".[44]
Wilders is an agnostic,[45] but he has stated that he thinks Dutch Christians "are my allies" and that they fundamentally should want the same thing.[28][46]
In June 2011, a part of Wilder's personal finance was disclosed. It was revealed that Wilders had founded one year earlier a self-administered company but not reported this via the public records of the Tweede Kamer, as he should have done being a parliamentarian.[47]
Political career[link]
In 1997, Wilders was elected for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) to the municipal council of Utrecht, the fourth largest city of the Netherlands.[33][34] He lived in Kanaleneiland, a suburb with cheap social housing and high apartment blocks, and which has a relatively high number of immigrants. While a city councilor, Wilders was mugged in his own neighbourhood; some have speculated that this may have catalysed his political transformation.[14][30] He was not rewarded for his time on the municipal council of Utrecht, for in the following elections he would score well below the national average in the University city.[48]
A year later, he was elected to the Netherlands' national parliament,[33] but his first four years in parliament drew little attention.[34] However, his appointment in 2002 as a public spokesman for the VVD led Wilders to become more well known for his outspoken criticism of Islamic extremism. Tensions immediately developed within the party, as Wilders found himself to be to the right of most members, and challenged the party line in his public statements.[24] He was expelled from the VVD parliamentary party, and in September 2004, Wilders left the VVD, having been a member since 1989, to form his own political party, Groep Wilders, later renamed the Party for Freedom.[49] The crunch issue with the VVD party line was about his refusal to endorse the party's position that European Union accession negotiations must be started with Turkey.[34]
The Party for Freedom's political platform often overlaps those of the assassinated Rotterdam politician Pim Fortuyn and his Pim Fortuyn List.[33] After his death, Fortuyn's impact remained, as more and more politicians sought to gain political mileage by directly confronting topics such as a ban on immigration that were, from a politically correct point of view, considered unmentionable in the Netherlands until Fortuyn came on the scene and upended the Dutch tradition of consensus politics with an anti-immigration stance. Wilders would position himself to inherit Fortuyn's constituency.[50] He bases his ideas on an ideological framework of small government, law and order and direct democracy. The Party for Freedom call for a €16 billion tax reduction, a far stricter policy toward recreational drug use, investing more in roads and other infrastructure, building nuclear power plants and including animal rights in the Dutch constitution.[51] In the 2006 Dutch parliamentary election, their first parliamentary election, the Party for Freedom won 9 out of the 150 open seats.[52]
In March 2009, in a party meeting in Venlo, Wilders said "I want to be prime minister", believing the PVV will eventually become the Netherlands’ biggest party. "At some point it's going to happen and then it will be a big honour to fulfil the post of prime minister".[53]
Polling conducted throughout March 2009 by Maurice de Hond indicated the Party for Freedom was the most popular parliamentary party. The polls predicted that the party would take 21% of the national vote, winning 32 out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliament.[54] If the polling results were replicated in an election, Wilders would be a major power broker. Under such circumstances, there would also be some likelihood of him becoming Prime Minister of the Netherlands.[55][56] This has been partially attributed to timely prosecution attempts against him for hate speech and the travel ban imposed on him by the United Kingdom,[57] as well as dissatisfaction with the Dutch government's response to the global financial crisis of 2008–2009.[54]
On 3 March 2010, elections for the local councils were held in the municipalities of The Netherlands. The PVV only contested these local elections in the Dutch towns The Hague and Almere, because of a shortage of good candidates. The big gains that were scored indicated that the party and Wilders might dominate the political scene in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled on 9 June 2010. The PVV won in Almere and came second to the Dutch Labour party in The Hague. In Almere, the PVV won 21 percent of the vote to Labour's 18 percent, preliminary results showed. In The Hague, the PVV had 8 seats—second to Labour with 10 seats.
On 8 March 2010, Wilders announced that he would take a seat on the Hague city council, after it became clear he won 13,000 preference votes. Earlier he had said he would not take up a seat if he won.[58][59] In the parliamentary elections on 9 June 2010, the PVV went from 9 to 24 seats (out of 150) resulting from over 15% of the vote. This made the PVV the third party in size. With a fragmented parliament, at least three parties were required for an absolute majority. A coalition of VVD and Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) was negotiated with parliamentary support by the PVV. The PVV did not become part of the government formed by VVD and CDA but actively participated in the negotiations and thus policy decisions and – as part of the outcome agreed that they would not support any motion to dismiss ministers concerning topics listed in a so-called "support agreement" – much like the Danish model where the Danish People's Party plays a similar role.[60] The very fact of the participation of Wilder's party in these negotiations caused fierce discussions in political circles.
On 21 April 2012, Wilders withdrew his support from the Rutte cabinet because of new austerity measures that were about to be taken. Commenting on his withdrawal Wilders blamed the "European dictates" pointing to the 3% rule on budget deficit for European countries although his party had supported these rules earlier on. The cabinet blamed Wilders for what they call his "lack of political will" and "political cowardice" in regards to addressing the economic woes of the Netherlands.[3]
Public reception[link]
Wilders has become a controversial figure[30][61] with polarized opinions[62] on him from the world news media. Regarding his reputation in the Netherlands, Wilders stated in 2009, "Half of Holland loves me and half of Holland hates me. There is no in-between." In 2005, the Dutch public expressed mixed reactions to Wilders' general agenda, with 53% calling it "implausible" and 47% more supportive.[63] He has been described as populist,[11][12][13] labelled as both "extreme right"[64] and far-right,[14][15] and defended by others as a mainstream politician with legitimate concerns[11] saying that such labels are shallow smear attempts. Wilders himself rejects the labels and has called the new description "scandalous".[11] He has been accused of building his popularity on fear and resentment[65][66] and vociferously defended for having the courage to talk openly about the problems unfettered immigration brings with it and the incompatibility of fundamentalist Islam with western values.[67]
On 15 December 2007, Wilders was declared "Politician of the Year" by NOS-radio, a mainstream Dutch radio station. The parliamentary press praised his ability to dominate political discussion and to attract the debate and to get into publicity with his well-timed one-liners.[68] The editors eventually gave the title to Wilders because he was the only one who scored high amongst both the press and the general public.[69][70]
In December 2009, Wilders came in second in two polls in the Netherlands for Politician of the Year. A panel of Dutch television viewers praised him as "the second best" politician this year (after his outspoken critic Alexander Pechtold), while his colleagues in parliament named him "the second worst" (after Rita Verdonk).[71]
Some Muslim critics of Wilders accuse him of using Koranic verses out of context.[72] Because of Wilders' perceived positions on Islam, the Dutch–Moroccan rapper Appa, when interviewed about Wilders for a newspaper, said "if someone were to put a bullet in his head, I wouldn't mind".[73] Wilders' views on Islam prompted the Muslim Mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb, to reprimand him.[74]
Editorials by AlterNet, The Montreal Gazette, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and The New York Times have accused Wilders of hypocrisy given that, in their view, Wilders has called for the ban of the sale of the Quran while simultaneously arguing for his own personal freedom of speech.[75][76][77][78] In a speech during a Dutch parliamentary debate, Wilders elaborated that he calls for the consistent application of Dutch laws restricting any act of expression that incites violence.[79] Ideally, he would prefer to see nearly all such laws abolished.[63][80][81] As such, he supports a European-wide constitutional protection of freedom of speech like that which exists in the United States.[81]
Wilders has also been compared to the assassinated fellow critic of Islam and filmmaker Theo van Gogh, but he does not see himself as taking on van Gogh's mantle.[28] Wilders has stated that he supports the free speech rights of his critics, saying that "An Imam who wants a politician dead is—however reprehensible—allowed to say so".[63] He has responded to charges of racism and Islamophobia by stating, "I don't hate Muslims. I hate their book and their ideology".[4]
In February 2010, the trailer of a newly published online satirical video on the website of the Dutch radio station FunX, which targets a young urban audience, spoofed a murder attempt on Wilders.[82]
In July 2010, the magazine Inspire announced that Wilders, as well as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Kurt Westergaard and Salman Rushdie, were mentioned on a "death list" of an international Islamist terrorist network.[83]
Shortly before this publication it was revealed in The Hague that Dutch law enforcement officers succeeded twice in smuggling a firearm into the parliament buildings and into the guarded headquarters of Wilders' party. This check was carried out by the Special Security Assignments Brigade BSB, a special unit of the Dutch Military Police. The test was carried out following a complaint from Wilders about his security being inadequate.[84]
In July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik, the man who carried out the 2011 Norway attacks, declared himself to be a great admirer of Geert Wilders and the Party for Freedom.[85] However, Wilders immediately distanced himself strongly from Breivik.[86][better source needed]
On 11 September 2010, 2,000 people gathered close by the site of a planned Muslim community center near the site of the World Trade Center attacks, on 11 September 2001, where they were addressed by Wilders who flew from The Netherlands to urge the crowd: "This is where we have draw the line. We must never give a free hand to those who want to subjugate us," Wilders added. "Draw this line so that New York... will never become New Mecca."[87]
Wilders was extensively discussed in American diplomatic cables, released by WikiLeaks in December 2010. In a briefing to President Barack Obama, he was described as "no friend of the US: he opposes Dutch military involvement in Afghanistan; he believes development assistance is money wasted; he opposes NATO missions outside 'allied' territory; he is against most EU initiatives; and, most troubling, he foments fear and hatred of immigrants."[88]
On 2 October 2011 Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported that a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) Frits Bolkestein, who is sometime called the 'mentor' of Geert Wilders, "does not share his views". He reportedly said that “Wilders says things that are just not right and I think he totally exaggerates.” While giving his opinion on burqa ban Mr Bolkestein said that he "disagrees with the recent introduction of a burqa ban, an idea championed by Geert Wilders." The Netherlands, he said, is the third European country to introduce such a ban after France and Belgium. “A ban makes martyrs of the few burqa wearers there are in the Netherlands" he said.[89]
Political views[link]
Political principles[link]
Wilders generally considers himself to be a right-wing liberal, with a specific mix of positions independent of the European political spectrum and particular to iconoclastic Dutch society. He has stated that "My allies are not Le Pen or Haider... We'll never join up with the fascists and Mussolinis of Italy. I'm very afraid of being linked with the wrong rightist fascist groups", saying instead his drive is issues such as freedom of expression and Dutch iconoclasm.[4] Wilders views British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as his greatest political role model.[4] People's Party for Freedom and Democracy figure Frits Bolkestein also heavily influenced his beliefs.[34]
Wilders strongly opposes the Dutch political system in general. He believes that there is a ruling elite of parliamentarians who only care about their own personal careers and disregard the will of the people. He also blames the Dutch system of multi-party coalition governments for a lack of clear and effective policies.[34] In his view, Dutch society advocates rule by consensus and cultural relativism, while he believes that this should change so as to "not tolerate the intolerant".[90]
On foreign relations, Wilders has largely supported Israel and has criticized countries he perceives as enemies of Israel.[32] Furthermore, he has made some proposals in the Dutch Parliament inspired by Israeli policies. For example, he supports implementing Israel's administrative detention in the Netherlands, a practice heavily criticized by human rights groups, which he calls "common sense".[90]
Wilders often mentions Henk and Ingrid in his speeches, fictitious common Dutch subjects who he claims to work for.[91]
Furthermore, Wilders has revived the ancient idea of reuniting Flanders and the Netherlands.[92]
Wilders published the version of his political manifesto called Klare Wijn ("Clear Wine") in March 2006. The program proposed ten key points to be implemented:
- Considerable reduction of taxes and state regulations.
- Replacement of the present Article 1 of the Dutch constitution, guaranteeing equality under the law, by a clause stating the cultural dominance of the Christian, Jewish and humanist traditions.
- Reduction of the influence of the European Union, which may no longer be expanded with new member states, especially Turkey; the European Parliament will be abolished. Dutch financial contributions to the European Union should be reduced by billions of euros.
- A five year moratorium on the immigration of non-Western foreigners who intend to stay in the Netherlands. Foreign residents will no longer have the right to vote in municipal elections.
- A five-year moratorium on the founding of new mosques and Islamic schools; a permanent ban on preaching in any language other than Dutch. Foreign imams will not be allowed to preach. Radical mosques will be closed and radical Muslims will be expelled.
- Restoration of educational standards, with an emphasis on the educational value of the family.
- Introduction of binding referenda and elected mayors, chiefs of police and prime ministers.
- Introduction of minimum penalties, and higher maximum penalties; introduction of administrative detention for terrorist suspects. Street terrorism will be punished by boot camps and denaturalisation and deportation of immigrant offenders.
- Restoration of respect and better rewards for teachers, policemen, health care workers and military personnel.
- Instead of complicated reorganisation, a more accessible and humane health care system, especially for elderly citizens.[93][94]
Views on Islam[link]
| Part of a series on |
| Criticism of Islam |
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Wilders is best known for his criticism of Islam, summing up his views by saying, "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam".[4] Although identifying Islamic extremists as 5–15% of Muslims,[90] he argues that "there is no such thing as 'moderate Islam'" and that the "Koran also states that Muslims who believe in only part of the Koran are in fact apostates".[79] He suggests that Muslims should "tear out half of the Koran if they wished to stay in the Netherlands" because it contains "terrible things" and that Muhammad would "... in these days be hunted down as a terrorist".[95]
On 8 August 2007, Wilders opined in an open letter[96] to the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant that the Koran, which he called a "fascist book", should be outlawed in the Netherlands, like Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.[97] He has stated that "The book incites hatred and killing and therefore has no place in our legal order".[98] He has also referred to Mohammed as "the devil".[31] In September 2009 Wilders proposed to put a tax on Hijab wearing by Muslim women. He suggested women could purchase a license at a cost of €1000 and that the money raised could be used in projects beneficial to women's emancipation.[99][100]
He believes that all Muslim immigration to the Netherlands should be halted and all settled immigrants should be paid to leave.[4] Referring to the increased population of Muslims in the Netherlands, he has said:
Take a walk down the street and see where this is going. You no longer feel like you are living in your own country. There is a battle going on and we have to defend ourselves. Before you know it there will be more mosques than churches![101]
In a speech before the Dutch Parliament, he stated:
Islam is the Trojan Horse in Europe. If we do not stop Islamification now, Eurabia and Netherabia will just be a matter of time. One century ago, there were approximately 50 Muslims in the Netherlands. Today, there are about 1 million Muslims in this country. Where will it end? We are heading for the end of European and Dutch civilisation as we know it. Where is our Prime Minister in all this? In reply to my questions in the House he said, without batting an eyelid, that there is no question of our country being Islamified. Now, this reply constituted a historical error as soon as it was uttered. Very many Dutch citizens, Madam Speaker, experience the presence of Islam around them. And I can report that they have had enough of burkas, headscarves, the ritual slaughter of animals, so‑called honour revenge, blaring minarets, female circumcision, hymen restoration operations, abuse of homosexuals, Turkish and Arabic on the buses and trains as well as on town hall leaflets, halal meat at grocery shops and department stores, Sharia exams, the Finance Minister's Sharia mortgages, and the enormous overrepresentation of Muslims in the area of crime, including Moroccan street terrorists.[79]
Nonetheless, Wilders has traveled widely in the Arab world and Der Spiegel has stated that Wilders will "wax poetic" over those "magnificent countries". Wilders has also said that "It's a real shame that these places are so chaotic."[30]
Wilders argues that Islam is not a religion, but rather a totalitarian political ideology such as communism and fascism.[102]
Wilders and Israel[link]
Wilders lived in Israel for two years during his youth and has visited the country 40 times in the last 25 years.[103]
Wilders stated about Israel: "I have visited many interesting countries in the Middle East – from Syria to Egypt, from Tunisia to Turkey, from Cyprus to Iran – but nowhere did I have the special feeling of solidarity that I always get when I land at Ben Gurion International Airport."[32] Dutch public TV channel Nederland 2's daily news programme Netwerk reported that numerous American supporters of Israel financially supported Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) and openly approved of his message towards Islam and Islamic terrorism.[104] Wilders told an audience during the report that "We [in the West] are all Israel".[104] He has also said "Israel is the West's first line of defence" against what he perceives to be a threat posed by Islam.[105]
Following the Dutch general election, 2010, in which the PVV were the third biggest party, Wilders said Jordan should be renamed Palestine.[106] The Jordanian government responded saying Wilders' speech was reminiscent of the Israeli right wing. His speech said "Jordan is Palestine. Changing its name to Palestine will end the conflict in the Middle East and provide the Palestinians with an alternate homeland." He also said Israel deserves a special status in the Dutch government because it was fighting for "Jerusalem" in its name.
"If Jerusalem falls into the hands of the Muslims, Athens and Rome will be next. Thus, Jerusalem is the main front protecting the West. It is not a conflict over territory but rather an ideological battle, between the mentality of the liberated West and the ideology of Islamic barbarism. There has been an independent Palestinian state since 1946, and it is the kingdom of Jordan."
He called on the Dutch government to refer to Jordan as Palestine and move its embassy to Jerusalem.[107]
[edit] Fitna
File:Fitna surah 8 verse 60.png
The film displays a verse from the Quran beside images of the 11 September attacks.
Main article: Fitna (film)
Fitna is a 2008 short film written and commissioned by Wilders that explores Koranic-inspired motivations for terrorism, Islamic universalism, and Islam in the Netherlands. Its title comes from the Arabic word fitna, which describes "disagreement and division among people" or a "test of faith in times of trial".[108]
It is the subject of an international controversy and debate on free speech.[109] Despite the legal troubles surrounding the film, Wilders insists that before he released it, he consulted numerous lawyers in the field, who found nothing worth prosecution. Jordan has summoned Wilders to court, with the film deemed to "incite hatred".[110] Militant Sunni Islamist group Al-Qaeda issued a call to murder Wilders after its release.[15]
In the spring of 2009, Wilders launched the "Facing Jihad World Tour", a series of screenings of Fitna to public officials and influential organizations around the globe, starting in Rome.[111] In the United States, Wilders showed the film to the United States Congress on 26 February having been invited by Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl.[112] Around 40 people attended the screening.[55] American Muslims protested, but the groups said that they supported his right of free speech while still condemning his opinions.[112] Wilders spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference on 28 February.[113] He appeared before the National Press Club and the Republican Jewish Coalition that week as well.[75] Similar attempts in Britain led to a travel ban,[15] and legislative blocks have prevented an appearance in Denmark.[114]
Wilders and the United Kingdom[link]
Ban on entering the United Kingdom[link]
Lord Pearson of Rannoch and Baroness Cox, members of the House of Lords (the upper chamber of the British Parliament), invited Wilders to a 12 February 2009 showing of Fitna in the Palace of Westminster.[115] Two days before the showing, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith banned Wilders from entering the territory of the United Kingdom, labelling him an "undesirable person".[19][116] Entry was denied under EU law, and reportedly supported under regulation 19 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, an EU law which allows a member state to refuse entry to individuals if they are regarded as constituting a threat to public policy, security or health.[15] A Home Office spokesperson elaborated that "The Government opposes extremism in all its forms ... and that was the driving force behind tighter rules on exclusions for unacceptable behaviour that the Home Secretary announced in October last year".[15][117][118]
Wilders defied the ban and entered via London Heathrow Airport on 12 February, trailed by television crews. He was quickly detained by Border Patrol officials and sent back on one of the next flights to the Netherlands.[119][119][120][121] He called Prime Minister Gordon Brown "the biggest coward in Europe" and remarked, "Of course I will come back".[122] Wilders had visited the United Kingdom in December 2008 without any problem.[123] Lord Pearson did not support Wilders' decision to defy the government.[15] But in response to the ban, both Pearson and Cox accused the government of "appeasing" militant Islam.[115]
The International Herald Tribune stated that the ban was broadly condemned in the British news media.[122] The Dutch Foreign Secretary, Maxime Verhagen, called the decision "highly regrettable" and complained to his British counterpart.[15] Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende complained to Gordon Brown about the "disappointing" decision.[124] The Quilliam Foundation, a British think tank, criticised the ban,[78] as did National Secular Society president Terry Sanderson.[123] The Muslim Labour peer Lord Ahmed expressed support for Smith's ban on Wilders entering the country;[78] the Ramadhan Foundation and the Muslim Council of Britain also did so, the council labeling Wilders "an open and relentless preacher of hate".[123][125]
Ban overturned[link]
After being declared persona non grata by Jacqui Smith, then the Home Secretary, in February 2009, Wilders appealed the decision to Britain's Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.[126] In October 2009, the tribunal overturned the ban.[127][128][129] Wilders subsequently praised the ruling as "a triumph for freedom of speech" and stated that he plans to visit the United Kingdom in the near future.[20][127]
The ruling was criticized by the British Home Office, which stated that an appeal of the tribunal's ruling is being considered. A spokesman stated:
"The Government opposes extremism in all its forms. The decision to refuse Wilders admission was taken on the basis that his presence could have inflamed tensions between our communities and have led to inter-faith violence. We still maintain this view."[20][127]
Visits to the UK[link]
On 16 October 2009, Wilders arrived in the United Kingdom and was quickly forced to move his press conference due to protests by about forty members of the organization Islam4UK, an organization that was later shut down under the UK's Terrorism Act 2000 on 14 January 2010. Though the Home Office had asserted that his entry into the country would not be blocked, a spokesman said his "statements and behaviour during a visit will inevitably impact on any future decisions to admit him."[130][131] His visit to the UK met with protest,[132] but Wilders called it "a victory" in a press conference.[128] On his outspoken views on Islam, he said: "I have a problem with the Islamic ideology, the Islamic culture, because I feel that the more Islam that we get in our societies the less freedom we get." He opened the press conference with a quote from George Orwell's preface to Animal Farm: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear". Lord Pearson, who had invited him, said his arrival was
"a celebration of the victory of freedom of speech over those who would prevent it in this country, particularly the Islamists, the violent Jihadists who are on the march across the world and in the UK."[132]
In January 2010, Wilders was invited again to show his anti-Quran movie Fitna in the British House of Lords by Lord Pearson UK Independence Party (UKIP), and Baroness Cox cross-bencher. Wilders accepted the invitation and was present for a presentation of the movie in the House of Lords on 5 March. In his speech he quoted ominous words from Winston Churchill's book The River War from 1899:
"Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. No stronger retrograde force exists in the World. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step ... the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."[133][134][135][136]
At the ensuing press conferences, he called the prophet Muhammad a "barbarian, a mass murderer, and a pedophile" and referring to Islam as a "fascist ideology" which was "violent, dangerous, and retarded". Wilders also reportedly called Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan a "total freak".[137] Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende called these comments "irresponsible",[138] and Maxime Verhagen, Dutch caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, publicly condemned Wilders's remarks and behaviour:
"He incites discord among people in a distasteful manner. And in the meantime he damages the interests of the Dutch population and the reputation of the Netherlands in the world."[139][140][141]
Bernard Wientjes, the president of the Dutch employers' organization Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW), also accused Wilders of "seriously" damaging Dutch interests abroad. He called it outrageous that Wilders had presented himself in London as "the next Dutch prime minister" and then derided Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan. Emphasizing that three quarters of the Dutch GDP comes from revenue earned abroad, according to Wientjes, Wilders poses "a serious threat to the Netherlands and the Dutch economy".[142][143]
Wilders and Germany[link]
In March 2010, Wilders was told he is "not welcome" in the western German tourist resort of Monschau in the Eifel area, after he spent a weekend there, along with several armed bodyguards. Mayor Margareta Ritter (CDU) said she was concerned that his presence tainted her town with the suspicion that it was sympathetic to his views. As a result, Monschau was said to have been unfairly connected with "extremism" in the European press.
"Anyone who pollutes the integration debate in the Netherlands with poisonous right-wing populism as Wilders has, and advocates prohibition of the Koran by a comparison with Hitler's Mein Kampf, is not welcome in Monschau. I wanted to distinguish Monschau from that."
She was unable to say whether Wilders was merely enjoying a short vacation in her town or had been meeting with like-minded people.[12][13][144][145][146] A demonstration to support Wilders was announced to take place in Berlin on 17 April.[147]
Other international aspirations[link]
In July 2010, Wilders announced the International Freedom Alliance, a network of groups and individuals who "are fighting for freedom against Islam".[148][149][150][151]
Wilders plans IFA branches in the United States, Canada, Britain, France and Germany by late 2010. "The message, 'stop Islam, defend freedom', is a message that's not only important for the Netherlands but for the whole free Western world", Wilders stated in an address to reporters at the Dutch Parliament.[152][153]
On 6 August 2010, Wilders, who had become a regular guest with American conservatives and libertarians, announced that he would speak at a rally on 11 September in New York to protest the plans for Park51, a Muslim community center with a prayer space to be built near the World Trade Center site. The rally, to be held on the ten-year anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks, was organised by Stop Islamization of America, which is supported by a number of conservative US politicians[not in citation given] including former House speaker Newt Gingrich and 2008 vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.[154][155] According to SIOA's website world leaders, prominent politicians and 9/11 family members would be speaking at the rally, but Wilders was not mentioned by name,[156][157][158] though he did attend as he had announced.[159]
In political circles in The Netherlands, the announcement caused widespread irritation about his plan.[160] Christian Democrat senator Hans Hillen remarked that Wilders' words could endanger Dutch interests.[161] Former NATO General Secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer advised Wilders not to make a speech, arguing that the international public does not know who is in the Dutch cabinet and who is in parliament and thus Wilders' speech could be mistaken as an official statement of the Dutch government. Also Christian Democrat party leader and acting Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen issued a warning.[162][163]
Also, the Dutch Foreign Ministry allegedly would have issued guidelines to its embassies on how to react to questions about the role being played by the PVV and Wilders in the formation of a new government. On 10 August 2010, the website of Dutch daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad published the ministry memo. The ministry itself however had declined "to confirm or deny" the authenticity of these guidelines. One question posed is how Wilders could be taking part in negotiations on forming a government coalition when he has been indicted for inciting hatred and discrimination, and for insulting a group of persons. Other questions covered possible bans on the building of new mosques, on the Quran and on Islamic schools in the Netherlands. The memo stressed that such bans would breach the Dutch constitution.[164][165]
Wilders spoke on Thursday, 12 May 2011, at Cornerstone Church in Madison, Tennessee, at the Tennessee Freedom Coalition inaugural Signature Series event.[166]
Trial[link]
Main article: Trial of Geert Wilders
Several groups and persons in the Netherlands have called for legal action against Wilders, while others have defended his right to free speech.[109] On 15 August 2007, a representative of the Prosecutors' Office in Amsterdam declared that dozens of reports against Wilders had been filed, and that they were all being considered.[167] Attempts to prosecute Wilders under Dutch anti-hate speech laws in June 2008 failed, with the public prosecutor's office stating that Wilders' comments contributed to the debate on Islam in Dutch society and also had been made outside parliament, The office released a statement reading: "That comments are hurtful and offensive for a large number of Muslims does not mean that they are punishable. Freedom of expression fulfils an essential role in public debate in a democratic society. That means that offensive comments can be made in a political debate".[109][168][169]
On 21 January 2009, a three-judge court ordered prosecutors to try him.[169][170]
The Middle East Forum has established a Legal Defence Fund for Wilders's defence.[171][172] The New York Times ran an op-ed criticizing his views and arguing that "for a man who calls for a ban on the Koran to act as the champion of free speech is a bit rich", concluding, however that the lawsuit against Wilders might not be "a good thing for democracy", because it made him "look more important than he should be."[77]
A survey by Angus Reid Global Monitor has found that public opinion is deeply split on the prosecution, with 50% supporting Wilders and 43% opposed.[168] However, public support for the Party for Freedom has greatly increased since Wilders' legal troubles began, with the Party for Freedom virtually tied with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy to be the third most popular party.[65][173] According to Radio Netherlands, "Dutch politicians themselves seem to be keeping quiet on the issue; they are probably worried that media attention will only serve to make the controversial politician more popular".[61]
In late October 2010, the Dutch court approved a request from Geert Wilders to have new judges appointed forcing the court to retry the case.[174] On 7 February 2011, Wilders returned to the court room in order that his legal team could present evidence from Islamic experts which the court rejected in 2010, including Mohammed Bouyeri, who murdered film-maker Theo van Gogh, and Dutch academic Hans Jansen.[175]
On 23 June 2011, Wilders was acquitted of all charges. A Dutch court noted that his speech was legitimate political debate, but on the edge.[176] Because both the public prosecutor and the defence requested complete acquittal, the verdict will most likely not be appealed.[177][178]
Works[link]
- Marked for Death: Islam's War Against the West and Me, Regnery Publishing (May 1, 2012), ISBN 1596987960
See also[link]
Notes[link]
- ^ Castle, Stephen (5 August 2010). "Dutch Opponent of Muslims Gains Ground". The New York Times (Netherlands). http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/world/europe/06dutch.html. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ Mock, Vanessa (11 June 2010). "Wilders makes shock gains in Dutch elections". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/wilders-makes-shock-gains-in-dutch-elections-1997293.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ a b Associated Press (2012-04-20). "Dutch prime minister says government austerity talks collapse". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/reports-dutch-government-austerity-talks-collapse-possibly-paving-way-for-fresh-elections/2012/04/21/gIQARzIjXT_story.html. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
- ^ a b c d e f Traynor, Ian (17 February 2008). "'I don't hate Muslims. I hate Islam,' says Holland's rising political star". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/17/netherlands.islam. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ a b Surge for Dutch anti-Islam Freedom Party, BBC News, 10 June 2010.
- ^ "Nancy Graham Holm: Three Questions to Ask Geert Wilders about Anti-Islam Hate Speech". Huffington Post. USA. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-graham-holm/three-questions-to-ask-ge_b_849576.html. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ Wilders, Geert; Laura Emmett (interviewer) (7 March 2010). "Ban the Koran? Geert Wilders speaks out on his radical views" (flash video). RussiaToday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GanFV4b1wvk. Retrieved 5 October 2010. "2:26: I said it in the Dutch context.... In the Netherlands, a few decades ago, Mein Kampf was outlawed, and at that time the... politicians in Holland applauded it.... I am not in favour of banning any books normally but if you are consistent...."
- ^ Roger Hardy. "Dutch Muslim women striving to integrate", BBC News, 28 April 2010.
- ^ Robert Marquand. "Dutch voters boost far-right party of Geert Wilders", The Christian Science Monitor, 10 June 2010.
- ^ (Dutch) "PVV: Leger inzetten tegen straatterreur Gouda". Elsevier.nl. 15 September 2008. http://www.elsevier.nl/web/10203372/Nieuws/Nederland/PVV-Leger-inzetten-tegen-straatterreur-Gouda.htm. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ a b c d e West, Ed (30 January 2010). "Geert Wilders is not 'far Right'". London: The Daily Telegraph – Blogs.telegraph.co.uk. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100024237/geert-wilders-is-not-far-right/. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ a b c "Dutch populist Wilders 'unwelcome' in Eifel town". Thelocal.de. http://www.thelocal.de/society/20100316-25909.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ a b c "Rechtspopulist Wilders in Monschau nicht willkommen". General-anzeiger-bonn.de. 16 March 2010. http://www.general-anzeiger-bonn.de/index.php?k=loka&itemid=10001&detailid=713344. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ a b c "Analysis: Geert Wilders, the bouffant-haired Dutch liberal who turned hardliner". Daily Mail (UK). 12 February 2009. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1142865/Analysis-Geert-Wilders-bouffant-haired-Dutch-liberal-turned-hardliner.html. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Gosden, Emily (11 February 2009). "Far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders vows to defy UK ban". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5710559.ece. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ (Dutch) In 2010 a research by the Tilburg Institute for Social Policy Research and Consultancy (IVA) of Tilburg University studied the Freedom Party and concluded that a number of radical right views persisted, but that the party did not belong to the traditional "far right" (extreem-rechts), Retrieved 2012-05-29
- ^ (Dutch) Afshin Ellian, a professor of Social Cohesion, Citizenship and Multiculturalism at Leiden University, and known islam-critic, rejected even the "radical right" label for the PVV [1]
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- ^ a b c Anti-Islamic Dutch MP Geert Wilders wins right to enter Britain by Helen Nugent, The Times Online, 13 October 2009.
- ^ "Dutch MP Geert Wilders’ visit mired in controversy". WCJB News. http://www.wcjb.co.uk/dutch-mp-geert-wilders%E2%80%99-visit-mired-in-controversy-26590. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ^ (Dutch) "Amsterdam Court of Appeal orders the criminal prosecution of the Member of Parliament"[dead link] www.rechtspraak.nl, 21 January 2009
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- ^ (Dutch) "Rapper bestraft voor bedreigen Wilders". Nrc.nl. http://www.nrc.nl/binnenland/article2441103.ece/Rapper_bestraft_voor_bedreigen_Wilders. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ Simons, Marlise (4 March 2005). "Tired of hiding, 2 Dutch legislators emerge". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/03/news/journal.php. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ (Dutch) "Echtgenote vroeg Geert Wilders nooit te stoppen – RTL Boulevard" (in (Dutch)). Rtl.nl. http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlboulevard/nieuws/articleview/)/components/actueel/rtlboulevard/2010/06_juni/entertainment/Vrouw_vroeg_geert_wilders_nooit_te_stoppen.xml. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
- ^ "Undercover journalist gains easy access to Geert Wilders". Nrc.nl. http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2453287.ece/Undercover_journalist_gains_easy_access_to_Geert_Wilders. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Geert Wilders: riding the hype". Radio Netherlands Worldwide. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/specialseries/wilders/. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ Geert Wilders (19 July 2010). "Moslims, bevrijd uzelf en u kunt alles [Muslims, you can free yourself and everything]" (in Dutch – translations: BabelFish; Google). NRC Handelsblad. http://www.nrc.nl/opinie/article2584468.ece. Retrieved 3 October 2010. "Zelf ben ik agnost."
- ^ Hurd, Dale (19 February 2009). "VIDEO: Can Christians Support Geert Wilders". Christian Broadcasting Network. http://blogs.cbn.com/hurdontheweb/archive/2009/02/19/video-can-christians-support-geert-wilders.aspx. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
- ^ (Dutch) Merijn Rengers, John Schoorl (2011-05-19). "Wilders verzuimde om eigen BV te melden". Volkskrant.nl. http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2788/Geert-Wilders/article/detail/2443776/2011/06/10/Wilders-verzuimde-om-eigen-BV-te-melden.dhtml. Retrieved 2012-04-28.
- ^ (Dutch) Europese verkiezingen 2009 (Gemeente Utrecht, 6 July 2009)
- ^ "Geert Wilders Fitna Movie Timeline". FeceOnAir.com. Archived from the original on 8 March 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080308162452/http://www.fitnathemovie.info/timeline.php. Retrieved 8 March 2008.
- ^ Richburg, Keith B. (1 February 2005). "Washingtonpost.com". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52502-2005Jan31.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Election Pamphlet". Party for Freedom. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=http://www.pvv.nl/&ei=rsCUSdR8m9jKBZ6hrYYK&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpvv%26hl%3Den. Retrieved 12 February 2009.
- ^ Burns, John (12 February 2009). "Britain Refuses Entry to Dutch Lawmaker Whose Remarks and Film Have Angered Muslims". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/world/europe/13britain.html. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
- ^ "Wilders: I want to be prime minister". Dutchnews.nl. 17 March 2009. http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2009/03/wilders_i_want_to_be_prime_min.php. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ a b "Geert Wilders' Freedom Party rises to 32 seats". Radio Netherlands Worldwide. 29 March 2009. http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/french-news/Geert-Wilders_-Freedom-Party-rises-to-32-seats_51090.html. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
- ^ a b Waterfield, Bruno (3 March 2009). "Geert Wilders leads Dutch polls". The Daily Telegraph (UK). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/4933687/Geert-Wilders-leads-Dutch-polls.html. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ "Wilders' Freedom Party leads polls". Radio Netherlands Worldwide. 1 March 2009. http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/local_news/Geert-Wilders_-Freedom-Party-leads-polls.html. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
- ^ "Wilders Now a Celebrity in US and Prime Minister in Poll". NIS News Bulletin. 3 March 2009. http://www.nisnews.nl/public/030309_1.htm. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
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- ^ "Anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders has announced he will take up a seat on the local council of the city of The Hague". Rnw.nl. 8 March 2010. http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/dutch-anti-Islam-MP-Wilders-wins-council-seat. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ Berkowitz, Ben; Kreijger, Gilbert (30 July 2010). "Dutch close in on government with anti-Islam party backing". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/07/30/us-dutch-politics-idUSTRE66T59E20100730. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ^ a b Chadwick, Nicola (22 January 2009). "Worldwide reactions to Wilders' prosecution". Radio Netherlands Worldwide. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/netherlands/090122-wilders-reactions. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
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- ^ a b c Ahmed, Nazir (13 February 2009). "Wilders' ban is in Britain's best interests". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/13/geert-wilders-extremists-liberty-central. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ a b c "Mr Wilderss contribution to the parliamentary debate on Islamic activism". Groep Wilders. 6 September 2007. Archived from the original on 14 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080614074737/http://www.groepwilders.com/website/details.aspx?ID=44. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
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- ^ a b Bostom, Andrew G. (22 February 2009). "Geert Wilders and the 'Koran Ban'". American Thinker. http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/02/geert_wilders_and_the_koran_ba.html. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
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- ^ a b c Sackur, Steven (22 March 2006). "Geert Wilders". HARDtalk. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/4833890.stm. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
- ^ (Dutch) "PVV doet het voor Henk en Ingrid". De Telegraaf. 23 April 2010. http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/6585702/__PVV_doet_het_voor_Henk_en_Ingrid__.html?sn=binnenland,buitenland. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
- ^ "PVV plies to reunite Flanders and the Netherlands"[dead link]
- ^ "Klare Wijn" (in Dutch). Party for Freedom. 31 March 2006. http://www.pvv.nl/index.php?option=com_deeppockets&task=contShow&id=362&Itemid=22. Retrieved 15 March 2009. [dead link]
- ^ Wilders, Geert. "Klare Wijn", GeertWilders.nl. English version
- ^ Waterfield, Bruno (14 August 2007). "Ban Koran like Mein Kampf, says Dutch MP". The Daily Telegraph (UK). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1559877/Ban-Koran-like-Mein-Kampf-says-Dutch-MP.html. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
- ^ (Dutch) Wilders, Geert (8 August 2007). "Genoeg is genoeg: verbied de Koran" (in Dutch). De Volkskrant. http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article451338.ece/Genoeg_is_genoeg_verbied_de_Koran. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
- ^ "Wilders: verbied de Koran, ook in moskee" (in Dutch). De Volkskrant. 8 August 2007. http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article451302.ece/Wilders_verbied_de_Koran%2C_ook_in_moskee. Retrieved 8 August 2007.
- ^ den Boer, Nicolien (8 January 2007). "'Qur'an should be banned' – Wilders strikes again". Radio Netherlands. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/ned070808mc. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
- ^ "Speech by Geert Wilders on the first day of the General Debate in the Dutch parliament". geertwilders.nl. 18 September 2009. http://www.geertwilders.nl/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=1595.
- ^ John Tyler (16 September 2009). "Wilders wants headscarf tax". RNW. http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/wilders-wants-headscarf-tax. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
- ^ "Wilders: get rid of half of Koran!". Expatica (Internet Archive). 13 February 2007. Archived from the original on 14 May 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070514083622/http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=1&story_id=36456. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
- ^ "Geert Wilders: Man Out of Time". Aina.org. 26 January 2009. http://www.aina.org/news/20090126124950.htm. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ (Dutch) "De sterke wil van Wilders". geertwilders.nl, now on WayBack machine: Web.archive.org. 14 October 2006. Archived from the original on 14 October 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061014025518/http://www.geertwilders.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=299&Itemid=74. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ a b "Amerikaanse Wilders-fans: 'foremost hero of our age'". Netwerk.tv. 10 June 2009. http://www.netwerk.tv/uitzending/2009-06-10/amerikaanse-wilders-fans-foremost-hero-our-age. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ Liphshiz, Cnaan. "Dutch anti-Islam MP: 'Israel is West's first line of defense'". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1093861.html. Retrieved 11 October 2009.
- ^ "Geert Wilders: Change Jordan's name to Palestine." Roee Nahmias, Israel News, 20 June 2010.
- ^ "Al-ManarTV:: Geert Wilders: Change Jordan's Name to Palestine". Almanar.com.lb. 20 June 2010. http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=142989&language=en. Retrieved 16 January 2011. [dead link]
- ^ "Hold your breath: 'Fitna' spreading seeds of hatred". Today's Zaman. 29 March 2008. http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=137624. Retrieved 1 April 2008.
- ^ a b c "Holland declines to prosecute anti-Islam politician". International Herald Tribune. Reuters. 30 June 2008. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/30/europe/dutch.php. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
- ^ "Wilders faces arrest by Jordan over Fitna". Dutch News. 20 June 2008. http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2008/06/wilders_may_face_arrest_by_jor.php. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ Liphshiz, Cnaan (13 February 2009). "Dutch lawmaker banned from U.K. to take anti-Koran film on 'world tour'". Haaretz. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1063986.html. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
- ^ a b O'Connor, Anahad (26 February 2009). "Mr. Wilders Goes to Washington". The New York Times. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/mr-wilders-goes-to-washington/. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ Poole, Patrick (1 March 2009). "Was CPAC an Epic Fail?". Pajamas Media. p. 2. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/was-cpac-an-epic-fail/2/. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ "Political row in Denmark over Geert Wilders". Radio Netherlands Worldwide. 25 March 2009. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/netherlands/090325-geert-wilders-denmark. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
- ^ a b Hope, Cristopher; Bingham, John and Waterfield, Bruno (13 February 2009). "Dutch MP Geert Wilders deported after flying to Britain to show anti-Islamic film". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/4603165/Dutch-MP-Geert-Wilders-deported-after-flying-to-Britain-to-show-anti-Islamic-film.html. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ Steen, Michael (11 February 2009). "Dutch party chief barred from UK". Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/00213dde-f7a0-11dd-a284-000077b07658.html. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ Russell, Ben (13 February 2009). "A red carpet premiere missing its star". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/a-red-carpet-premiere-missing-its-star-1608208.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ Russell, Ben; Mock, Vanessa (11 February 2009). "Banned from Britain, Dutch campaigner against Islam". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/banned-from-britain-dutch-campaigner-against-islam-1606309.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ a b Marsden, Sam; Rouse, Beverley (12 February 2009). "Dutch politician refused entry at Heathrow". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dutch-politician-refused-entry-at-heathrow-1607694.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ Marsden, Sam; Fentiman, Paula (11 February 2009). "Dutch MP will ignore UK ban over Islamic film". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dutch-mp-will-ignore-uk-ban-over-islamic-film-1606942.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "How the flying Dutchman was stopped in his tracks". The Independent (UK). 13 February 2009. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/how-the-flying-dutchman-was-stopped-in-his-tracks-1608211.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ a b Burns, John (12 February 2009). "Britain deports Dutch 'provacateur'". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/12/europe/britain.php. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ a b c Siddique, Haroon (12 February 2009). "Far-right Dutch MP refused entry to UK". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/12/far-right-dutch-mp-ban-islam. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ "PM lodges protest over UK's MP ban". Radio Netherlands Worldwide. 13 February 2009. http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/zijlijn/6176535/PM-lodges-protest-over-UKs-MP-ban. Retrieved 15 March 2009. [dead link]
- ^ Khan, Riz (19 February 2009). "Riz Khan – Banning Geert Wilders". Al Jazeera. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB_GlCXNBro. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ "Banned Dutch MP launches appeal". ITN. 20 March 2009. http://itn.co.uk/news/8713facaa47e211808d2401e3f10f83a.html. Retrieved 20 March 2009. [dead link]
- ^ a b c Hughes, Mark (13 October 2009). "Dutch 'extremist' Geert Wilders wins appeal to enter Britain". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dutch-extremist-geert-wilders-wins-appeal-to-enter-britain-1802012.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ a b Savage, Michael (17 October 2009). "Wilders hails his arrival in UK as victory for free speech". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wilders-hails-his-arrival-in-uk-as-victory-for-free-speech-1804347.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ GW (EEA reg 21: ‘fundamental interests’) Netherlands [2009] UKAIT 00050 (17 October 2009)
- ^ "Far-right Dutch MP arrives in UK". BBC News. 16 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8308982.stm. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
- ^ Wheeler, Brian (16 October 2009). "Wilders' world of protest and publicity". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8311059.stm. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
- ^ a b Davis, Margaret (16 October 2009). "UK protests confront Dutch far-right MP". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-protests-confront-dutch-farright-mp-1803855.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Geert Wilders Speech to the House of Lords". Avideditor.wordpress.com. 1 April 2010. http://avideditor.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/geert-wilders-great-speech-to-the-house-of-lords/. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Geert Wilders at the House of Lords". Dianawest.net. 5 March 2010. http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/1305/Geert-Wilders-at-the-House-of-Lords.aspx. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Dutch anti-Islam film to be shown in London". Expatica.com. http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/dutch-rss-news/dutch-anti-islam-film-to-be-shown-in-london_21851.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ Waterfield, Bruno (2 February 2010). "Geert Wilders to test British free speech with anti-Muslim film screening – Geert Wilders, the radical anti-Muslim Dutch politician, will seek to test free speech in Britain next month when he makes a second attempt to visit the House of Lords to screen a controversial film equating Islam to Nazism". The Daily Telegraph (UK). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7129742/Geert-Wilders-to-test-British-free-speech-with-anti-Muslim-film-screening.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ (Dutch) van Teeffelen, Gert-Jan (5 March 2010). "Wilders schokt pers in Londen" (in Dutch). De Volkskrant. http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/article1356206.ece/Wilders_schokt_pers_in_Londen. Retrieved 11 March 2010. [dead link]
- ^ Geplaatst door Dutch Politics (20 March 2010). "Balkenende Speaks Out Against Wilders". Dutchpoliticalreport.com. http://www.dutchpoliticalreport.com/2010/03/balkenende-speaks-out-against-wilders.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "Verhagen: Wilders beschadigt reputatie Nederland" (in Dutch). De Volkskrant. 10 March 2010. http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article1357793.ece/Verhagen_Wilders_beschadigt_reputatie_Nederland. Retrieved 11 March 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "Wilders Damages Holland: FM". Islamonline.com. http://islamonline.com/news/articles/2/Wilders-damages-Holland-FM.html. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
- ^ "Wilders is damaging Holland: minister". Dutchnews.nl. 11 March 2010. http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2010/03/wilders_is_damaging_holland_mi.php. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Employers: Wilders damages Dutch interests". Rnw.nl. http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/employers-wilders-damages-dutch-interests. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Wilders is bad for the Netherlands: employers". Dutchnews.nl. 13 March 2010. http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2010/03/wilders_is_bad_for_the_netherl.php. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ Kölnische Rundschau. "Wilders in der Eifel nicht willkommen". Rundschau-online.de. http://www.rundschau-online.de/html/artikel/1268322647614.shtml. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Bürgermeisterin: Geert Wilders ist in Monschau unerwünscht". Az-web.de. 15 March 2010. http://www.az-web.de/lokales/eifel-detail-az/1239513. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Bürgermeisterin: Geert Wilders ist in Monschau unerwünscht". An-online.de. http://www.an-online.de/lokales/eifel-detail-an/1239513?_link=&skip=&_g=Buergermeisterin-Geert-Wilders-ist-in-Monschau-unerwuenscht.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Demo for Geert Wilders on 17 April in Berlin". Pi-news.org. http://www.pi-news.org/2010/03/demo-for-geert-wilders-on-april-17-in-berlin/. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Wilders sets up international alliance against Islam". Rnw.nl. http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/wilders-sets-international-alliance-against-islam. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ "Dutch Politician Plans on Global Spread of Anti-Islam Party". Pattayadailynews.com. http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2010/07/17/dutch-politician-plans-on-global-spread-of-anti-islam-party/. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ "Dutch Politician Forms Anti-Islam Coalition". News.sky.com. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Geert-Wilders-Anti-Muslim-Freedom-Alliance-Dutch-Politician-Wants-End-To-Islamic-Immigration/Article/201007315666139. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ Allan Hall (16 July 2010). "Anti-Islamic crusader launches recruitment drive in UK". Daily Mail (UK). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1295047/Dutch-politician-says-UK-freedom-alliance-countries-Islam.html. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ "Dutch politician to form international anti-Muslim Coalition". Digitaljournal.com. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/294757. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ Geert Wilders's International Freedom Alliance!. "Geert Wilders's International Freedom Alliance!". Jihadwatch.org. http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/07/geert-wilderss-international-freedom-alliance.html. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ Wilders and Gingrich in Manhattan on 9/11 to Oppose Ground Zero Mosque, Wilder's website
- ^ You betcha! Sarah against Ground Zero mosque, WorldNetDaily
- ^ "Wilders to speak at New York mosque protest". Dutchnews.nl. 6 August 2010. http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2010/08/wilders_to_speak_at_new_york_m.php. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ "Wilders to join Ground Zero mosque protest". Rnw.nl. http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/wilders-join-ground-zero-mosque-protest. Retrieved 16 January 2001.
- ^ "BREAKING: Geert Wilders to speak NYC- SIOA mega-mosque protest on 9–11". Nomosquesatgroundzero.wordpress.com. 6 August 2010. http://nomosquesatgroundzero.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/breaking-geert-wilders-to-speak-nyc-sioa-mega-mosque-protest-on-9-11/. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ Josh Marshall (11 September 2010). "Geert Wilders headline speaker at protest in NY City". Talkingpointsmemo.com. http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/09/brings_it_all_into_focus.php. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ "Wilders: I'll decide whether I visit Ground Zero". Rnw.nl. http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/wilders-i%E2%80%99ll-decide-whether-i-visit-ground-zero. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ "Protest at Wilders' speech". Dutchnews.nl. 9 August 2010. http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2010/08/protest_at_wilders_speech.php. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ "De Hoop Scheffer advises Wilders not to speak". Dutchnews.nl. 10 August 2010. http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2010/08/jaap_de_hoop_scheffer_former.php. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ (Dutch) "Verhagen waarschuwt Wilders voor speech Ground Zero". Elsevier.nl. 12 January 2011. http://www.elsevier.nl/web/Nieuws/Politiek/272746/Verhagen-waarschuwt-Wilders-voor-speech-Ground-Zero.htm. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ "Explaining Geert Wilders abroad". Rnw.nl. http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/explaining-geert-wilders-abroad. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ "Dutch Diplomats Get 'Geert Wilders Lessons' – Publieksdiplomatie kabinetsformatie voor buitenlandse partners". Sylvanaknaap.blogspot.com. 11 August 2010. http://sylvanaknaap.blogspot.com/2010/08/dutch-diplomats-get-geert-wilders.html. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
- ^ "Tennessee Freedom Coalition To Host". Tnfreedomcoalition.org. http://www.tnfreedomcoalition.org/pr/050211.html. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ (Dutch) "Aangiftes tegen Wilders stromen binnen" (in Dutch). Elsevier. 15 November 2007. http://www.elsevier.nl/web/10133280/Nieuws/Politiek/Aangiftes-tegen-Wilders-stromen-binnen.htm. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ a b "Dutch React to Prosecution of Wilders". Angus Reid Global Monitor. 3 February 2009. http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/32758/dutch_react_to_prosecution_of_wilders. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ a b Mock, Vanessa (22 January 2009). "Dutch MP to be tried for views on Islam – Party leader who made film linking Koran to Nazism accused of inciting race hate". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-mp-to-be-tried-for-views-on-islam-1488654.html. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
- ^ "Anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders faces trial over controversial film"[dead link]
- ^ "Will Obama Stand With Geert Wilders?". Canadafreepress.com. http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/8976. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ "Donate to The Legal Project". Meforum.org. 27 April 1998. https://www.meforum.org/participation/legal-project/. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
- ^ (Dutch) "Uproar for PVV" (in Dutch). DAG. 25 January 2009. http://www.dag.nl/binnenland/tumult-pvv-218531. Retrieved 15 March 2009. [dead link]
- ^ "Court orders Wilders re-trial". The Irish Times. 22 October 2010. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1022/breaking54.html. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ "Dutch MP Geert Wilders back in court over 'hate speech'". BBC. 7 February 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12380167. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ^ "Dutch Court Acquits Lawmaker of Hate Speech, Discrimination Against Muslims". Fox News. 23 June 2011. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/06/23/dutch-court-acquits-anti-islam-lawmaker/. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
- ^ (Dutch) News article by NRC, titled Wilders op alle punten vrijgesproken 23 June 2011
- ^ News item by WSJ, titled Dutch Politician Is Acquitted in Hate-Speech Case 23 June 2011
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Geert Wilders |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Geert Wilders |
- (Dutch) Weblog Geertwilders
- (Dutch) Party for Freedom
- (Dutch) House of Representatives biography
- Biography and writings of Geert Wilders at the Hudson Institute
- Collected news and coverage at The New York Times
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Wilders, Geert |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Dutch politician |
| Date of birth | 6 September 1963 |
| Place of birth | Venlo, Netherlands |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geert_Wilders
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
"Barack" and "Obama" redirect here. For other uses, see Barak (disambiguation) and Obama (disambiguation). For President Obama's father, the Kenyan economist, see Barack Obama, Sr.
| Barack Obama | |
|---|---|
|
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| 44th President of the United States | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 20, 2009 |
|
| Vice President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | George W. Bush |
| United States Senator from Illinois |
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| In office January 3, 2005 – November 16, 2008 |
|
| Preceded by | Peter Fitzgerald |
| Succeeded by | Roland Burris |
| Member of the Illinois Senate from the 13th District |
|
| In office January 8, 1997 – November 4, 2004 |
|
| Preceded by | Alice Palmer |
| Succeeded by | Kwame Raoul |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Barack Hussein Obama II (1961-08-04) August 4, 1961 (age 50)[1] Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.[2] |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Michelle Robinson (1992–present) |
| Children | Malia (born 1998) Sasha (born 2001) |
| Residence | White House (Official) Chicago, Illinois (Private) |
| Alma mater | Occidental College Columbia University (B.A.) Harvard Law School (J.D.) |
| Profession | Community organizer Lawyer Constitutional law professor Author |
| Religion | Christianity[3] |
| Awards | Nobel Peace Prize |
| Signature | |
| Website | barackobama.com |
|
This article is part of a series on Barack Obama |
|---|---|
Barack Hussein Obama II (i/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. In January 2005, Obama was sworn in as a U.S. Senator in the state of Illinois. He would hold this office until November 2008, when he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.
Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In April 2011, he announced that he would be running for re-election in 2012.
As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In May 2012, he became the first sitting U.S. president to openly support legalizing same-sex marriage. In foreign policy, he ended the war in Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered U.S. involvement in the 2011 Libya military intervention, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.
Contents |
Early life and career[link]
Main article: Early life and career of Barack Obama
Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital (now Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children) in Honolulu, Hawaii,[2][4][5] and is the first President to have been born in Hawaii.[6] His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas, and was of mostly English ancestry,[7] along with Scottish, Irish, German, and Swiss.[8][9][10][11][12] His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a Luo from Nyang’oma Kogelo, Nyanza Province, Kenya. Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian class at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his father was a foreign student on scholarship.[13][14] The couple married on February 2, 1961,[15] separated when Obama Sr. went to Harvard University on scholarship, and divorced in 1964.[13] Obama Sr. remarried and returned to Kenya, visiting Barack in Hawaii only once, in 1971. He died in an automobile accident in 1982.[16]
After her divorce, Dunham married Indonesian Lolo Soetoro, who was attending college in Hawaii. When Suharto, a military leader in Soetoro's home country, came to power in 1967, all Indonesian students studying abroad were recalled, and the family moved to the Menteng neighborhood of Jakarta.[4][17] From ages six to ten, Obama attended local schools in Jakarta, including Besuki Public School and St. Francis of Assisi School.[18]
File:Ann Dunham with father and children.jpg
Barack Obama with his half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, mother Ann Dunham and grandfather Stanley Dunham, in Hawaii
In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Armour Dunham, and with the aid of a scholarship attended Punahou School, a private college preparatory school, from fifth grade until his graduation from high school in 1979.[19] Obama's mother returned to Hawaii in 1972, remaining there until 1977 when she went back to Indonesia to work as an anthropological field worker. She finally returned to Hawaii in 1994 and lived there for one year before dying of ovarian cancer.[15][20]
Of his early childhood, Obama recalled, "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind."[14] He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.[21] Reflecting later on his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered—to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect—became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear."[22] Obama has also written and talked about using alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind."[23] At the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency, Obama described his high-school drug use as a great moral failure.[24]
Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to attend Occidental College. In February 1981, he made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to divest from South Africa in response to its policy of apartheid.[25] In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and sister Maya, and visited the families of college friends in Pakistan and India for three weeks.[25] Later in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations[26] and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1983. He worked for a year at the Business International Corporation,[27] then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.[28][29]
Chicago community organizer and Harvard Law School[link]
Two years after graduating, Obama was hired in Chicago as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988.[29][30] He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[31] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.[32] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for the first time.[33] He returned to Kenya in August 2006 for a visit to his father's birthplace, a village near Kisumu in rural western Kenya.[34]
In late 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School. He was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year,[35] and president of the journal in his second year.[31][36] During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as an associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.[37] After graduating with a J.D. magna cum laude[38] from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago.[35] Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention[31][36] and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations,[39] which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father.[39]
University of Chicago Law School and civil rights attorney[link]
In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book.[39][40] He then taught at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years—as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004—teaching constitutional law.[41]
From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote, a voter registration campaign with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.[42] In 1993, he joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004. His law license became inactive in 2002.[43]
From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project; and of the Joyce Foundation.[29] He served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.[29]
Legislative career: 1997–2008[link]
State Senator: 1997–2004[link]
Main article: Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama
Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding State Senator Alice Palmer as Senator from Illinois's 13th District, which at that time spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park – Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn.[44] Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws.[45] He sponsored a law that increased tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.[46] In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.[47]
Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was reelected again in 2002.[48] In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.[49]
In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.[50] He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.[46][51] During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.[52] Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate.[53]
U.S. Senate campaign[link]
In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race; he created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002. Obama formally announced his candidacy in January 2003.[54]
Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq.[55] On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War,[56] Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally,[57] and spoke out against the war.[58] He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd that "it's not too late" to stop the war.[59]
Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun to not participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving fifteen candidates.[60] In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir, Dreams from My Father.[61] In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention,[62] seen by 9.1 million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party.[63]
Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.[64] Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan.[65] In the November 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote.[66]
U.S. Senator: 2005–2008[link]
Main article: United States Senate career of Barack Obama
Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005,[67] becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus.[68] CQ Weekly characterized him as a "loyal Democrat" based on analysis of all Senate votes in 2005–2007. Obama announced on November 13, 2008, that he would resign his Senate seat on November 16, 2008, before the start of the lame-duck session, to focus on his transition period for the presidency.[69]
Legislation[link]
Obama cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.[70] He introduced two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons;[71] and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending.[72] On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with Senators Tom Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain—introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.[73]
Obama sponsored legislation that would have required nuclear plant owners to notify state and local authorities of radioactive leaks, but the bill failed to pass in the full Senate after being heavily modified in committee.[74] Regarding tort reform, Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which grants immunity from civil liability to telecommunications companies complicit with NSA warrantless wiretapping operations.[75]
In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.[77] In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007.[78] Obama also introduced Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections,[79] and the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007,[80] neither of which was signed into law.
Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges.[81] This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008.[82] He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which has not passed committee; and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.[83] Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.[84]
Committees[link]
Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works, and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006.[85] In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.[86] He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs.[87] As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before Abbas became President of the Palestinian National Authority, and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi in which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government.[88]
Presidential campaigns[link]
2008 presidential campaign[link]
Main articles: United States presidential election, 2008, Barack Obama presidential primary campaign, 2008, and Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois.[89][90] The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "House Divided" speech in 1858.[89][91] Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care,[92] in a campaign that projected themes of "hope" and "change".[93]
A large number of candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries. The field narrowed to a duel between Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton after early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process but with Obama gaining a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules.[94] On June 7, 2008, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.[95]
On August 23, Obama announced his selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate.[96] Biden was selected from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.[97] At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in his support.[98] Obama delivered his acceptance speech, not at the center where the Democratic National Convention was held, but at Invesco Field at Mile High to a crowd of over 75,000; the speech was viewed by over 38 million people worldwide.[99][100]
During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations.[101] On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976.[102]
McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate and the two engaged in three presidential debates in September and October 2008.[103] On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain.[104] Obama won 52.9 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7 percent.[105] He became the first African American to be elected president.[106] Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant Park.[107]
2012 presidential campaign[link]
Main articles: United States presidential election, 2012 and Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2012
On April 4, 2011, Obama announced his re-election campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his website and filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission.[108][109][110] As the incumbent president he ran almost unopposed in the Democratic Party presidential primaries,[111] and on April 3, 2012, Obama had secured the 2778 convention delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.[112]
Presidency[link]
Main article: Presidency of Barack Obama
See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet and List of presidential trips made by Barack Obama
First days[link]
The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President, and Joe Biden as Vice President, took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office, Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq.[113] He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp,[114] but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required funds.[115][116][117] Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records,[118] and changed procedures to promote disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.[119] He also reversed George W. Bush's ban on federal funding to foreign establishments that allow abortions.[120]
Domestic policy[link]
The first bill signed into law by Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing the statute of limitations for equal-pay lawsuits.[121] Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover an additional 4 million uninsured children.[122] In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era policy which had limited funding of embryonic stem cell research and pledged to develop "strict guidelines" on the research.[123]
Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his Presidency. Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by Obama on May 26, 2009, to replace retiring Associate Justice David Souter, was confirmed on August 6, 2009,[124] becoming the first Hispanic to be a Supreme Court Justice.[125] Elena Kagan, nominated by Obama on May 10, 2010, to replace retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, was confirmed on August 5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three, for the first time in American history.[126]
On September 30, 2009, the Obama administration proposed new regulations on power plants, factories and oil refineries in an attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to curb global warming.[127][128]
On October 8, 2009, Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a measure that expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.[129][130]
On March 30, 2010, Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, a reconciliation bill which ends the process of the federal government giving subsidies to private banks to give out federally insured loans, increases the Pell Grant scholarship award, and makes changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[131][132]
In a major space policy speech in April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction at NASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return of human spaceflight to the moon and development of the Ares I rocket, Ares V rocket and Constellation program, in favor of funding Earth science projects, a new rocket type, and research and development for an eventual manned mission to Mars, and ongoing missions to the International Space Station.[133]
On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, fulfilling a key promise made in the 2008 presidential campaign[134][135] to end the Don't ask, don't tell policy of 1993 that had prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces.[136]
President Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address focused on themes of education and innovation, stressing the importance of innovation economics to make the United States more competitive globally. He spoke of a five-year freeze in domestic spending, eliminating tax breaks for oil companies and reversing tax cuts for wealthy Americans, banning congressional earmarks, and reducing healthcare costs. He promised that the United States would have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015 and would be 80% reliant on "clean" electricity.[137][138]
As a candidate for the Illinois state senate Obama had said in 1996 that he favored legalizing same-sex marriage;[139] but by the time of his run for the U.S. senate in 2004, he said that while he supported civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex partners, for strategic reasons he opposed same-sex marriages.[140] On May 9, 2012, shortly after the official launch of his campaign for re-election as president, Obama said his views had evolved, and he publicly affirmed his personal support for the legalization of same-sex marriage, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so.[141][142]
Economic policy[link]
Main article: Economic policy of Barack Obama
On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening worldwide recession.[143] The act includes increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals,[144] which is being distributed over the course of several years.
In March, Obama's Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, took further steps to manage the financial crisis, including introducing the Public-Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to $2 trillion in depreciated real estate assets.[145] Obama intervened in the troubled automotive industry[146] in March 2009, renewing loans for General Motors and Chrysler to continue operations while reorganizing. Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including the sale of Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat[147] and a reorganization of GM giving the U.S. government a temporary 60 percent equity stake in the company, with the Canadian government shouldering a 12 percent stake.[148] In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment.[149] He signed into law the Car Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as "Cash for Clunkers", that temporarily boosted the economy.[150][151][152]
Although spending and loan guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department authorized by the Bush and Obama administrations totaled about $11.5 trillion, only $3 trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009.[153] However, Obama and the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the 2010 budget deficit will be $1.5 trillion or 10.6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the 2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion or 9.9 percent of GDP.[154][155] For 2011, the administration predicted the deficit will slightly shrink to $1.34 trillion, while the 10-year deficit will increase to $8.53 trillion or 90 percent of GDP.[156] The most recent increase in the U.S. debt ceiling to $16.4 trillion was signed into law on January 26, 2012.[157] On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2011. The legislation enforces limits on discretionary spending until 2021, establishes a procedure to increase the debt limit, creates a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and establishes automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee does not achieve such savings.[158] By passing the legislation, Congress was able to prevent an unprecedented U.S. government default on its obligations.[159]
The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.1 percent and averaging 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year.[162] Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8 percent, which was less than the average of 1.9 percent experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries.[163] GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate of 1.6 percent, followed by a 5.0 percent increase in the fourth quarter.[164] Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year.[164] In July 2010, the Federal Reserve expressed that although economic activity continued to increase, its pace had slowed, and Chairman Ben Bernanke stated that the economic outlook was "unusually uncertain."[165] Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9 percent in 2010.[166]
The Congressional Budget Office and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth.[167][168] The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1 million,[168][169][170][171] while conceding that "It is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package."[167] Although an April 2010 survey of members of the National Association for Business Economics showed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in two years, 73 percent of 68 respondents believed that the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment.[172]
Within a month of the 2010 midterm elections, Obama announced a compromise deal with the Congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of the 2001 and 2003 income tax rates, a one-year payroll tax reduction, continuation of unemployment benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount for estate taxes.[173] The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858 billion Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on December 17, 2010.[174]
Health care reform[link]
Main article: Health care reform in the United States
Obama called for Congress to pass legislation reforming health care in the United States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal.[175] He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, to cap premium increases, and to allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900 billion over 10 years and include a government insurance plan, also known as the public option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage for pre-existing conditions, and require every American carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans.[176][177]
On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009.[175] After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over the proposals.[178] In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on stem cell research.[179]
File:PPACA Premium Chart.jpg
Maximum Out-of-Pocket Premium as Percentage of Family Income and federal poverty level, under Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, starting in 2014. (Source: CRS)
On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House.[180][181] On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39.[182] On March 21, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to 212.[183] Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010.[184]
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes health-related provisions to take effect over four years, including expanding Medicaid eligibility for people making up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) starting in 2014,[185] subsidizing insurance premiums for people making up to 400 percent of the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010) so their maximum "out-of-pocket" payment for annual premiums will be from 2 to 9.5 percent of income,[186][187] providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions, establishing health insurance exchanges, prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for medical research. According to White House and Congressional Budget Office figures, the maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their income relative to the federal poverty level.[186][188]
The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for those in high-income brackets, taxes on indoor tanning, cuts to the Medicare Advantage program in favor of traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies;[189] there is also a tax penalty for those who do not obtain health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons.[190] In March, 2010, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the net effect of both laws will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143 billion over the first decade.[191]
In March 2012, the Supreme Court heard arguments by a coalition of 26 states maintaining that it is unconstitutional to force individuals to buy health insurance.[192]
Gulf of Mexico oil spill[link]
On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshore drilling rig at the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, causing a major sustained oil leak. The well's operator, BP, initiated a containment and cleanup plan, and began drilling two relief wells intended to stop the flow. Obama visited the Gulf on May 2 among visits by members of his cabinet, and again on May 28 and June 4. On May 22, he announced a federal investigation and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and concurrent Congressional hearings. On May 27, he announced a 6-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and leases, pending regulatory review.[193] As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government.[194]
Foreign policy[link]
Main articles: Foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration and Barack Obama foreign policy
In February and March, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a "new era" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms "break" and "reset" to signal major changes from the policies of the preceding administration.[195] Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab cable TV network, Al Arabiya.[196]
On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and government of Iran.[197] This attempt at outreach was rebuffed by the Iranian leadership.[198] In April, Obama gave a speech in Ankara, Turkey, which was well received by many Arab governments.[199] On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt calling for "a new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.[200]
On June 26, 2009, in response to the Iranian government's actions towards protesters following Iran's 2009 presidential election, Obama said: "The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous. We see it and we condemn it."[201] On July 7, while in Moscow, he responded to a Vice President Biden comment on a possible Israeli military strike on Iran by saying: "We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East."[202]
On September 24, 2009, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to preside over a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.[203]
In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.[204][205] During the same month, an agreement was reached with the administration of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new pact reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about one-third.[206] The New START treaty was signed by Obama and Medvedev in April 2010, and was ratified by the U.S. Senate in December 2010.[207]
On December 6, 2011, he instructed agencies to consider LGBT rights when issuing financial aid to foreign countries.[208]
Iraq War[link]
On February 27, 2009, Obama declared that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months. His remarks were made to a group of Marines preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. Obama said, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."[209] The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troops levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of 35,000 to 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last United States combat brigade exited Iraq. The plan is to transition the mission of the remaining troops from combat operations to counter-terrorism and the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces.[210][211] On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over.[212] On October 21, 2011 President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be, "home for the holidays".[213]
War in Afghanistan[link]
Main article: War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan.[214] He announced an increase to U.S. troop levels of 17,000 in February 2009 to "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan", an area he said had not received the "strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires".[215] He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan, with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war.[216] On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan.[217] He also proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date.[218][219] McChrystal was replaced by David Petraeus in June 2010, after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.[220]
Israel[link]
During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including a record number of U.S. troops participating in military exercises in the country, increased military aid, the re-establishment of the U.S.-Israeli Joint Political Military Group and the Defense Policy Advisory Group, and an increase in visits among high-level military officials of both countries, including Ehud Barak and Admiral Mike Mullen.[221]
In 2011, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements, with the United States being the only nation to do so.[222] Obama supports the two-state solution to the Arab–Israeli conflict based on the 1967 borders with land swaps.[223]
War in Libya[link]
Main article: 2011 military intervention in Libya
In March 2011, as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya, calls for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including Europe, the Arab League, and a resolution[224] passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.[225] In response to the unanimous passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 on March 17, Gaddafi who had previously vowed to "show no mercy" to the citizens of Benghazi[226]—announced an immediate cessation of military activities,[227] yet reports came in that his forces continued shelling Misrata. The next day, on Obama's orders, the U.S. military took a lead role in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities in order to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone,[228] including the use of Tomahawk missiles, B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets.[229][230][231] Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all of its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbed Operation Unified Protector.[232] Some Representatives[233] questioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath.[234][235]
Osama bin Laden[link]
Main article: Death of Osama bin Laden
See also: The Situation Room (photograph)
Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the next several months determined what they believed to be the location of Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad.[236] CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011.[236] Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs.[236] The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers and computer drives and disks from the compound.[237][238] Bin Laden's body was identified through DNA testing,[239] and buried at sea several hours later.[240] Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square.[237][241] Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush,[242] and from many countries around the world.[243]
2010 midterm election[link]
Obama called the November 2, 2010 election, where the Democratic Party lost 63 seats in, and control of, the House of Representatives,[244] "humbling" and a "shellacking".[245] He said that the results came because not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery.[246]
Cultural and political image[link]
Main article: Public image of Barack Obama
Obama's family history, upbringing, and Ivy League education differ markedly from those of African American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement.[248] Obama is also not a descendant of American slaves.[249] Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is "black enough", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong".[250] Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation."[251]
Obama is frequently referred to as an exceptional orator.[252] During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama has delivered a series of weekly Internet video addresses.[253]
According to the Gallup Organization, Obama began his presidency with a 68 percent approval rating[254] before gradually declining for the rest of the year, and eventually bottoming out at 41 percent in August 2010,[255] a trend similar to Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's first years in office.[256] He experienced a small poll bounce shortly after the death of Osama bin Laden, which lasted until around June 2011, when his approval numbers dropped back to where they were prior to the operation.[257][258][259] Polls show strong support for Obama in other countries,[260] and before being elected President he has met with prominent foreign figures including then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair,[261] Italy's Democratic Party leader and then Mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni,[262] and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.[263]
In a February 2009 poll conducted by Harris Interactive for France 24 and the International Herald Tribune, Obama was rated as the most respected world leader, as well as the most powerful.[264] In a similar poll conducted by Harris in May 2009, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn.[265][266]
Obama won Best Spoken Word Album Grammy Awards for abridged audiobook versions of Dreams from My Father in February 2006 and for The Audacity of Hope in February 2008.[267] His concession speech after the New Hampshire primary was set to music by independent artists as the music video "Yes We Can", which was viewed 10 million times on YouTube in its first month[268] and received a Daytime Emmy Award.[269] In December 2008, Time magazine named Obama as its Person of the Year for his historic candidacy and election, which it described as "the steady march of seemingly impossible accomplishments".[270]
On October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples".[271] Obama accepted this award in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 2009, with "deep gratitude and great humility."[272] The award drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures.[273][274] Obama is the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office.
Family and personal life[link]
Main article: Family of Barack Obama
In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations", he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher."[275] Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband and seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family – six of them living.[276] Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham,[277] until her death on November 2, 2008,[278] two days before his election to the Presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011.[279] In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.[280]
Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years.[281] Besides his native English, Obama speaks Indonesian at the conversational level, having learned the language during his four childhood years in Jakarta.[282] He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.[283]
Obama is a well known supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator.[284] In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the all star game while wearing a White Sox jacket.[285] He is also primarily a Chicago Bears fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and recently rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after Obama took office as President.[286] In 2011, Obama invited the 1985 Bears to the White House; in 1986, the team did not attend due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.[287]
In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin.[288] Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial requests to date.[289] They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.[290] The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998,[291] followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10, 2001.[292] The Obama daughters attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the private Sidwell Friends School.[293] The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog named Bo, a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.[294]
Applying the proceeds of a book deal, the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago.[295] The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.[296]
In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million.[297] Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.[298][299] On his 2010 income of $1.7 million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 to Fisher House Foundation, a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.[300][301]
As per the latest financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $10 million.[302]
Obama tried to quit smoking several times, sometimes using nicotine replacement therapy, and, in early 2010, Michelle Obama said that he had successfully quit smoking.[303][304]
Religious views[link]
Obama is a Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote in The Audacity of Hope that he "was not raised in a religious household". He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists"), to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known". He described his father as "raised a Muslim", but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful". Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change".[305]
In an interview with the evangelical periodical Christianity Today, Obama stated: "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life."[306]
On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views saying "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me."[307][308]
Obama was baptized at the Trinity United Church of Christ, a black liberation church, in 1988, and was an active member there for two decades.[309] Obama resigned from Trinity during the Presidential campaign after controversial statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright became public.[310] After a prolonged effort to find a church to attend regularly in Washington, Obama announced in June 2009 that his primary place of worship would be the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.[311]
Notes[link]
- ^ "President Barack Obama". Washington, D.C.: The White House. 2008. http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-obama. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
- ^ a b "Certificate of Live Birth: Barack Hussein Obama II, August 4, 1961, 7:24 pm, Honolulu". Department of Health, State of Hawaii. The White House. April 27, 2011. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/birth-certificate-long-form.pdf. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
- ^ "American President: Barack Obama". Charlottesville, VA: Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. 2009. http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/obama. Retrieved January 23, 2009. "Religion: Christian"
- "The Truth about Barack's Faith". Obama for America. http://www.fightthesmears.com/file_download/2/baracksfaith.pdf. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
- Miller, Lisa (July 18, 2008). "Finding his faith". Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/145971. Retrieved February 4, 2010. "He is now a Christian, having been baptized in the early 1990s at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago."
- Barakat, Matthew (November 17, 2008). "Obama's church choice likely to be scrutinized; D.C. churches have started extending invitations to Obama and his family". Associated Press. MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27775757. Retrieved January 20, 2009. "The United Church of Christ, the denomination from which Obama resigned when he left Wright's church, issued a written invitation to join a UCC denomination in Washington and resume his connections to the church." .
- "Barack Obama, long time UCC member, inaugurated forty-fourth U.S. President". News. United Church of Christ. January 20, 2009. http://www.ucc.org/news/obama-inauguration.html. Retrieved January 21, 2009. "Barack Obama, who spent more than 20 years as a UCC member, is the forty-fourth President of the United States."
- Sullivan, Amy (June 29, 2009). "The Obama's find a church home—away from home". Time. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1907610,00.html. Retrieved February 5, 2010. "instead of joining a congregation in Washington, D.C., he will follow in George W. Bush's footsteps and make his primary place of worship Evergreen Chapel, the nondenominational church at Camp David." .
- Kornblut, Anne E. (February 4, 2010). "Obama's spirituality is largely private, but it's influential, advisers say". The Washington Post: p. A6. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020303619.html. Retrieved February 5, 2010. "Obama prays privately ... And when he takes his family to Camp David on the weekends, a Navy chaplain ministers to them, with the daughters attending a form of Sunday school there."
- ^ a b Maraniss, David (August 24, 2008). "Though Obama had to leave to find himself, it is Hawaii that made his rise possible". The Washington Post: p. A22. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/23/AR2008082301620.html. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
- ^ Nakaso, Dan (December 22, 2008). "Twin sisters, Obama on parallel paths for years". The Honolulu Advertiser: p. B1. http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/Dec/22/ln/hawaii812220320.html. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
- ^ Rudin, Ken (December 23, 2009). "Today's Junkie segment On TOTN: a political review Of 2009". Talk of the Nation (Political Junkie blog). NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/politicaljunkie/2009/12/todays_junkie_segment_on_totn_5.html. Retrieved April 18, 2010. "We began with the historic inauguration on January 20—yes, the first president ever born in Hawaii"
- ^ for Stanley Ann's first name, see Obama (1995, 2004), p. 19.
- ^ Ewen MacAskill in Washington and Nicholas Watt (May 20, 2011). "Obama looks forward to rediscovering his Irish roots on European tour". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/20/obama-irish-roots-european-tour. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
- ^ Mason, Jeff (May 23, 2011). "Obama visits family roots in Ireland". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/23/us-obama-ireland-idUSTRE74M09F20110523. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
- ^ "Obama urged to create own tartan". BBC News. January 20, 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7838208.stm. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
- ^ "Researchers: Obama has German roots". USA Today. June 4, 2009. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-06-04-obama-roots_N.htm. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
- ^ "Honorary citizenship papers sent to Obama". Swissinfo.ch. July 14, 2010. http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Honorary_citizenship_papers_sent_to_Obama.html?cid=17963746. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
- ^ a b Jones, Tim (March 27, 2007). "Barack Obama: Mother not just a girl from Kansas; Stanley Ann Dunham shaped a future senator". Chicago Tribune: p. 1 (Tempo). Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-0703270151mar27-archive,0,5853572,full.story. Retrieved May 18, 2012.
- ^ a b Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 9–10.
- ^ a b Ripley, Amanda (April 9, 2008). "The story of Barack Obama's mother". Time. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1729524,00.html. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
- ^ Ochieng, Philip (November 1, 2004). "From home squared to the US Senate: how Barack Obama was lost and found". The EastAfrican. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927223905/http://www.nationmedia.com/EastAfrican/01112004/Features/PA2-11.html. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
- Merida, Kevin (December 14, 2007). "The ghost of a father". The Washington Post: p. A12. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2007/12/13/ST2007121301893.html. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
- ^ Karana, Kinanti Pinta (December 9, 2009). "Statue of a young Obama to watch over Indonesian capital". Jakarta Globe. http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/statue-of-us-president-barack-obama-to-be-unveiled-in-jakarta-park/346178. Retrieved December 8, 2009.
- Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 44–45.
- ^ Pickler, Nedra (January 24, 2007). "Obama debunks claim about Islamic school". The Washington Post. Associated Press. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012400371_pf.html. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
- "Statue of boy Obama erected in Jakarta". Xinhua News Agency. December 10, 2009. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/10/content_12624443.htm. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
- ^ Serafin, Peter (March 21, 2004). "Punahou grad stirs up Illinois politics". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. http://archives.starbulletin.com/2004/03/21/news/story4.html. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
- Scott, Janny (March 14, 2008). "A free-spirited wanderer who set Obama's path". The New York Times: p. A1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/us/politics/14obama.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
- Obama (1995, 2004), Chapters 3 and 4.
- ^ Suryakusuma, Julia (November 29, 2006). "Obama for President... of Indonesia". The Jakarta Post. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2006/11/29/obama-president-indonesia.html. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
- ^ Serrano, Richard A. (March 11, 2007). "Obama's peers didn't see his angst". Los Angeles Times: p. A20. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obamahawaii11-2007mar11,0,199085,full.story. Retrieved March 13, 2007.
- Obama (1995, 2004), Chapters 4 and 5.
- ^ Reyes, B.J. (February 8, 2007). "Punahou left lasting impression on Obama". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. http://archives.starbulletin.com/2007/02/08/news/story02.html. Retrieved February 10, 2007. "As a teenager, Obama went to parties and sometimes sought out gatherings on military bases or at the University of Hawaii that were mostly attended by blacks."
- ^ Elliott, Philip (November 21, 2007). "Obama gets blunt with N.H. students". The Boston Globe. Associated Press: p. 8A. http://articles.boston.com/2007-11-21/news/29233371_1_barack-obama-education-plan-campaign-trail. Retrieved May 18, 2012.
- Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 93–94.
- for analysis of the political impact of the quote and Obama's more recent admission that he smoked marijuana as a teenager ("When I was a kid, I inhaled"), see:
- Seelye, Katharine Q. (October 24, 2006). "Obama offers more variations from the norm". The New York Times: p. A21. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E2DB173FF937A15753C1A9609C8B63. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
- Romano, Lois (January 3, 2007). "Effect of Obama's candor remains to be seen". The Washington Post: p. A1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/02/AR2007010201359.html. Retrieved January 14, 2007.
- ^ Hornick, Ed (August 17, 2008). "Obama, McCain talk issues at pastor's forum". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/16/warren.forum/. Retrieved May 18, 2012.
- ^ a b Gordon, Larry (January 29, 2007). "Occidental recalls 'Barry' Obama". Los Angeles Times: p. B1. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jan/29/local/me-oxy29. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- Possley, Maurice (March 30, 2007). "Activism blossomed in college". Chicago Tribune: p. 20. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703291042mar30-archive,0,1533921.story. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- Kovaleski, Serge F. (February 9, 2008). "Old friends say drugs played bit part in Obama's young life". The New York Times: p. A1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/us/politics/09obama.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- Rohter, Larry (April 10, 2008). "Obama says real-life experience trumps rivals' foreign policy credits". The New York Times: p. A18. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/us/politics/10obama.html. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- Goldman, Adam; Tanner, Robert (May 15, 2008). "Old friends recall Obama's years in LA, NYC". USA Today. Associated Press. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-05-15-3144401415_x.htm. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- Helman, Scott (August 25, 2008). "Small college awakened future senator to service". The Boston Globe: p. 1A. http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/08/25/small_college_awakened_future_senator_to_service/?page=full. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- Jackson, Brooks (June 5, 2009). "More 'birther' nonsense: Obama's 1981 Pakistan trip". FactCheck.org. http://www.factcheck.org/2009/06/more-birther-nonsense-obamas-1981-pakistan-trip. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- Remnick, David (2010). The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 98–112. ISBN 978-1-4000-4360-6.
- Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 92–112.
- Mendell (2007), pp. 55–62.
- ^ Boss-Bicak, Shira (January 2005). "Barack Obama '83". Columbia College Today. ISSN 0572-7820. http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/jan05/cover.php. Retrieved October 1, 2006.
- ^ Obama, Barack (1998). "Curriculum vitae". The University of Chicago Law School. Archived from the original on May 9, 2001. http://web.archive.org/web/20010509024017/http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/obama/cv.html. Retrieved October 1, 2006.
- Issenberg, Sasha (August 6, 2008). "Obama shows hints of his year in global finance; Tied markets to social aid". The Boston Globe: p. 1A. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/08/06/obama_shows_hints_of_his_year_in_global_finance/?page=1. Retrieved August 6, 2008.
- ^ Scott, Janny (July 30, 2007). "Obama's account of New York often differs from what others say". The New York Times: p. B1. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/politics/30obama.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved July 31, 2007.
- Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 133–140.
- Mendell (2007), pp. 62–63.
- ^ a b c d Chassie, Karen, ed. (2007). Who's Who in America, 2008. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who. p. 3468. ISBN 978-0-8379-7011-0.
- ^ Lizza, Ryan (March 19, 2007). "The agitator: Barack Obama's unlikely political education". The New Republic 236 (12): 22–26, 28–29. ISSN 0028-6583. http://www.tnr.com/article/the-agitator-barack-obamas-unlikely-political-education. Retrieved August 21, 2007.
- Secter, Bob; McCormick, John (March 30, 2007). "Portrait of a pragmatist". Chicago Tribune: p. 1. Archived from the original on December 14, 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20091214172131/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703300121mar30-archive,0,2491692,full.story. Retrieved May 18, 2012.
- Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 140–295.
- Mendell (2007), pp. 63–83.
- ^ a b c Matchan, Linda (February 15, 1990). "A Law Review breakthrough". The Boston Globe: p. 29. http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/1990/02/15/a_law_review_breakthrough. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- Corr, John (February 27, 1990). "From mean streets to hallowed halls" (paid archive). The Philadelphia Inquirer: p. C01. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_multi=PI%7CDN%7C&p_product=PHNP&p_theme=phnp&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_trackval=PHNP&s_dispstring=Author%28John%20Corr%29%20AND%20date%2802/27/1990%20to%2002/27/1990%29%20AND%20date%28all%29&p_field_advanced-0=Author&p_text_advanced-0=%28John%20Corr%29&p_bool_advanced-1=AND&p_params_advanced-1=date:B,E&p_field_advanced-1=YMD_date&p_text_advanced-1=%2802/27/1990%20to%2002/27/1990%29&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
- ^ Obama, Barack (August–September 1988). "Why organize? Problems and promise in the inner city". Illinois Issues 14 (8–9): 40–42. ISSN 0738-9663. reprinted in:
Knoepfle, Peg, ed. (1990). After Alinsky: community organizing in Illinois. Springfield, IL: Sangamon State University. pp. 35–40. ISBN 0-9620873-3-5. "He has also been a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, an organizing institute working throughout the Midwest." - ^ Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 299–437.
- ^ Gnecchi, Nico (February 27, 2006). "Obama receives hero's welcome at his family's ancestral village in Kenya". Voice of America. Archived from the original on March 21, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080321161040/http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2006-08/2006-08-27-voa17.cfm. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
- ^ a b Levenson, Michael; Saltzman, Jonathan (January 28, 2007). "At Harvard Law, a unifying voice". The Boston Globe: p. 1A. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/28/at_harvard_law_a_unifying_voice/?page=full. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- Kantor, Jodi (January 28, 2007). "In law school, Obama found political voice". The New York Times: p. A1. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/us/politics/28obama.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- Mundy, Liza (August 12, 2007). "A series of fortunate events". The Washington Post: p. W10. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/08/AR2007080802038_pf.html. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- Mendell (2007), pp. 80–92.
- ^ a b Butterfield, Fox (February 6, 1990). "First black elected to head Harvard's Law Review". The New York Times: p. A20. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/06/us/first-black-elected-to-head-harvard-s-law-review.html. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- Ybarra, Michael J (February 7, 1990). "Activist in Chicago now heads Harvard Law Review". Chicago Tribune: p. 3. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-02-07/news/9001110408_1_ann-dunham-chicago-housing-authority-barack-obama. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
- Drummond, Tammerlin (March 12, 1990). "Barack Obama's law; Harvard Law Review's first black president plans a life of public service" (paid archive). Los Angeles Times: p. E1. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/60017156.html?dids=60017156:60017156&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- Evans, Gaynelle (March 15, 1990). "Opening another door: The saga of Harvard's Barack H. Obama". Black Issues in Higher Education 7 (1): 5. ISSN 0742-0277. http://diverseeducation.com/article/11791/. Retrieved May 18, 2012.
- Pugh, Allison J. (April 18, 1990). "Law Review's first black president aims to help poor". The Miami Herald. Associated Press: p. C01. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_multi=MH%7C&p_product=MH&p_theme=realcities2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_site=miami&s_trackval=MH&s_search_type=keyword&s_dispstring=Law%20Review%27s%20first%20black%20president%20aims%20to%20help%20poor%20AND%20date%28all%29&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=%28Law%20Review%27s%20first%20black%20president%20aims%20to%20help%20poor%29&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- ^ Aguilar, Louis (July 11, 1990). "Survey: Law firms slow to add minority partners". Chicago Tribune: p. 1 (Business). http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/28774085.html?dids=28774085:28774085&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- ^ Adams, Richard (May 9, 2007). "Barack Obama". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/may/09/barackobama.uselections20081. Retrieved October 26, 2008.
- ^ a b c Scott, Janny (May 18, 2008). "The story of Obama, written by Obama". The New York Times: p. A1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/us/politics/18memoirs.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved June 15, 2008.
- Obama (1995, 2004), pp. xiii–xvii.
- ^ Merriner, James L. (June 2008). "The friends of O". Chicago 57 (6): 74–79, 97–99. ISSN 0362-4595. http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/June-2008/Obamas-Chicago-Posse/The-Friends-of-O/index.php?cp=2&si=1. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
- Zengerle, Jason (July 30, 2008). "Con law; What the University of Chicago right thinks of Obama". The New Republic 239 (1): 7–8. ISSN 0028-6583. http://www.tnr.com/article/con-law?id=86dd0277-c6ee-4e3c-83e9-0bb468c5c40d&p=1. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
- Kantor, Jodi (July 30, 2008). "Teaching law, testing ideas, Obama stood slightly apart". The New York Times: p. A1. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/politics/30law.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
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- ^ "Barack Obama: White Sox 'serious' ball". The Swamp. August 25, 2008. http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/08/barack_obama_white_sox_serious.html. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
- ^ "Barack Obama Explains White Sox Jacket, Talks Nats in All-Star Booth Visit". MLB Fanhouse. July 14, 2009. http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/07/14/barack-obama-explains-white-sox-jacket-talks-nats-in-all-star-b/. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
- ^ Branigin, William (January 30, 2009). "Steelers Win Obama's Approval". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/29/AR2009012903196.html. "But other than the Bears, the Steelers are probably the team that's closest to my heart."
- ^ "1985 Bears honored by President Obama". Chicagobears.com. 2011-10-07. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=8232. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
- ^ Obama (2006), pp. 327–332. See also:Brown, Sarah (December 7, 2005). "Obama '85 masters balancing act". The Daily Princetonian. http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2005/12/07/14049. Retrieved February 9, 2009.
- ^ Obama (2006), p. 329.
- ^ Fornek, Scott (October 3, 2007). "Michelle Obama: 'He Swept Me Off My Feet'". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on January 18, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5msGZDbMO. Retrieved April 28, 2008.
- ^ Martin, Jonathan (July 4, 2008). "Born on the 4th of July". Politico. http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/Born_on_the_4th_of_July.html. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
- ^ Obama (1995, 2004), p. 440, and Obama (2006), pp. 339–340. See also:"Election 2008 Information Center: Barack Obama". Gannett News Service. http://www.gannettnewsservice.com/?cat=153. Retrieved April 28, 2008.
- ^ "Obamas choose private Sidwell Friends School", International Herald Tribune, November 22, 2008
- ^ Cooper, Helene (April 13, 2009). "One Obama Search Ends With a Puppy Named Bo". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/us/politics/13obama.html. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
- ^ Zeleny, Jeff (December 24, 2005). "The first time around: Sen. Obama's freshman year". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-051224obama,0,1779783,full.story. Retrieved April 28, 2008.
- ^ Slevin, Peter (December 17, 2006). "Obama says he regrets land deal with fundraiser". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/16/AR2006121600729.html. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
- Robinson, Mike (June 4, 2008). "Rezko found guilty in corruption case". Associated Press. MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24973282/. Retrieved June 24, 2008.
- ^ Harris, Marlys (December 7, 2007). "Obama's Money". CNNMoney.com. http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/moneymag/0712/gallery.candidates.moneymag/5.html. Retrieved April 28, 2008.
See also:Goldfarb, Zachary A (March 24, 2007). "Measuring Wealth of the '08 Candidates". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400305.html. Retrieved April 28, 2008. - ^ Zeleny, Jeff (April 17, 2008). "Book Sales Lifted Obamas' Income in 2007 to a Total of $4.2 Million". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/us/politics/17obama.html. Retrieved April 28, 2008.
- ^ Shear, Michael D.; Hilzenrath, David S. (April 16, 2010). "Obamas report $5.5 million in income on 2009 tax return". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041504485.html. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
- ^ Solman, Paul (April 18, 2011). "How Much Did President Obama Make in 2010?". PBS NewsHour. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2011/04/how-much-did-president-obama-m.html. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
- ^ Solman, Paul (April 27, 2011). "The Obamas Gave $131,000 to Fisher House Foundation in 2010; What Is It?". PBS NewsHour. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/04/the-obamas-gave-131000-to-the-fisher-house-foundation-last-year-what-is-it.html. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
- ^ Jackson, David (May 15, 2012). "Obama worth as much as $10 million". USA Today. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
- ^ Elsner, Alan (December 7, 2008). Obama says he won't be smoking in White House". Reuters. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
- ^ Zengerle, Patricia (February 8, 2011). "Yes, he did: first lady says Obama quit smoking". Reuters. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
- ^ Obama (2006), pp. 202–208. Portions excerpted in:Obama, Barack (October 16, 2006). "My Spiritual Journey". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1546579,00.html. Retrieved April 28, 2008.
- Obama, Barack (June 28, 2006). "'Call to Renewal' Keynote Address". Barack Obama: U.S. Senator for Illinois. Archived from the original on January 4, 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20090104231501/http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060628-call_to_renewal/. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
- ^ Christianity Today: "Q&A: Barack Obama" Interview by Sarah Pulliam and Ted Olsen, January 23, 2008
- ^ Obama 'Christian By Choice': President Responds To Questioner by Charles Babington and Darlene Superville, Associated Press, September 28, 2010
- ^ Video – President Obama: "I am a Christian By Choice" by ABC News, September 29, 2010.
- ^ Kantor, Jodi (April 30, 2007). "Barack Obama's search for faith". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/world/americas/30iht-30obama.5501905.html. Retrieved April 30, 2007.
- ^ "Obama's church choice likely to be scrutinized". Associated Press. MSNBC. November 17, 2008. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
- ^ Sullivan, Amy (June 29, 2009.) "The Obamas Find a Church Home—Away from Home". Time. Retrieved December 14, 2009.
References[link]
- Mendell, David (2007). Obama: From Promise to Power. New York: Amistad/HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-085820-6.
- Obama, Barack (1995, 2004). Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 1-4000-8277-3.
- Obama, Barack (2006). The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. New York: Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 0-307-23769-9.
Further reading[link]
- Graff, Garrett. "The Legend of Barack Obama", Washingtonian, November 1, 2006. Retrieved January 14, 2008.
- Koltun, Dave (2005) "The 2004 Illinois Senate Race: Obama Wins Open Seat and Becomes National Political "Star"" in "The Road to Congress 2004" Editors: Sunil Ahuja (Youngstown State University) and Robert Dewhirst (Truman State University), Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, New York, 2005, ISBN 1-59454-360-7
- Lizza, Ryan. "Above the Fray", GQ, September 2007. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
- MacFarquhar, Larissa. "The Conciliator: Where is Barack Obama Coming From?", New Yorker, May 7, 2007. Retrieved January 14, 2008.
- McClelland, Edward, Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President, Bloomsbury Press, 2010.
- Zutter, Hank De. "What Makes Obama Run?", Chicago Reader, December 8, 1995. Retrieved January 14, 2008.
External links[link]
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Obama, Barack |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American politician, 44th President of the United States |
| Date of birth | August 4, 1961 |
| Place of birth | Honolulu, Hawaii, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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