Bush on the Home Front

Military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq consumed so much attention during his presidency that few people appreciated that George W. Bush was also an activist on the home front. Despite limited public support, and while confronting a deeply divided Congress, Bush engineered and implemented reforms of public policy on a wide range of issues: taxes, education, health care, energy, environment, and regulatory reform. In Bush on the Home Front, former Bush White House official and academic John D. Graham analyzes Bush's successes in these areas and setbacks in other areas such as Social Security and immigration reform. Graham provides valuable insights into how future presidents can shape U.S. domestic policy while facing continuing partisan polarization.

[A] worthwhile project written in an accessible style ... readers ... will come away from this work with a better knowledge of the realities of policymaking in twenty-first-century Washington.Spring, 2011

John D. Graham is Dean of the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs. From 2001 to 2006 he served as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, White House Office of Management and Budget.