Russ Feingold (President Feingold)

Russell Dana "Russ" Feingold (born March 2, 1953) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 44th President of The United States from 2009-2017. Feingold previously served as a Wisconsin Senator from 1992-2008 and as a state Senator from 1983 to 1993. He is the first and only Jewish-American to have served as President of the United States.

During his career in public service, Feingold earned a reputation as a staunch Progressive, particularly on the issues of civil liberties and campaign finance reform. He earned national attention for his opposition to many of the Bush Administration's policies, particularly the Iraq War and his sole "nay" vote on the Patriot Act. Rumors of a presidential run circulated by Feingold circulated following Democratic Nominee John Kerry's 2004 General Election defeat; while he initially denied such rumors, on Feburary 11, 2007, Feingold announced his candiancy for President at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his alma mater.

Feingold preceded to place second in both the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary, coming behind Hillary Clinton and ahead of John Edwards. Clinton continued to lead Feingold in the polls throughout much of 2007, but through a combination of his progressive platform, particularly on Healthcare reform, his virulent opposition to the unpopular policies of the Bush administration, and a poor debate performance by Clinton in October 2007, Feingold began to outpace Clinton, especially as he accused her of having condoned policies that had proved harmful to Americans, such as NAFTA, the Patriot Act, and the Iraq War.

By the time of the final primaries on June 23, 2008, Feingold had secured enough pledged delegates to become the presumptive nominee. However, in the week leading up to the Democratic National Convention in early August, Feingold announced he had selected Clinton as his running mate; reactions were divided; some felt it sent a message of party unity and applauded the choice of a female vice-president, while some of Feingold's supporters were disappointed, given how fervently he had attacked many of her policies,

Securing the nomination at the convention, Feingold and Clinton went on to face off against the Republican ticket of McCain-Palin in the General election. Much buzz was made of Feingold and McCain, known as the partners behind the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, now facing off against each other, but the two reported that their friendship remained intact.

Feingold and Clinton went on to win the General Election, beating McCain-Palin 303 to 205; Feingold and Clinton both quickly resigned their Senate seats after the victory, being replaced by Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton and Representative Kirsten Gillibrand of New York's 20th District; both went on to win the special elections to fill their seats.

Inagurated on January 20th 2009, with a House Majority and a filibusterproof Senate Majority of 61-39, Feingold quickly set to work, as many described, "cleaning up his predecessor's mess"; he signed an executive order which closed Guantanmo Bay, passed a resolution to gradually withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan (troops were removed altogether by mid-2011), and authorized a special counsel to investigate possible crimes committed by the Bush Administration. Following up on his LGBT-friendly campaign, he also signed a repeal of the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

In response to the Great Reccesion, Feingold signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law, an ambitious, multi-trillion dollar stimulus package, with much diverted to infrastructure spending so as to create new jobs and revitalize the economy. Later that year, he signed the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a bill containing many provisions, including a reinstatement of the separation between commercial and investment banking introduced in the Glass-Steagall Act but later repealed by Gramm-Leach-Bliley, to prevent a similar recession from occuring in the future. To that end, he also directed the Justice Department to investigate the bankers responsible for the crisis, resulting in several prosecutions. Many Republicans, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, lamented these proposals as "wasteful government spending which won't do jack to help the economy or American taxpayers", but the bills passed nonetheless, with minor Republican support to boot.

Once the problems left by the Bush Administration were dealt with, Feingold became to stake out his own agenda; echoing Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Feingold saying the 2008 recession had exposed the levels of income inequality already present in the country while worsening it even further, and promised he would pursue policies aimed at strengthening the Middle Class and protecting working Americans; many labled his agenda as a "New New Deal".

To this end, Feingold signed several laws intended to boost union membership and collective bargaining within the United States, which had been falling preciptiously for decades; among these included a bill that introduced "Card Check", a renegotiation of NAFTA and other free trade agreements so as to better protect American jobs from outsourcing, and a partial-repeal of the Taft-Hartley Labor Management Relations Act of 1947. Of the last, Feingold "Taft-Hartley was a mistake; President Truman knew that when he vetoed in 1947, and I'm glad that we're finally remedying it."

Feingold also pursued Healthcare reform, a policy he'd campaigned heavily on but which had alluded past administrations. Feingold's initial proposal, the Universal and Improved Medicare Act, co-authored by Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Representative John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) would have drastically overhauled America's healthcare system, automatically enrolling all Americans into a drastically expanded Medicare program. However, the bill failed to garner support among any Republicans and even members of the Democratic Caucus, including Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed skepticism about the feasibility of the bill.

Feingold thus offered an alternative, less ambitious proposal, in the Affordable Healthcare for America Act, co-authored by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY); this bill gave Americans the option to buy into Medicare via a so-called "Public Option", while placing several regulations on private health insurers so as to insure higher quality and more affordable care for those that chose to keep their private plans. Some of these regulations included the ability of children to stay on parents' insurance plans until age 26, and prevented those with pre-existing conditions from being denied coverage solely on that basis. After a contentious passage through Congress, the Bill, passed along party-line votes in the House and Senate, reached Feingold's desk and became law on April 14, 2010.

Not all of Feingold's first term was a success however; the Senate failed to pass environmental protection proposal, even the watered-down "Cap-And-Trade" bill, while the Supreme Court ruling Citizens United V. FEC overturned key provisions in the McCain-Feingold Bill that was his most noted accomplishment as a legislator. Many also accused Feingold of "wasteful" and "authoritarian" deficit spending to match his ambitious agenda. However, Feingold still enjoyed an approval rating in the low 50s, and enough broad popular support that the Democrats retained control of the legislature in the 2010 midterms, albeit by reduced margins.

In the second half of his first-term, Feingold's public image began to suffer, when he reluctantly ordered military action in Libya, resulting in the death of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, which soured his reputation as foreign policy "dove". He also drew criticism for vetoing the Budget Control Act of 2011 and the "Grand Bargain" agreement between Pelosi and Boehner to cut entitlements in exchange for closing many tax loopholes; both of these bills were written and passed in a largely bipartisan manner.

Despite this, Feingold went onto win re-election in 2012 against former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan, a Representative from Feingold's Wisconsin hometown of Janesville, by a margin of 312-226.

During his second term, Feingold renewed his agenda on climate change, while also passing sweeping gun control legislation in response to a mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. His second term also saw the Supreme Court Decision Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized Same-Sex marriage nationwide; Feingold's administration filed amicus briefs in favor of the plantiff, and celebrated the decision.

The 2014 mid-terms saw the Democrats lose control of the Senate, stiffling Feingold's agenda; he nonetheless saw success in foreign policy by bringing the United States into the Paris Climate Accords Agreement, finally seeing through his agenda on combating Climate Change.

Feingold left office on January 20, 2017 with a 65% approval rating; he was succeeded by his Vice-President, Hillary Clinton, who defeated Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) in the primary and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the General.