The Bush-Lieberman Administration

[Deleted member 109224]

What if the 2000 election had gone to the House of Representatives and the outcome was the House declaring Bush President but the Senate picks Lieberman as VP?

 

[Colonel Zoidberg]

Cheney ends up in the Cabinet, 9/11 and Iraq go ahead as normal, Bush picks a new running mate in 2004 who probably isn’t Cheney and wins. No idea who.

 

[darklordoftech]

- Do Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz still get nominated?

- I wonder what the reaction to Janet Jackson is.

 

[Theoretical_TJ]

You don't see the strong Vice Presidency anomaly that was the Bush Administration, compared to historical norms. Biden and Pence have countered that trend pretty strongly.

 

[Deleted member 109224]

Cheney ends up in the Cabinet, 9/11 and Iraq go ahead as normal, Bush picks a new running mate in 2004 who probably isn’t Cheney and wins. No idea who.

DHS Secretary Tom Ridge?

- Do Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz still get nominated?

Odds are Cheney gets Defense Secretary. It was kind of odd that Rumsfeld got Defense Secretary OTL, so maybe he doesn't get anything TTL. Otherwise, Cheney gets State, Powell gets zip or some other appointment (UN Ambassador?)

You don't see the strong Vice Presidency anomaly that was the Bush Administration, compared to historical norms. Biden and Pence have countered that trend pretty strongly.

What are the odds we end up with a disproportionately influential Secretary of Defense Cheney or Secretary of State Cheney?

 

[Theoretical_TJ]

That would not have been an outlier event given the structure of US governmental power. In this case, it's not the person so much as it is the office. Cheney was the most distinctive Vice President in US history, being the 2nd or 3rd most powerful man in the Administration. That was unprecedented, and back when I was studying political science in the mid-'00s, it was a really open question about whether future Vice Presidents would build on Cheney's institutional inroads and overt influence to make it into the second most powerful office in the Executive in the long-term. At least as far as Obama and Trump go, that's not been the case.