I'm not sure Gore could have won he democrat primaries, he like Hilary was largely stuck in the past. He's run a conventional campaign much like she did and be broke after Super Tuesday. Him and Clinton would probably come closer to splitting Super Tuesday but ultimately what won Barack Obama the democrat primaries was his unconventional campaign which concentrated on the lower cost markets often ignored by major candidates, so while Clinton got some major big states, Obama overcame it because he got most of the smaller ones.
As such I don't see Gore beating Obama, I'm sorry. The only way he possibly could make it work would be if he could get Obama's school records and make Obama's life even more of an issue than Clinton did, the problem with that is the alienation of the black vote, without which you can't win the General Election as a Democrat. It's why the Clinton's didn't push it more than they did for fear of alienating the black voters to much.
If he had won. First off I think you would have avoided the lack of a budget for the last few years. The debt would have increased but probably not at the pace Obama has increased it.
He would not have had the expansive czars Obama has, and he would not have reversed the welfare reforms of the Clinton administration. He probably would have been more willing to embrace the findings of a Debt Commission and some ore most of their ideas probably would have passed under a Gore administration.
He would not have pursued Obamacare with the zealotry that the Obama administration did. Indeed you probably would never have a health care bill arise during a Gore administration, it had been a disaster in the Clinton administration and he wouldn't want to repeat that. This doesn't mean some sort of reform wouldn't pass but to be fair its probably closer to the Republican proposals than the one Obama got passed.
He still would not have closed Guatonomo, he would not have pulled the troops out of Iraq or Afghanistan in his first years. You probably would have seen cancellation of many of the same military programs Obama did but also more programs.
He would probably bring up the need for a line item veto again in order to balance the budget urging Congress to perhaps amend the constitution to give it. To this end he would call upon the Tea Party and the need for there to be more balance between the executive and legislature. He'd probably model the amendment after Randy Barnett's Bill of Federalism (though Gore would never support all of the amendments Barnett proposed).
Amendment XXVIII – Balanced Budget Line Item Veto
Section 1. The budget of the United States shall be deemed unbalanced whenever the total amount of the public debt of the United States at the close of any fiscal year is greater than the total amount of such debt at the close of the preceding fiscal year.
Section 2. Whenever the budget of the United States is unbalanced, the President may, during the next annual session of Congress, separately approve, reduce or disapprove any monetary amounts in any legislation that appropriates or authorizes the appropriation of any money drawn from the Treasury, other than money for the operation of the Congress and judiciary of the United States.
Section 3. Any legislation that the President approves with changes pursuant to the second section of this Article shall become law as modified. The President shall return with objections those portions of the legislation containing reduced or disapproved monetary amounts to the House where such legislation originated, which may then, in the manner prescribed in the seventh section of the first Article of this Constitution, separately reconsider each reduced or disapproved monetary amount.
Section 4. The Congress shall have power to implement this Article by appropriate legislation; and this Article shall take effect on the first day of the next annual session of Congress following its ratification.
Oddly enough the only other part of the Bill of Federalism Gore would probably support is term limits for Congress, he could call upon it as a means to battle a do nothing congress if they fail to pass a budget. That part of Randy Barnett's reads:
Amendment XXIX – Term Limits for Congress
No person who has served as a Senator for more than nine years, or as a Representative for more than eleven years, shall be eligible for election or appointment to the Senate or the House of Representatives respectively, excluding any time served prior to the enactment of this Article.
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I believe Gore in a similar political climate could get those two amendments passed in Congress. I then believe that the Tea Party would have been instrumental in getting them passed in enough states to have them ratified before 2012.
A stimulus bill for Gore wouldn't have been a pure payback to political contributors like Obama did. It would have contained less support for the arts and humanities and more support for infrastructure improvements. Sadly it would have contained much of the Green agenda that we've seen fail so miserably the last few years.
The banking rules that have so largely crippled the finance industry probably would not have passed under Gore. This would have allowed more credit for small businesses and allowed some more job creation. Most likely under a Gore administration there would have been more effort to make sure the bill only applied to the megabanks and not regional/community banks.This however means that unemployment improves in his administration unlike Obama's.
Ultimately if he got passed the Primaries and won the general election in 2008, though the country would still be having a hard time he'd be in better shape to be reelected than Obama is in 2012.
