2012: Madam President Michele Bachmann

I'm curious about what a Michele Bachmann presidency would look like, because I looked for other threads on alternatehistory.com and couldn't find any. How could she beat Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich in the Primaries and how could she overcome the Obama-Biden juggernaut in the General Election? On the List of Worst Possible Presidents Thread in the Chat Forum, she's often mentioned along with her predecessor Sarah Palin. But, if she were to become president, she'd not only be the first female president but also, the first Tea Party president. I suspect she would only last one term. I was thinking that she'd have to run with a minority VP candidate, such as Herman Cain (fellow Tea Party member) or Marco Rubio? Given her pro-Israeli frenzy, is it safe to say she'd militarily intervene in Iraq and Syria in 2013 and go to the brink of war against Iran over its nuclear program?
 
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I'm curious about what a Michele Bachmann presidency would look like, because I looked for other threads on alternatehistory.com and couldn't find any. How could she beat Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich in the Primaries and how could she overcome the Obama-Biden juggernaut in the General Election? On the List of Worst Possible Presidents Thread in the Chat Forum, she's often mentioned along with her predecessor Sarah Palin. But, if she were to become president, she'd not only be the first female president but also, the first Tea Party president. I'm guessing she would only last one term. I was thinking that she'd have to run with a minority VP candidate, such as Herman Cain (fellow Tea Party member) or Marco Rubio?

(Thinks about a President Bachmann. Goes pale. Runs screaming into the night.)
 
Bachmann was an intellectual lightweight with a husband that looks like he has skeletons in the closet. If she wins the nomination (not impossible, people hated Romney) and Obama Fs up, she likely is a re-run of Bush. She is a neo-con in foreign policy, and in the end, these Presidents find themselves way over their heads and get pretty much controlled by their advisers and Party hierarchy.
 
Well for a start liberal America will commit mass suicide...

Much to the delight of Republicans, I'm sure, but yeah, a Bachmann Presidency would an absolute fiasco from beginning to end. I don't think people would vote her out fast enough in the next election.
 
I was thinking that she'd have to run with a minority VP candidate, such as Herman Cain (fellow Tea Party member) or Marco Rubio? Given her pro-Israeli frenzy, is it safe to say she'd militarily intervene in Iraq and Syria in 2013 and go to the brink of war against Iran over its nuclear program?
Marco Rubio would only help Bachmann in Florida. She needs a popular Southerner with a preferably moderate and centrist stance. Although Herman Cain was a fellow Tea Partier, a Southerner, and African-American, his tendency to say stupid things and his sexual harassment scandals would only weigh the Ticket down.

As for Israel, I think with the Republicans winning the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014, an American re-entry into Iraq and American intervention in Syria are plausible. With the American re-entry into Iraq, that should be enough to check Iran's nuclear ambitions. Although, the United States might go to the brink of war against North Korea when Kim Jong-Un performed nuclear tests in 2013.
 
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I'm curious about what a Michele Bachmann presidency would look like, because I looked for other threads on alternatehistory.com and couldn't find any. How could she beat Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich in the Primaries and how could she overcome the Obama-Biden juggernaut in the General Election? On the List of Worst Possible Presidents Thread in the Chat Forum, she's often mentioned along with her predecessor Sarah Palin. But, if she were to become president, she'd not only be the first female president but also, the first Tea Party president. I suspect she would only last one term. I was thinking that she'd have to run with a minority VP candidate, such as Herman Cain (fellow Tea Party member) or Marco Rubio? Given her pro-Israeli frenzy, is it safe to say she'd militarily intervene in Iraq and Syria in 2013 and go to the brink of war against Iran over its nuclear program?

god a t/l which makes a trump or Cruz presidency look desirable by comparison. and no one thought it could be done.
 

Driftless

Donor
She had definite skill at "preaching to the choir", but struggled persuading anyone not already on her side to alter a viewpoint. For diplomatic work, I think she would be well out of her depth.
 
Marco Rubio would only help Bachmann in Florida. She needs a popular Southerner with a preferably moderate and centrist stance. Although Herman Cain was a fellow Tea Partier, a Southerner, and African-American, his tendency to say stupid things and his sexual harassment scandals would only weigh the Ticket down.

As for Israel, I think with the Republicans winning the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014, an American re-entry into Iraq and American intervention in Syria are plausible. With the American re-entry into Iraq, that should be enough to check Iran's nuclear ambitions. Although, the United States might go to the brink of war against North Korea when Kim Jong-Un performed nuclear tests in 2013.

I am 99% sure that the GOP winning the senate and getting more in the house will be quite butterflied. I imagine with the shitty economy and 2+ wars the Dems would win big.
 
She had definite skill at "preaching to the choir", but struggled persuading anyone not already on her side to alter a viewpoint.
Which is the problem with Bachmann's candidacy in general, let alone a Bachmann Presidency. Even with the Obama campaign in jeopardy, American conservatism has far more polished, marketable acts to put on the table.
 
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god a t/l which makes a trump or Cruz presidency look desirable by comparison. and no one thought it could be done.
I don't think a Cruz presidency would really be any different, considering that both are Tea Party members. However, I think she would be better than both Cruz and Trump because she has more experience than both of them combined.
 
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I don't think a Cruz presidency would really be any different, considering that both are Tea Party members. However, I think she would be better than both Cruz and Trump because she has more experience than both of them combined.

Trump would be better than those becuase he isn't a religious whacko. Just a regular whacko.
 
In order for Bachmann to even have a chance at receiving the nomination she would have had to undergone a regimen of intensive education on policy and speech-craft on how to better frame her views and minimize gaffes. She had her moment to become the ABR candidate and floundered in large part because of this. That said, she would also need to consolidate this support early enough so that she may effectively organize to compete in the primaries against Romney, something Santorum was never able to achieve on account of his eleventh hour casting into the spotlight.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
(Thinks about a President Bachmann. Goes pale. Runs screaming into the night.)
Yeah, that's about my response too.
Might be time to move to Oz and learn how to construct cars from nothing but steel and leather.



More seriously, the Executive does not have a great deal of power in the US system. Unless it's a wave election, then it'll be excruciating but tolerable.
 
Yeah, that's about my response too.
Might be time to move to Oz and learn how to construct cars from nothing but steel and leather.



More seriously, the Executive does not have a great deal of power in the US system. Unless it's a wave election, then it'll be excruciating but tolerable.

Executive orders and control of federal agencies. Nominees to the supreme court. And this is combined with a republican congress, who would suddenly not be getting their shit vetoed.

Thats not even mentioning what would happen to foreign policy
 
I found the
answer to your question on the winning running mate. It comes in the form of a musical, so its entertaining too :p.

But on a more serious note, her and
Rick Santorum once considered each other as potential running mates. Former Ambassador Jon Huntsman, Jr. and Donald Trump expressed that they were interested in the position and according to Obama's campaign, Huntsman would have been a difficult candidate to face. I personally think Huntsman pairs better as a running mate to John Kasich than Michele Bachmann because, a Kasich-Huntsman ticket would force the Democrats to make a play for the center. Despite having a good running mate [Huntsman], Bachmann comes across as this repulsive, far-right, over-religious zealot and she would narrowly tilt the scales in Obama's favor by saying something stupid.


Bachmann-Palin Ticket, eh? LOL! At least the vice presidential debate would be a re-run of 2008. I don't see Rick Santorum being very helpful because Bachmann seems to not need help tying down the votes of the religious right and they are both Tea Party Evangelicals. Could Donald Trump being associated with a failed Bachmann presidency curb his future ambitions to run for president?
 
IIRC Huntsman was interested in being on a Bachmann led ticket.

That would at least give her some credibility.
 
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