A Realist, Truly "Compasionate Conservative" Dubya

In my personal opinion, for a man like Bush, it really is the advisors that make the presidency. people always make "WI No Iraq War". No Iraq War with the 2003 Bush administration is totally ASB. Now, I wonder, maybe something more realistic, in more ways than one, what would it be like if George W. Bush took a different stance, picking people to be his advisors who were conservative, but taking an "and" approach to conservatism (wiki the and theory of conservatism). In foreign affairs, he looked more realistic, taking a page from his father's foreign policy and Henry Kissinger.

Maybe the "original maverick" will Bush's Veep, that is if there is a way to get rid of Karl Rove and the who "black baby comments' that destroyed the mccain campaign in South Carolina.

Maybe, just maybe, Bush can actually eke out a popular vote victory.
 
You'd have to get rid of Rove somehow, and before the election. Unfortunately, without the man often called "Bush's brain" he'd probably not knock off Al Gore for the White House. The election shenanigans in Florida in 2000 belied belief, so I really don't see how other than OTL you could have Bush even win.

As far as winning with better advisors, you'd have to get rid of a bunch of people - namely Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft (who is a nutter by any stretch) and Abraham. Question at that point becomes - who replaces them?
 

Hendryk

Banned
As far as winning with better advisors, you'd have to get rid of a bunch of people - namely Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft (who is a nutter by any stretch) and Abraham. Question at that point becomes - who replaces them?
As suggested on earlier occasions, I'd be interested to see how James Baker III would have worked out as vice-president.
 
In my personal opinion, for a man like Bush, it really is the advisors that make the presidency. people always make "WI No Iraq War". No Iraq War with the 2003 Bush administration is totally ASB. Now, I wonder, maybe something more realistic, in more ways than one, what would it be like if George W. Bush took a different stance, picking people to be his advisors who were conservative, but taking an "and" approach to conservatism (wiki the and theory of conservatism). In foreign affairs, he looked more realistic, taking a page from his father's foreign policy and Henry Kissinger.

Maybe the "original maverick" will Bush's Veep, that is if there is a way to get rid of Karl Rove and the who "black baby comments' that destroyed the mccain campaign in South Carolina.

Maybe, just maybe, Bush can actually eke out a popular vote victory.

The problem with having a man like Bush in charge is that his choice in advisors will likely be defective regardless of policy. The evidence of this will be less dramatic with more genuinely conservative policies, but I doubt the overall competence of the Bush administration will be much changed.

Nonetheless, this is an interesting what-if. It is true that Bush can't win without reaching out to the Cheney and Ashcroft style conservatives, but that is completely different from letting them run his administration. Vice-President Hagel has nice ring to it, don't you think?
 
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