I knew I should have included a blaring "SEE, MY TL HAS A SPEAKER WHOSE NAME KIND OF SOUNDS LIKE 'BONER' JUST LIKE OTL" post after the Cheney infobox.
A True October Surprise: The Added Surprises
- Thread starter lord caedus
- Start date
I knew I should have included a blaring "SEE, MY TL HAS A SPEAKER WHOSE NAME KIND OF SOUNDS LIKE 'BONER' JUST LIKE OTL" post after the Cheney infobox.
Barack Obama
Barack Obama is a Democratic politician who was the 63rd Attorney General of New York State. Born in Hawaii, Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia before returning to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. After graduating from Columbia University, he became an activist in New York City and began to make connections within the Democratic Party. Five years later, he enrolled in Harvard Law School, graduating with honors and becoming the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. For the next decade, Obama split time between his law practice and working as an activist in New York City to fight for civil rights protections and fair voting practices (notably including failed attempts to end partisan gerrymandering in the state assembly). Despite his lack of a prosecutorial background and having not held elective office before, Obama was picked by the Democratic Party as its candidate for statewide Attorney General in a bid to unseat two-term incumbent Dennis Vacco. It was Obama's oratorical abilities that helped put him over the top and he became the first (and so far, only) African-American to be elected to the Attorney General's office in New York.
During his two terms, Obama acquitted himself well as the chief legal officer of New York State, although he and Governor Rick Lazio's relationship soured after disagreements over challenges to the state's anti-same-sex marriage laws during their shared tenure. When the Democrats retook the governor's mansion, Obama used his support from new governor Thomas Suozzi to flex his office's powers, irritating federal prosecutors by taking on some cases that traditionally would have been left to the FBI or Department of Consumer Protection.
Despite solid polling showing he would win a third term, Obama opted not to run again in 2010 and returned to activism. His friendship with another upcoming young black Democrat, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, resulted in Obama being named to the Patrick-Sestak Transition Project following Patrick's victory in the 2016 election. Obama was floated as a possible Cabinet nominee, but in the end, was not named. Reports seem to indicate, however, that Obama's name has been floated for other positions in government, although few specifics have thus far been revealed.
During his two terms, Obama acquitted himself well as the chief legal officer of New York State, although he and Governor Rick Lazio's relationship soured after disagreements over challenges to the state's anti-same-sex marriage laws during their shared tenure. When the Democrats retook the governor's mansion, Obama used his support from new governor Thomas Suozzi to flex his office's powers, irritating federal prosecutors by taking on some cases that traditionally would have been left to the FBI or Department of Consumer Protection.
Despite solid polling showing he would win a third term, Obama opted not to run again in 2010 and returned to activism. His friendship with another upcoming young black Democrat, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, resulted in Obama being named to the Patrick-Sestak Transition Project following Patrick's victory in the 2016 election. Obama was floated as a possible Cabinet nominee, but in the end, was not named. Reports seem to indicate, however, that Obama's name has been floated for other positions in government, although few specifics have thus far been revealed.
I guess I should have put "first black [position has been censored for television broadcasting standards]" instead of that?
Since (spoiler alert!) Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter aren't going to factor into the remaining infoboxes, here's what happened to them ITTL, to finish out the OTL presidents:
Ford- Retired from the House in 1976 (his OTL plan before Agnew's bribery scandal) to return to his law practice before a comfortable retirement in the mid-1980s.
Carter- Won the 1970 Georgia gubernatorial election like OTL. Was one of the long-shots who ended their presidential campaigns in 1975 when Muskie became president upon Humphrey's death. Failed to take Herman Talmadge out in the 1980 Senate primary (since Talmadge got into hot water as per OTL) and retired from politics afterwards.
Ford- Retired from the House in 1976 (his OTL plan before Agnew's bribery scandal) to return to his law practice before a comfortable retirement in the mid-1980s.
Carter- Won the 1970 Georgia gubernatorial election like OTL. Was one of the long-shots who ended their presidential campaigns in 1975 when Muskie became president upon Humphrey's death. Failed to take Herman Talmadge out in the 1980 Senate primary (since Talmadge got into hot water as per OTL) and retired from politics afterwards.
I've got a couple of infoboxes left, and I'm debating which one to put up first.
Should I post an election box next or one of the non-election boxes? The winner will get posted sometime after I get back from work tonight.
Should I post an election box next or one of the non-election boxes? The winner will get posted sometime after I get back from work tonight.
Secretaries-General of the United Nations
There have been eight Secretaries-General of the United Nations since the foundation of the international organization in 1945, as well as one (Gladwyn Jebb) Acting Secretary-General. The de facto spokesman and leader of the United Nations is appointed by the General Assembly for a five-year term upon the recommendation of the Security Council, and no person recommended has ever been rejected. As a convention, no candidates from either of the five permanent Security Council nations (the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France and People's Republic of China) are considered and since the 1980s, informal traditions of a two-term limit and rotation between the different United Nations regional groups has been the order of the day.
All Secretaries-General have been chosen after backroom negotiations between the Security Council members, and even elected Secretaries-General have faced opposition to another term, although only one, Kurt Waldheim, has ever had his candidacy for another term ultimately rejected as a result. The election of dark horse and compromise candidates like Waldheim's successor, Simón Alberto Consalvi and current Secretary-General, Libran Cabactulan, have come about as a result of the permanent five members being unable to get their desired candidates to be accepted by the other four members.
Secretary-General Cabactulan, who recently was elected to a second term which is slated to end at the end of 2021, has so far been quiet on efforts made to reform the UN and make both its administration and the election of the Secretary-General more transparent.
All Secretaries-General have been chosen after backroom negotiations between the Security Council members, and even elected Secretaries-General have faced opposition to another term, although only one, Kurt Waldheim, has ever had his candidacy for another term ultimately rejected as a result. The election of dark horse and compromise candidates like Waldheim's successor, Simón Alberto Consalvi and current Secretary-General, Libran Cabactulan, have come about as a result of the permanent five members being unable to get their desired candidates to be accepted by the other four members.
Secretary-General Cabactulan, who recently was elected to a second term which is slated to end at the end of 2021, has so far been quiet on efforts made to reform the UN and make both its administration and the election of the Secretary-General more transparent.
Pretty much the same as OTL- elected President of Austria (as per OTL) and what he actually did during World War II is discovered by journalists who grew suspicious of how skimpy the war years were in his autobiography.
Islamic State of Somalia
The Islamic State of Somalia is a country in the Horn of Africa and one of the two theocracies that currently exist in the world, alongside Vatican City. Formed out of the former British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland, Somalia gained independence in 1960 as decolonization swept across Africa and the British Empire. Initially seeming stable, a military coup in 1969 ousted the democratically-elected president and installed Mohammad Siad Barre as president. Barre would leverage Somalia’s position in the calculations of Cold War planners in both Moscow and Washington as well as the precarious clan politics of his country for twenty-three years. Siding first with the Soviet Union, Barre's failure to incorporate Ethiopia's Ogaden region into his country in the 1970s resulted in Somalia shifting allegiance to the United States. However, the tapering off of the Cold War in the early 1990s led to Washington withdrawing vital financial support for Barre's regime and the dictator fell in 1992, his country collapsing into anarchy shortly after. United Nations forces, lacking both troops and logistical support from any of the five Security Council forces (each declining to intervene for varied reasons), failed to restore order and forces withdrew in January 1994 as Somalia became one of the most dangerous places in the world—and one of the few countries with no effective central government.
With international attention focused on the Congo and West Africa, Somalia spent more than five years as effective no-man's-land and leading to a massive diaspora of Somali people that continues to a lesser extent today. That changed with the arrival of the Islamic Union of Somalia (al-Itihaad al-Islamiya as-Sumal or IIS), a hard-line Islamic fundamentalist militia that grew out of local Sharia law courts that had sprung up in the vacuum to administer justice. IIS slowly gained a toehold in the southern part of the country and in 2000, launched a lightning offensive that resulted in the collapse of independent regimes in the regions of Puntland and Somaliland, the latter having declared itself independent following Barre’s ouster.
The imposition of a religious theocracy based on extremist interpretations of Sunni Islam, mixed with the traditional xeer legal system of Somalia, has led to a unique, if highly anti-democratic, regime. It is regularly regarded as one of the "least free" nations in the world in terms of personal freedoms, and the willingness of the government in Mogadishu to harbor suspected terrorists with ties to fundamentalist Islamic groups has led to it being isolated internationally, with several countries refusing to recognize it as the legitimate government of Somalia.
With international attention focused on the Congo and West Africa, Somalia spent more than five years as effective no-man's-land and leading to a massive diaspora of Somali people that continues to a lesser extent today. That changed with the arrival of the Islamic Union of Somalia (al-Itihaad al-Islamiya as-Sumal or IIS), a hard-line Islamic fundamentalist militia that grew out of local Sharia law courts that had sprung up in the vacuum to administer justice. IIS slowly gained a toehold in the southern part of the country and in 2000, launched a lightning offensive that resulted in the collapse of independent regimes in the regions of Puntland and Somaliland, the latter having declared itself independent following Barre’s ouster.
The imposition of a religious theocracy based on extremist interpretations of Sunni Islam, mixed with the traditional xeer legal system of Somalia, has led to a unique, if highly anti-democratic, regime. It is regularly regarded as one of the "least free" nations in the world in terms of personal freedoms, and the willingness of the government in Mogadishu to harbor suspected terrorists with ties to fundamentalist Islamic groups has led to it being isolated internationally, with several countries refusing to recognize it as the legitimate government of Somalia.
