AHC: an Arab becomes President of U.S.A.

Have Ralph Nader run for Senator as a reformist Democrat against Thomas Dodd in 1970. This puts him in position to lead the investigation of Watergate, and he can use the resulting publicity to run for President in 1976, possibly with Carter as his running mate.
 
Congressmen Darrell Issa, who is getting so well known for trying to take down the AG is Arab

That's who I thought of (he's Congressman for my district--I became a Democrat because I couldn't be a Republican with him as my Congressman..)

If he'd managed to buy the Governorship of California (rather than lose it to Schwarzenegger), he'd be a plausible candidate. He's got Romney-bucks.
 
I don't see what the issue is. I live in the capital of the reddist state in the US and there have been are or are Shadids, Harrozes, Massads, and Naifehs in responsible positions. Nader ran for President, and I don't think his ethnicity was ever brought by his opponents - although his ridiculous politics was! Frankly, if we are talking about someone who of Christian Lebanese or similar descent, I doubt if ethnicity would even be talked about.
 
Have Ralph Nader run against Dodd in '92 or Lieberman in '94 for the Democratic primary for CT's Senate seat. That or, perhaps more plausible considering the three-way gubernatorial election divisions then, 1990/94 for governor of CT. Then he can run in 2000 or perhaps 2004 on that. Maybe. It'd still be really hard.
 
Anyone want to try to go for the silver or gold medals?

I don't think that would be so difficult, actually. Just imagine that Mohammed bin Laden crosses a prince in a business deal in Saudi, and has to flee overseas in 1957. He uses his construction wealth to send his sons (including his youngest, Osama, born just after landing on American soil) to exclusive private boarding schools. Young Osama falls into a Bret Easton Ellis style drugged-out privileged playboy lifestyle during his years at college, but hits bottom soon afterwards. With his life seemingly in ruins, he finds God, converts to Christianity and changes his name.

A passionate young evangelical Christian from a wealthy background, with well-connected parents - what better start for the up-and-coming young Republican politician, George Laden?
 
There are plenty of individuals of Arab ethnicity who could translate their success in one field into political success.

From entertainment, Paul Anka or Casey Kassem could pull a Sonny Bono/Ronald Reagan, for starters.

Both Bono and Reagan did it by holding intermediate offices. Anka or Kassem would have to do the same.

Bono was a business owner, then Mayor of Palm Springs, CA, US Senate candidate, and then a congressman.

Reagan was President of the Screen Actor's Guild for almost 8 years total, and the Governor of California for 8 years,
 
A passionate young evangelical Christian from a wealthy background, with well-connected parents - what better start for the up-and-coming young Republican politician, George Laden?

And if he were third generation, or possibly even second Lebanese (known for Eropean features), he would barely be seen as "arab".
if we are talking about someone who of Christian Lebanese or similar descent, I doubt if ethnicity would even be talked about.
Come to think of it, how many Christian, Muslim or Druze Leabanese self identify as "arabs". My general impression is that arabic language aside, most do not.
 
Inspired by this thread. Your challenge is to come up with a post-1900 scenario where an ethnic Arab is elected to the office of President of the United States of America. Although the person has to be an Arab, he/she does not have to be a Muslim.

You get silver metal if you create a scenario where USA’s Commander-&-Chief is Muammar al-Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein or some other Arab who in OTL is an infamous dictator in the American psyche.

You get gold metal if you create a scenario where Osama Bin-Laden becomes America’s president!


You'd have to amend the Constitution to allow foreign-born to run for President in the above mentioned cases. For the rest, I'll just assume you're talking about an American whose grandparents came from Lebanon or Morroco or some place like that. I can't imagine that being more radical than having a President whose father was born in, let's say Kenya.
 
For maximum irony, instead of 9/11, have al-Qaeda pull off a Debt of Honor-style attack on the State of the Union Address, leaving America to turn to the designated survivor, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham.

EDIT: Oops, missed that they have to be elected. Does it count if President Abraham is re-elected in '04?
 
Really? My bad, i always thought he was an Afghan

ObL's father was a Hadhramauti Arab (from western Oman). His mother was one of many women his father briefly married during his long business career. (It was, apparently, a way of cementing a business relationship. He would later divorce the woman with a substantial monetary settlement. Most of them married again later.)

ObL was an "Arab-Afghan"; that is, an Arab volunteer in the Soviet-Afghan war of the 1980s. These were nearly all proto-jihadists, and they were a self-identified group later on.
 
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