What if Hillary Clinton, not Barack Obama, won the Democrat nomination and the presidency in 2008? What PoD would be needed to make this happen? What would be the effects? How would she be different from Obama? How would the 2008 and 2012 elections go differently? What if?
Well, you may not need much of a POD, as Hillary came pretty close to getting the nomination in 2008 as it was. I guess if you want one, maybe no Iraq war or an earlier economic crisis, maybe it starts in September of 2007 instead of September 2008.
Either way, Bush's approval ratings will be in the pits in 2008, so Hillary beats McCain. As to how different her Presidency would be compared to Obama OTL, for foreign policy, she probably won't be so quick to pull out of Iraq (if the Iraq war PoD isn't in place, and I don't say that to say Obama made a mistake pulling out OTL either), Afghanistan more or less goes the same, we might be a little quicker in Libya, with the end result being the same, she probably gets Bin Laden to.
On the Domestic front, I personally think she'd be more committed to the economy than Obama was and therefore will probably see better results than he did, so healthcare reform is different if it isn't delayed or outright prevented. The GOP still makes gains in 2010 and retake the house, but the gains maybe smaller. 2011-2012 are more or less gridlocked like OTL.
For 2012, she wins it. The GOP was a mess that year and the base was too reluctant to get behind Romney, plus the Dems have the advantage in the EC, so the only way I can see the GOP winning it is if she does significantly worse than Obama did, and I don't see that happening. Keep in mind she is a Clinton, so she has big money locked up to.
As for the second term, it pretty much goes the same as OTL, except maybe in Syria and if healthcare reform didn't pass in her first term, she takes a stab at it in the second.
All and all, she's an improvement over BHO in some ways and is worse in others. In other words, she wouldn't be much different as President.
My question is with her as the Democratic nominee in 2008 is does Donald Trump stay a Democrat!?!?!