DBAHC: Prevent modern American dynasticism

As we all know for almost 30 years US Presidents come from two families: Clinton and Bush.
With Jeb replacing Hillary in the White House earlier this year, there are already talks of Chelsea run in 2020 or 2024.
Your task is to make only one person from each family reach Oval Office with POD in 1988. (First Ladies/Gentlemen, family, etc don't count).
Hardmode: no Bushes/Clintons at all.
 
Pretty easy. Both dynasties resulted from unlikely flukes of luck: H.W. Bush being selected as Reagan's running mate in 1980 and Bill Clinton winning the Democratic Primaries in 1992. Even with a PoD of 1988, you can have Dukakis win the election of 1988; Bill Clinton wouldn't run in 1992 (he'd still probably run in a later year, but there's no certainty of him winning the nomination) and Dubya and Jeb would have a harder time getting into public office without their dad being president.
 
I think the problem went deeper, the decline of meritocracy and the increased concentration of wealth in the U.S. in general, and if it weren't those two families, it would have been some other two families.
 
HW was also the only one-term president in the bunch, though Jeb is having trouble getting his footing and his approval rating is teetering around 50%. Americans don't just elect Bushes and Clintons - they re-elect them. Bill in '92 and '96, W in 2000 and '04, and Hillary in '08 and a narrow win in '12 over Romney, who almost pulled the upset.

The easy way to cut the Bush dynasty short is to have W lose in 2000, and there are a number of spots to do it. McCain wins the nomination after the Bush camp's "black baby" gambit backfires. Gore wins Florida if Clinton handles Elian Gonzalez better. Or my favorite - W decides not to run after a heart-to-heart with his father's good friend, the sitting president, W's dear old Uncle Bill, who's in bad health from all the stress of the Lewinsky scandal.

W talks Jeb out of a future run, and Jeb doesn't have the same abilities as W anyway. So the GOP becomes the party of guys like McCain and Romney, and the religious factions end up feelin underserved.

As for Hillary...let's say she divorces Bill. She goes to the US Senate and wins on her own, and she decides to stay, seeing what the Presidency did to her marriage.

This way, HW is ousted in '92, Bill serves until 2000, W loses to McCain, who serves until '08. Maybe America takes a chance on Obama in '08. He almost got the nomination, but everyone agrees his future is in the Senate though I have heard his name bandied about for federal judge roles.

As for now, if not Jeb, I'm thinking Governor John Kasich out of Ohio.
 
Are there another prospective dynasties in the 00's? I mean there were Teddy And F.D.R., Kennedys tried to do it, but it never succeded to such an extent.
 
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Well, since 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2004 have already been mentioned as possible PoD elections, I might as well add: is there any way Hillary could fail to win the nomination or general in 2008?
 
Well, since 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2004 have already been mentioned as possible PoD elections, I might as well add: is there any way Hillary could fail to win the nomination or general in 2008?
It would probably be easier for her to lose the primaries than the general election. She'd need an extremely charismatic, experienced, and/or well-funded competitor, though. Barack Obama and John Edwards didn't fit the bill, maybe Al Gore if he decided to run?
 
She'd need an extremely charismatic, experienced, and/or well-funded competitor, though. Barack Obama and John Edwards didn't fit the bill...
I think Obama could have fit the bill, had he decided to actually run (or maybe I'm reading too much into the 2004 speech); though Edwards certainly turned out to be a bust.
 
Easy way is to have HW lose in 88 to Dukakis. Dukakis was leading the polls for a while,,,avoid the goofy tank photo, give a better response to Bernard Shaw about his wife being raped and add another Quayle gaff or have Bush heath scare and you get Dukakis,

With Dukakis- no Clinton in 92. Hillary gets sick of Little Rock and divorces him so he doesn't run in 96. She stays a lawyer or goes back to Illinois and runs for congress

W Bush disgusted by the way his father lost doesn't go into politics and stays owner of the Rangers and becomes baseball commissioner instead of Selig

Jeb stays in Florida

Or use McCain instead of W in 2000, and have Hillary could lose in 16. I mean the republicans ran the weakest candidate you could possibly run against her. If they ran someone even plausible she could have lost...
 
OOC: Or maybe the PoD is that the 22nd Amendment didn't get passed?

OOC the POD is Hillary wins in 08. Jeb wins in 2016 so change that.


Well one thing would be what if Gore won in 00 but then lost to Mccain in 04. Then Hillary loses the primary to Obama in 08 and Obama Beats Mccain so we have back to back one term presidents . Jeb Runs in 2012 and loses to Obama which means in 16 Portman runs and wins I mean he is Jeb's VP so why would he not run instead?
 
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