DBWI: Who Will Be the Next Prime Minister of the United States?

Will it be Obama or McCain?

OOC: This is a TL where the President of the U.S becomes less and less powerful in the late 19th century and the position of Prime Minister of the U.S was created in the early 20th century.
 
After sweeping constitutional reform. ASB

OOC: Actually, there was a time before the first Roosevelt when the presidency was getting weaker and weaker and Congress getting stronger and stronger. Many pundits at the time predicted that soon the Speaker of the House would serve as a de facto Prime Minister.
 
Defacto and actual are not the same thing. Plus most countries with PMs as I understand it do not have fixed election cycles.
 
OOC: Guys, it's a DBWI! Play along with it, SVP!

IC:

I don't know, to be honest. I know what I think could happen, though - if Obama and the GOP/CDU coalition managed to get control of Congress, things could get pretty interesting. I hear that Obama is going to maintain the model of "flexicurity" that the last PM implemented, but make it more "humane". Whatever that means remains to be seen.
 
OOC: Guys, it's a DBWI! Play along with it, SVP!

IC:

I don't know, to be honest. I know what I think could happen, though - if Obama and the GOP/CDU coalition managed to get control of Congress, things could get pretty interesting. I hear that Obama is going to maintain the model of "flexicurity" that the last PM implemented, but make it more "humane". Whatever that means remains to be seen.

You mean that Obama will stop ordering airstrikes on everything that is even remotely connected to terrorism in the Middle East? If so, that's good- we can't just waste money bombing everything and angering everyone. Besides, winning their hearts and minds would turn the Middle East into a huge market for American exports within a few decades.
 
Folks if the US were to have a PM, the Junior Senator of the great state of Illinois would not be the Democratic Party's leader period. If it was a Senator it would be Reed or Byrd as of '06 or Pelosi if a Representative, Hillary would not be in the Senate but Bill might be and may have replaced Reed. Of course this is barring Major Butterflies. Now McCain might be running for President(Head of State) but the Head of Government would be decided on January 3rd, 2009 by either the Senate or HoR.
Of course if things were as they are now in the US the current HoG would be in Deep Doo Doo. As the Head of State would no more be to blame for the current state of things than Her Majesty Queen Liz is in the UK.
 

Sachyriel

Banned
Well, being politics, whoever can't seem to goof-up more will most likely get the larger votes needed. They seem nearly the same and their policies are still war and economy-boosters. But, hey, it's not like the Prime-Minister here can have any worse relations. After all, I'm betting American-Canadian politics will be frosty for a bit because we refused to hit Iraq. Maybe seeing an African American Prime Minister will change our own views of the states and cause our Prime Minister to be more involved in the American Strategy for the GWOT.
 
The POD is about 1900. If the Speaker of the House is defacto PM after this time the Senate is likely to be appointed as it was before the 17th amendment( ratified mid 1913). In this case most if not all real power would be in the House with the Senate a little more powerful than the UK's House of Lords
 

ninebucks

Banned
I'm not American, but personally, I hope Habib Obama wins it, although a lot of polls are now saying Jacob McCain is in the lead.

(OOC: I am a Butterly-fundamentalist, and I will not put up with identically-named candidates running in an election nearly a century after the POD!)
 
I'm not American, but personally, I hope Habib Obama wins it, although a lot of polls are now saying Jacob McCain is in the lead.

(OOC: I am a Butterly-fundamentalist, and I will not put up with identically-named candidates running in an election nearly a century after the POD!)

OOC: There's a really tiny chance that it might be the same... ;)
 

ninebucks

Banned
OOC: There's a really tiny chance that it might be the same... ;)

I'll accept that about McCain, but Obama? The very circumstances of his birth are extremely implausible, and the fact that he managed to overcome those circumstances through near-supernatural levels of charisma to become forerunner for the race to the presidency is more implausible still! As Bill Clinton said, it really is a 'fairy tale', and as many AH.commers from throughout the multiverse will likely say, its absolutely ASB.

Although yes, I suppose it is possible...
 
OoC: Uh, guys? Prime Minister is not an elected position, period. Whichever party (or coalition) holds dominance in the legislature choses who gets to be PM. The closest you could get to an elected PM is to have a party/coalition primary after the normal elections have ended, but due to the nature of parliamentary politics (which can, legally, have an election immediately after a previous one), the odds of such a system being adopted are nil.
 
OoC: Uh, guys? Prime Minister is not an elected position, period. Whichever party (or coalition) holds dominance in the legislature choses who gets to be PM. The closest you could get to an elected PM is to have a party/coalition primary after the normal elections have ended, but due to the nature of parliamentary politics (which can, legally, have an election immediately after a previous one), the odds of such a system being adopted are nil.

I can't think of any examples where the Prime Minister is directly elected, but in Sweden, IIRC, the Prime Minister is either approved or elected by the Riksdag. I guess, in this time line, the Prime Minister of the US is elected by Congress. That could work, if it's a bit of a stretch.
 
I can't think of any examples where the Prime Minister is directly elected, but in Sweden, IIRC, the Prime Minister is either approved or elected by the Riksdag. I guess, in this time line, the Prime Minister of the US is elected by Congress. That could work, if it's a bit of a stretch.

That's how it happens in most parliaments as well. The only odd cases I can recall are France and Russia, where the President picks the Prime Minister. Even then, it's a poor comparison; both are presidential systems.
 
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