POTUS Colin Powell-As a Democrat

Hello everyone, I know its been a few years; but I have been tossing this idea around in my head for a few days. As I wanted to see what y'all thought about this premise. Anywhoo, General Powell often cited general reluctance by he and his wife from seeking the presidency in '96 and 2000 in OTL. But yet, he didn't officially come out as Republican till circa 1995 when Powell started campaigning for GOP Candidates. It always seemed to me that a lot of the reluctance to run for the Presidency would have been abated if he would have declared himself a Democrat. This is especially so given the lurch to the right by the GOP in the 90's and conflating that with Powell's views on social issues & economics. I know Powell has often cited the fact that he did his best work under Republican President's Regan & Bush; along with a general sense of loyalty to them as a reason he stuck with the GOP during from the 90's till now. So I have come up with three different scenarios, that might have given us a more plausible path to a President Powell (D-NY).

1: A Dukakis Wins TL: Let's say that Dukakis is able to win a narrow victory over George H.W. Bush in 1988. Might the Duke keep Powell on as National Security Advisor and later Joint Chief of Staff? If so, if things go relatively the same as in OTL regarding the Gulf War might Powell have a shot at the Democratic nomination in '96(Dukakis is a one-term) or 2000 (if he wins a second term)?

2. Bill Clinton picks Powell as VP in '92: Let's say the draft issue/lack of military experience weakens Clinton's candidacy much more in TTL. So much so that Bill barely scrapes by with the nomination, and needs a strong VP candidate to shore up that segment with the voters. If Powell is persuaded to take the nomination(there might have to be a public break between Bush and Powell on policy before this can happen) and Clinton still wins, would 8 years as Vice President be enough to convince him to run in 2000?

3. OTL up till '95: Let's say that Democrats do a better job at courting Powell in '95, allowing him the space to come out as a Democrat in the run up to Clinton's re-election. Would it be as smooth a fit as I am anticipating or might liberal democrats associate him to much with the Reagan-Bush era to squash any shot at the nomination in 2000? How might Powell far in a slug fight with Al Gore for the Democratic Nomination in 2000(Gore was largely defeated by Jesse Jackson's support amongst liberals and African Americans in '88, might that happen again?)? If Powell wins the nomination how might he fair against Dubya in the General?

I would love to know your thoughts...
 
To my knowledge, Powell just didn't want to be President or enter politics. Also, even today he is still a committed conservative on fiscal issues, but definitely an Eisenhower-Rockefeller Republican on social issues. To make him a Democrat you'd need a POD way before 1988, something that would dramatically change his politics and make him a liberal. Even then, he'd be unlikely to run for office because apparently he just never wanted to do it.
 

The Avenger

Banned
To my knowledge, Powell just didn't want to be President or enter politics. Also, even today he is still a committed conservative on fiscal issues, but definitely an Eisenhower-Rockefeller Republican on social issues. To make him a Democrat you'd need a POD way before 1988, something that would dramatically change his politics and make him a liberal. Even then, he'd be unlikely to run for office because apparently he just never wanted to do it.
Republicans generally aren't conservative on fiscal issues and haven't been conservative on fiscal issues in the 1980s, 2000s, and 2010s.
 
Republicans generally aren't conservative on fiscal issues and haven't been conservative on fiscal issues in the 1980s, 2000s, and 2010s.

That's a really different take. Are you referring to the high spending under Reagan and Bush II? Otherwise its hard to call sweeping tax cuts anything but very conservative.
 

The Avenger

Banned
That's a really different take. Are you referring to the high spending under Reagan and Bush II? Otherwise its hard to call sweeping tax cuts anything but very conservative.
Fiscal conservative isn't the same thing as economic conservative, though. A fiscal conservative has a problem with deficits; an economic conservative is willing to accept deficits even when they can be avoided--such as by not having tax cuts for the rich.
 
Fiscal conservative isn't the same thing as economic conservative, though. A fiscal conservative has a problem with deficits; an economic conservative is willing to accept deficits even when they can be avoided--such as by not having tax cuts for the rich.

Would you put Powell in either category?
 
To my knowledge, Powell just didn't want to be President or enter politics. Also, even today he is still a committed conservative on fiscal issues, but definitely an Eisenhower-Rockefeller Republican on social issues. To make him a Democrat you'd need a POD way before 1988, something that would dramatically change his politics and make him a liberal. Even then, he'd be unlikely to run for office because apparently he just never wanted to do it.

Not necessarily, You can find archived articles online going back to '93-'95 where many politicos didn't have a clue about what Powell's political preferences were. He was never public about his past voting till after he declared that he was a Republican when he bailed out of running in '96. All of which leads me to think had things went somewhat different before he was seen as a presumptive frontrunner in '96 Powell could have went either way. His stance on economics largely reflected the pro-growth policies that moderate democrats and republicans pursued during the 90's.
 
If he didn't declare as Republican in 95, if Gore had to step down as VP for some reason- maybe a health problem- Clinton could have considered Powell as VP. Would then clear the road for him as Dem nominee in 2000
 
If he didn't declare as Republican in 95, if Gore had to step down as VP for some reason- maybe a health problem- Clinton could have considered Powell as VP. Would then clear the road for him as Dem nominee in 2000
Personally I noticed the lack of support for Powell as president right after the Gulf War. He's the one that had Bush call the war off a day or two earlier cuz it look like we were slaughtering the people in the other Army. Because of that we had Gulf War 2.0. I think that would come back to really affect your chances of getting elected.
 
Powell might be D nominee in a world where Democrats remain firmly entrenched in DLC-style centrism and the GOP goes farther right in messaging than OTL. He'd need to pick someone on the left flank of the party to balance the ticket.
 
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