What really interests me about this scenario is monetary policy. Under Reagan, Paul Volcker was given a great deal of discretion over interest rates. He was, and still is, one of the smartest economists in the nation and understood that the only way to defeat inflation was through high interest rates. This helped contribute to the early '80s recession in OTL, and made Volcker a popular target of everyone from conservative farmers to liberal senators. Reagan stuck by Volcker largely because 1) he understood what he was doing and 2) he had a CEO mentality and largely deferred to his cabinet (I know Volcker wasn't a cabinet member, but same principal). If Bush is President, does he cave to political pressure and appoint a less tight-money Fed Chairman? Or does he continue to focus on fighting inflation?
The second issue is charisma and salesmanship. Democrats and Republicans alike can agree that Reagan was the best salesman President since FDR. He effectively took many untested policies and sold them to the American public. An obvious example would be the tax cut, which raised many eyebrows among the Dole-Domenici-Packwood Republicans in Congress. It was also anathema to most liberals. Yet, by selling the tax cut and the theory of supply-side economics, Reagan got that major legislation passed. He would do this again and again. Bush lacked this skill entirely, and as President do you think he would be vulnerable in 1984 for that reason?