The Gore Presidency, 2001-2009

We know from family guy that had Al Gore been president we would have had flying cars and world peace :D
The downside is, Chevy Chase would be hosting the Tonight Show.

"OH MY GOD!! OH MY GOD!! WE MESSED UP BAD! WE MESSED UP REAL BAD!":D
 
9/11 occurs as IOTL, and the Gore sends troops to Afghanistan as part of the "War on State Terrorism".
I think it would have ended differently and not nearly as tragically. For starters, Gore would have taken the JTTF a lot more seriously instead of blowing it off in favor of "Star Wars" aka SDI Initialtive. And he certainly would have ratcheted up the alertness level on all fronts when he read the PDB, Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US. Remembering that in the early days of the Clinton Administration, a lone nutjob almost flew a small plane into the Oval Office, Gore would recognise that Al-Qaeda might fly airliners into buildings, and order preparations accordingly. The end result being, the hijackers are arrested before boarding the planes, federal agents stopping the hijackings on the planes, or the planes themselves shot down.

And Gore would certainly NOT be caught on that fateful morning, reading My Pet Goat; nor would he spend the rest of the day, fleeing and cowering in fear!!!:mad:
 
Hindsight is 20/20, and an alt-historical Al Gore wouldn't have it. It's not fair to Bush (!) to suggest that just about everyone should have read the warning signs better. There is absolutely no way to intelligently defend that.

A far better line of thought, IMO, is how Gore would have responded to the attacks.
 

Deleted member 1487

Hindsight is 20/20, and an alt-historical Al Gore wouldn't have it. It's not fair to Bush (!) to suggest that just about everyone should have read the warning signs better. There is absolutely no way to intelligently defend that.

A far better line of thought, IMO, is how Gore would have responded to the attacks.


I kind of agree with this assessment. I believe that alot of people read Bush's later actions as being a sort of Pearl Harbor:allowed it to happen to get a raison d'etre for invading Iraq. I don't know if I agree with this idea, but it can be plausible considering the fucked up shit that the Bush administration has done. Ultimately I bet 9/11 would happen and Gore would be forced to act as Bush-invade Afgahnistan. He would have no choice politically and would likely make sure Osama is killed/captured to boost his ratings, as I am sure that the Right Wing would take every chance to froth at the mouth about how the "Liberals" had let the terrorists act us in the "homeland". I would actually read the poltical discourse development differently, as the Rush Limbaugh's and others had gotten their start going after Clinton. Gore obviously would be seen as an extension of Clinton and would be assaulted just as harshly verbally. The question is though, does the religious right gain more power ITTL or become weaker?
 
A President Gore would not have invaded Afghanistan. Why do people keep postulating something that is so outside his MO?

But if the 9-11 attacks occurs more-or-less the same as they did in OTL then of course President Gore invades Afganistan. Why the hell wouldn't he?! Under those circumstances what choice would he have?
 
But if the 9-11 attacks occurs more-or-less the same as they did in OTL then of course President Gore invades Afganistan. Why the hell wouldn't he?! Under those circumstances what choice would he have?

I gotta go with X here, I think Gore would invade Afghanistan. Unless he wants to be a "John Adams", which would probably kill his re-election in '04, (handing his opponents THAT much ammo to tear him apart) I too think Gore would invade Afghanistan.

Hell even the Democrats in OTL, were behind this idea, so I'm sure that really wouldn't change in a Gore Presidency.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
Gore would have invaded Afghanistan, case closed.

But if Gore relied heavily on the Northern Alliance, would there have been a Pashtune genocide in central Afghanistan???
 
Gore would have invaded Afghanistan, case closed.

But if Gore relied heavily on the Northern Alliance, would there have been a Pashtune genocide in central Afghanistan???

Probably not, but it's possible ITL that Hamid Karzai killed fighting the Taliban during the U.S. invasion and Abdul Haq inteads lives to become president of Afganistan.
 
If Gore merely continues the H.W. Bush-Clinton sanctions on Iraq (and ignores Kamil's 1995 report and Ritter's 2000 report so as to keep said sanctions), we won't have an Iraq invasion. Hence, no Georgian troop deployment. Therefore, no USAF aircraft flying Georgian troops back to Georgia to drive out the Russians (who drove the Georgians out of South Ossetia and Abkhazia). And, if Gore doesn't expand NATO, then Georgia can appeal to the West all it wants and get a slightly less sympathetic ear. (After all, while Russia has been demonized for a while, the opening reports were that Georgia was the agressor, and it did take a day or so to spin that into Georgia being the victim.)

So with Gore being president ITL is it possible that Georgia's president Edvard Shevardnadze isn't ousted in 2003 and holds as president until 2005 or perhaps still be president today? Thereby Saakashvili never becomes becomes president of Georgia during the Gore administration?
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
Donor
So with Gore being president ITL is it possible that Georgia's president Edvard Shevardnadze isn't ousted in 2003 and holds as president until 2005 or perhaps still be president today? Thereby Saakashvili never becomes becomes president of Georgia during the Gore administration?

Not impossible, how big was the US influence on the democratic "revolutions" in the former Soviet republics??
 
In 2008 The McCain campaign will probably focus on experience rather than change. McCain would most likely run in 04 and be out of gas in 08.

Clinton would most likely not be the candidate in 08, the democrats would stick to the status quo of having a white older male as president of the united states.

Huckabee vs. Edwards in 2008 with Huckabee winning by a close margin.
 
I think it would have ended differently and not nearly as tragically. For starters, Gore would have taken the JTTF a lot more seriously instead of blowing it off in favor of "Star Wars" aka SDI Initialtive. And he certainly would have ratcheted up the alertness level on all fronts when he read the PDB, Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US. Remembering that in the early days of the Clinton Administration, a lone nutjob almost flew a small plane into the Oval Office, Gore would recognise that Al-Qaeda might fly airliners into buildings, and order preparations accordingly. The end result being, the hijackers are arrested before boarding the planes, federal agents stopping the hijackings on the planes, or the planes themselves shot down.

And Gore would certainly NOT be caught on that fateful morning, reading My Pet Goat; nor would he spend the rest of the day, fleeing and cowering in fear!!!:mad:

You're right, as I can't see Al Gore taking the time to sit and read to young children as Bush was doing on that fateful morning. I could see him lecturing children, but not reading to them. And what do you mean by "not be caught", as if any president could anticipate, "Gee, I better not do that today, what if something major happens; boy the media would rip me to shreds."
 
In 2008 The McCain campaign will probably focus on experience rather than change. McCain would most likely run in 04 and be out of gas in 08.

Clinton would most likely not be the candidate in 08, the democrats would stick to the status quo of having a white older male as president of the united states.

Huckabee vs. Edwards in 2008 with Huckabee winning by a close margin.

I thought you were refering to Joe Liberman as Dem nominee for 08 when you said "white older male. John Edwards is 6 years younger than Hillary, and besides he would be too narisistic, vain and shallow to get the Democratic nomination: too many voters will eventually see right through him during the primaries.
 
Maybe my original post was unclear. Do you have a cite for a major figure in the GOP criticising Bush in a serious way before 2005 or so? I'm honestly curious.

I don't know if I can find any direct links, only what i remember from the time. Most of it was during the school year and summer before 9/11. Though during the push for No Child Left Behind, Rush was very critical of Bush and got many calls telling him he needed to stop.

I think it would have ended differently and not nearly as tragically. For starters, Gore would have taken the JTTF a lot more seriously instead of blowing it off in favor of "Star Wars" aka SDI Initialtive. And he certainly would have ratcheted up the alertness level on all fronts when he read the PDB, Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US. Remembering that in the early days of the Clinton Administration, a lone nutjob almost flew a small plane into the Oval Office, Gore would recognise that Al-Qaeda might fly airliners into buildings, and order preparations accordingly. The end result being, the hijackers are arrested before boarding the planes, federal agents stopping the hijackings on the planes, or the planes themselves shot down.

And Gore would certainly NOT be caught on that fateful morning, reading My Pet Goat; nor would he spend the rest of the day, fleeing and cowering in fear!!!:mad:

honestly don't think that a whole lot would have changed leading up to and on 9/11. Look at how Clinton handled USS Cole, just a little over a year prior. and the 92 WTC bombing. having a lot of people in his Cabinet that were hold overs from Clinton and many of the same people in sub-cabinet positions(a good deal of them were probably there IOTL) plus you had the information "wall" between the different branches.

also remember that there was a lot of confusion as to what was going on. the SS first told Bush that a small plane crashed into the WTC, and it wasn't till after or shortly before the Second Plane crashed that they realized what was going on. And they didn't know what else was going on, where planes were headed, thus they flew around the Gulf and Midwest till thing settled down. Bush was always in constant contact with DC. they weren't doing anything different than what protocol calls for.

but i'm sure Gore wouldn't have been reading a book to kids, probably would have had a different agenda and could have been on the other side of the planet. then we'd be sitting here saying "What was he doing in XX country, when he should have known what was going on and been here instead." :D:D:rolleyes:
 
In a Gore wins but 9/11 still happens world, I think that Giuliani would be a shoo in for republican nominee in 2004.

Giuliani would not likely be a shoe for Republican nomination in 2004 though he would do somewhat better in this timeline than he did in 08. ITTL you would have Senator John McCain, Governor Tom Ridge, Sen.Phil Gramm,Sen Goerge Voinovich. Allen Keyes,Sen. George Allen, and perhaps Pat Buchanan making one more biid for the GOP nomination. I think Giuliani will skip Iowa and concentrate on New Hampshire and Florida but making simiilar mistakes and having the same money problems as he did in 08. He scores an upset victory over McCain in New Hampshire on January 27th (McCain won Iowa on January 19th) but but McCain quickly rebounds and Giuliani comes in at a humiliating 2nd place finish in the NY Primary on March 2nd(Super Tuesday) and trial at 3rd place behind Pat Buchanan and John McCain at the Florida Primary on March 9th. Giuliani drops out of the race the next day.
 
Giuliani would not likely be a shoe for Republican nomination in 2004 though he would do somewhat better in this timeline than he did in 08. ITTL you would have Senator John McCain, Governor Tom Ridge, Sen.Phil Gramm,Sen Goerge Voinovich. Allen Keyes,Sen. George Allen, and perhaps Pat Buchanan making one more biid for the GOP nomination. I think Giuliani will skip Iowa and concentrate on New Hampshire and Florida but making simiilar mistakes and having the same money problems as he did in 08. He scores an upset victory over McCain in New Hampshire on January 27th (McCain won Iowa on January 19th) but but McCain quickly rebounds and Giuliani comes in at a humiliating 2nd place finish in the NY Primary on March 2nd(Super Tuesday) and trial at 3rd place behind Pat Buchanan and John McCain at the Florida Primary on March 9th. Giuliani drops out of the race the next day.
So McCain pulls ahead rakes up the delegate count while the other remaining candidates battle it out, he secures the necessay # of delegates after the Pennsyvannia Primary on April 27th (Penn Gov. Tom Ridge had dropped out long before). Several names were on the short list for possible VP choice: Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, Sen. George Allen of Virginia, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvannia and Gov. Tom Ridge (Florida Governor Jeb Bush had already made it clear that he was not interested in being VP in July of 04). It was Tom Ridge whom choose VP on August 29 at the eve of the Convention in NYC. Though it was cosistant with McCain's maverick personality the choice was not without controversy and did alienate some of the conservative base of the Republican Party.
 

boredatwork

Banned
How would have Gore handled Hurricane Katrina?


Well,

Given that LA & NO have a democratic mayor & governor, it is highly unlikely that he'ld tromp all over them and declare any sort of federal control before they requested it, so, sadly, not much differently than Bush. The best that can be said would be that he wouldn't be trying to defend his flunkies at press conferences during recovery.

With regards to the later recovery/resettlement, there is the issue of Gore's dedicated environmentalism, and the inherent insustainability of keeping a city over below-sea level wetlands indefinitely. I could see Gore using environment arguments & financial incentives to minimize resettlement of the below sea level parishes.
 
So McCain pulls ahead rakes up the delegate count while the other remaining candidates battle it out, he secures the necessay # of delegates after the Pennsyvannia Primary on April 27th (Penn Gov. Tom Ridge had dropped out long before). Several names were on the short list for possible VP choice: Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, Sen. George Allen of Virginia, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvannia and Gov. Tom Ridge (Florida Governor Jeb Bush had already made it clear that he was not interested in being VP in July of 04). It was Tom Ridge whom choose VP on August 29 at the eve of the Convention in NYC. Though it was cosistant with McCain's maverick personality the choice was not without controversy and did alienate some of the conservative base of the Republican Party.

The Democratic priamries on the other hand were anti-climatic and uneventful for President Gore was unopposed in his nomination bid for reelection. Ohio congressman Dennis Kuchinich had seriously considered opposing Gore's reelection bid on a anti-war platform, and in fact had set up an exploratory committee for such but, however, decided not run against Gore in December 2003. There was some manufactured buzz leading up to the DemocraticConvention that Gore might dump VP Lieberman but all that speculation came to naught when Gore stayed the course and keept him on as running mate.
 
Top