TLIACOH: Shuffling the Deck USA Edition (with apologies to Meadow and Roem)
- Thread starter Thande
- Start date
Thande
Donor
George W. Bush
(Republican)
2009-2013
Legend has it that a few members of the Republican National Committee were bowling after the success of the 2006 midterms and discussing whether Obama was vulnerable and who could defeat him. While talking about examples of past presidential elections, one of them (who is not recorded) mentioned Grover Cleveland. And this got them thinking.
George W. Bush had announced his intention to remain apart from politics after his retirement at a young age in 1997. His only public appearance in that vein had been the eulogy he had given at Ron Reagan’s funeral in 2005, one which had been widely praised (in particular the line “the shining city which he dreamed of became stained with the poison of evil, but he lived to see it wiped clean once more by all our efforts”) and contrasted with Obama’s, which bogged down due to the president’s unfamiliarity with an autocue system. Bush did not appear to have any particular disregard towards Obama and initially would not have desired to run, but was persuaded to when the Obama Administration passed an ill-thought-out copyright policy that would effectively have made it almost impossible for sports teams to advertise. Many also regarded this as a federal power grab over the medium of satellite TV, which Obama had used to such great effect in the past and he might well be jealous of anyone else being able to use it. To that end, after Obama stuck to his guns on the policy (after some misgivings were quieted by his advisors) Bush took the decision to re-enter politics and become the second President to achieve a second non-consecutive term.
Bush’s defeat of Obama was very close and ultimately turned on a small number of votes in California, but in the end the sitting President graciously conceded. He was still a young man, after all, and if Bush normalised the idea of nonconsecutive terms, then who knew...?
If Bush’s first term was noted for vague but passionate national healing, his second was one of more concise policy but, as such things often do, bringing more criticism as a result. He was able to establish a peace deal in South Africa and bring the troops home, but did meet with some criticism for splitting the Eurasian Confederation when he openly backed the idea of a universal implementation of the ECU (to the delight of France and Germany, but displeasure of Britain and Russia). Much of the business of government was conducted by his vice-president, Jon Huntsman, while Bush himself became a hands-off head of state who kept his populist touch by playing charity baseball games with ordinary citizens chosen by lottery, or spent his time painting. The latter hobby led to the infamous series of sketches by Sunday Night Live in which he was portrayed as Hitler—the joke being that Bush was a figure well liked even by his political opponents, and it was such an outrageous comparison. Of course, it was also an overreaction against the censorship of the Ford years.
In the end, Bush bowed out of his second term having rebuilt the Republicans as a viable national ticket, as well as the resurrection of the space programme that his father had dreamed of. Yet judging by the focus of media speculation for the upcoming 2012 election, the Democrats are still considered the favourites. Or perhaps it is simply a more interesting story to consider whether Hussein Obama will be able to duplicate his rival’s feat and once again win the nomination, or whether his rival—another presidential ‘first’—will beat him to it...
THE END
And so Hillary and Obama get to duke it out for the nomination in every possible ATL
My prediction of Grover W. Cleveland was right, so I go to bed a chuffed and well-read man. Well done, Thande, this is a great piece and I hope it spawns a string of works like it.
Do you mean TLIACOH's or Shuffled Leaders? Because I'm already working on a TLIACOH
rolleyes and I would love to do a shuffled leaders thing-y (though admittedly I would have to do American Presidents as well...)Do you mean TLIACOH's or Shuffled Leaders? Because I'm already working on a TLIACOH
TLIACOH's, though TLIADs are already a thing (this is a shorter version of one). Short but long-form TLs are a nice idea. It's a logical extension of the TLIAD concept.
Leader shuffles are fun, but it would get a bit boring to see a load of American ones. I imagine a country with lots more post-war PMs, like Denmark or Italy, would be more fun to do.
Thande
Donor
Glad you all seemed to enjoy this! The idea just came to me, and I doubt I'd have done it if I'd known Meadow and Roem were also working on one (though, admittedly, I get the impression it was on the back burner and this might encourage them to finish it).
There are a lot of possibilities in this kind of project, even within the same country. For example, as Meadow rightly pointed out, the Reagan of this TL is a bit too similar to OTL in terms of his character and time served--but you can only put so many people earlier or later. There are plenty of other possible combinations like HW Bush in the 70s, Carter in the 90s, etc. This will be a lot easier a few years down the line when Obama can be a later president, though - he can't really go that much earlier than OTL.
These Shuffling the Deck projects have a slightly lighter touch on plausibility than most--as Jack and Tom said in the intro to their original, it's 'A Bit of Fun'. With that in mind, I should point out that I took the opportunity to do a couple of shout-outs/influence from some existing TLs. Most notably, the Nixon bit was informed by my reading 03771's excellent timeline All Along the Watchtower (Nixon in '60) which I would certainly recommend. In fact it's actually a cause of what Meadow calls the Congdonesque Cognitive Dissonance--while writing this I kept thinking "No, I can't have Nixon in '60, that's OTL...no wait, I'm thinking of 03771's TL"
Also, the Ford bit (fairly obviously) was inspired by Drew's Fear, Loathing and Gumbo. That TL is often praised for how it gradually builds up to a terrifying vision of America from apparently normal beginnings, so I threw plausibility to the side a bit and charged straight into the cartoonishly evil zone from a standing start just to see what happened. Well, the point was that at least it wasn't a forgettable presidency like Ford in OTL is often said to be.
Anyway, thanks for reading and as Meadow says, I hope we see more of these projects (both TLIAD-type ones and more specifically variations on this concept) in the future.
There are a lot of possibilities in this kind of project, even within the same country. For example, as Meadow rightly pointed out, the Reagan of this TL is a bit too similar to OTL in terms of his character and time served--but you can only put so many people earlier or later. There are plenty of other possible combinations like HW Bush in the 70s, Carter in the 90s, etc. This will be a lot easier a few years down the line when Obama can be a later president, though - he can't really go that much earlier than OTL.
These Shuffling the Deck projects have a slightly lighter touch on plausibility than most--as Jack and Tom said in the intro to their original, it's 'A Bit of Fun'. With that in mind, I should point out that I took the opportunity to do a couple of shout-outs/influence from some existing TLs. Most notably, the Nixon bit was informed by my reading 03771's excellent timeline All Along the Watchtower (Nixon in '60) which I would certainly recommend. In fact it's actually a cause of what Meadow calls the Congdonesque Cognitive Dissonance--while writing this I kept thinking "No, I can't have Nixon in '60, that's OTL...no wait, I'm thinking of 03771's TL"
Also, the Ford bit (fairly obviously) was inspired by Drew's Fear, Loathing and Gumbo. That TL is often praised for how it gradually builds up to a terrifying vision of America from apparently normal beginnings, so I threw plausibility to the side a bit and charged straight into the cartoonishly evil zone from a standing start just to see what happened. Well, the point was that at least it wasn't a forgettable presidency like Ford in OTL is often said to be.
Anyway, thanks for reading and as Meadow says, I hope we see more of these projects (both TLIAD-type ones and more specifically variations on this concept) in the future.
Miranda Brawner
Donor
This is amazing, Thande! You are truly a talented writer. I enjoyed seeing the Presidents out of their usual roles.
Thande
Donor
Thank you
One other thing I forgot to mention - a few people suggested expecting to see a Democratic Reagan or Republican Clinton. I did consider allowing party to be fluxional, but decided to keep it the same as OTL in this case. However, that's another thing people can play with if they want to do their own take on this.
Oh, and I'm disappointed none of our British members noticed the name of Bush's tennis partner.
Well, I've had this one idea for a TLIAD rumbling around in my head for a while, but thought it would be a bit too ambitious for me to do as a TLIAD, but I think this TLIACOH format would fit it rather well... I already have a list of Presidents sorted out, and depending on how much HW I have, I might be able to get it on here tomorrow!
(Shameless Self Advertisement Over
)I also hope to see more of this type of thing done! I can only imagine how this might go for other European countries
Thande, excellent work all around! Fun, lighthearted at times and dark at others, quick, and a great TL! Thank you for making my day with this.
Alex Richards
Donor
Excellent. I feel quite tempted to try branching out and doing one for elsewhere, considering that this sort of short blog style requires less in the way of detailed research.
I just read through it, and I have to say, this is great!
Will we see a couple more updates in a few years after the 2016 election?
Also, I put together a list, just to see how things come together ITTL:
1933-1946: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic)*
1946-1949: Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic)
1949-1953: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
1953-1961: Harry Truman (Democratic)
1961-1969: Richard Nixon (Republican)
1969-1973: George H.W. Bush (Republican)
1973-1975: Jimmy Carter (Democratic)**
1975-1977: John F. Kennedy (Democratic)
1977-1985: Ronald Reagan (Republican)
1985-1993: Gerald Ford (Republican)
1993-1997: George W. Bush (Republican)
1997-2005: William Clin-I mean, Blythe (Democratic)
2005-2009: Hussein Obama (Democratic)
2009-2013: George W. Bush (Republican)
* Died in office
** Assassinated
Will we see a couple more updates in a few years after the 2016 election?
Also, I put together a list, just to see how things come together ITTL:
1933-1946: Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic)*
1946-1949: Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic)
1949-1953: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
1953-1961: Harry Truman (Democratic)
1961-1969: Richard Nixon (Republican)
1969-1973: George H.W. Bush (Republican)
1973-1975: Jimmy Carter (Democratic)**
1975-1977: John F. Kennedy (Democratic)
1977-1985: Ronald Reagan (Republican)
1985-1993: Gerald Ford (Republican)
1993-1997: George W. Bush (Republican)
1997-2005: William Clin-I mean, Blythe (Democratic)
2005-2009: Hussein Obama (Democratic)
2009-2013: George W. Bush (Republican)
* Died in office
** Assassinated
Tony Parsons as in the journalist and author of those books I vaguely recall Mum liking when I was very little?
