What would happen if Robert Gates became president instead of George W. Bush?

[Sam Biswas]

Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943 in Wichita, Kansas) is an American statesman, scholar, intelligence analyst, and university president who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by President George W. Bush, but was retained for service by President Barack Obama. Gates began his career serving as an officer in the United States Air Force but was quickly recruited by the CIA. Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and was Director of Central Intelligence under President George H. W. Bush. After leaving the CIA, Gates became president of Texas A&M University and was a member of several corporate boards. Gates served as a member of the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan commission that studied the lessons of the Iraq War.


Gates was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush as Secretary of Defense after the 2006 election, replacing Donald Rumsfeld. Unlike Rumsfeld, who was seen as an ideologue bent on making the Pentagon do his bidding, Gates had the reputation of a pragmatist who could assess a situation and respond accordingly. He was confirmed with bipartisan support. In a 2007 profile written by former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, Time named Gates one of the year's most influential people. In 2008, Gates was named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report. He continued to serve as Secretary of Defense in President Barack Obama's administration. He retired in 2011. "He'll be remembered for making us aware of the danger of over-reliance on military intervention as an instrument of American foreign policy," said former Senator David L. Boren. Gates was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Obama during his retirement ceremony.



Bush administration

• Pushed the “No Child Left Behind Act”
  
  
• Pushed for socially conservative efforts, such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and faith-based welfare initiatives.
  
  
• After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush declared a global war on terrorism and, in October 2001, ordered an invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, destroy the terrorist group al-Qaeda, and capture Osama bin Laden. I would imagine that a president Gate would surely do the same thing.
  
  
• That same month, he signed into law the controversial Patriot Act in order to strengthen security and allow for greater surveillance. Gate would do the same thing I guess?
  
  
• Ordered an invasion of Iraq, asserting that Iraq possessed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
  
  
• Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, which created Medicare Part D and made other changes to Medicare.
  
  
• Bush's second term was highlighted by several free trade agreements, a strong push for offshore and domestic drilling.
  
  
• Bush also sought immigration reform and major changes to Social Security, but both efforts failed.
  
  
• During the 2008 crisis, Bush signed Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
  
  
• Bush announced that he opposed stem cell research, and he banned federal funding for research on new stem cell lines.

GEORGE W. BUSH: IMPACT AND LEGACY


Robert Gates

• "I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical, thin-skinned and prone to put self (and re-election) before country."
  
  
• “Strategy and diplomacy, boosting military spending later.”
  
  • believed it was time for balance among what I was calling the 3Ds of defense, diplomacy, and development. The easiest place to see the imbalance was in the budget. For every dollar spent by the federal government, just one penny went to diplomacy and development. Bob said the foreign affairs budget was "disproportionately small relative to what we spend on the military." There were as many Americans serving in military marching bands as in the diplomatic corps. We became allies, tag-teaming Congress for a smarter national security budget.
• Encourage to surge more troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, and slowly redraw afterwords when the country is fully self-secured.
  
  
• “The US should engage directly with Iran and Syria in order to try to obtain their commitment to constructive policies toward Iraq and other regional issues. In engaging Syria and Iran, the United States should consider incentives, as well as disincentives, in seeking constructive results.”
  
  
• “Syria can control its border with Iraq to the maximum extent possible and work together with Iraqis on joint patrols on the border. Doing so will help stem the flow of funding, insurgents, and terrorists in and out of Iraq.
  
  
• Syria can establish hotlines to exchange information with the Iraqis.
  
  
• Syria can increase its political and economic cooperation with Iraq.”
  
  
• “Palestinian state if Syria & Hamas acknowledge Israel.”
  
  
• More funding for languages and intelligence in Iraq.
  
  
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• Supports legislation that will provide a pathway to citizenship for those immigrants who, among other attributes, are serving or have served in the military, whether they are in America legally or were brought here illegally as children. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/opinion/robert-gates-daca-immigrant-troops.html

Presume if Robert Gate ran for the oval office and manage to persuade the media and the public interest to vote for him, and after the inauguration, how would it play out differently under a Gates administration?

I did all the best I could research on Robert Gate's involvement on politics and foreign policy, i hope this sounds clear enough.