There’s a lot of crazy violence going on out there today as this decade comes to a close. I wonder how things might be different if Al Gore had been president…and how they would not have been.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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If Gore had been president I would have a whole STABLE of ponies!
nalbar
Thinking about that alternate reality is almost too painful to consider.
We wouldn’t have invaded Iraq. There might have been 9/11 but Osama bin Laden might have been swiftly brought to justice and his organization discredited and abhorred by all civilized people.
And my impoverished area of coastal NC would be prospering with the construction and maintainance of massive wind turbine facilities.
There is nothing sadder than “what might have been.”
We probably wouldn’t have invaded Iraq, especially given Blair’s new revelations. Now without knowing for sure why we went, I cannot say for sure, but based on what’s happened, the history with Bush I, Blair’s revelations, I can honestly say we probably would not have invaded. I’m quite convinced that we went there for Bush’s own personal vendetta; I don’t believe it had much, if anything, to do with oil and resources. Possibly strategy and placing another Israeli-friendly neighbor, but given the past with Bush I, I lean towards it being something personal with Bush.
We would have done something about global warming, or made some type of effort.
We might be looking at a Republican president currently with fewer majorities.
Afghanistan would have been handled far better.
The lists are quite limitless, but I think a bigger list would be what would have happened if Jimmy Carter was a successful president.
Oh, and we might not have the Department of Homeland Security.
I rather think you would, but structured somewhat differently, and without the union brouhaha.
The department — and even the name — was the brainchild of the usual bipartisan commission of the Great and Good, in this case Gary Hart and Warren Rudman, and its report and recommendations were floating around before 9/11.
Hmm, I wasn’t aware. Thanks.
Chances also are it wouldn’t have become the Department of Running the Constitution Through a Paper Shredder and Turning American Law Enforcement Into a Stasi Tribute Band, which is what it pretty much is now.
l’m not going to speculate about what coulda, shoulda, woulda happened?
who the fuck knows. what’s done is done, let’s work to put it right.
we’re on the cusp of a new decade and frankly it’s counter-productive to look back at what might have been. we’ve already wasted a decade, so why don’t we try to figure out a way we can move forward, correct the mistakes, and make the next one something we can look back on with some sense of pride and accomplishment.
how we’re going to get there is a lot more iimportant than dwelling in the past…and that’s a more deserving serious question.
Agree, so the only ‘dwelling on the past’ should be what would be necessary to bring those responsible for a whole host of crimes to accountability.
Be careful how this is framed since the Cheney crew obviously only wants us to ‘look forward’.
absolutely. l didn’t intend to infer a let bygones be bygones approach, which seems to be the path that’s been chosen by the current administration.
there need to be an accounting for the illegal and immoral actions of the previous administration; as well as a restoration of the civil liberties and rule of law that’s been throughly rendered quaint, to quote a former ag.
the cynic that l am, l don’t believe that the administration and the congress have neither the stomach nor the spine to do it without a major impetus from outside the beltway.
don’t hold your breath, ask.
amen
Family Guy had a great take on an alternate reality where Gore was President.
Great posts today Booman. Why We Blog as well as other posts over the past couple days motivating me to break my little rule of not logging in if I´m without my computer which I am right now and expect to be for the next couple weeks. (though I probably should be around to make sure nalbar doesn´t get all the ponies.
great posts and great discussion threads
We would have paid down more of our national debt. Net neutrality would not be an issue. Kyoto would have been brought to the Senate. Social Security would be in a lockbox instead of having Kent Conrad, Pete Petersen, and Ben Bernanke circling it like vultures.
No Afghanistan and Iraq invasions because no Nine-Eleven. And no George Bush and Dick Cheney come to make us hate life.
He wouldn’t have had time to invent the internet.
Another interesting question: I wonder how the health care debate might have been different if Hillary had been elected instead of Obama? The whole abortion “compromise” brought that to mind.
What do you guys think?
I have no doubt that if she had been elected we would now have single payer, probably based on the English system.
She would have done it by stripping Lieberman of his chairmanship and not allowing that corporate whore Sanders caucus with the Democrats.
The Republicans would be so terrified by her rhetorical use of the bully pulpit that only 3 of them would have voted no. Mainly because there would only be 3 Republicans left, the others having joined the Democratic party because they would so admire he leadership skills.
And she would have done it by June.
nalbar
I’m sorry, are you being sarcastic? Or do we live on separate planets?
I say this as a Hillary supporter, but there is no way she would have been successful in health care reform — first, she would have made the mistake of writing her own bill, because she could not have resisted doing this, and then her own party would have delighted in shooting her bill down in flames just because they could. I believe Hillary would have been a fine president in many ways, but she would have had just as much trouble with official Washington the second time as she did the first.
Overall, Obama will have a more successful presidency than Hillary would have had. That said, I do wish Obama would make better use of Hillary, Bill, Howard Dean and Al Gore politically — they would be very useful in doing “outreach” to the Democratic party on Obama’s behalf.
I defer to your knowledge of Hillary’s personality. I couldn’t see her having allowed the abortion compromise, so it’s hard for me to imagine her having achieved passage of a reform bill even as iffy as this one.
That said, there seems to be a familiar pattern emerging among the Left. The Left now faces a similar problem to the military in Afghanistan and Iraq: we took over, but aren’t prepared to execute a unified, consistent strategy for improving conditions for real folks.
I agree with Booman and others than the Hamsher Left is going too far, but I don’t agree with the suggested alternative that we muzzle ourselves, that we compromise and negotiate in the extreme. So what to do? How can we keep Obama faithful to his campaign priorities without kneecapping him and giving the government back to the Repulicants?
Addressing these questions seems far more realistic than hoping the Hamsher Left is suddenly going to read a Booman post, have an epiphany, and take a 3 year vacation.
good point in your comparison between the 2008 election and Iraq: we won the fight, how to we win the win?
Add to this the fact the Dems have a ‘rogues gallery’ that, while not as extensive as the ‘Cons, in some ways can be just as corrupt (hopefully Murtha’s staff reads here). Just realise that while our folks aren’t Angels either, they’re on average more angelic than the Opposition (IMO).
Caveat emptor, as always…..
I don’t agree that she would have tried to cram a health care bill down the throats of Congress. By all accounts she learned her lesson from that fiasco and when she got to the Senate she tried hard to fit in and develop constructive relationships with Senators from both parties. I doubt she’d forget those lessons if elected president. I have my doubts though that she would have tried to even tackle the problem in her first term but if she had I think her approach would have been similar to Obama’s.
With President Gore..
NO IRAQ WAR
which means
no spending of 1 TRILLION dollars
Blackwater would still be this company grasping for contracts.
we’d have done serious building of our alternative energy infrastructure
New Orleans wouldn’t have been abandoned.
New Orleans would not have been abandoned because Gore would have dissipated Katrina with death rays from his eyes!
nalbar
Well, I think the reference to abandonment relates to the dismal lack of response during and after the impact and then leaving the remains of NOLA to “shock doctrine” economics.
NO Iraq war.
you may/may not be correct. what I do know is clinton/gore were all for the bogus war on drugs in Columbia, which increase in scale during their administration– and is a dismal failure.
the drug cartels in Columbia were destroyed, yes, but this resulted in two things: shifting trafficking to Mexico and creation of numerous mini-cartels which are now battling each other for control and lead to 15,000 deaths in the last three years.
if this is “successful” policy, I’d hate to see what failure is.