What if 2000 election turned out differently?

[joeprogressive]

Now that we are on year 5 of this disaster of a republican experiment, it makes me wonder what the world would be like today if Gore were president.

I definitely think he would be in his second term now despite numerous attempts by a republican congress to dig up dirty laundry on him and derail his agenda. The '02 and '04 elections show modest gains in both the house and senate giving the dems the majority in the senate.

Gore would not have taken the hard line stance that Bush took against the Palestinians early in his presidency, therefore 9/11 might never have happened. However, if it did, the war on terror would have been fought in an entirely different way in which world support including Arab nations unite in this fight. This unification stabilizes the middle east region. Gas prices remain below $2.00.

The US enters into Kyoto agreement. CAFE standards of 35 mpg are passed in 2002 and must be implemented fully by 2010. Large SUVS are slapped with a 10% tax, Clinton's environmental laws are kept in place.

There is relative peace around the world. Negotiations with N Korea and Iraq are successful at halting nuclear weapons programs in those countries because Gore has used diplomacy rather than bullying tactics to deal with these countries. The US remains well respected around the world.

The economy picks back up after a short recession in 2001 as new industries such as renewable energy research create millions of jobs. By 2005 the Dow is at 12,300 and the Nasdaq at 3,200. Unemployment is at a true 5% and wages increase modestly to out pace very low inflation. Interest rates remain low. The tech sector is booming as companies find ways to diversify to meet the growing demand of the alternative energy industries that are springing up. Outsourcing continues as a natural progression to globalization but Gore keeps many jobs in the US by stripping tax breaks away from companies that move operations overseas.

The budget remains balanced as Clinton left it. The national debt is below 2 trillion, saving the US billions in interest payments every year. This savings leads to the affordability of real middle class tax cuts and the ability to pursue universal health care.

A universal health care bill has passed in the senate but is meeting heavy opposition from insurance industry lobbyists and the republican controlled congress.

The NRA has lost its voice. The assault weapons ban, tougher handgun restrictions, and background check laws continue to decrease gun violence.

In 2004 Lieberman steps aside for personal reasons and Gore picks his Joint Chiefs of Staff, Wes Clark, to be his running mate in their successful '04 re-election.

Please continue or change as needed..............

[tedoll78]

1. One other big difference:

- Justice Stevens probably would've retired by now, being replaced by someone of similar judicial philosophy.
- Justice O'Connor might've still retired to spend time with her husband; this would've made the court's liberal wing 5 strong, and with a younger average age than the conservative wing.
- Justice Roberts would not be a household name.

Also:
- More research would've went into renewable energy resources. Thus, the impact of Peak Oil could've been marginally lesser.

[wli]

2. given the DLC and Dem complicity in rethug neofascist schemes...

I highly suspect not much would be different.

[AntiCoup2K4]

3. Here's one possibility from 2002

So as you can see, things would be a lot different under President Gore, but not neccessarily perfect....

[joeprogressive]

4. too funny

n/t

[cpa]

5. Very thoughtful post

I would love to write a novel about what would have happened if Gore had become President. Among other things:

1. The Twin Towers would still be standing. The people who died on 9/11 would still be with us. The troops that hve died in Iraq qould be with their families.
2. The national debt would be on its way to being paid off.
3. Science would be on its way to inventing a car that does not run on gas.
4. Osama Bin Laden would be either dead or captured.
5. Education achievements would be higher.
6. Our civil liberties would be protected.

There are many mor eachievements.

[npincus]

6. 9-11 : Yes, Iraq War: No

9-11 was in the planning stages for up to 5 years; it was payback for American military presence in Saudi Arabia during and after the Gulf War. Osama Bin Ladin was NEVER a champion for Palestine; he began mentioning Palestine after 9-11 as a marketing tool to recruit angry Muslims while he had the world's attention. President Gore may not have ignored a briefing titled "Osama Bin Ladin Plans To Strike in US" and perhaps maybe, possibly could have taken steps to prevent or hamper the attack, but 9-11 was a project in the works for a long, long time, part of a master plan to purge the west from the Arab lands and restore a 13th-century style Islamic government to those countries- that is his ideology. Bin Ladin is not a champion of human rights, for Palestinians or anyone else, he has his own agenda.

Re: soaring gas prices, demand from India and China are largely responsible for that, HOWEVER Gore, the visionary that he is, would have anticipated this, I believe, and made great strides in encouraging the private sector to develop and implement new technologies- such as hybrid vehicles, to greatly diminish America's reliance on gas. I truly believe we would be much, much further along than we are now- that is, if Gore could muster enough support in a Republicans-controlled Congress to have any of his policies ratified.

Man oh man, what a different place this world would be if Bush had not stolen that election. But remember: Republicans and MSM were relentlessly vicious to Clinton, and I don't think the tenor would have changed for Gore- unlike with Bush who could invade a country and slaughter thousands of innocents without a peep from them. One has to wonder what he would have accomplished with a vicious and relentless MSM and Republican-controlled Congress.

[joeprogressive]

7. I agree about OBL

However, although the attack was in planning for years, I can't keep from wondering that actions Bush took early in his presidency were the trigger.

[johnaries]

9. 9-11 would NOT have happened.

Bush had lots of warning and lots of opportunity to stop it, and he did nothing because he was tired of "swatting flies".

I am convinced that if ANYONE ELSE had been in office 9-11 would not have happened.

[SaveAmerica]

8. That's a big What If, I think of it often. As Cher would say "If I could

turn back Towm"...

[TankLV]

10. 911 would NOT have happened. Of that I am certain.

Bunkerboy and the repuke criminals in OUR White House IGNORED all the intelligence that tried to warn them of the attacks.

THERE WAS NO "INTELLIGENCE FAILURE" - there was a DELIBERATE and CRIMINAL failure on the part of this misadministration to ignore any and all warnings of such topics due to their focus on trying to create a theocracy and tax haven for the uber-rich.

If people don't believe all the evidence out their - from the DSMiniutes to his statements on dictatorships, to asscraps statue curtains and efforts to stop medical marijuana and stem cell research - then I don't know how much more evidence they would need.

It is one thing to not know - it is quite another thing to refuse to see all the mounting evidence piling up all around you.

[election_2004]

11. Vice-President Lieberman would be campaigning for the presidency

And the corporate media whores would be shilling for Joementum, saying how no other Democrat even had a chance against Holy Joe in 2008.

And progressive politics begin to subtly take a backwards slide...