Given the current news. How would the US be different now if McCain were president?

[conspirator]

Things would be exactly the same. And no, McCain would not have the balls to attack Iran yet, either.
Elections are like a reality show, where you vote for a face, not for policy.

[ejpoeta]

1. you think it would be the same?? no i disagree. mccain is a few fries short of a happy meal

do you think he would have done the stimulus? healthcare? nope. tax cuts for the rich. more tax cuts for the rich since that solves everything in a republican's eyes. but if you look at mccain right now, the guy is completely gone off the reservation. i don't think he even knows what he thinks anymore... like someone who has colored their hair so long they don't know what the original color was anymore. no, things would not be the same. we'd be in such a different place right now.

[AllentownJake]

2. We'd have 10% unemployment

Foreclosures would be going through the roof, there would be a massive oil spill in the gulf due to approving drilling without studying or preparing for a disaster, Wall Street would be running America....

We wouldn't have the HCR bill I consider bad, and the Supreme Court would eventually get a clear majority of conservatives (Justice Stevens age, Ginsberg's health).

Neither Souter or Stevens would retire under a McCain Presidency, but the chance of a vacancy opened by death in the next 2 years is pretty good.

[Lerkfish]

3. well... I would disagree a bit on that.

Obama has done some things that were sorely needed that McCain would never have done...

However, some areas that would be similar:

1. continued forever war in Iraq and Afghanistan
2. continued torture
3. bailing out of large corporations
4. kicking GLBT issues under the bus (including DADT)
5. non-prosecution of the Bush administration for war crimes
6. Non support of single payer/public option
7. Gitmo would still be open


One that would be dissimilar:

1. Teabaggers would be put in pivotal government roles

[quaker bill]

4. The Even Greater Depression

would be upon us. Perhaps, it is hard to tell what the surviving MSM would have called it, but a bigger term than "Great Depression" would have been needed. But we would be drilling for more oil, perhaps in your backyard.

[Scuba]

5. Liberals would be doing everything they could to keep him alive