If Al Gore was President for five years now,what would it be like?

[Swede]

For one thing the oil companies wouldn't be gouging everyone.

[1932]

1. Larry Summers and Rubin would be running the table on behalf of Wall St

and on behalf of Telecoms, most likely.

Oil companies might not be killing us, but neoliberalism would still be the state religion.

[saltpoint]

2. It would be a bit of an adjustment to listen to a president use English,

however.

I'd need some adjustment time for that...

But beyond that adjustment time, a Gore-led country with a strong energy/conservation/renewable fuels plan would be glorious.

[Flabbergasted]

3. Gas would still Have risen 10% but we wouldn't be at war in two countries!

[Catchawave]

4. Sometimes I wonder.....

...would 9-11 have been prevented ? I think so :cry:

[Blackthorn]

5. 9/11 would have simply been postphoned. n/t

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

10. Postphoned, Yes.

We would not be in Iraq and Afghanistan today. The NWO pace would have been still plodding along, not at the dead run pace we suffer under *.

[Catchawave]

12. Really ?

Interesting.

[KansDem]

33. Nah...Gore would've stopped any attack, if there was going to be one.

Gore isn't buddy-buddy with the bin Laden family, so there probably wouldn't have been an attack. If the Bushistas were to work behind the scenes to undermine Gore with a 9/11-type attack, than Gore would have really done something about the PDB of August 2001. Or Gore, if he were to spy on foreign calls in/into the US and not on a lot of political opponents and critics, would have really gotten the goods on Osama and prevented the attack, like the president is suppose to do. And if the attacks occurred anyway, Gore would have rounded up all of the bin Laden relatives for questioning, just like in cop shows, not have secretly let them fly out of the country as a favor to the bin Ladens. And if Gore were president, he might just have felt a need to go after Saudi Arabia, considering 75% of the 9/11 attackers were from there, not after some despot who had nothing to do with 9/11.

One could play many "what ifs" with this. One thing for certain, if Gore were president the phrase "My Pet Goat" would not have entered the nation's vernacular.

[DesertRat]

6. We wouldn't have invaded and occupied Iraq

It saddens me to think of all the lives that have been lost FOR NOTHING. :cry:

[smtpgirl]

7. We would not be making money on investments

but gas would probably be $2.29 a gallon

[trotsky]

8. Wha?

After how the market performed under Clinton, why do you think investments wouldn't be doing well under a Gore presidency?

[progressivebydesign]

31. You're joking, RIGHT??? Cuz the stock market TANKED under Bush!

My god.. you really need to do some homework. Recently, a very well respected financial publication issued a report showing that the investors ALWAYS do well under Democratic presidents. Did you know that investors in the stock market since Bush took office have gained.. oh wait.. LOST to the tune of -9%, while under all but ONE Democratic prez they gained. Bill Clinton led the pack with a whopping 19% gain in stock value during his tenure?

[B Calm]

9. We would probably be driving solar powered flying cars.. Their

wouldn't be unemployment, and the working man would be making a fair wage. We would be in Al Gore's 5th year of peace and prosperity..

[GOPFighter]

11. The Republicans would be gearing up for impeachment about now

After spending 500 billion dollars investigating him, his wife, and children, they would have found that parking ticket he forgot to pay in 1983.

[etherealtruth]

35. Yes ...

...but that would "prove" he was too immoral to govern :sarcasm:

[originalpckelly]

13. Look at it this way...

In quantum physics there are supposed to be alternate universes created at each decision. So in a parallel universe Al Gore is the President.

[gordianot]

14. Joe Lieberman would be President and we would be at war somewhere.

[progressivebydesign]

30. In normal times the VP has little power.

You're attributing the unnatural power of dick cheney as VP to another administration. VPs don't call the shots... usually.

[gordianot]

40. Not exactly.

I think Joe was a Neo-Con plant insurance who would become President as circumstances developed.

[BrotherBuzz]

15. By Executive Order he would have united

those damn pesky internets.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

16. some predictions from me...

1. The national debt would have been much lower due to year-on-year surpluses, the debt is on course to be wiped out by 2010
2. U.S. forces are deployed as peacekeepers in Sudan and other hotspots.
3. After a 6 month contraction in 2001, the economy is growing a 3-3.5% trend growth year-on-year. The economy is running at full employment. Inflation is 1.00-1.50%.
4. The number of liberals and moderate liberals is greater than the number of conservatives in the SCOTUS.
5. The U.S. is signatory to the Kyoto protocol and is applying pressure on countries such as China to curb its emissions.
6. There is a gradual movement within the Oval Office and in Congress towards universal healthcare coverage. It will not be socialised medicine, but likely a mixture of systems that plug the insurance-less gap between those on Medicaid and those who don't get healthcare entitlement in their jobs.
7. There is no suggestion of any Social Security crisis.
8. Taxes are lower for the working class and middle classes. Taxes are higher for the wealthy earning above $500K.
9. Market rates are approximately €1.00=$1.04 £1.00=$1.58 $1.00=Y120. Oil prices are $42 a barrel.

[Old and In the Way]

17. Good question Swede.....I think about the road not taken quite a bit.

Let's see-

(1) He'd have paid attention to AQ before 9/11.....I suspect that it wouldn't have occurred or, if it had, he wouldn't have approached it as an opportunity to provide a payoff for the MIC. He'd have hunted done OBL with the support of the world community and decapitated the head of AQ. More importantly, he really would have gone after the funding of terrorism....that might have opened up a whole lot of ugliness for certain hi-profile Republicans.

(2) He'd have seized on global warming, the dependence on oil, and the need to jumpstart the economy which was softening from the hi-tech bust and made a case to start overhauling our infrastructure to accommodate a post-peak oil energy economy. It would have had a positive effect on global warming.

(3) Instead of taxcuts to the rich to move their money out of our economy, he'd have invested it to prime the pump to make (2) happen.

(4) He'd have further US economic/trade/security interests by using international diplomacy rather than the military....he never struck me as a person who's character needed to be stroked by being a "war President". 100's of thousands would still be alive. Maybe real tragedies, like Darfur, would have gotten more attention.

(5) He'd have addressed a single payer healthcare system where everyone is covered. It would make our businesses more competitive in the world market.

(6) He'd have invested in education an investment in our kids and their future.

(7) Social Security would have been strengthened.....the upside would be that people could retire, opening jobs for the next generation of young people who can't find work today.


In other words, it'd be completely different...but the Republicans would still be bitching about everything, because that's about all they ever do.

[fooj]

18. Wise words full of TRUTH!

In other words, it'd be completely different...but the Republicans would still be bitching about everything, because that's about all they ever do.

Peace.

[usregimechange]

19. It would be nice to have some leadership on that issue in the WH

[Jack Rabbit]

20. The US was attacked by al Qaida on September 11, 2001

President Gore immediately began working with US allies and the United Nations. When the Taliban demanded proof that Osama had planned the attacks, the President went on television with declassified documents which proved beyond any doubt to the entire world that the attacks were indeed the work of Osama and his lieutenants. The Taliban demanded more, which forced the hand of the President. The UN Security Council condemned Afghanistan by a unanimous vote and authorized the President and his allies to take any means necessary to clear Afghanistan of terrorist camps. After a brief bombing campaign, US, British, French, German, Pakistani and Indian troops along with troops from a half dozen Arab states, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and Iran crossed into Afghanistan in December and captured Osama bin Laden, Khalid Mohammed, Aiman al-Zawahiri and other top members of the al Qaida network. The prisoners were tried in US court, convicted and sentenced to death. The invasion of Afghanistan so weakened the Taliban regime, which was never at its best terribly stable, that it soon toppled. The Taliban's leader, Mullah Omar, was hanged from a lamp post in Kabul by a group of Afghan women who fashioned the rope from discarded burqas.

President Gore concentrated on foreign policy for some time afterward, looking for ways to prevent future al Qaidas from breeding. Massive aid was provided to Arab countries, usually going around corrupt and oppressive regimes that were relics of the cold war. This also had the benefit of free and fair elections in Egypt, where Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power, a growing pro-democracy movement in Arabia that threatens to replace the House of Saud with a broad popular government and further reforms in Iran, loosening the Mullah's hold on power. President Gore also sponsored further peace talks at Camp David between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and ailing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. After considerable wrangling and pressure from the United States to both sides, the agreement was reached in which a Palestinian state was declared in the West Bank and Gaza, a land swap enacted that put the most populous Israeli settlements around Jerusalem inside Israeli territory and outlying settlements were dismantled. The peace between Israel and Palestine, although very delicate, removed a great festering sore from Middle East politics.

The Republicans, notably former Reagan and Bush administration officials and some intellectuals in a group known as the Project for the New American Century, criticized the President for not using the September 11 attacks to get tough on Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Looking into the matter, President Gore could find no reason to believe that Saddam had anything to do with the September 11 attacks and soon found that it was doubtful that he had any weapons in quantities that could be shared with international terrorists. The clamor soon died down. In the meantime, Saddam, hoping for some goodwill from the west, captured and executed a small time terrorist operating in Iraq named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who had been a minor annoyance to Saddam.

Nevertheless, Iraq became a serious trouble spot in the spring of 2005 when Saddam was assassinated and civil war broke out. While Shiites and Sunni Iraqis continue to kill each other daily, Kurdish Iraqis have declared independence and it seems that Kurdistan will be a permanent fixture on the world map.

On the domestic front, President Gore continued the Clinton policy of fiscal discipline and targeted tax cuts. A recession hit the US economy in 2000 was largely over by the spring of 2001 and Americans continued to enjoy the prosperity of the Clinton years.

In the election of 2004, President Gore was easily re-elected over the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain of Arizona. President Gore's personal life was free from the scandal that plagued his predecessor, so the Republicans had to run on real issues and did not do well doing so. The voters were tired of constant Republican harping on Clinton's personality long after it had become even more irrelevant than ever. The Democrats rode President Gore's coat tails to control of both houses of Congress in 2004.

[Arkham House]

24. This is the best and most rational answer I've seen...

...it makes me weep. God--what could have been...and don't forget Chief Justice Lawrence Tribe, and the new Center-Liberal pragmatic Supreme Court...

[Catchawave]

25. Though wouldn't President Gore have read

that memo that OBL *planned* to attack us by flying airplanes into buildings and given his CIA and FBI all the support they would need to protect our airlines, people and those buildings?

However, your vision was beautiful, if only....:cry:

[Jack Rabbit]

26. I think Gore would have done more

However, I never felt it fair to blame Bush for the attack in that sense. Even giving the matter the attention it deserved (which Bush certainly did not) would not have guaranteed that the attacks would not have occurred.

So I start my alternate history with the attacks taking place as they actually did and showing how President Gore would have handled the situation better. He would have focused on the attacks as the acts of specific individuals, not as the work of all evil doers acting in a kind of mystical conspiracy. The overall goal would have been to apprehend and punish those responsible for the September 11 attacks, not anybody and everybody who annoys the United States in one way or another. The goal was more modest, but achievable. It would have been a well-defined goal with concrete metrics of success and failure. There would have been no need to upset the structure of international law. There would have been no Patriot Act or illegal wire tapping. There might have been a detention facility at Guantánamo, but one in which the inmates would be treated humanely, be charged with specific crimes and given due process of law; there would have been no torture or kangaroo courts, aka military commissions. There would be no need to trample on the Bill of Rights.

I don't want to portray life under the Gore administration as idyllic. Certainly business cycles would still be with us. I had problems with some of Clinton's policies and I would have had the same problem with them under Gore. Gore would most likely have pursued the same neoliberal trade agenda as Clinton, although it seems pretty clear by now that this agenda is discredited. Would New Orleans have been any better prepared to withstand a category 5 hurricane under President Gore than under Mr. Bush? We really can't say Yes with any certainty, but it's a fair bet that the relief effort would have been handled a lot better.

We would have had problems under President Gore and it would give the Republicans a few things to talk about, but I'll trade the set of problems we have now for those we would have had under President Gore any day.

[Catchawave]

42. Thank you, I want to live in that world too :)

:hi:

[progressivebydesign]

29. That was my assertion later in this thread.

Gore and company would have taken those memos seriously, as well as the Hart-Rudman report on terrorism.

[Uncle Joe]

27. Well said, all that and human society evolves

to the point of becoming more in tune with nature reversing the trend of catastrophic global warming and saving humankind from Earth's sixth great extinction. Eventually after serving his nation and the planet for eight astoundingly successful years, Al Gore is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and his image is hammered in to Mount Rushmore.

[Frank Cannon]

36. That's so real, Jack, I almost feel like I lived through it

In some other alternate universe, not the present hell in which we all find ourselves.

[ThoughtCriminal]

21. Depends on who controls Congress

The Democrats or the WhiningBrats

[flordehinojos]

22. the planet would be green, and well cared for, (the corporatists would not

like it)...the press would be desperately looking for something to pin on him, or on tipper, or on karenna, or al jr.
social security would be in a lock box and people would be assured of SS retirement benefits.
there would be no spying. no fear mongering. no fear planting. no terra, terra, terra gonna get you we gotta get'em 'fore they getus.

people would have worthwhile health benefit through their HMO coverage...maybe even some form of universal health care (dream, dream, dream) and insurance companies would not be getting away with charging premiums for services they don't provide.

DISSENT WOULD BE ALLOWED. JOURNALISM WOULD BE REAL JOURNALISM. DIPLOMACY WOULD BE REAL DIPLOMACY.

[northofdenali]

23. We would still have a budget surplus, viable Medicare drug benefits,

a very high ($1 to $2/gallon) gasoline tax, bringing gas up to about what it is now, at least one bill forcing auto companies to make more fuel efficient vehicles, and much, much stronger legislation regarding our environment and global warming.

We would be in Afghanistan, IF 9/11 still happened, and would have kicked Bin Laden's ass. Al doesn't like the Saudi's; Bin Laden or sanctions, guys.

The economy would be getting a boost from alternative-fuel and "green" related industries springing up in unlikely places. New Orleans would be nearly rebuilt and repatriated with all those wishing to return, as well as optional tech/service schooling for those of the 9th Ward who needed or wanted it.

Our taxes would be higher by at least 25%. Income tax for those making over $5 million per year would be close to 50%; over $20 million at 60%. Corporations would have no more loopholes and would pay 10% of gross profits, periods. So would churches. (That is one of MY fantasies, sorry.) Corporate farm subsidies would be gone. Subsidies for any corporations would be minimal; housing, construction and related industries excluded unless revitalizing or building "green".

My world. Maybe one day. I could rant about this. Read Mother Earth News, Mother Jones, etc. and there's me looking out.

[progressivebydesign]

28. The world would be more peaceful, and 9/11 would have been STOPPED.

Face it, the Clinton Administration TRIED to warn the incoming Bush Admin. about the threat of Al Qaida. The Hart-Rudman report that basically outlined a plan to deal with that type of terrorism, even going as far as to recommend a Department of Homeland Security, was shelved by Cheney and Bush.. so they could make their OWN plan. If you really pay attention to people like Richard Clarke, you'd all know that most likely Gore's people would have been able to stop 9/11. We also would not be at war with Iraq. God.. there's just so many things that would be different..

[Pathwalker]

34. He implemtented the recommendations in the Gore Commission

Report, thus PREVENTING 9/11.

http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/212fin~1.html


Read way down on the recommendations for protecting America from the threat of terrorism by using airplanes. Had these recommendations been implemtented, 9/11 probably would never have happened.

[Javaman]

32. my blood pressure would be lower. nt

[KurtNYC]

37. The MSM would do story after story and call every minor incident

_____-gate. They would spout debunked lies about him over and over and interview everyone that hates him and never show his response. They would do polls with loaded questions and claim that everything bad that happens is because of him and everything good that happens is inspite of him.

Basically like they did Clinton.

[Joe Fields]

38. First of all, I believe he would have taken out the al-queda...

and the taliban in Afghanistan. There would not have been a declared war on terror. He would have systematically rooted out the small pockets of terror groups with surgical strikes, much like Bill Clinton tried to do. So, in this respect, he would not have risked starting World War III. He would have continued sanctions against Iraq.

Importantly, he would have filled his cabinet and sub-level cabinet positions with capable people, ones who were experienced in the fields that they would be nominated for.

He would not have had closed energy policy meetings. Rather, he would most likely have held open discussions with dozens of scientists, researchers, think tanks, and also a few industry executives. The result would have been a comprehensive energy policy, with an emphasis on creating an alternative fuel infrastructure, and stressing fuel economizing by the public and private sector.

He would have funded the EPA, and held it to strict enforcement of the cleaning up of superfund sights and brown zones. He would have strengthened the clean air and clean water acts, enacted tighter regulations on emissions, held mining companies to strict code enforcement. In short, he would have made sure that his legacy was leaving the planet a little better off than when he first took office.

He would not have slashed social programs to the bone. In my opinion, he most likely would have increased funding for social programs. He would have probably left medicare alone. Probably would not have had enough political capital to mess with social security.

What he would have done with the military industrial complex is something I cannot guess. But I do know he wouldn't bankrupt the country, spending 70 cents of every dollar taken in on the military.

Gore would not have enacted massive tax cuts for the wealthy. He may have enacted some tax cuts, given the surplus that he would have inherited from Clinton, but the tax cuts would have benefitted the poor and middle class.

As for the rest of the surplus that Gore would have inherited from Clinton, he would have REALLY strengthened the security of air travel, rail travel, the ports, and other areas of concern after 9/11.

Gore would have had an honest, earnest administration, instead of the cesspool we have now.

[Rocknrule]

39. He would've been impeached for jaywalking

[AzDar]

41. My blood pressure would probably be 'normal' again. n/t