Monday, May 04, 2009
More alternative history
As of about 2:00 PM EDT, there are 28 comments on the question posed below regarding the 2000 election and the chances that Barack Obama would be POTUS today had Gore won that election.
I am pretty sure that I only see one comment (from frequent commenter Christopher Chambers) that suggests that Senator Obama would have even been in the running in 2008:
"lemme tell the truth:
Surface differences, but trends, effects etc would pretty much have been the same, including a Hillary versus Obama fight in 08. Such is the USA"
which I interpret to mean that he would have been a strong presence in the Democratic primary, but not an affirmative statement that he would in fact have been elected POTUS.
Other comments -- all thoughtful and imaginative -- painted a variety of scenarios that could lead to a greater or lesser consumption of Xanax. Thanks to all for participating in that exercise of fun and speculation.
Given that no commenters stated definitively that Barack Obama would be POTUS had Gore been elected in 2000, and the close nature of that loss and the fury in certain quarters that resulted, my question is this: if I am (hypothetically) a Democrat in the left-of-center section of my party, am I happy, in retrospect, that Gore lost, to the extent that I see Barack Obama in the White House in 2009?
If the answer to that question in yes, does that answer provide any meaningful insights whatsoever to the future of U.S. politics over the next generation? Does it indicate that vitriol in politics works, or that it is unnecessary, a great deal of "sound and fury, signifying nothing?"
5 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon May 04, 02:50:00 PM:
I'm pretty close to being your hypothetical Democrat, and the answer is emphatically no, I'd much prefer to have avoided the catastrophic mistakes of the Bush even at the cost of a Republican presidency now. This is despite thinking Obama is a better political player than Gore and might get more stuff done now. The cost was too high.
By 
John, at
Mon May 04, 02:54:00 PM:
Perfect quote to end upon. Well done, well done.
I think the biggest difference from a macro-perspective is that the Gore disputers and those most upset were predominately represented by the hippie-class and older peacenik/socialists, while Obama's crowd has the face of young socialists.
I don't think Gore Dems really think that way, I just can't see it, but from my perspective...
it is a tale told by an idiot. And Dems as a matter of retrospect, just can't see things as just how life is, and laugh, or be vindicated.
Sorry to be so abstract, so, in a word, yes you are happy because Bush in 2000 wasn't as serious a threat to the basis of your pride in being a Democrat as a 'third Bush term' might have been.
By , at
Mon May 04, 05:40:00 PM:
By the time I read TH's question there were way too many comments for me to add much. I would make these three comments about both questions:
1) Had Al Gore won his own state of Tennessee or even Bill Clinton's state of Arkansas this entire exercise would have been moot. The fact that he did not have one of the best politician's of any era (Clinton) by his side as he was traversing the country showed two of his fateful flaws: pride and ego.
2) David Gergen wrote a great book called "An Eyewitness to Power" in that book he had nothing but good things to say about Al Gore and how much of a centrist he was in Clinton's cabinet (of which Gergen was the token Republican who had served under Nixon, Ford, Regan).
3) The prospect that a guy like Barack Obama as President in 2008 was only possible because of the War and the belief that America needed a radical readjustment. His overly left leaning ways would not have played out well if the Dems had controlled the White House in any of those years that G.W. was in power. Let's not forget that Clinton had a high 50's popularity rating when he left office and he is Jesse Helms compared to Obama.
By , at
Mon May 04, 06:08:00 PM:
Demography.
Demography.
Demography.
Demography is destiny.
A good metaphor of Democracy is the CBS show "Survivor". In one of the shows, a former Navy Seal, who should be an expert on surviving, was voted off. This man won something like 11 challenges in a row. He lost one---booted off.
Democracy runs on class envy---mostly envy and covetousness. What is hated is the "superior" people, persons. That Navy Seal was "superior" and what happened is that all the weak elements gathered together in a voting bloc and kicked him off.
This is how democracy works folks. The minorities band together and work to upset the Majority. Anyway, it is a fact of life that weak OUTNUMBER superior everytime. That is why democracy rests on numbers, people. Minorities are banning together Jews, blacks, hispanics, and women to unseat and destroy the European WASP majority. It is inevitable. Europeans will be a minority in 30 years. Your goose is cooked. Demography is destiny and the blacks and the hispanics led by the Jewish cartel with the connivances of women, are demolishing the racial makeup that made America great.
No control over demography---and America is finished. That is why Pat Buchanan wrote that book, State of Emergency. The weak elements in America are banding together and the Europeans that made this country are going to be unseated PERMANENTLY.
Demography is Destiny. The Democrats/Marxists have a lock on the country. Say good bye to what you have known.
By Kinuachdrach, at
Mon May 04, 10:04:00 PM:
Maybe the real question should be -- What if Mrs Rodham-Clinton had not strolled up to the Democratic nomination as if she had been born Queen?
What if Hillary had stayed home baking cookies, and there had been a real open contest for the Democrat nomination -- a battle of ideas instead of the white female maybe lesbian against the black male maybe Muslim and the token Hispanic with a lot of corruption baggage? Hard to see Obama doing so well in a real knock-down Democrat contest.
Well, it is all water under the bridge now. The extreme left has grabbed control, and won't let go until the world collapses round about them. Which it seems to be fixing to do.
