If Al Gore had won in 2000....

[CheeseWhiz]

I cannot stand people who say "GORE WOULD SURRENDER TO THE TERRORISTS BECAUSE HE LOVES TERRORISM" or "GORE WOULD HAVE STOPPED 9/11 BY SHOOTING DOWN THE PLANES BY HIMSELF".

I second that!  Gore may have responded to it a little better or a little worse than Bush, but I doubt there would be a major difference in how successful we were, just what he would have done and how he would have done it.

[RosettaStoned]

He would'nt have ignored those intelligence repprts in August of 2001 that said, "Bin Laden determined to strike in the US." Therefore, 9/11 might not have happened.

[Psychic Octopus]

I would love to see Giuliani run in 2004 (with a better organization) and the Hero of 911 becomes President.

[Wakie]

You know how some Conservatives seem to think that Nixon in 1960 would have meant a successful Bay of Pigs Invasion?  I think Liberals have the same thoughts about Gore and 9/11.


So 2 trains of thought on this one and they diverge depending on whether you think 9/11 would have happened or not under Gore.

First train, if Gore is President and 9/11 happens.  He takes the blame.  He invades Afghanistan but not Iraq.  I don't see him running for reelection in 2004.  Instead I think we see John Kerry get his clock cleaned John McCain.

Second train, if Gore is President and 9/11 doesn't happen.  Gore's "lockbox" strategy regarding tax $'s is blamed for rough economic times.  By 2004 though the economy is making a turn, the war on terror never happens, and Gore is defeated by Jeb Bush.

[Daniel Z]

You know how some Conservatives seem to think that Nixon in 1960 would have meant a successful Bay of Pigs Invasion?  I think Liberals have the same thoughts about Gore and 9/11.


So 2 trains of thought on this one and they diverge depending on whether you think 9/11 would have happened or not under Gore.

First train, if Gore is President and 9/11 happens.  He takes the blame.  He invades Afghanistan but not Iraq.  I don't see him running for reelection in 2004.  Instead I think we see John Kerry get his clock cleaned John McCain.

Second train, if Gore is President and 9/11 doesn't happen.  Gore's "lockbox" strategy regarding tax $'s is blamed for rough economic times.  By 2004 though the economy is making a turn, the war on terror never happens, and Gore is defeated by Jeb Bush.

I doubt he quits after one term. I assume 9/11 would have happened with Gore as President, and as you said he invades Afghanistan and not Iraq. However I think he would have won reelection, since his approval ratings probably would have shot up after the attacks, and he would not have had Iraq to drag his popularity down. The only reason the 2004 election was at all close was because of growing unpopularity of the Iraq war. I more or less agree with your second train.

[pbrower2a]

There's a good chance he would have prevented 9/11.

Do you seriously believe that?  I mean, if Clinton couldn't prevent it in a few years, what makes you think Gore could have in a few months?

If he hadn't, he would have ended up with about a 5% approval rating after the media went berserk saying how that if Bush was President he would have stopped 9/11.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anybody in the media is currently saying that Gore would have prevented 9/11, because I expect they want to maintain at least some credibility.  Hence, Bush does not have a 5% approval rating.

Gore would have paid attention to CIA reports of plots of aerial mischief and warned the rest of the world. There would have been arrests in late August that would have disrupted the plot. He might not have believed the stories of hijackers flying jetliners into buildings, but he would have figured that the hijackers weren't going to hijack jetliners to Cuba.

[Joe Republic]

Gore would have paid attention to CIA reports of plots of aerial mischief and warned the rest of the world. There would have been arrests in late August that would have disrupted the plot. He might not have believed the stories of hijackers flying jetliners into buildings, but he would have figured that the hijackers weren't going to hijack jetliners to Cuba.

Hindsight and wishful thinking make a powerful combination.

[Keystone Phil]

Gore would have paid attention to CIA reports of plots of aerial mischief and warned the rest of the world. There would have been arrests in late August that would have disrupted the plot. He might not have believed the stories of hijackers flying jetliners into buildings, but he would have figured that the hijackers weren't going to hijack jetliners to Cuba.

Hindsight and wishful thinking make a powerful combination.

LOL @ anyone that thinks pbrower is anything more than a long winded hack.

[Franzl]

Gore would have paid attention to CIA reports of plots of aerial mischief and warned the rest of the world. There would have been arrests in late August that would have disrupted the plot. He might not have believed the stories of hijackers flying jetliners into buildings, but he would have figured that the hijackers weren't going to hijack jetliners to Cuba.

Hindsight and wishful thinking make a powerful combination.

LOL @ anyone that thinks pbrower is anything more than a long winded hack.

Seconded

[angus green]

I'm in the process of doing some research for a similar thread - though Al Gore is not the main character for most of the timeline. Does anyone know of any good reference books that contain a timeline for Bush's presidency?

[Schiff for Senate]

Yes, he likely would've. The president on 9/11 would most likely be reelected in 2004. His opponent might be John McCain, since McCain was considered pretty hawkish and credible on foreign policy, was a war hero and did decently the 2000 GOP primaries.
Below is a possible 2004 map with Gore and Liebermann as the Democratic candidates and McCain and Lindsey Graham. (The reason McCain might pick Graham is because he, Liebermann and Graham were close friends, all three foreign policy hawks. It would also be interesting to see a race featuring all three of them.)

[GregTheGreat657]

There's a good chance he would have prevented 9/11. If he hadn't, he would have ended up with about a 5% approval rating after the media went berserk saying how that if Bush was President he would have stopped 9/11.

The MSM would have been less harsh to Gore than they were to Bush

[CEO Mindset]

honestly you could justify anything you want if you somehow pull off a gore victory... man was as unelectable as mcgovern imo

lewinsky scandal making democrats turn out for partisan reason and the gop running a barely literate religious fruitcake is why gore got north of 150 electoral votes and might have gotten more popular votes

[Continential]

honestly you could justify anything you want if you somehow pull off a gore victory... man was as unelectable as mcgovern imo

So unelectable that he could have won had the ballots that resulted in Gore voters voting for Buchanan on accident changed, so unelectable that he lost by 537 votes and so unelectable that he won the popular vote.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

I went through this thread quickly so maybe I missed it, but I don't think anyone brought up the fact that 2004 could've been the Republicans' 1992 with fatigue taking a toll. I mean, even if Gore did win, he won by a lot less than Bush '88.

[LBJer]

I think it's more appropriate to say: "If Al Gore had become president in 2001..."  because he may well have actually won the 2000 election. 

[StateBoiler]

9/11 would've still occurred. The conservative reaction to it since the attack would've then been wholly owned by the Clinton/Gore administrations would've probably driven Gore into a hawkish response due to Carter Iran Hostage Crisis vibes. The where that hawkish response would've been directed to is entirely up in the air because the perpetrators were a non-state entity. Saddam Hussein would've stayed in power until he died and Qusay I think the name of his youngest son was would still be in control. I can't really picture Gore going whole hog after the Saudis, so similar to Bush there (although toppling Saddam's regime in Iraq and putting in place a democratic system was very anti-Saudi in the end). Afghanistan might've still occurred just because the Taliban were the only ruling regime in the world that backed the attacks. Gore responding to al-Qaeda would require him to go where al-Qaeda was situated. Musharref would've still been backed into a corner to back us but Gore's team could've been more wishy-washy about it causing Musharref to not completely throw the Taliban under a bus.