An Effective Consensus

[OSR stands with Israel]

Glenn/Carter 285
Bayh/Bush 253

[S019]

Wyoming has clearly been rigged for Democrats, so that means the Reps need to sweep ID, CO, and AK to win

[We Live in Black and White]

CHENEY YOU MOTHERF**KER

[😥]

Go Birch! My prediction: Glenn wins Colorado and Wyoming

[America Needs R'hllor]

Glenn gonna win Hope Cheney is exposed!

[Orwell]

Based Dick

[Captain Chaos]

I think Cheney wants to be Chief of Staff in the Glenn administration.

[Snazzrazz Mazzlejazz]

I hold no love for Glenn or the methods used to win, but I refuse to be upset at Vice President Carter.

[KaiserDave]

I should note for the benefit of the audience that Glenn's role in Cheney's nefarious deeds is unknown, he may have had no idea.

[We Live in Black and White]

I should note for the benefit of the audience that Glenn's role in Cheney's nefarious deeds is unknown, he may have had no idea.

That's what I'm betting. Cheney is an agent of the Wallace machine and Glenn, both in and out of this timeline, was way too honest to go along with something so nefarious. That's the sad thing, because I still predict he eats s**t for it in the public opinion eventually.

[KaiserDave]

I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dick Cheney in this timeline

[We Live in Black and White]

I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dick Cheney in this timeline

FML. 😭

[Snazzrazz Mazzlejazz]

I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dick Cheney in this timeline

I won't be upset if Cheney ends up being the closest thing this TL gets to a cartoon villain.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dick Cheney in this timeline

Is he going to get shot in the face?

[KaiserDave]

Rest in Peace Annie Glenn

Election Results

John H. Glenn/James E. Carter: 271-49.57% ✓
Birch E. Bayh/George H. W. Bush: 267-49.25%

Good evening I'm Walter Cronkite and it's November 3rd on CBS Evening News and the 1976 Presidential election is over. While the results are still tentative and the Bayh campaign has yet to officially concede it looks like that John Glenn has won the election in a real close one. This folks was even closer than 1960, and it came down to just a few rural states out west. With a margin of 623 and 1,002 votes respectively, Wyoming and Idaho went for Senator Glenn. By a a few thousand votes Montana and Colorado also went to the Democrats. Recounts continue in some areas, but it appears very likely we have a winner. Senator Glenn declared victory and asked for reconciliation, respect, and a peaceful transition. Democrats rejoice after two straight Republican landslides, and worries they'd be locked out of the White House for longer. Senator Bayh has said he will respect the results, and that he is unlikely to win, but that he wishes to wait for the all the votes to come in to concede. President Romney called for patience and counting all the ballots, but congratulated Senator Glenn on his probable victory. In Congress Speaker Ford has held his majority, and Senator Mansfield has his in the Senate though the GOP made some surprising gains like with Orrin Hatch in Utah winning by a surprisingly big amount. Still there are questions. What was the driver of this Democratic comeback? How did they get out of the south? Exit polls suggest the a strong suburban vote was there for the Democrats, as well as rural voters out west rejecting Bayh's left liberalism. The Southern vote was strong for Democrats but also strong inroads were made with those centrist, middle of road voters that define our politics in many regards. The Republicans however, were comforted amongst all the despair that the black vote stood reliably behind them. The Conservative Movement waits quietly to see what will happen next, as neither candidates were truly one of them. However many have committed, and with some successes to elect Conservatives down ballot. Democrats Newt Gingrich and Dennis Hastert were elected in Georgia and Illinois respectively in the House of Representatives. Liberals lament as their standard bearer failed to take the White House. Though in his speech last night he declared that "for all time our vision of a more fair, more just, America must and shall win out." President Romney's administration is also now coming to an end. The President remains very popular, and despite the contentious and high turnout election, despite predictions of a sleepy affair, his reforms and legacy appear to be viewed highly favorably. Some election analysts have been curious about irregularities of turnout in Wyoming, though these concerns have been largely dismissed....


Senate
Democrats: 58 (-4)
Republicans: 42 (+4)

Flips:  Indiana (D to R), Minnesota (D to R), Utah (D to R), Wyoming (D to R)

House of Representatives
Republicans: 224 (-4)
Democrats: 211 (+4)

[We Live in Black and White]

America got Dicked. 😞

[KaiserDave]

America got Dicked. 😞

Did he make the difference, that is the question....


Will I ever answer it.....another question

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

America got Dicked. 😞

Did he make the difference, that is the question....


Will I ever answer it.....another question

Maybe some time around say the early 2000s?

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Let's say the crates held... idk, 500 ballots each. It can be pretty certain that a majority if not all of them were Republican, assuming Dick knows what he's doing. That certainly would've been the difference maker.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

America got Dicked.

Did he make the difference, that is the question....

My guess is absolutely, for the reason Weatherboy mentioned.

[KaiserDave]

Gallup Poll: President Romney Job Approval January 1977



Wikimedia Commons

Approve: 64%
Disapprove: 34%

[OSR stands with Israel]

Jack Kemp or Paul Laxalt 1980!!

[KaiserDave]

Wikimedia Commons and Image Modified by Me

The Glenn Administration

President John Herschel Glenn Jr. was sworn on the 20th of January 1977 on the bible used by fellow Ohioan President Taft in his inauguration. He was sworn in by Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall. Vice President James Earl Carter was sworn in by Senator Majority Leader Mike Mansfield. Presidents Nixon, Wallace, and Romney were all in attendance. President Glenn delivered a speech with lofty themes of reconciliation, respect, and American patriotism. One commentator observed that it was "red, white, and bland." However, he did make waves by promising to erase the deficit within the fiscal year.

John Glenn's cabinet was a mix of old and new, and striking a balance between the party's arch conservative southerners and more moderate New Democrat wing. J. William Fulbright was installed as Secretary of State, William Verity Jr. at the Treasury Department, Griffin Bell as Attorney General, and John L. McLucas as Secretary of Defense. The Administration pursued a largely middle of the road path, a right turn from President Romney's aggressive reforms, but not that far right. The Administration's first legislative priority was balancing the budget. Glenn had tap-danced around how he was going to do that in the campaign, but now he had to go into details. His plan introduced an Alternative Minimum Tax, cut spending across the board, with an exception to the military, education, and scientific research. However it was noted that his plan curbed social security benefit increases over the long term. In theory Glenn's budget proposals would balance the budget by the end of the year. In Congress Republicans objected to the cuts to spending while some Democrats didn't think the spending cuts were deep enough. Emerging proponents of supply side economics like Representative Jack Kemp of New York said that further tax cuts should be carried out, without a need for cuts to spending. However in Congress some of the austerity prone measures of the proposal were exposed. Over the long term it would drastically reduce public service spending, and without much in the way of tax increases it would come down hard. However Conservatives wanted more. A team of Phyllis Schlafly, Dick Cheney, and Antonin Scalia demanded more in the way of defense spending and even demanded military deployments in Iran to ward off revolution*, and breaking off ties with China. Meanwhile Robert Bork and Donald Regan demanded mass tax cuts and deregulation. This turn to the far right was only stopped by Glenn and Carter's own personal wills. Although the B-1 program was continued. In the Senate the legislation stalled as Senator Birch Bayh filibustered it, spending hours pouring over the cuts. He was joined by fellow liberal Republicans like Linwood Holton, and in the House by Bill Cohen. However, a coalition of Senate majority Democrats and moderates sent it to the President's desk. President Glenn signed it and proclaimed that, "deficits and irresponsible budgets are over, sound budgets and prosperity are in." Vice President Carter pushed for a Department of Energy, but oil lobbyists killed it, President Glenn found that indeed many of the DNC recommended appointments to his administration were oiled or connected to various industries.

On the foreign policy front Glenn took a more anti-Soviet role. He courted the Deng regime in China to counter the USSR, and committed more efforts to ABM systems and support for anti-communist forces in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia where the Eritrean rebels were given aid. Liberals demanded to know why he chose to roll back detente, and conservatives were furious he wasn't going far enough. But Glenn held the course. Meanwhile Glenn pushed for reforms to the size and scale of government, and read up on Calvin Coolidge and Grover Cleveland. Space and Science was near and dear to John Glenn's heart. He pushed for funding for a new moon landing in 1980, and for funding for a proposed orbital space station. He pushed for more funding for primary schools on science, ordered plans for a Mars Mission by 2020 to be drafted, and supported deep sea exploration. His pro balanced budgets advisors balked at his grand spending vision, and worried he could jeopardize a potential surplus, but Glenn was firm.

Despite strong pressures from the resurgent conservative movement on his right, and a Republican party eager to retake the White House in 1980 John Glenn held the center course. The economy continued to grow, and despite cooling relations with the Soviet Union, things seemed stable. So far the ship of state under Colonel John Glenn was doing well.



*will be shown

[KaiserDave]

Gallup Poll: President Glenn Job Approval December 1977



Wikimedia Commons

Approve: 59%
Disapprove: 36%

[We Live in Black and White]

Could be worse, but the fact that Cheney is clearly trying to manipulate the presidency leaves a bad taste in my mouth for the whole administration.