If Bush 43 kept drinking, could he have become President?

[darklordoftech]

Or would he be crippled by alcoholism?

[NewYorkExpress]

We've had degenerates and drunkards as Presidents before Dubya, so yes, he probably could have.

[brucejoel99]

Well, for one thing, Laura would definitely leave him, since it was her ultimatum that made him quit drinking in the first place, & so if she - one of the anchors of his life - goes away, then he becomes as untethered as the son of a President could possibly be. He'd certainly never get born-again or find Jesus, let alone 'compassionate conservatism.'

Now, he's still a Bush, so he'd still be in business &/or baseball or something, but he'd certainly be more of a liability to his family's political careers than he ever was in real life (wherein he actually helped his dad in his 2 presidential runs since they took place after he got sober), so there'd always be the possibility of him embarrassing Poppy Bush during his presidency &/or (perhaps more amusingly) Jeb! during his inevitable presidential run(s).

So W. ends up being a Republican Billy Carter rather than the 43rd President of the United States.