Fuck that, Askance for world dictator, now!
But…I need to know what happens to the goat.
I’d do pretty much the same things Bush did-- but I’d get everything in writing, on the record, with clear votes from Congress, and especially the Democratic Party.
No more of this 'We supported him back when he was popular, but now that he’s unpopular, he’s the worst president evah" bunk.
I’d convene an international forum to explictly amend the Geneva Convention rules to stipulate how exactly unlawful combatants can be treated by signatories. No more of this “open to interpretation” stuff. I agree with 95% of the stuff Bush did WRT detainees, but the legal “black hole” has allowed critics of all political stripes to disingenously argue that what’s been done was illegal and/or unconstitutional when, in fact, there weren’t any laws (U.S. or international) that covered this unique situation.
I’d have more NATO forces in Afghanistan from Day One. I’d have NATO host the detainee prison, wherever they wanted-- no more hiding behind Gitmo’s skirts. The French would have f’ing served.
All of the world loved America after 9/11? Fine. . . prove it.
I’d still have invaded Iraq. In fact, I’d probably have invaded Iran too, if I could have found a way. Their nuclear program isn’t going away by wishful thinking, and it was irresponsible to leave the mess to the next administration.
I’d also fire Karl Rove. Not because he wasn’t smart or effective, but because the Bush Administration was too insulated from criticism, AND too incompetent in explaining its actions. Namely, no one would fear the Patriot Act because everyone would have understood that there’s nothing to G-D fear in the Patriot Act.
War aside, I’d have stopped Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from making risky loans to uncreditworthy individuals, no matter how much Barney Frank and Chris Dodd swore up and down. I wouldn’t have pushed for Social Security privatization in the manner it was pushed, but I defnitely would have done something about entitlements. I would have pushed for closing the border first, THEN amnesty for the illegals here in the U.S. I might have used my second term to
Most of all, I would have balanced my goddamn budgets.
(P.S. If you had allowed me to leap into Bill Clinton’s body, I would have prevented North Korea and Pakistan from getting nuclear weapons, and taken down Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein years before. Oh, and I wouldn’t have fingered the help, but that’s just me ;).
Darn, missed that: I might have used my second term to simplify the tax code (flat tax). I’d also never have signed the blatantly unconstitutional McCain-Feingold.
And for God’s sake, I would have taken Katrina seriously-- and realized that Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco were just as incompetent as my buddy Brownie.
Sorry, but invading Iraq was nuts. The biggest change foreign policy change I’d make was listening to George H. W. Bush’s advice more often.
Oh, and I’d have my wife pop in with me into Laura’s body, and announce Cheney’s retirement at the very first heart attack.
No, living in a world in 2009 with not one but two WMD-loving dictatorships in the Persian Gulf hostile to the U.S. is what’s nuts.
The war was fought badly, no arguments here. But if you think dealing with a nuclear-driven Iran is a challenge, let’s add the complexity of the Hussein Family dictatorship (post-U.N. sanction regime) into the mix.
But hey, this is all for another thread, no? 
I am going to type this once, then rip out my own eyeballs and feed them to the cat.
We did not find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, because there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This renders the justification of the war on grounds of prevening an attack by weapons of mass destruction dubious.
I’d say “You know…Gore DID win the election. I resign.”
What good would that do? Mr. Bush had long since been certified as president and had long since taken the oath of office; regardless of whether his election was legitimate, his installation certainly was.
If you haven’t brought another person along with you to jump into Cheney’s body, all you’ve done is hand him the Presidency. If you have brought someone along with you to jump into Cheney, then you give Dennis Hastert the presidency. There’s no way to spin this to give GORE the presidency.
who needs to invade Iraq, if you really want Sadam and crew out of power its not like we didnt know where he was a dozen times, we just kept missing him…order that missile fired 5 minutes sooner and hes dead.
upon getting the info of the attacks I would make some nice announcement to the country and then have special forces deployed as soon as humanly possible to capture Bin Laden. Then Clear out the Taliban.
reregulate instead of deregulate.
then institute a national policy to pull the governments head out of its ass regarding laws and the way contracts are awarded. (no more forcing the contract to the lowest bidder, now it goes to the best deal instead) make every single government employee take and pass a course on Deming’s 14 points and 7 deadly diseases as a part of getting hired/retaining their job.
then make a sex tape with Cheney and Rove.
First, buy a plane ticket…
…Nuts.
Why were you planning on passing the presidency to Cheney? How did you think that would be better?
Which two are those? I assume Iran is one. Can’t be Iraq as they didn’t have WMDs. Who else is on the Persian Gulf? Qatar, Bahrein, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait. None have WMDs … except Saudi Arabia 'cause the USA brought them there. Is that who you meant?
Considering Pakistan got nuclear weapons in 1987 and North Korea got them in 2003, I don’t see how it’s Clinton’s fault. Except in the general sense that everything is Clinton’s fault.
Hey, EVERY dictator is a WMD loving dictator. And ok, maybe they can’t afford nukes, but any of them can afford a few decent chemists and biologists to create some nasty killer juice and a few Cessnas to fly around and spray it.
Fortunately, paying for all this stuff, and USING it, would seriously cut down on their hookers and blow budget.
Ok, back to the OP.
Ok, since I have a clue what these wars have cost us, I would have put a trillion dollar tax-free bounty on Osama’s head, payable to individuals or governments. I wouldn’t have sent one single soldier anywhere, but I would be using predator drones and hellfire missiles like a sonuvabitch. I’d actually let gamers fly them and fire the missiles for a nominal fee, to increase patriotism.
I would drastically step up video surveillance of southern California longerie stores, where all the hot chicks would act as magnets to the sexually suppressed Muslim men who might have been infiltrated as terrorist sleepers. I would take a surveillance shift myself.
I would sign a no-bid contract for a billion dollars with this totally unknown small defense contractor, Boyo Jim, for vague and unspecified services, with no penalty clauses for non-performance.
Yes, I would do all this, truly, and I would STILL be more successful in the “war on terror” (which I never would have declared) than the real George Bush.
[del]I’d finish the book. Because if you can’t finish a book about a pet goat, the terrrists will win.[/del]
Then I’d look at a serious plan to hunt down Osama Bin Laden. When Rummy started in with his minimal army plans, I’d show him out the door. My new SecDef would accept more volunteer enlistments than Rummy did, or be fired as well.
I’d accept help from Libya, as W did, & from Iran, as he did not. No “Axis of Evil” speech[del] unless the Axis of Evil is Oklahoma, Montana, & Delaware[/del].
I would not open another front against a secular despot at the same time as fighting against an international religious conspiracy. And that’s the justification I’d use in domestic policy.
I’d try to open relations with Iran, & quietly discuss with Saddam Hussein ways to build a stable Iraqi republic after his death.
In my second term, I’d come out hard for increased medical school spending & reinstating the usury laws, & try to drag the cultural right out of alliance with the Randians & tax protestors.