America's Funniest President: Mo Udall Presidency & Beyond
- Thread starter CountDVB
- Start date
Nice stuff, it’s always good to see and read a more personal and down to earth perspective of a timeline.
I presume that ITTL mental health awareness happens earlier and is much better than IOTL?
Yup! Thanks to the universal single-payer healthcare system that encompasses it all, mental health becomes part of that, starting in the 1990s. While it's still a bit shaky with adults going in with the help, kids on the other hand are taken in as part of check up and it leads to alot of people learning about their conditions earlier and getting adjustments. Will still be a bit rough since it takes time to development, but it does impove every year and reckon would be quite well by mid 2000s or so.
I absolutely loved that story due to its great detail and just overall authenticity to it!
Thank you! Yeah, it helps to show the differences with things like universal healthcare leading to differences along with infrastructure support.
Winter 2004- Newer Spirits
Winter 2004- Newer Spirits
Spirit rover images its lander on the surface of Mars on January 18/19, 2004 (Spirit Sol 16)
Spirit rover images its lander on the surface of Mars on January 18/19, 2004 (Spirit Sol 16)
2004 was coming in and soon it would be time for the US elections. And already it would be quite memorable. President Clinton would be running for reelecton as part of the United Central Party to further show its staying power. The Federalist Party had all but replaced the Republican Party in terms of being the party for American conservatives, though the question would be on how would actually run for there. A few choices have been floated around such as former governor Lowell Weicker to try and give a good trial run for the party. While on the federal level, the Federalist Party candidates were liberal Republicans, there was a growing variety over on the state level, especially as more people felt comfortable identifying with the Federalist Party rather than the old Republican Party. A sense of cautious optimism over for the party. That said, it was more on getting the name out rather than trying to really win. The Democrats were still around though they too were also a bit uncertain of who to run and what they could push for. Some were still pushing for some potential runs and possibilities. Bill Bradley would be trying once more and more surprisingly would be Jesse Jackson as a potential candidate. And of course, that was not to say of some of the smaller parties. The Libretarian Party was pulling itself out of its political quagmire as it was making some leftward shifts while the Green Party was focused on birth. And that was not including the more state level parties and the like. More and more people have gotten used to the new system of voting and moreover, the new mental framework to experiment with how they vote and what to align on. While the older generations would be staying with what was most familiar, the younger voters were being a bit more experimental in political alignments, especially when it was coming to the smaller and lesser known parties.
Across the world, there were other nations planning their elections or undergoing their own reforms. The most notable example was of course the interim council over in the State of Arabia, as various orders and tactics were used to deal with the remaining reactionary elements. This would especially be the case as the interim government was courting other nations for investment in the nation and financial recovery. The interim government also worked by courting the various minorities who were mistreated or underconsidered during the old Saud regime. This included favorable treatment with the Shia Arabs present and more unusual tactics such as military training of women. Not everywhere was smooth over in the world, Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide would face a coup attempt over during his second presidency. This would be done over by some of the remaning right-wing paramilitary groups that gained power through the Haitian elite (who saw Aristide's return as a threat to their power) along with some of the forces in the Dominican Republic. Additionally, some have begun spreading rumors that France may have supported the coup attempt passively due to Aristide requesting that France pay Haiti over US$21 billion in reparations, which he said was the equivalent in today's money of the 90 million gold francs Haiti was forced to pay Paris after winning independence from France 200 years ago. Such rumors were compounded by how the United Nations Security Council, of which France is a permanent member, rejected an appeal from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for international peacekeeping forces to be sent into its member state Haiti. [1] In response, the United States and some others would send some various aid and forces to help Haiti at request of Aristide.
The world continued on and the seeds for future endeavors were planted. One would be the launching of a new website known as ConnectU. A social networking website, it was developed by Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, Divya Narendra and Mark Zuckerburg. Zuckerburg's involvement was somewhat controversial as he was forced to withdraw from Harvard after an incident involved with what his created websites in "Facemash". [2] Having entering a period of depression, he would snap out of it when contacted by the trio above due to his experience and talent on it. Zuckerburg would accept it as it would let him maintain his work there and could use it to build something for himself over down the line. Meanwhile, President Clinton would finally choose the replacement for Justice Amalya Lyle Kearse over with Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, joining David S. Tatel (since 2003), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (since 2003), Richard Riley (since 1993), Janie L. Shores (since 1995), Bruce Babbit (since 1995), Laurence Tribe (since 1995), José Alberto Cabranes(since 1999), and Chief Justice Gilbert Stroud Merritt Jr (since 1998). Some other smaller news would be over with Disney, namely with their animation divisions creating two new blocs. One would be Jetix, an action/entertainment bloc created by Disney for some newer projects along with some of their superhero properties. The other would be more surprising, namely with Disney getting into anime with a new bloc: Disnippon. A portmanteau of Disney and "Nippon", Japan's name in Japanese, it would air dubbed anime though of a lighter and more relaxed tone compared to Cartoon Network's Toonami block. Airing over on weekend afternoons or early evenings, the starting shows included Hamtaro, Cardcaptor Sakura, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Princess Nine, Slam Dunk and Azumanga Daioh with Disney having been looking into other various venues and shows that may fit better a younger audience.
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[1]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Haitian_coup_d'état
[2]- Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Facebook
Godot
Gone Fishin'
How does the Republican government do this without incurring the ire of the fairly conservative populace?
Well, it's mainly volunteers for it as well as incentive programs for it, especially over in rural areas. The interim government is focused more on order right now and given the dominance of the Neo-Baathist ruling coalition, it also comes in the form of reforms.
Godot
Gone Fishin'
How successful are these reforms? I guess I have some difficulty accepting their viability when religious conservative values and particularly anti-Shiaism (as a byproduct of Saudi-Iranian tensions) can often be very deeply instilled. I just think of the Egyptian Revolution producing a Muslim Brotherhood political victory.
Well, the House of Saud just fell back in 2003 after the Arabian Civil War and the Neo-Baathists are focused pretty much on building up their power structure, rebuilding the nation and various modernization efforts. They just started so it's gonna be a rough time. A good chunk of the conservative population isn't too happy with the new secular civil law government, but on the other hand, the vast amounts of financial capital held by the House of Saud is now being invested back into the nation so that helps balance it, especially with the new wave of investors coming in.
As for the tensions, well Iran's revolution was secular and they've been doing pretty well after their war with Iraq and later Turkey.
Godot
Gone Fishin'
If the Iran-Iraq war still happened I find it hard to accept that already-contentious relations between Shias and Sunnis would in any way improve... I just don't see a revolution in Saudi Arabia ending in any kind of genuine liberal democracy.
The Iran-Iraq War here happened more for political reasons rather than anything religious though. Hussein's government thought they could exploit Iran, Iran fought back and managed to get enough support to reach Baghdad and end Saddam was killed. Iran was the victor here.
And as for Arabia, well, we will see what happens, but they are under an authoritarian interim government right now.
Spring 2004- Elections, Talks, and Storms
Spring 2004- Elections, Talks, and Storms
Image of Hurricane Catarina approaching Brazil on late March 2004
Image of Hurricane Catarina approaching Brazil on late March 2004
The Spring of 2004 would be full of a fair bit of news from across the world, mainly political. Starting over in the United States, the 2004 Presidential campaign was shaping up to have its favored candidates. While the smaller parties were also getting their fair share of discussion with their candidates, the predominant focus laid over with the three biggest parties. Unsurprisingly, President Clinton along with Vice President Gore were running for reelection and were confident in their chances of victory. Having finished the work laid by their predecessors, their administration was focused over on a healthy mix of liberal economic policy and regulation, especially in their support of the growing tech industry and some of the regulation from there. Of course, there was still a bit of work to be done such as future reform ideas and the like. especially with the continued growth of Big Tech. The Federalist Party would meanwhile see continued competition, but it was looking like Bill Weld as the most likely candidate while for the Democrats, there would be surprising support organized around Jesse Jackson. Many attribute this to Jackson working on his image and rallying support over for being the first American President of color within the party. Over in Europe, Greece and Spain would have their elections. The political center would manage to go and score some points over in Greece and end up winning after several years, showing a bit of shift in politics. Spain would see a bit of a return to the left over in power in their elections as well, with some pointing out that one of the surprising growing influences would be the Mondragon Corporation, which they attribute to their growing successes abroad in Latin America giving them even more clout and inspiring them out to be a little more involved in politics.
Of course, Greece would return to the headlines, namely with the events of Cyprus. [1] Ever since the Turkish invasion of the 1970s, there was a tense standoff between the Cypriot Greeks that have long lived on the island and the Cyprian Turks who would come to settle. However, the situation changed drastically with the Iranian-Turkish War. Turkey would be brutally humbled as they would be suspended from NATO, suffer through domestic crisises such as the Susurluk scandal and endure a painful war which they would lose. It would cost them a fair chunk of land that would go to the Kurds and Armenia, along with acknowledging the genocide attempt of the latter. The political system had cracked and they would be under a rough period for several years as the Republican People's Party focused on rebuilding. However, they would end up facing some new leftist parties, most notably the Freedom and Solidarity Party, which was born from a merger of various smaller leftist parties and would become a coalition partner as a result. Cyprus during the war would be given aid and protection by Iran, especially during the missile crisis. However, the Cyprus question remained. After all, the Cypriot Turks on the island were divided between those who considered Turkey their home and those who considered Cyprus their home. And while the Greek Cypriots were wanting to unify their island and stabilize to enter the EU, things had changed.
The enosis movement, already weakened by the population transfers, would be further eroded by a number of factors. One would be Cyprus' growing relationship with Iran and their sphere of influence. Having started off strong when Iran came to their aid, it would continue over time over the next few years, especially with growing trade agreements and the like. Another was the generation gap and mentality. More and more people were seeing enosis as a remnant of the Cold War era, especially since how the big push came from the Greek junta of the time. Times have changed after all. Yet another element was the question over on if Cyprus actually wanted to be ruled by Greece. During the crisis, many of older and well-off folk would flee to Greece. Some of them were also the older supporters of enosis and additionally, some would return to Cyprus due to some of the differences. The question would be, what now on partition. Turkey's government would be okay with whatever decision as long as the Turkish Cypriots would not be discriminated against. This gave more power over for the Cypriot Greeks and ultimately, with help from the UN, a vote would be held that would see Cyprus become a unified state once more, albeit with rules to ensure the safety and well-being of the minorities of the island. Not just the Turkish Cypriots, but also others, such as a small, but still growing population of Kurds who moved very recently. Cyprus would be reunited at last. Some of the older Turkish Cypriots would move either to Turkey or other places out of concern regardless. While various issues remained, it would look like another step forward into the 21st century.
This would not be the only agreements to try and resolve peace. The War in Darfur would reach a ceasefire agreement thanks to Ethiopia, brokering negotiations between the Sudanese government and most of the rebel groups. [1] While it would resolve tensions for now, much work needed to be done. After all, the Sudanese government has still been accused of oppessing the non-Arabic populations over in Darfur and some sentiments of the area seceding have been growing. Something that while Ethiopia has kept quiet on, they still seem interested on the subject matter, especially as they were wanting to grow their sphere of influence. And all the while, the European Union would grow once more with the incorporation of new member states in Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. [1] Additionally, CETO would expand with the inclusion of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. [1] Meanwhile, South America would also become the subject of news, namely with a very rare event, that of a cyclone. Due to the conditions there, cyclones in the South Atlantic were very rare and the nations there would need to deal with Hurricane Catarina, the only South American cyclone they have recorded. There was severe damage as the infrastructure and the like were not built to withstand such phenomenally rare events though the government was still on alert and did everything to help the people. Damages were severe, especially fo the crops and before long, the other nations would come to aid Brazil in rebuilding and the like.
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[1]- Information and phasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004
Summer 2004: Haitian Talks and Space Launch
By the summer of 2004, the smoke had settled over on the primaries and the parties had their candidates at the ready. Unsurprisingly, Bill Clinton and Al Gore did not have much competition, barring a couple young upstarts likely trying to get their name out there though it still helped Clinton in maintaining the party line. It also helped guage the feel of how the UCP were feeling. The Federalist Party would go and line up over with Bill Weld as their candidate. His running mate would be Sanford Bishop, a House Rep over from Georgia. While the two were not wholly confident in their chances of winning, the hope was that they would be able to show to American conservatives their voices were being heard and that conservatism as a whole has evolved for the 21st century. The Democrats meanwhile would confirm Jesse Jackson over as their candidate. Jackson had alot to overcome, especially with his past history on comments. His closest competitor, Bill Bradley, would become his running mate and there was a fair bit of hope the two could push though with a strong message and the ambition of the first President of color. As for the other parties, some were in the running, but not too well known. The Libretarian and Green parties were run their own candidates as well. Other parties decided to focus more on Congressional and local elections in order to try and grow their numbers or as part of their beliefs in the focus on local communities.
Meanwhile, Haiti would finally be stabilized after the coup attempt thanks to a coalition of reinforcements from various American forces. However, various rumors of the coup continued, especially the speculation of France's support of the coup. One key point theorists point to was the immense souring of relations due President of Haiti Aristide's request that France pay Haiti reparations for the 90 million gold francs Haiti was forced to pay Paris after winning independence from France 200 years ago. Adjusting for inflation and other factors, that would come out to roughly $21 billion US dollars worth of reparations. [1] Unsurprisingly, being forced to pay such a massive sum would be devastating to Haiti's development over the next few centuries. All of this would become prime fodder for the newscycle, especially given how such a subject matter was never discussed over in French history. While there is no substantial evidence of French support of the coup, at least at the time, just the suspicions of it would be damaging to their reputation. Attempts at salvaging it were little better. While the concerns of practicality of payment were treated with some consideration, the accusations of hypocrisy given what other nations such as the British and Americans have done. While not wrong in their counter-accusations, it was still changing the subject and ignoring the difference with the blatant extortion from France from a sovereign nation. Unsurprisingly, there were alot of divisions in the French public and politics on to handle this and to what extent. Meanwhile, reparation for the past cost would enter the modern public consciousness once more, such as regarding for Native Americans or the descendent of slaves in the United States. That said, such talks of reparations at the time were limited, likely out of not wanting to take the attention from Haiti. But the idea would remain in the minds of many. Back in Haiti, Aristide was grateful for the supporters, including to President Clinton.
There would be plenty of other news going at the time. Regarding space, there were two bits. Over in Mojave, California, SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight. The unpiloted Cassini–Huygens spacecraft arrives at Saturn while NASA's unpiloted MESSENGER spacecraft is launched, with its primary mission being the study of Mercury. [2] The dreams of space exploration and what laid beyond still remained in human imagination. Back over in the pale blue dot, the 2004 Summer Olympics would be held over in Athens, Greece with all nations going over and joining in. Throughout the events, people were discussing future Olympics, such as the 2008 Toronto Olympics or for 2012, where the top cities in the running were London and Triumfgrad. Of course, not everything was positive though. There was the shocking news of art theft as armed robbers steal Edvard Munch's The Scream, Madonna, and other paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. And closer to home for the Americans would be the death of one-term Republican president, Ronald Reagan. Having been president from 1977 to 1981, Ronald Reagan would leave a complicated political legacy. His fiscal policy of austerity would be criticized, especially after his presidency along with his economic proposals. His administration would also be criticized for mishandling the Panama Canal crisis, resulting in damage to the canal that would do painful economic damage. That along with the oil shock of 1979 from Iran's revolution would lead to a worsening of the economic conditions at the time, shaping politics for years to come. At the same time, his own amicable personality would lead to some rehabilitation of his image to a degree, especially with the development of his Alzheimer's. Despite the complicated legacy, more than a few people would still mourn his loss as a former President.
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[1]-Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Haitian_coup_d'état
[2]-Information and phrasing from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004
Ironic how this update is coming out just after hearing the news of Jimmy Carter (the man who was President from 1977-1981 IOTL) recently. It's unfortunate under the circumstances and I'm certainly no fan of Reagan but I'm sure he'll be missed just as he was (and still is) IOTL.
Arguably ITTL Reagan has done more immediate damage to America's economy and foreign image than OTL. I reckon Americans will like him even less as a result and thoroughly trash out "Reaganomics" since it didn't lead to a boom that he preached.
At the same time and ironically, he would do some long term benefits, intentionally and accidentally.
For the former, he would get on the Shah's case to deal with Khomeini, which would lead to the Shah accepting the deal from Saddam and thus, Khomeini got offed in a car accident. Iran doesn't become a theocracy and becomes a prominent power instead.
On the accidental level, he would finish off neoconservatism and its brethren at the time, forcing the American conservatives to do so much needed growth. Also would pave the way for someone like Udall to come in (Carter wouldn't run again and would lose his dark horse element. The others don't have much else going for them when it comes to the centrists and the like. So Udall running means when the empassioned speeches come in, the party throws support behind him and well, we have all this).
That and ol' Teflon Ron still has his supporters and instead pass the blame more over to his advisors at times.
