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| Gore, Bush and Nader 2000. Nader handed the presidency to Bush |
I ran a counterfactual a while back.
1. If Nader had not run in Florida in 2000 Al Gore would have been president of the United States.
This I think is inarguable.
Nader ran as a Green and took 97,000+ votes. Gore only lost by 500-odd votes to W Bush.
Since Green votes would have gone to Democrats, Gore, not Bush, would easily have won Florida and the presidency, since those Florida electoral votes were plenty to have him trounce Bush in the electoral colleges.
Since Green votes would have gone to Democrats, Gore, not Bush, would easily have won Florida and the presidency, since those Florida electoral votes were plenty to have him trounce Bush in the electoral colleges.
Hence President Gore and not President Bush (II).
2. As President, Gore would not have invaded Iraq after 9/11.
This consequence I'm not so sure of anymore.
I recalled, I thought, Gore saying at the time that the best thing to do following 9/11 would have been to send in Special Forces to find and kill Osama bin Laden. And that was the way he was got in the end. [I wonder sometimes, is he enjoying his 72 virgins? Are they virgins still? What happens when they’re not?]
But it seems Gore did flirt with the idea of invading Iraq. So second point of this counterfactual is uncertain.
And Gore himself is gracious enough to say in this article, not that he wouldn't have made W Bush's mistakes, but that he would have made "different mistakes". Therein self-knowledge and wisdom.
I heard a podcast of a talk Gore had recently with Frank Skinner the British comedian and broadcaster. Gore comes across as amusing and self deprecating.
Likeable.
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