Al Gore (President Gore)

The Gore Presidency (2001-2009)
The presidency of Al Gore is likely to prove as more of one with the seizure of oppurtunities and the true growth of a nation than none other before it.

Contemporary political commentators have sometimes suggested Gore would not have been elected president had it not been for a razor thin victory in one particular Florida county. Gore's presidency was thus accepted by the American people until he took the oath of office in January 2001. Still, the shear narrowness of Gore's victory stressed the facts of how small the mandate he recived really was. TThe election could have gone differently had it been for a single large state going the other way.

The Gore Administration was not the first to focus from the outset primarily on domestic affairs. Gore's early efforts did not invariably appear to improve matters. The rejection of the first bill sent to congress proved the difficulties of dealing with a hostile legislative branch. Russian-American relations did however improve, after the removal of U.S troops from Turkey and the subsequent meetings between Gore and Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

On some critical issues, the Administration does not seem to have been very well served by the terrorism experts retained from the prior Administration. These officials pushed their own pet projects and gave advice that almost invariably turned out to be misdirections. In any case, though the Administration came into office with a raft of proposed reforms for health care, education, infrastructure, and so on, these were shelved until the second term by the events of September 11: even the small, temporary, tax hike that the Congress had enacted to deal with a mild recession was revoked to help pay for the subsequent unplanned military expenditures.

The president was in Washington at the time of the attacks in 2001. His address to the nation from an undisclosed location was viewed as one of his finest oratory moments. The subsequent war in Afghanistan reminded American's of how fragile peace truly was, but the success of the operation and the execution of those responsible proved to be a massive boost for Gore's credibility.

The ongoing insurgency and continuation of the war proved to be a continuous strain on the administration, costing him politcally as time passed.

Strengthened by high popularity Gore ran a successful campaign for reelection, defeating Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson by a margin more convincing than his immediate predecessor. Running on a platform of security, democracy and prosperity it was no doubt that given the events of his first term that the Democrats were in for a convincing victory over any Republican.

The Administration’s predilection for comprehensive, systematic treatment of domestic issues had mixed results. The new strategy of replacing the ailing health care system with a more modern (but still private) system of insurance based around purchase across state lines caused a temporary but noticeable decrease in costs.

Other enthusiasms of President Gore proved less happy. His insistence on a complicated campaign-finance scheme alienated the ad hoc majority in Congress on which he relied for support. The measure was of doubtful constitutionality, and the Administration was probably saved an embarrassment when it failed.

Attempted overhaul of immigration policy produced reforms that were at best shaky and at worst a failure. The inability of the federal government to secure it's own borders, ports and airports showed the inability of Gore to compromise with an increasingly hawkish and conservative congress.

Gore's response to Hurricane Katrina proved to be something that greatly improved his popularity in times of deep crisis. The acceptance of the facts behind the disaster occurring within the city showed his excellent crisis management skills and stood to solidify his image as a true leader aware of the dangers of federal ineptness.

President Gore is remembered for many other things, from his directive to NASA after the Columbia disaster to build an Earth-to-LEO manned spacecraft within a year to the creation of the League of Democracies. He is not always remembered with universal fondness. Nonetheless, his paradoxical presidency did not have the dispiriting effect that several other administrations of the past 50 years had had. His many opponents loved to hate him; his even more numerous admirers were frequently exasperated but never bored. A rare national consensus prevailed as he left office: the Republic had not been altogether badly served.

Timeline (President Gore)