What if Mike Ditka beat Barack Obama in 2004?

[downtown]

So I was just thinking about this today. Obama won his 2004 Senate Seat in Illinois (during a Republican year) in large part because he drew an absolute punching bag of an opponent, Alan Keyes, a candidate so hapless that I'm not exaggerating when I say that I could have beaten him. This happened because the regular candidate, Jack Ryan, had to pull out thanks to embarrassing divorce allegations.

You know who the Illinois GOP wanted to run instead...and nearly did? Mike Ditka, the former legendary Bears coach and NFL broadcaster. If he ran, given his Chicago roots and 100% name identification, it isn't hard to imagine him beating Obama.

What would be different if that happened? What is Obama doing now (is he Mayor of Chicago?)? Who is president? What would have been different? Would things be better? Could Mike Ditka have been an effective Senator?

My gut is that Hilary Clinton would be president now, and we'd probably have a similar Tea Party type situation. Obama would have a high level position within Chicago city government. I don't think Republicans would have won the 2008 election.

What do you think?

 

[KMRblue1027]

My guess is Obama would be Mayor or in Congress somewhere and Hillary would be in the Oval Office right now.

 

[Antilogic]

Who else in 2008 could have run as long as Obama did against Hillary? Biden, Dodd, and the other guys like Kucinich never got any traction. Richardson or Edwards had serious efforts and without Obama one of them might have done well enough to force the campaign past Super Tuesday, but Hillary had at least as strong a chance against them as she did against Obama.

The general election would have been interesting--I don't think Palin would have been picked if Hillary was at the top of the Dem ticket. Who would McCain pick for his vice-presidential candidate, and would that candidate have kept the polls closer on election day? Or would Hillary have been able to flip some of the old Clinton states like Missouri and in Appalachia? Putting aside the specific states and EV count for a second, I think it is safe to assume the financial crisis and Bush fatigue would still play to the Dem advantage and give an advantage in the general election.

Gut feeling says 2009-10 turned out in much the same way, as for the legislation passed during the first half before the emergence of the Tea Party, hard to say. I suppose I am envisioning a very similar outcome because I don't think the president has been driving much of what is happening, and with the gridlock in the legislature that would happen irrelevant of who sat in the big chair.

 

[Cutlass]

Hillary would be president. I don't see anything that could have changed that. She was the only other major contender in the end. And the situation, as it played out, made McCain really have no realistic prospect of beating any but the weakest of candidates.

As to Obama, no real idea. Probably still in the Illinois Senate. Though the governor's seat was open, and he might have taken a run at that.

 

[illram]

Hillary seemed the heir apparent. Maybe if Edwards was not actually a horrible lying scumbag he could also be in the mix, if we are speculating...

 

[Formaldehyde]

Seems like a great premise to make a present day remake of Idiocracy.

Ditka for president:


Link to video.

Ditka arguing football:


Link to video.

Ditka drunk on the air:


Link to video.

 

[warpus]

9/11 wouldn't have happened for sure.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Ditka becomes president. U.S. wins the Super Bowl.

 

[Tahuti]

9/11 wouldn't have happened for sure.

You mean Ditka became president and built a teletime machine to prevent 9/11?

 

[JollyRoger]

With Dikta in the Senate, Da Bears would still be winning the stock market every year.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Could Hillary Clinton as president have been re-elected in 2012? Let's say she made the same basic choices as Obama, and instead of everyone saying "Obamacare" to describe an affordable care act, they'd resurrected Hilarycare*. Would Republicans have still put up bobblehead-Romney?

Can you imagine Clinton vs. Gingrich? It'd be the 1990s all over again, but with smaller phones and a different economic bubble bursting..


*On a side note, I will be glad when the Apocalypse comes and destroys everything, because it will mean an END to the American media's fondness for giving everything an asinine nickname.

 

[cybrxkhan]

I'm interested in what sort of myths the equivalent of the Tea Party would make about Clinton. See, it's not as easy to claim she's a Muslim when she's a blonde without the middle name Hussein or a father from Kenya. So a question would be, would the Tea Party be as energized to begin with if it isn't easy to make Clinton into some sort of un-American "other"?

 

[Antilogic]

I'm interested in what sort of myths the equivalent of the Tea Party would make about Clinton. See, it's not as easy to claim she's a Muslim when she's a blonde without the middle name Hussein or a father from Kenya. So a question would be, would the Tea Party be as energized to begin with if it isn't easy to make Clinton into some sort of un-American "other"?

There were all kinds of conspiracies around the Clintons from the 90s, I'm certain something would be trudged up.

 

[bhsup]

Yeah, my favorite myth was the one Hillary created about some crazy vast right wing conspiracy being responsible about the scandalous lies regarding one Monica Lewinsky and Bubba.

Spoiler :

Link to video.

Btw, Jack Ryan's (ex)wife was none other than Seven of Nine from Star Trek Voyager. The guy was a total weirdo. Anyhoo, Edwards would have been Hillary's main competition and may well have given her a decent run. Would have been interesting to see how that would have played out if he'd won before -his- scandal broke. President stepping down in disgrace, Vice-President Leiberman (northeast to balance southern) becomes President.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Yeah, my favorite myth was the one Hillary created about some crazy vast right wing conspiracy being responsible about the scandalous lies regarding one Monica Lewinsky and Bubba.

Spoiler :

Link to video.

Btw, Jack Ryan's (ex)wife was none other than Seven of Nine from Star Trek Voyager. The guy was a total weirdo. Anyhoo, Edwards would have been Hillary's main competition and may well have given her a decent run. Would have been interesting to see how that would have played out if he'd won before -his- scandal broke. President stepping down in disgrace, Vice-President Leiberman (northeast to balance southern) becomes President.

How did Ryan come into this? Wait are you suggesting that an Executive Orders type scenario would befall the US if Hilary were president?

 

[bhsup]

No, the real life Jack Ryan. Sleezeball husband who...

On June 22, 2004, after receiving a report from the referee, Judge Schnider released the files that were deemed consistent with the interests of Ryan's young child. In those files, Jeri Ryan alleged that Jack Ryan had wanted her to perform sexual acts with him in public in sex clubs in New York, New Orleans, and Paris, although no sex occurred. Jeri Ryan described one as "a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling."[9] The decision to release these files generated much controversy because it went against both parents' direct request, and because it reversed the earlier decision to seal the papers in the best interest of the child, who had special needs. On the same day, Jim Oberweis, Ryan's defeated opponent in the GOP primary, commented that if the allegations were true, "it would end the candidacy."[9]

Ryan's campaign indeed ended less than a week after the custody records were opened, and Ryan officially filed the documentation to withdraw on July 29, 2004. The same party leaders who called for Ryan's resignation chose Alan Keyes as Ryan's replacement in the race; Keyes lost to Obama, 27% to 70%

Seven of Nine deserved better, yo.

 

[JollyRoger]

Damn, you don't ask your own wife to do those things. That is the kind of thing you do with other people's wife. Ryan was right to drop out in disgrace.

 

[warpus]

You mean Ditka became president and built a teletime machine to prevent 9/11?

I believe you have inadvertently stumbled upon the meat of my joke.

 

[Gucumatz]

I thought the title said Mike Gravel by accident and 08 and instantly thought of this [an ad of his for presidential run]:


Link to video.

 

[Ajidica]

Seven of Nine deserved better, yo.

For what it is worth, one of my dad's friends went to high school with Seven of Nine, and he said she was completely crazy.