It was actually a rather gutsy move to conceive and implement the idea that promoting the franchise expansion of liberal democracy was the only long term strategy in the WoT that stood some possibility of working. Gutsy, but probably inevitable. I just don’t see any alternatives.
Having said that, Erik might well be right that Gore would’ve just let loose from on high. They were convinced that a “ground invasion” was political suicide.
But this is all a little like the speculation that had McClellan won the election of 1864 he’d have disdained the Copperheads within his own party, and prosecuted the war. True, he wasn’t a Copperhead, but his history in actual military engagements suggests that he preferred show and bravado over actual performance (just like the Clintons), and he’d have canned Grant (and probably Sherman) from the outset.
Hard to say what difference McClellan would have made, really… but I’m glad the Siege of Atlanta changed the dynamic and put Lincoln back in office.
I don’t see how Rudy can get the nomination, nor do I see Mitt running away with it. McCain is actually more likely than either of those guys. Pity Thompson is such an unknown quantity. Put a lot of hope on that old horse. He may not be up to it, though.
“Huck”‘s a pretty Americanized handle…
