What six things would you have done differently????

Question

People critique the President on a daily basis. So, given a chance to have been President for the past six years, post six things YOU would have done differently? And why or rather what would be your projected outcome of such decisions.

Just to clear up any confusion, I meant six years since 9/11. I guess some people were thinking I meant since we entered Iraq four years ago.

Answer 1

1. I would have closed the borders immediately after 9/11/01 instead of declaring war on an unknown assailant! I would have surrounded Washington D.C., New York City, and Somerset, Pa. with armed National Guard and I would have searched every business and home within 10 miles of the attacks because I would have known that those terrorists could not have pulled off 9/11/01 without help. Yes, I would have declared martial law!
2. I wouldn't have attacked Iraq when we did and for the reasons we did.
3. I certainly wouldn't have given the bin Ladin family safe passage out of the USA. I would have placed them in protective custody. I would have searched every Arab owned, leased, or operated business in the USA and would have placed them under armed guard until we found out all we could about the attackers. I would have talked with the Arab government and enlisted their help in routing out any remaining terrorists and I would have assured the Arab Government that we didn't lump all Arabs in the same barrel as the terrorists but that we had to ensure that there were no more hiding or having assistance.
4. I would have checked the identifications of every airport, railroad, port authority employee, every hotel employee and I would have had their legal status checked. Everyone who was here illegally would have been considered an enemy combatant and I would have called upon all the states to offer up all their secured buildings to incarcerate everyone who didn't have proper papers and proper legal authority to be in the USA. I would have deputized every police officer, every peace officer, every sheriff, and others to ensure that all illegal immigrants were guarded 24/7/365 and I would have enlisted the aide of American Citizens to begin processing paperwork for all the illegal immigrants, tagging them or putting a rice chip or some other bio ID so they couldn't escape. I would have called to duty every reserve armed forces and every officer who never resigned his/her commission and I would have instructed them all to start processing these people and checking identification of all people in the USA. The 9/11/01 attacks would have been all the evidence I would have needed to round up illegal immigrants and bring the situation under control. I also would have ensured that we have an up-to-date legal immigrant database and I would have made sure that every illegal immigrant's child was not made a citizen of the USA just by reason of being born on American Soil. I would have used 9/11/01 to finally get control of the illegal activities in the USA. I would have insured that all our people knew how to spot forged passports and papers and I would have offered rewards to everyone turning in illegal immigrants with proof of their illegal status.
5. I would have ensured that we had a balanced budget and would reward those government employees who reduced or limited their spending and still gave us excellent work product and excellent productivity.
6. I would have ensured that the checks and balances and separation of powers we have in the USA are working and are enforced.
7. I would train every American Citizen in emergency preparedness and issue all citizens emergency preparedness kits and I would train every American Citizen in self defense and require that every law-abiding Citizen own and know how to use a gun to help in the protection of our borders from all enemies, foreign and domestic.
8. I would have enlisted the aide of every foreign government in checking the credentials of anyone wishing to fly on an aircraft to the USA as a matter of national security.
9. I would take care of americans first. I would not allow any foreign national who was not a citizen to be employed before American Citizens. I would ensure that our voting machines and all our sensitive data and computer parts and software and data are manufactured in the USA by American Citizens and are kept strictly proprietary and confidential.
10. I would encourage our Congress to review and understand all existing laws before passing any more laws and repeal all those that have no enforcement or are no longer good laws. I would enlist the help of high school and college student in researching those laws and even telling us how they would envision the changes that should be made.
11. I would never tell the citizens who are my bosses that I can't deport 11 million illegal immigrants, that I'm so impotent that I can't enforce the laws that I took an oath to uphold. I would have moved heaven and earth to ensure that illegal immigrants could not march in our streets, didn't get a pass and that those who hired, harbored or helped illegal immigrants get punished and maybe even have their businesses seized under the martial law after 9/11/01.
12. I would ensure that our students and our people are encouraged to develop other sources of clean energy so that we are not dependent on foreign fuels for our business.
13. I would have stopped Vicente Fox in his tracks, along with Hugo Chavez and I would not have allowed them to come on US soil to speak at any function other than a legal government function and I would have had them under guard continuously.
These are only a few of the things I would have done. I'm sure I wouldn't have declared war in a knee-jerk reaction to 9/11/01 and I'm sure I would have had the support of the people all the way because I would have involved the people in the solution instead of subjecting them to humiliation and suspension of their rights as legal, law-abiding citizens. I would have worked closely and met with other government officials from the USA and other countries to ensure that whatever action we took was sanctioned by the UN and that we had consensus on our team. That would have ensured that we had the support of other countries and my approval rating most certainly would be way above that of the President's. today.

There is much more that I would do that would encourage participation in government and that would bring back the integrity and respect for government but it would take me hours and hours to write.

Answer 2

1. When a Category 5 hurricane was about to smash into the Gulf Coast, I would have treated it like the urgent threat it was, and actually bothered to cancel my vacation....

2. After New Orleans was destroyed, I would have abandoned my Right-wing "Government can't solve any problems" clap-trap, and acknowledged what was (and still is) obvious - a big time government rebuilding effort was definitely needed....

3. When informed that "We are under attack", I wouldn't have sat like a ninny for several minutes, reading a children's book. I would have excused myself IMMEDIATELY, and begun asking follow-up questions, such as "Who is attacking us?", and "What do we need to do RIGHT NOW?"....not 7 minutes from now....

4. Having been attacked by Islamic extremists, I wouldn't then make the mistake of lumping a secular dictator in with Al-Queda. Anyone with any knowledge of Iraq know that Saddam was not a religious zealot, and was not in cahoots with Al-Queda (this is not, incidentally, a case of 20-20 hindsight - the LA Times ran a huge editorial BEFORE the war laying out exactly how flawed Bush's case was, written by a former general with extensive Middle East experience. Bush, of course, never consulted him....)

5. Having, for some reason, committed to the war in Iraq, I wouldn't take control of Baghdad, and then announce, "Okay, figure out what kind of government you want. Take all the time you need." This power vaccuum allowed the country to spiral further out of control. Instead, we should have simply said: "Okay, you get a presidnet, a vice president and a cabinet. You get two house of Congress. In the Upper House, Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds will each hold a third of the seats, with the VP breaking ties. In the lower house, representation will be staggered, giving Shiites the most seats, then Sunnis, then Kurds, based upon their population levels. It's up to YOU to FILL the seats, but this is the government you get...." This would have saved us a year and a half of squabbling and nonsense during which the insurgents, terrorists and death squads were allowed to consolidate their bases....

6. Once the stock market tanked, I wouldn't have pretended that we still had a surplus to hand back to the American people. The booming stock market created massive CAPITAL GAINS taxes, swelling our coffers. Obviously, once the market tanked, that source of revenue no longer existed. By scaling back his tax cuts, Bush could have shrunk the massive debts and deficits he now has buried us under....

I'm just sorry you only want 6....There are at least 486 more things I can think of just off the top of my head....

Answer 3

1) Listened to people other than blind ideologues.

I would know what all of my options were, and would be able to make the most informed decisions possible. Only listening to those who tell you what you want to hear is always a recipe for disaster.

2) Listened to the reports regarding the possibility of a terrorist attack.

It may or may not have been possible to thwart the 9/11 attacks. However if the Bush administration had not ignored so many warnings, it would have had a much better chance. Instead they pretended like noone could've forseen it.

3) Focused on catching Bin Laden post 9/11.

People always try to exonerate Bush for the tragedies on 9/11 because he was only in office a few months when it happened. Clinton was only in office a few months when the first WTC attacks happened too. The difference is, the perpetrators were caught and brought to justice.

4) 'Stayed the Course' in Afghanistan.

Saddam was a brutal dictator, and needed to be dealt with, however when we took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan it had devastating effects. Opium (heroin) production is at an all time high in Afghanistan, and the military is stretched too thin to fight both there, and in Iraq effectively, especially without a draft.

5) Made sure my Defense Secretary was capable of doing the same thing I laid out in #1.

Donald Rumsfield repeatedly threatened to have people removed for suggesting that not enough time was being spent planning for the aftermath of our invasion. Too many people in this administration were convinced that with Saddam out of the way, the rest of the job would pretty much take care of itself. Four years later it sounds even more ridiculous than it did back then.

6) Determined an exit strategy if I did invade Iraq.

Speaking of 'four years later' do any of the DubyaCo supporters on here realize that we've been involved in the Iraq conflict for longer than we spent in WWII?? Without an exit strategy you have an open-ended conflict, and with no clear goals past 'we'll stand up when they stand down' you are gauranteeing mass chaos and death.

The idea that withdrawing our troops somehow represents 'surrender' is nothing more than a pathetic attempt at labeling democrats as weak on national security.

Most of the idiots that support this war most adamantly didn't even know before we invaded that there were multiple factions of Muslims in Iraq that have absolutely no chance of peacefully coexisting. Leaving our soldiers in an open-ended situation as bullet catchers so that corporations like Halliburton can make obscene profits, and so that this administration doesn't have to admit it made mistakes is just more proof that they have absolutely no regard for those troops in the first place.

Answer 4

Here's ONE thing I would do right now: I'd veto the troop withdrawal bill, then I'd do my "Trojan Horse": Move as many Iraqis as possible to safe locations, then send the mother-of-all shock-and-awe rounds into targeted areas of Iraq killing all the insurgents and decimating their bases. Then, I would declare victory and bring our heroic troops home well before Congress' deadline. I might fantasize a little about giving a State-of -the-Union Address singing "My Way" by Frank Sinatra, but I have more humility than that...

Answer 5

1. Made Education reform a priority
2. Close off the borders until further notice (unless thorough background checks)
3. Find all immigrants who have expired paperwork and deport immediately.
4. Any Immigrants who are here illegally would be immediately deported, if caught crossing borders they would be held in special prison facilities and charged with crimes against the US.
5. Had a better plan going in to the Iraq war, but it would have happened none the less. Divide Iraq into sovereign nations.
6. Told all my critics and those who have accused me of crimes to go "f@!# themselves.

Answer 6

- Would have listened to PDB on Al Qaeda using planes-- Secured airports immediately. 9/11 would not have happened, so no war in afghanistan.

- Would have gone Bin Laden anyway with CIA type operatives.

- Would not have invaded Iraq, but kept pressure and inspections. would have fomented uprising by opposition groups in Iraq to overthrow Sadaam. We oust him, but don't get dragged into decades long war/occupation.

- Would have lowered taxes just like Bush did. Would have balanced the budget.

- No Medicare drug program --

Answer 7

For starters, I would've flipped out when I got the message back in early '01 about "Osama Determined to Strike in the US", and actually followed through on investigations.

Next, I would have abolished the use of the Federal Reserve as the government's printing press, so as to put the power to coin money BACK in the hands of We the People, not some private corporation looking out only for its own bottom line.

Third, I'd legalize cannabis for industrial, medical, and recreational use. Medical cannabis would be subject to the same testing guidlines as other medications, and THC vaporisers would be in use instead of smoked cannabis. Recreational cannabis would be sold OTC to adults aged 21 and up, treated exactly like alcohol. Taxes from cannabis sales would go towards state rehabilitation programs, as well as funding education for recreational drug users.

Fourth, I'd pull out all US military forces from all foreign countries and bring them home. Military interventionism is a major causative factor to the terrorism problem we're facing.

Fifth, I'd work towards bringing manufacturing and other stable jobs BACK to America, instead of helping corporations ship them out for cheaper.

Sixth, I'd work to open up government, make it more transparent to the people. Government is employed BY the people, it's not the other way around..

Answer 8

1 - Gotten Osama and addressed the nation with his severed head on my desk.
2 - Pulled out of the UN
3 - Come up with a solution to the illegal immigration problem and been done with it already.
4 - Made English the official language of the country. My grandparents and great-grandparents came from other countries and all learned English.
5 - Had an alternative fuel developed and commercially available and told OPEC to stuff it.
6 - Come up with an insurance program to cover people who cannot otherwise obtain health insurance for either pre-existing conditions or that their income level is too low. I would never, ever want a full government healthcare program.

Answer 9

1. Focused the military on finding Bin Laden
2. Not invaded Iraq
3. Pushed for stem cell research
4. Reduced government spending
5. Eliminated faith based government plans
6. Eliminated the Patriot Act

The results would be:

1. At least SOMEBODY would be looking for Bin Laden
2. Self explanatory
3. Self explanatory
4. We could have continued to attack the debt with the budget surplusses we got during Clinton's years
5. Self explanatory
6. Protecting the civil rights of US citizens

Answer 10

1 NOT invade Iraq
2 Not created the Patriot Act
3 Rebuilt New Orleans
4 Engage the rest of the world in diplomacy
5 Lead the UN forces in Darfur
6 Put the brakes on illegal immigration

If this had been done instead the US would still have a shred of respect in the world.

Answer 11

War: More soldiers so I could have secured the borders.
Budget: No new spending until Congress could balance the budget.
Social Security: Made it solvent
Immigration: Secured the borders
Respond to criticism: I would have used the bully pit better.
U.S. Attorneys: Fired all of them.