Joe Republic
Atlas Legend
Posts: 40,081
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« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2007, 06:12:38 PM » |
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« Edited: May 03, 2007, 06:43:10 PM by Joe Republic »
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A former failed vice presidential candidate, Watson followed in the footsteps of Ed Muskie, Walter Mondale, Joe Lieberman and John Edwards in running for the top job just four years later. Succeeding in capturing the nomination and then eventually the White House, "Laughin' Larry" Watson began his first term as President of the United States with a firmly liberal and yet down-to-earth agenda.
Despite making a big deal during the campaign of how he would be able to "win over" the Republican-controlled Congress with the spirit of compromise in order to achieve a shopping list of progressive policies, the actual result was very different. Seeing no need to compromise with Watson for any reason, Congress either flat out rejected his legislation, or amended them to death. With almost nothing to show for his first two years except for a handful of token reforms, Watson approached the impending mid-term elections in a clearly frustrated mood. He presented the nation with a plain and simple choice: they could sweep the Democrats into power and allow them to help him fulfil his agenda, or keep the Republicans in power and let the deadlock continue. Unfortunately for Watson, he was widely perceived to be the main reason for the "do-nothing" government, and the Republicans increased their majorities in the elections. He gave the people a choice, and they didn't choose him.
Confronted with at least another two years of a stubborn legislature, Watson had no choice but to review his agenda and moderate it somewhat to achieve any kind of progress. This of course only served to piss off the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, and didn't really endear him very much to the Republicans either. Most others just saw this as a sign that he was unprincipled, which on the whole was an unfair judgement.
As his potential re-election loomed, Watson's approval ratings were at the "could do better" level, but at least he had a healthy economy and a relatively clear horizon on the foreign policy front. His eventual Republican opponent turned out to be an aging senator from the Rocky Mountains, who was widely seen as just a shade too conservative, and had a habit of committing frequent verbal gaffes. Compared to the relatively youthful and personable Lawrence Watson, the electorate saw no real reason not to grant him another four years, and did so.
Whereas his first term was pretty much a disappointment, his second term was a disaster. It started off badly when his vice president was embroiled in a sex scandal, which led to his resignation before it could cause any further embarrassment to the White House. Watson's initial choice of a replacement was unceremoniously rejected by the Republican Congress, for a number of unassuming reasons (the popular belief was that the nominee was simply going to be groomed for a White House bid later on). His second choice survived the nomination and was confirmed, but was really such a bland and uninspiring character that he really added nothing special to the government.
This debacle was shortly followed by a sudden escalation of domestic conflict in South America; Colombia, particularly. Having made a 'brotherly' pledge earlier in his administration to provide funding and military support to the Colombian government in their ongoing struggles with the rebels, Watson felt obliged to follow through with his kindly (but somewhat misguided) promise, and massively expanded the U.S. military presence in the country.
It was not long before the protests began from both the Left and the Right. The anti-war crowd disowned Watson from their ranks, and the Republicans simply balked at the idea of a war that seemingly had no purpose or relative merit to American interests. Almost as soon as the administration began to use any and all methods of diplomacy to find a "polite" way to withdraw, the violence began to spread into neighboring Venezuela and Central America. Before long there were even rumors of civil unrest as close to home as Mexico.
The escalation of the war proved to be nothing but a burden to President Watson, whose stated intention was to withdraw from the conflict as soon as possible. But for every statement he made to this effect, the situation simply got worse, and American forces were drawn further still into the mess. The number of immigrants into the U.S. (both legal and otherwise) from the troublespots sharply increased.
As the second term of the Watson presidency drew to a close, with no end in sight to the conflict in South and Central America, and with the perceived loss of focus on various domestic affairs, most Americans began to look forward to a new beginning that the next president would bring. This sentiment couldn't have been reflected better than in President Watson himself. Starting his presidential career as a wholesome everyman; a "sensible comedian"; he had eventually become distant and even a little bitter and cynical at the country that had abandoned him before he could even really get started.
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