A Startling Scenario

What if...

In 2000, a young, charismatic senator named Barack Obama is campaigning in California on the day of the California Presidential Primary. Over the course of the day, there are no less than three assassination attempts. Due to his courage in the face of these attempts and his vow to continue campaigning, he is easily elected, defeating George Bush in every state except Texas and South Carolina. Immediately after his election, scandal breaks out when it is revealed that Michelle Obama has not seen or spoken to her husband since the assassination attempts. The first 100 days of his presidency are darkened by the divorce proceedings--first ever for a US President.

But all this is forgotten one year later. A daring terrorist attack is foiled, but the entire nation is brought to the brink of war. Only the firm leadership of Obama amidst mutiny in his own staff and cabinet prevent the war, when it is revealed that the evidence linking several Middle Eastern countries to the attacks was faked. As the nation rejoices, it is shocked by a daring attempt on President Obama's life. In the midst of meeting the press, Obama glances at his hand in horror as a poison begins to eat at his skin. Some wonder if it was retribution for his dismissal of his loyal chief of staff, Mike McTurtle.

In the summer of 2004, his health restored and accompanied by his closest advisor, his brother Mahmoud, President Obama travels to California for the first of three scheduled debates with his Republican challenger, Senator Tom Coburn. Polls place Obama in a double-digit lead. However, scandal surrounding his ex-wife Michelle immediately increases when she is discovered dead at the house of a campaign donor. Mahmoud Obama was found at the scene of the crime along with his ex-lover, who quickly admits to the crime. In the midst of the crippling scandal, and perhaps wearied by another terrorist attack, this time killing nearly 100 people in a crowded office building, President Obama abruptly announces that he will not seek re-election.

This startling news throws the party into turmoil, and the Coburn/Bush ticket easily wins re-election. Obama moves into quiet retirement, although observers note that his home in the DC suburbs is only a 15 drive from his old home on Pennsylvania Avenue.

In summer of 2005, the nations is shocked to wake up to news that the Secretary of Defense has been kidnapped. Although he and his daughter are quickly recovered, the news is followed quickly that evening by a report that Air Force One had been shot out of the sky by a rogue Air Force pilot, apparently in the pay of an Al-Queada cell. President Coburn is found alive a short time later, but he is severely injured (he will in fact die from his wounds in only a few days) Vice-President Bush is forced into action, and asked to make decisions he is not qualified to make. Secretly, he calls in Former President Obama, whose sure hand guides the nation through the crisis. Obama, super-patriot, allows Bush to claim all the credit.

In late spring of 2007, the nations is again shocked, this time by the fifth and final assassination attempt on former President Barack Obama. This time, however, the attack is successful. The nation is stunned, but this is only a prelude. The next day, during a live press conference, President Bush is arrested and placed under Secret Service custody. Later that day, he resigns. He answers no questions, and in fact is never publicly accused of any crime. But many whisper that he had a hand in the death of Obama. In addition, Laura Bush almost immediately files for divorce, only to move in with a member of the Secret Service.

The Republican party in turmoil, Mahmoud Obama is approached by a coterie of special interest groups and Democratic party officials who convince him to run for president. The Republican party still stained by the Bush scandal, the Obama name rides a crest of sympathy votes into office.

In early 2008, the nation is again stunned, this time by a small nuclear explosion, killing nearly 10,000 people. Later that day, during a press conference held to announce a significant step towards finding the group responsible, a bomb explodes, sending the President into a coma. Although he later awakes, and in fact makes several vital decisions, his health remains precarious. During a live speech broadcast on every station, the president suffers a stroke, his speech breaking down into stuttering and incoherence before falling sideways off of the podium.

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What do you think of that scenario? What would the condition of the nation be if that happened???