If you were in charge, what would you do?

Ok, people, here's the rules: In some kind of weird attack, tomorrow George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice all drop dead. For some weird reason, your phone rings and you are put in charge. What do you do? Who would you hire? How would you change things?

Before you start flaming, I know there is a progression to replace those in power in this country, but let's throw that out the window and play make-believe.

Also this is in reference to current world events, not finding out about aliens, or whatever. Forget about Area-51 and Dulce, what would you do on a global scale, and who would you put in power?

Ok, you have the power of the larget military in the world, the resources of the CIA, NSA, FBI, Echelon, what would you do?

(added in Edit)

Some quick reference points:

Dick Cheney is the U.S. Vice President

Donald Rumsfeld is the Secretary of Defense

Colin Powell is the Secretary of State

Condoleeza Rice is the National Security Advisor

If you want to put Mickey Mouse in as Vice President, feel free to do so. Have as much fun, or be as serious as you want.

[edit on 17-7-2004 by RockerDom]

I'll need more time to think about that one.

Take your time. I'm going to post my response sometime tomorrow

I honestly think the greatest power of a president is the bully pulpit, cheerleader if you will. I suspect there are large portions of the government you would have no access to, not even to find out about.
One thing I wonder about is if you cut corporate America off of the gravy train, if you would live very long, politically or literally.
If you had the nerve to try you probably uncover a lot of dirt, provided you lived long enough.
Washington is a pretty twisted town, run i believe by 'K' street.

Whether or not that is true is not the issue. You are in power and you do have the control, what would you do?

No offense, but if you're not going to even attempt to answer the question posed, please don't post. Thank you.

Well, the first thing I would do is put John McCain as my Vice President. He is a war hero, and a statesman, and I believe the people and other government officials would look to him in time of crisis.

Next I would appoint Wesley Clark as Secretary of Defense. He is a career military man, and understands wartime and peacetime policy very well. He is also well-spoken, and has never had any great scandal surrounding him.

As for Secretary of State, I would choose Christiine Tood Whtman. She has a recognizable face and name, and has proven herself with years of great service to our nation.

For National Security Advisor I would choose Richard Clarke. I think he got a bad rap after his whole flab with Bush and is deserving of the position. He knows people, and knows people who know people. He is also looked upon kindly by the intelligence community which is essential for this job.

The first thing I would do is create a task force with the Army War College and get their advice on how to handle Iraq. I would ask the U.N. for support, and do my best to get NATO involved. Bringing Democracy to that region (which is about the only thing that would salvage the situation at this pont) is a job for the entire free world, not just us.

I would cancel Halliburton's contracts, and instead put all of the contracts up for bid, which is what should have been done. If France is willing to pay the money to do it, then let them. We can't afford to do it on our own.

Next I would institute a flat tax, and take the headaches out of taxes. I would require that the IRS submit, within 12 months, a tax law, based on a flat tax, that can fit in a 20 page brochure. I would also make sure the wording was simple and at an 8th grade reading level so that any American could instantly pick it up, read through it, and know what they have to pay.

I would funnel money into Space Exploration by encouraging the privatization of space and would triple NASA's current budget.

I would demolish the PATRIOT act, give tax breaks to companies who created 8,000 or more jobs a year within the U.S., encourage defense contractors to design and implement ways to get us away from oil, and would match state funding for education.

These are my initial ideas. What are yours?