@chaski Said
Not likely. The justification for both wars can be directly linked to 9/11 and "our" desire for revenge.
The Bush administration was young... the housing bubble was many years away. The "great recession" was also many years away, and may never have happened at all.
Hurricanes Katrina & Rita were also many years away.
Bush would likely have had four relatively boring years, which might well have translated into a one term presidency (much like his fathers, but without a war).
If the Bush presidency had been essentially boring and uneventful, it is likely that a Democrat would have won in 2004. If that had happened, his/her presidency might have hung on the federal response to Katrina & Rita... a lack luster response coupled with the pending housing bubble (assuming it "popped" at the same point in history) probably would have tanked this hypothetical Democrat president's career...
Obama was not in play at that time, and his "wave" may well have never come...
A Republican candidate then could very easily have been the to win in 2008. The recession may never have come. The Affordable Care Act would likely never have existed.
And it is likely that Trump would never have run for office...
Of course we will never know.
Supposedly the towers that went down were heavily lined with asbestos. It would've cost a fortune to replace the insulation normally, to the point where it would've been easier to have just torn them down and rebuilt. Maybe 9/11 wouldn't have happened, but odds are they would've come down from controlled demolition and then rebuilt later on.
John Kerry might not've been the Democratic choice for '04.
In any case, the iPhone wouldn't have existed and the Zune would've become the dominant portable music player.
Thanks babe!