THE DOCTOR AND BUSH - GEORGE W. NOT MEL

DOCTOR: 

The paradox is broken. 

We've reverted back, one year and one day. 

Two minutes past eight in the morning. 

UNIT VOICE: 

This is UNIT Central. 

What's happened up there? 

We just saw the President assassinated! 

DOCTOR: 

Just after the President was killed, 

but just before the spheres arrived. 

Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. 

None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was. 

"Last Of The Time Lords"

This was great as far as it goes because otherwise such devastation should have been addressed across the spectrum of TV shows from all networks, in this country and others.  At least in a perfect Toobworld, of course.

But there's still the problem of Arthur Coleman Winters, the President of the United States.  If you didn't know how we roll here at Toobworld Central, it's our belief that the POTUS in Earth Prime-Time should be the same as the Commander-in-Chief in Earth Prime.  (Of course our wish-craft reverses that when it comes to President Josiah Bartlet.)

So in 2007, the President of the United States seen in this episode should have been the televersion of George W. Bush.  

Let's take a look at the line of dialogue from President Winters as he introduced himself to the "Toclafane".....

PRESIDENT WINTERS:

My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, 

President Elect of the United States of America, 

and designated representative of the United Nations. 

I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon.

Let's take a look at that title: "President Elect"....

From Merriam-Webster:
a person who has been elected president but who has not officially become president yet

If I looked at this just from the perspective of being outside the "reality" of the TV Universe, I think it's O'Bvious that the writer didn't understand how the American political system worked.  The Inauguration could be the next day and it wouldn't matter.  It would be the Sitting President on board the Valiant to meet the aliens, not the President-Elect.  

Usually I swear by the Doctor Who Chronology, but they have set "The Sound Of Drums" & "Last Of The Time Lords" in June of 2008.  However, no one would be the President-Elect in the middle of the year.  The United States President-Elect would be the designated winner of the November election (once it was confirmed) until the moment of the Inauguration in January.  (If I'm not mistaken, the oath of office is taken in a private ceremony before the official public ceremony.)

Within the Toobworld reality, the splainin has to be that Winters misspoke; after all, he was dealing with an alien race for the first time.  But that still doesn't explain why he was there instead of President Bush.

I think we have to chalk this up to the timeline revision by Helen Cutter due to her interference back in the 'Primeval' era.  President Winters was part of the original timeline of Earth Prime-Time, as was President Henry Talbot McNeill as seen in 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea'.  But as part of the wipe-out of that timeline, one of the end results was that those Presidents were replaced - McNeill by Richard M. Nixon and Winters by George W. Bush.

Unfortunately for the Trueniverse audience, we can't see these revised timelines.  As far as the events of the 'Doctor Who' adventure, it would have played out the same for George W. Bush - except that Prime Minister Saxon would not have had the chance to assassinate him.  Or at the very least, he vaporized the President after the Paradox Machine kicked in so that once Time was reverted back to the way things were, President Bush was brought back to life just as were all the other people killed during that year of the Master.

Allon-sy!