Gore Should Heed The Call-And Run

Source: CBS News

Having now won the Norwegian Primary, it is reasonable to ask why Al Gore would want to slog his way through the snows of New Hampshire.

But the inconvenient truth is that never has the man who might yet be president needed to more seriously consider his personal legacy - not to mention the small matter of his potential to make the world anew - than now.

There is, after all, the matter of the open space at the end of what is now the most remarkable résumé of anyone seeking - or considering seeking - the presidency.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/12/opinion/main3361667.shtml

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C'mon Al, we've got your back!

Pachamama and xiamiam were in the crowd in San Francisco yelling "Run Al Run!" along with Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne. And more than a few DUers donated to Draft Gore to get the ad in the NYT. DUers rock! <- :applause:

From John Nichols article at CBS News -- linked in the OP above...

When he appeared in San Francisco on the eve of Friday morning's announcement, at a fundraising event for California Senator Barbara Boxer, the man of the hour tried to deliver an earnest address about climate change. But when he concluded his remarks, the crowd burst into chants of "Run Al Run!"

That message echoed the full-page ad that was placed by the burgeoning "Draft Gore for President" movement in the front section of Wednesday's New York Times. The advertisement bluntly suggested that the announced contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination lack Gore's “vision, standing in the world, and political courage" - not just with regard to climate change, but in his outspoken opposition to the war in Iraq, his defenses of civil liberties and his advocacy for a renewed commitment to science and reason.

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By the way - has anyone seen articles from The Nation posted at CBS News before? Really, if CBS News posts articles by John Nichols, I might just have to check out a corporate media website. Horrors!

This column from the Nation is a great piece of writing and makes a valid point, but it stops short of making the most important point. Yes, if Al Gore doesn't run for President, there will be a hole in his resume, and that might concern him a bit. What should concern him more, and probably does concern him more if he looks at it this way, is not what this would do to his resume, but what it means for this country and the planet. Mr. Gore is not petty and won't make this momentous decision based on a vanity issue such as his resume.

The planet is at a crucial juncture. What occurs in the next few years will determine whether we go beyond the point of no return on global warming or we take the steps necessary to save Earth as we know it.

Our country is teetering on the sheer edge of a rocky and treacherous cliff with regard to the survival of our civil liberties and our tripartite system of government as laid out in our constitution. If the very nature of our country, as designed by the founding fathers, is destroyed, America itself is destroyed. There may still be a huge chunk of land on the map labeled "United States of America", but that country will not be our country. Unitary Executive is just a nice-sounding euphemism for Dictator.

It could be argued that Mr. Gore will have as much, or possibly more, opportunity to influence the awareness of global warming as an absolutely critical issue if he remains a private citizen. Obviously he has a tremendous opportunity to stimulate public awareness now, as a private citizen. After all, he just won the Nobel Peace Prize for doing so - and winning the award does not by any means mean that the job is over. But, he will not have the opportunity to determine policy if he is not the President.

With regard to the other issue, the preservation of our constitution and thus the very nature of our nation, none of the current candidates have indicated a full acknowledgment of this critical issue. Most haven't mentioned it much at all. Perhaps some relish the thought that if elected they will enjoy the concentrated, extreme and unconstitutional power that Bush and Cheney have given the presidency. His book, The Assault on Reason, as well as his speeches, demonstrate that Mr. Gore has the entire picture and can communicate it clearly, effectively, completely and with great passion. The only person who will be in a position to guarantee that we do not fall off this cliff into totalitarianism is the person inaugurated as president in January, 2009.

If our course remains the same , someday soon, maybe three years from now, maybe five, but very soon, we will be waking up every day in a dictatorship. This will be a tragedy of monumental proportions. I can't express the profound grief I feel over the loss of this "noble experiment" in democracy. I can't imagine the pain of regret I would feel to wake up in such circumstances knowing that I had been the person who could have prevented it, but I chose not to. I don't think Mr. Gore wants to find out first hand how that would feel.

I couldn't agree more.

Let's review.

This is how Al Gore's résumé reads as of this morning:

Son of a great senator.

Harvard graduate, with honors.

Vietnam veteran.

Award-winning investigative journalist.

Congressman.

Senator.

Vice President.

Winner of the popular vote for President of the United States.

Best-selling author.

Environmental activist.

Academy Award winner.

And, now, Nobel Peace Prize winner - he shares the prize with the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - for "their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about manmade climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

As résumés go, that is one for the top of the pile.

He's already been slimed by the right wing noise machine. Why subject himself to it again?

Is it his duty to once more attempt to pull our fat out of the fire? I think not.

IMO, Al Gore has become a citizen of the world and sees the troubles of the USA only as to how they effect the rest of the world. I think he, like some of us, has come to the conclusion that America, while it was a nice dream and noble experiment, is now over.

We had our chance to have him help us out of our predicament and we blew it. Too bad.