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 resume of anyone seeking — or considering seeking — the presidency.
Let’s review.
This is how Al Gore’s resumé 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 resumés go, that is one for the top of the pile.
But it begs the question: Shouldn’t a man who has gotten this far be thinking about how to finish the journey?
And isn’t the last stop the Oval Office?
To think that Gore is not pondering these questions today would be absurd.
Of course, the former vice president says, “The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity.”
No doubt about that.
But Gore cannot feign ignorance of his own “political issue.” 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.
“There are times for politicians and times for heroes. America and the Earth need a hero right now,” read the Draft Gore movement’s open letter to the soon-to-be Nobel man. “Please rise to this challenge, or you and millions of us will live forever wondering what might have been.”
Now, that’s pressure. But it is a velvet grip in which the peace prize winner finds himself.
Al Gore has arrived at the point that most politicians can only imagine in their wildest dreams. The entire world is asking him to be not merely a candidate but an ecological — not to mention, ideological — savior. And there is simply no question that he is viable. In fact, he is more viable than he has ever been.
Can Gore resist? Probably.
Should he resist? Probably not.
Sure, it will be said that Gore can do more to address climate change as a private citizen. But no one who as been so close to the presidency as he will miss the point that the most powerful official on the planet has some sway in matters involving the planet.
The last serious presidential prospect to win a Nobel Peace Prize was Teddy Roosevelt, who got the award when he was serving as president in 1906. (The Norwegians were impressed that he had convinced Japanese and Russian representatives to come to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and that he had then gotten them to negotiate an end to a nasty little war they had been waging.)
Roosevelt exited the presidency in 1908 and almost immediately began to regret the decision. The peace prize was not enough to get Republicans to ditch his successor, the hapless William Howard Taft, and put Roosevelt at the head of their 1912 ticket. But TR did run the most successful third-party presidential campaign of the 20th century that year - as a “Bull Moose” Progressive.
Roosevelt never got over his belief that, had he just won the Republican nomination in 1912, he would again have been president. And, eight years later, at a point after the horrors of World War I when people were taking peace prizes rather more seriously, he was widely encouraged to make a run for the Republican nomination that probably would have secured him not just the party line but the presidency.
Roosevelt did not need much encouragement. Barely 60 — the age Gore will turn next March — the Rough Rider was ready for one more charge; indeed, family members and friends reported that he was raring to go.
Only the coronary embolism that did him in on January 6, 1919, was powerful enough to cure TR’s case of presidency lust. And there is no reason to believe that Al Gore, a man who bid first for the presidency in 1988, considered running in 1992, spent eight years as an understudy, then bid again in 2000 - winning the Democratic nomination and the popular vote, but losing the job on a 5-4 technical call by the Supreme Court — is any less inclined that Roosevelt was to give it another try.
There will be a lot of “fire-in-the-belly” talk over the next few days.
But Al Gore should not be worrying about checking his gut.
He should be thinking about the resume he has spent a lifetime preparing.
It is more impressive than ever.
Unfortunately, the suddenly more impressive character of Gore’s resume only serves to emphasize that it remains incomplete.
A Nobel Prize for Peace is a fine honor. But take it from a man who won the presidency and the prize but could not leave the political arena.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better,” Teddy Roosevelt said as he prepared another run for the White House. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Copyright © 2007 The Nation
In 2000 I held my nose and voted for Al.
But in 2008 I would work my butt off to get him elected.
I haven’t changed - he has.
Run, Al, Run!!!!!!
Al Gore was screwed out of the Presidency in 2000 and the U.S. mess has consequently been caused by unelected (in both terms) Bush and his Neocons. Al Gore should run again, but “Mama & Obama” would fight him tooth & nail at this point. A not so bad ticket might be Gore for President & Mama for VP, but she’s too ambitious for this. He would make a good Secretary of State!
While I believe Gore would be a huge upgrade to Hillary I’m still wary of what he will do when in office.
Will he sign more free trade agreements as Bill did in the 90’s?
Will he move to allow for more media consolidation as Bill did in the 90’s?
Will he send troops into Syria and Iran?
While I do believe he would work towards moving us off the oil based economy which is very important those other questions will always worry me. Still, out of all the corporate media’s “front runners” (Hillary, Obama, Edwards, Romney, Giuliani, McCain, etc.) I’d vote for him.
He might make a good Secretary of the Interior but he isn’t running for President and judging from his last campaign, it’s just as well.
Gore has to look at the facts. First, Hillary has tied-up the big money for campaigns, the same circle of rich that Gore would need to tap for a viable campaign.
Gore would have to be charismatic which is something he didnt show in his last Presidential bid, matter of fact he seemed more like a robot and apparently Americans like their President to be someone they would like to go out for a beer with. Anti-intellectualism is the “in” thing in the United States so dont go thinking that the masses will be impressed the Nobel Prize.
Gore has been successful in his world-wide campaign to enlighten people about Global Warming and the Nobel Prize will help him accomplish more as a private, concerned citizen fighting ignorance than it will to become President.
Although I congratulate him on sharing the Nobel Peace Price, his immediate copulation with no fight upon the 2000 fraudulant election by Republicans and running to Tennessee and brood is not my kinda president.
Secondly, he is part of the inner circle of Democrats no more or less then the leader of the pack Hillery.
Lastly, Dennis Kucinich although no fire ball personality carries the correct positions on the issues of the day and belongs to the Progressive Democratic Caucus, Gore was never that progressive.
Being a lifelong democrat I have to admit I am so disappointed with the current field. Hillary is just another corporate lackey. If elected she will continue to serve her corporate bosses first and the people second. My hope is that Al gets in as an independent and chooses a moderate republican as a running mate. Chuck Hagel or Ron Paul comes to mind. Then I would hope that they finance their campaign thru individual contributions from working Americans not the rich. I think middle class America is screaming for a viable third party and I think that such a ticket would pull in independents, as well as disillusioned democrats and republicans (I think there are almost as many pissed off republicans as there are democrats). I know that this is just a fantasy and it will never happen as big media and big business will not allow it.
In November 2008 we will get to choose between the two candidates that they have chosen for us, probably Hillary and Rudy how depressing, I think I will just stay home and get drunk.
Some questions for which I have no answer:
1. Would Gore as a President curry the favor with the rest of the world, in reparation of the near-mortal wounding inflicted by GW Bozo?
2. Conceding that climate change would be a palpable undercurrent to the policies for which Gore would have the most passion, would his choices really fall in line with Big Business?
3. Have the last eight years made a substantial difference (if indeed there was one needed to be made, considering the pressures to conform he undoubtedly felt as Clinton’s VP) in Gore’s wisdom and moral guidance, such that the nay-sayers can “forgive” his “mistakes” in the past?
4. Would Kucinich even consider running with Gore to add credence to what some might see as a Progressive glimmer of hope in Gore’s politics?
5. Is the snowball big enough to be the avalanche that outpaces campaign spending on the part of The Wicked Witch of New York?
and…
6. Did hopalongcassidy really mean to use the word “copulation”? “Capitulation” seems like the more appropriate word…but I could be wrong, and either way, THANK YOU for the hearty belly-laugh!
The most immediate advantage with Al Gore as president would be we would acquire a large amount of good-will capital in the rest of the world — something that is at about the level of the national debt at the moment.
Al Gore lost my support ( not my vote ) but the feeling he was a strong runner when in the debate with Dubya, Gore let Dubya insult him with ” he’s doing that fuzzy math “. Gore never fought back. He just stood there. It does not matter whatever he was thinking, because he should have come back strong against Dubya . Has he learned to fight ?
I congratulate Al Gore on his Nobel Prize. He earned it! However, I beg Al Gore NOT to run for President unless he is willing NOT to allow the Republicans to steal the election and extend the Bush-Chaney-Giuliani-Romney Dictatorship. What Gore did in 2000 (by letting Bush steal Al Gore’s rightful position of President which he won BTW) was cowardly and I will NEVER forgive him for that!!!And don’t you people dare blame Ralph Nader for Gore’s cowardice!!
I’m pretty bummed he won’t run, though we’ve had worse fields in the “opposition” party.
There is, however, a lesson from it: Al Gore WITH Beltway consultants is vanquished (I can’t say “loses” so this is the best word I can come up with) by Bush, he even manages somehow to lose at debating W.; WITHOUT Beltway consultants, Oscar, Worldwide concert grossing god knows how much, and the Nobel Prize.
Sums it up for me.
Alright, I said it elsewhere but it bears repeating:
People,
Lyndon Johnson once said of J. Edgar Hoover, “I´d rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in.” Gore is far more effective from the outside but remember this, the above poster who referenced the CounterPunch articles is absolutely right. Gore as a politician would become yet again, another hypocritical politician. Even staying away you can count on him endorsing the Dem candidate “wholeheartedly” which probably means Her Royal Clinton.
The point here is that, as I have written a number of times before, “You can´t get the system you want by voting for people who don´t want that system.”
We need to jettison the Electoral College, implement some form of Proportional Representation in order to get a true multiparty system and elect as often as possible non Dems or Reps in Congress so they can begin caucusing to the Left of the Dems so called “Progressive caucus”. Kucinich will fold like sheet of tracing paper and endorse (like he did last time) the Dem candidate.
The only progressive party with any structure and statewide organizational ability and chance is the Greens and on this issue of Gore and the environment (plus the war and the other electoral issues I mentioned above) they have always been right. Get behind them and vote. Then hit the streets and as often as possible protest the insanity of continuous war and political disenfranchisement. A President Obama, Edwards or Clinton (or even a President Gore) will neither stop the American imperial project nor fully democratize our system so that 49% of our electorate is always disenfranchised. (Under a “two-party” system) Get your act together. We need change.
hopalongcassidy says:
Although I congratulate him on sharing the Nobel Peace Price, his immediate copulation with no fight upon the 2000 fraudulant election by Republicans and running to Tennessee and brood is not my kinda president.
I think you meant ‘capitulation’ not ‘copulation’.
Al Gore is truly at the top of his game. This is a HUGE win for him.
He has much more electability now than he did in 2000. Unfortunately, he’s in a rigged game and running for president would be a waste of his money, time, and resources. As soon as he tried to run his name would be muddied and distortions would come out to try to destroy his credibility. Al Gore is better off now continuing his climate change struggle, to which he’s made tremendous strides. He is the voice of reason and awareness that we need so much right now. If he stays out of the presidential race, his words will continue to have a strong positive impact.
In short, Al Gore is too good to play the role of lead clown in this circus.
I want to add to: Mr V.P. and President elect Al Gore 2000 Please consider running again. You would have my vote, plus I would get out and help you campaign. GO FOR IT!!!!!
Al Gore’s, cousin Gore Vidal, in an interview, about 6 months ago, said that Al in the 2000 election should have fought for the correct outcome of the election and was also disappointed that he did not fight and gave up so quickly. I don’t know how Gore came up with Lieberman as his running mate. But if it were due to the influence of the Clintons, then you know where the Clintons’ heart lies. It seems like the Clintons keep supporting Lieberman. If Gore does run I hope he would pick a much better vice president candidate that his last choice.
Carter and Gore have done more after out of office, I agree.
I really like Jimmy Carter, as for Al…well he has to learn that fight. If he has lost after a real fight I would be behind him running. Now that he has learned to “teach” he is better for the world. Dennis will not fold when he gets the nod and who knows maybe Mike Gravel will be his vp.
If you want a bleak take on Gore read this article on Counterpunch by Jeffrey St Clair. http://www.counterpunch.org/stclair03032007.html He and Alexander Cockburn took him apart prior to the last election. I guess there’s always the politics/sausage comparison. The less you know how it’s made, the tastier you’ll find the product (and vice versa).
The first Secretary of Peace?
Gore will run as a Green —- and win.
The phony two-party corporate Empire’s political machine in “Vichy America” is done — you can stick a fork in it. The only segment that doesn’t understand the deceit of this contrived facade of the corporate Empire’s scripted phony ‘two-party’ election plans for ‘08 is the MSM.
If the French could throw out the “Vichy France” phony government that the Nazi Empire had installed, we Americans can certainly throw out the more sophisticated facade of the “Vichy American” phony two-party government that the global corporate Empire has installed over our democracy.
I’m so thrilled that President Gore has won this award!
If you think Al Gore isn’t up to running for President, you need, I repeat need to read his speech on freedom and security which is today repeated on this website. I think you will change your mind!
Politican and climate activist George Monbiot said the following this morning on Democracy Now:
“Well, I have to say that I feel slightly more equivocal about this [award of prize to Gore], because while I think he’s done some very good work indeed in publicizing climate change, his record on peace has not been quite so good. And this is, after all, the Nobel Peace Prize. And in common, unfortunately, with most of the Democratic Party, he has been quick to endorse and slow to condemn unwarranted attacks on other nations, and therefore I do feel uneasy about his receipt of the prize.”
I’m quite inclined to agree with Monbiot’s assesment.
I’m thrilled too, and disappointed that more people commenting on news sites can’t just feel proud instead of trying to denigrate a great achievement by one of their own.
And as rar as the other recipient, Monbiot praised the IPCC on their “conservatism” in that they are being careful to only include predictions that they are “sure of” - i.e. ones with a broad concensus.
However, this is a disastarously backwards approach. In Civil and other engineering fields, public safety hinges on an opposite definition of “conservative” - designing for the worst-case things that have only a slight chance of happening, plus a safety factor - NOT things we can _prove_ will happen. If dams were designed the way the IPCC approaches climate, they would fail 95% of the time over their lifetime.
Yes - they’ve been through this on Huff-Po already. Yawn.
safiyyah,
Agreed, the most outrageous and disgusting award of the “Peace” Prize was Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho, in 1973. At least Tho has the graciousness to decline acceptance. The mass murderer Kissinger proudly accepted his.
I don’t understand why some people have immediately tried to belittle Al Gore’s achievement. I usually agree with the majority of views expressed in Common Dreams, but cannot understand this attitude.
The USA needs something to be proud of - would it be too much to ask that for 24 hours people stop and think about what Al has done, instead of jumping in to find reasons to bring him down.
Without Al Gore’s input how would the USA stand on climate change now? The issue would have continued to be ignored, except by few academics who had no clout to bring it to the fore.
His film may have included some errors and exaggerations - but those were needed to wake people up in my opinion. The film did its job.
Come on, Americans - feel proud that at least one of your countrymen has done something the world can appreciate.
Awareness is important. What should be done next? It doesn’t seem like little changes can turn it around at this point. Mr. Gore must go toe-to-toe with the global marketplace. That is huge.
I gotta admit, he could hook me. He’d have to say something like, “Only vote for me if you want change,” but his tone would have to be one of warning. He would have to mean the kind of change that is going to affect every one of us, how we live, think, work and play. I haven’t closed the door on him, which is more than can be said for most of the other candidates.
What Al Gore has accomplished with bringing global awareness to the environment no doubt is a monumental achievement, and we ought to be proud and congratulate him. Our Village Idiot-in-Chief however, will not even call Gore to congratulate him, which again shows Bush’s lack of class and integrity. But, I must agree with many of the posters here that Gore would not be a good choice for the Presidency. His history of caving to corporate interests and campaign funding, and choosing Joe “let’s eviscerate the Arab world” Liebermann to be Vice-President raises a series of very significant questions to give one considerable pause. What is to say if Gore runs again, he will not ask Liebermann to run as V.P.? Al, thanks for your outstanding work to help promote global awareness about the environment.
The idea of Gore running on Green and winning is intriguing. But, don’t you kind of get the impression that he likes where he is right now? And, specifically, that he likes his place, his lot, particularly in relation to where he was before? Why would he want to get back into politics when he is firing on all cylinders where he is?
I’m proud of Al Gore’s accomplishment. I’m proud of the IPCC’s accomplishment.
I’m proud of Anniesee for pointing out our opportunity and need to feel proud.
I’m proud of Common Dreams for providing a site where people can talk candidly and constructively about issues and events that affect all of us. I’m glad they put an article up early this morning about Al Gore and the IPCC will winning the Nobel Prize for Peace.
Imagine that; winning an award of that distinction for deliberately doing something thoughtful, caring, and responsible for the whole planet. Years and years of hard selfless work recognized. And everyone on the planet is a winner!
Have a bagel with your coffee this morning; my treat!
Anniesee
Your comment: “I’m thrilled too, and disappointed that more people commenting on news sites can’t just feel proud instead of trying to denigrate a great achievement by one of their own.”
Al Gore has been ridiculed relentlessly by the US press but received international recognition for his work.
Something Biblical: “For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country.” Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, Luke 4:24
Meg, Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Governator, is ready to take on the markets.
“Let’s assume for a second that global warming is 10 percent less of a problem. No matter what percentage you take off, we are in big trouble. That’s the reality. We’ve seen the photographs of glaciers melting. We know that is a phenomenon that is happening. We know that the water is rising. We know that we are polluting the world. All of this is reality.
I’m not an environmental fanatic. That’s why our program [in California] works, because people know that I have not come from that background. As governor, you talk to scientists at universities. These are not wacky people, but they will tell you straight. Then you see the reports of 3,000 scientists, then you read reports of the UN. There is no conspiracy, this is real stuff.
I’m an optimist. I don’t look at this as if the world is coming to an end. I see it as a great opportunity to clean up our mess. We’re grownups, we aren’t children, and we can do it. That’s why we like to be out front in California. That’s power.”
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/04/02/8403410/index.htm
Remember, most of these people were Hard-core Republican Conservatives until a couple of weeks ago; naturally they’re a little negative, a little dumbed down, a little numb to good news.
Ha!
Al Gore? What a joke the Nobel Peace Prize is! Gore is the most laughable winner since all together now, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin got the prize in 1994.
I take that back. This is the most laughable recipient since Woodrow Wilson got it in 1919. Who even remembers the majority of winners of this prize? Willie Brandt for example? Or Frank B. Kellogg, who supposedly stopped World War 2 from happening?
Now Gore gets to join on board this illustrious list of Peace Prize big winners alongside Henry Kissinger, who won in 1973! How proud he must be…
Awarding a peace prize for a man that never spoke out against the atrocities the US committed against Iraq while he was in office as US VP is shameful. Not to mention that Al Gore still is no voice of peace against the current Iraq War continued forward by Bush after Gore left office.
He sure isn’t perfect. He sure is comparatively better. Heard an NPR “expert” say that Gore is too far behind Hillary’s/Obama’s $80 million warchests each to jump in now. HELL! Gore’s already got $100 million’s worth of name recognition-power and that is all Hillary and Obama are trying to buy. Gore’s is EARNED and the potentials out of that are what make it so thrilling to imagine—a bipedal president who knows that it’s more than okay to think, feel, care and act creatively, against the familiar and the odds when it matters. Second says NPR expert, Gore won’t want to split the Dems’ base already so committed to Hillary. I’m SURE that the expert hasn’t been reading at Common Dreams! SO GO, AL, GO___
Hillary and Obama have all the big money tied up in their campaigns. Gore is afraid of dividing the Democratic Party by entering the race and he feels at a distinct financial disadvantage at this stage of the game (even though I am sure that some of that “big money” would shift their loyalty to Gore if he ran - maybe….).
I think that Dems would flock to Gore’s banner if he threw his hat in the ring and would leave Hillary and Obama standing in the dust left behind when the rest of the Dems gallop off following him through his campaign path, but….. I know that no matter how many people yell, “Run, Gore, RUN!”, he won’t. Not now. Maybe in ‘12, but not now.
So it’s going to come down to Hillary vs. Rudy. I hate going to the polls holding my nose and having to vote for “the lesser of two evils”. But it looks like it’s going to come down to just that in ‘08.
God help us all.
My problem with Al Gore is that I’ve seen this movie before.
Al Gore ran for President in 1988. He ran as a southern conservative, pro-war, pro-military DLC democrat-in-name-only. He lost. Even though the other Southern DLC types had rigged up the first ‘Super Tuesday’ regional primary just for Al Gore, they didn’t count on a coalition of progressives and minorities in the south teaming up to help Jesse Jackson win those primaries that year.
That didn’t make Al Gore not want to be President, but it did cause him to go though one of the periodic ‘reinvent Al Gore’ episodes that are so much a part of his history. The striking part is that it was the environment that he choose then to be the issue about which he reformed his image away from being the voice of the KKK wing of the Democratic Party.
So, I’ve seen this whole cycle before. Al Gore writes a book on the environment. Everyone praises ‘the new Al Gore’. A couple of years later, Bill Clinton picks the new Al Gore to be the Vice President.
The problem is when you look at the record, if you really look at actions instead of words, Al Gore didn’t do squat for the environment while he was sitting there a heartbeat away from being leader of the free world. He was part of an administration that backtracked on campaign promises to block a big polluting power plant in the midwest, and that used WTO and NAFTA to block any advancement on environmental issues, made deals with logging companies to log the old growth forests and who went to Kyoto to destroy any momentum towards a deal with any real limits on emissions (Kyoto finally says 5% cut from 1990. The Europeans were pushing for something like 10% cut from 1990. Al Gore’s job was to negotiate the deal to be weaker, and he pushed for all these carbon trading loopholes that make it worthless).
Al Gore’s political history is that he is a shapeshifter. He’ll be anything to anyone if it means he gets to advance. In his political career he’s been all over the place on the political spectrum including being further right than say where Joe Lieberman is today.
So, sorry, I don’t believe it. I don’t care about ‘the new Al Gore’. 25 years of watching this guy on the political stage tells me that its all BS.
PS … please note that the entire goal of the Democratic Party is to find a candidate who is just that marginally little bit better than the Republicans. Since their policies are Republican in nature, they want to move as little as possible from the Republicans.
Al Gore is just the latest in this line. Hillary is basically running as Ghouliani with a bra. And that’s not playing well with the public, despite the polls saying she’s leading. Hillary is in the bizarre position of being hated by almost everyone left to right who pays any attention to politics.
So the Democrats are looking for a plan B. Obama’s been auditioning for the role. But I get the impression that it isn’t going so well. After all, what good is a candidate who’s 20 points behind one of the most despised figures in American politics?
Enter Al Gore from stage right. He’s got the phony credentials as an environmentalist from making a movie. And even more bizarrely this somehow is getting him thought of as a progressive even though he’s never had a progressive bone in his body and his political history is to the right of Joe Lieberman.
Thus, the perfect Democratic candidate in the eyes of the leaders of this modern pro-war, pro-corporate party. His positions and history are to the right. He’s always favored bigger military budgets and aggressive military actions. He’s always been a corporations best friend in DC. But bizarrely he’s now regarded as a progressive.
So we see Al Gore trotted out as the savior who’s going to right all that’s wrong. But here’s a prediction. If Al Gore is elected President, most of us will be meeting about two years later to try to talk about how to organize protests against yet another Democrat who is ‘disappointing’ all the progressives who got fooled into supporting him.
PPS …. Come to Denver, August 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well done,Mr. Gore-well done!
Inconvenient truth is not what gives Al Gore the Nobel Peace Prize in my book, but,
How he handled himself when the United States Supreme court stole the election from the American people.
That truly warrants a World peace Price!!!
Congratulations Mr Gore, i have gone from not liking you to honestly say your 1 of probably very few people I would rise and vote.
Only one of them is currently running Dennis Kucinich
::Thus, the perfect Democratic candidate in the eyes of the leaders of this modern pro-war, pro-corporate party. His positions and history are to the right. He’s always favored bigger military budgets and aggressive military actions. He’s always been a corporations best friend in DC. But bizarrely he’s now regarded as a progressive.::
Not only that, but the same kind of hoopla surrounded Clinton/Gore in 1992, all evidence to the contrary - including if memory serves, their campaign platform.
::So we see Al Gore trotted out as the savior who’s going to right all that’s wrong. But here’s a prediction. If Al Gore is elected President, most of us will be meeting about two years later to try to talk about how to organize protests against yet another Democrat who is ‘disappointing’ all the progressives who got fooled into supporting him.::
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is what I was talking about when I said folks waking up to realize they’ve been had. The only comfort here is that we’ll have more company this time around - hopefully people will continue to wake up in time to not have to go through this all over again.
So many want to keep pushing off these Democrats as being good for us. I think these pushers are more dangerous than dealers in crack.
Al Gore in no way is a worthy recipient of any Peace Prize and even though the other Democratic Party front runners are absolutely horrible, it’s a poor excuse for getting behind a Gore candidacy. He’s got a proven track record and they just want us to ignore all this! They want us to believe in the tooth fairy, and the fantasma of the reinvented Gore!
Heard an NPR “expert” say that Gore is too far behind Hillary’s/Obama’s $80 million warchests each to jump in now.
Yeah, what political coverage! Forget ideas, forget furthering a constructive ideology human lives and desitny*, it’s all just a big football game with dollar signs on the scoreboard.
Those dulcet tones of those aging neoliberal capitalisyt yuppies on NPR makes me physically sick.
*not that I think gGre would be helpful her eeither…
Al Gore– yeah remember how he and Bill Klanton made things much worse in the Balkans with their version of the US war on democracy on the democratic state of Yugoslavia. Give me a damn break. How about a Nobel War Prize for this dawg? Better yet, let’s go with a nobody but Kucinich movement.
“Hillary is basically running as Ghouliani with a bra. And that’s not playing well with the public, despite the polls saying she’s leading. Hillary is in the bizarre position of being hated by almost everyone left to right who pays any attention to politics.”
Which is why I have to wonder why it is that she’s leading in all of the polls, except against Giuliani, who she only sports a 3 point lead over in the polls. Against her nearest Democratic rivals, she’s got double digit leads over them, even though they may be better candidates. The “Clintonistas”, the Clinton Money Machine, are still solidly behind her. She’s the DLC choice to lead the Dems to the march to the White House, and the DLC is basically a centrist, Republican-lite organisation. Anybody who smacks of being “too left” like Kucinich is basically frozen out of the picture, sadly, giving them virtually no chance of winning or even racking up big poll numbers.
I still regard Hillary as being too cold, too calculating. Gore’s out of this race, so forget him. Giuliani turns off social conservatives, Thompson has become their standard bearer, more or less, and Obama is too green with not enough name recognition to make a real go of things this time, but he’s sure charismatic enough and appealing enough to the young, college aged vote to be able to make a bit of inroads with the younger voters, who could well turn out in record numbers if they get their act together and do so.
But for now, no Gore. They say that the Nobel means that you’re past your prime. It’s kind of a “Lifetime Achievement Award” a la the honourary Oscars given to those they never gave to actors and actresses while they were still gracing the silver screen. Call it a golden watch, but it means that we won’t see another Gore run, at least not this campaign season.
For now, let Gore rest on his laurels and get behind the candidacy of Dennis Kucinich. If enough of us get out there and do so and make our voices LOUDLY heard, he’ll be next to impossible to ignore.
The people of the USA have reached a sort of tipping point in their vision of US politica and economics, but there is no candidate (who could win) who clearly spells out the necessary rearticulation of the country’s policy in line with what the people clearly want (see the polls). Gore’s work on climate change has surely lead him to connect the dots between the big issues and the necessity for a deep systemic change. Even if he loses he would still establish the institutional space in US politics for a clearly defined alternative to the dismal coincidence in all the MSM-supported neoliberal and imperial candidates on all of the issues affecting the planet, the country and the people.
I’m with AD…we need Kucinich. Gore is fine talking about climate change but he still lives in a huge home. His lifestyle choices tell Americans that they don’t actually have to sacrifice anything to save the planet. Gore is great for spreading the word about climate change but if we want to actually fix the problem, Kucinich is the only candidate who leads by example with his own lifestyle.
safiyyah, I agree that Gore is unworthy of any Peace price, but the Nobel, for all its vaunted status, is pretty much a sham. Past Nobel Peace laureates include Henry Kissinger, Gorbachev and Jimmy Carter. Giving a “Peace” Prize to political leaders (or former leaders) of nuclear superpowers is beyond a joke.
I would vote for Al Gore. I would not vote for Edwards, Obama or Clinton. I did not vote for Kerry. Gore in 08 is not comparable to Clinton/Gore 92. In 92 they were chosen by Big Business to run, to receive the nomination and to carry the banner. Gore was a Senator at the time- an insider- bought and paid for. If he ran in 08 he would be running as himself. Without most of the Big Business money he received in 00. That may still not be good enough for a lot of people but it would be different. He does not need 80 million dollars, no person in American history had ever received as many votes as Al Gore did in 2000. He has all the name recgonition you could ever buy. And to those saying that he has it good now or that he is taken more seriously now than when he was a candidate, I ask– do you know any Bush Republicans? They still mock and despise and obsess over Al Gore. To those making comments about Gore reinventing himself, like it’s a bad thing, you don’t get what makes Gore attractive to people like me. He is willing to change. He is willing to think and reason and come up with new conclusions based on new information. He is a thinker, and that is a good thing. So we can wait for the next tried and tested Frank Lutz approved corporate candidate that will promote the worst of the status quo while destroying so much more that is good. Or we can give Al Gore another shot. I will vote for Gore or if he is not the candidate, I will vote Green. It is not ideal but nothing in the world is today. I am committed to change and will continue to work for it but until us Greens get someone elected to the US House or Senate or a Governorship, then it is not realistic to expect to win the electoral college. I have posted many times on this site saying that if voting Green means the GOP candidate wins, good. I am fine with that because you can not expect change when you keep voting for the same corrupt parties. But, to me, this is different. I believe in Al Gore, the man, the human. He may very well dissappoint- in fact he will dissappoint me because we don’t share the same views, but we need an intellectual, reasoned President now as much as ever. Al Gore should run, and I will support him.
I’m glad A Gore lost the 2000 election. What if he had won, and out of bad luck, he had been bumped off like JFK?
Terrible. We then would have had that ugly, untrustworthy guy as our president:LIEberman !!!!!
But this time I’ll vote for Al.
This is a good argument, John Nichols. But if Gore didn’t win, it would be a disaster. And, as the comments on this website strongly suggest, there are still too many Americans who can’t/won’t think globally, so it’s pretty risky.
In a healthy democracy nobody knows or cares who is elected to public service. They only know and care about the pubic interests and how well they are being addressed.
Gore’s NOT an environmentalist as COMARC points out. In addition, Gore praised the DEA for BOMBIMG a HEMP farm in South Dakota. Hemp is environmentally friendly, is NOT marijuana, has 25000 industrial uses, and can replace petroleum completely. Everyone who is FOOLISHLY thinking that Gore’s a liberal better take a complete look at his DIVORCED FROM REALITY (typical for most pols) voting record for his 24 years in Washington.
rtdrury:
Thanks for that little gem: “they only know and care about the public interests and how well they are being addressed”.
I think that’s where our society’s car jumped the tracks, somewhere near the time of the civil war. When Alexis de Toqueville toured the U.S. in the 19th century, he was astounded at the common-cause lets-build-our-society feeling that was pervasive here at that point in our nation’s development. We have only briefly recaptured that sentiment, maybe during the emergencies of the second world war, and possibly fleetingly after 911.
I think that’s really what’s missing: the commonly-held notion of where our common interests are, and the notion that the common good transcends the individual’s.
It would be really hard to scare, divide or stampede a society that knew where it was, where it was going, and how to get there.
Congratulations to our elected President. There are plenty of arguments against your running here. That means some of your opposition is worried because they realize that you have the best chance of winning (again)! The shills here know that Hillary can’t even beat Giuliani in the polls and they are deathly afraid of your candidacy. They pretend outrage and rail against Repugs to get us to vote for good progressive candidates who have no chance of winning. Others may be sincere and feel let down because you bowed out and conceded the election too soon. But you are our best chance. You’ve taught that fighting global warming also means ending war. If war is our main issue you are the best person to address it scientifically and politically. Run Al, Run!
If Al Gore will do something to protect and preserve this beautiful planet so that future generations can continue to live, (learn, eat, drink, breath) than I will vote for him over all other interests. I am a single mother raising a 3-year-old daughter. I am descended from Africans kidnapped and brought here as slaves over ten generation ago. I am passionate about Gender Equality, Workers rights, LGBTQ rights, health care and education. But, none of that matters if we destroy the earth! Run, Gore Run!
“Flash” Goredon, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, said he was getting straight back to work on the “planetary emergency” of climate change.
We love you Al Gore!
Gore: back to work on “planetary emergency” By Jim Christie .. Editted (wink)
PALO ALTO, California (Reuters) http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1245952120071012?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
Yes rtdrury!
A healthy, wealthy and wise democracy!
A glimmer of light in the foul corrupt darkness that pervades this nation.
First there was the stolen election; hopefully corporate oil won’t pay corporate mercenaries (or the CIA) to arrange a convenient airplane crash.
World overpopulation and depletion of resources will destroy “civilization,” the help of bush amerika the pope and assorted satan worshipers
Hey, folks, we give righties every oportunity to change and embrace them when they do, eg. Arianna Huffington, John Dean, Paul Craig Roberts. The list is quite long. Why should we not give the lefties an oportunity to shake off the DLC and reform too?
The idea of an independant or third party candidate is an idea whose time has come. We are all angry enough to pull it off. At least it could really throw a monkey wrench into the electoral college and hopefully damage it beyond repair.
Al Gore: The Once and Future President.
Naysayers be damned, the return and renaissance of a fallen hero is pretty accurate. In light of what we’ve suffered the past 7 years, it’s that much more poignant. If anyone knows anyone in a Draft Gore or Gore-hyping movement, please share my website with them if you think it could help. Fundraising, etc… all the stuff us idealists don’t like to focus on. (And hey, I’m trying to make some semblance of a living with my art and ideas!)
http://www.supergore.com
Talk of a “Global Marshall Plan” being organized/enacted by 2009/2010 at the latest? Who else is going to catalyze such an effort with the world community?
hopalongcassidy wrote, “his immediate copulation with no fight upon the 2000 fraudulant election by Republicans”
Did I miss something? I don’t remember Gore copulating with anyone immediately following the election. If you’re going to use big words, use them correctly. And, Gore did not capitulate with no fight. He fought and lost to our illustrious Supreme Court. The Republican smear machine was doing a good job of making him look like a sore loser (I know, the actual winner of the popular vote is really a loser…that’s a round of logic I still can’t wrap my brain around!) What exactly did you want him to do? Stage a coup? Lock himself inside the oval office?
The nobels are a sham. They give awards to people who torture animals!
And it was started by a guy who blew people up–he didnt start the prize because he had a change of heart–he started it because someone ran a false obituary on him that portrayed him as a mass murderer. He wanted a different legacy–because of his munitions money–he got it.
Please, let’s keep Al out of small airplanes from now on…..
I’ve been grinning all day I’m so proud of the Nobel selectors.
Who’s winning now, Dubya?
A Question:
Does anyone know the real reason why Liebermann was added to the 2000 ticket? I don’t recall him being a rabid, hysterical hawk Zionist back then….
Forget Nobel (all awards are a sham pretty much.) You should check out Dobel in the Woody Allen flick!
Why would the oval office be the last stop? That’s arrogant, and I’m from the US. Why not UN Secretary-General?
I’m surprised at how unforgiving this crowd is. So he’s not perfect - he’s no doubt a lot closer to perfection than any of us are. He tried to be a gracious loser and yes, we suffered mightily for it, but grace is in short supply these days. And who cares if Ms. Clinton thinks she’s got it sewn up - it’s too early to give in to her yet, and she’s far more likely to reinforce her husband’s mistakes than Gore is.
Oh, and Dear Mr. Nichols, I’m sorry to be a nag, but it really bugs me when people misuse the phrase “begs the question” when they mean “raises the question.” It’s extremely common now, but that doesn’t make it right and professional writers should know better. “Begging the question” means something completely different (which can be found in philosophical dictionaries.)
While Gore would still probably be a lesser of two evils, I would vote only for him as a Dem because he supports national health insurance. (He did not in 2000). The insurance companies will do everything to keep him out.
This is what I would consider the tipping point for any of my votes to go democratic … this is an issue all candidates should pick up. Until then, Green it is.
TO BE PRESIDENT YOU DO NOT NEED QUALIFICATIONS, ALIS WAY OVER QUALIFIED.TRY TO NAME ONE QUALIFICATION THAT bush HOLDS.
If Al Gore did not run for and win the Presidency, but everyone followed him anyway, and ignored the oiligarchy, would it not be as good?…or better?
I can see a no more appropriate or timely method of restoring credibility to this nation, in the eyes of the world, than the election of Al Gore to the Presidency of the US.
I would be over-joyed if he would run and pick Representative Kucinich as his running mate.
Such a ticket would greatly increase the life expectancy of Gore, and America certainly owes him that much, after allowing Gore to be defrauded, by the both the state of Florida and the not-so-supreme court, with neither a bang or a whimper.
Bush and Cheney should be so lucky, neither of whom will spend one day in pugatory, having already purchased one-way tickets straight to hell.
gbyatx - I share your fantasy of Gore partnered with Hagel or Paul…what a great team either pairing would make! Even Gore and Kucinich would be OK with me. Gore and anyone would be a better hand than the current candidate lineup!
Congratulate…….rose colored glass
While reading Al’s book, “The Assault on Reason”, I’ve been close to tears thinking we could have had him as President instead of the dangerous fool we have now.
NO NO NO NO to chuck hagel!!!! here’s a hint: type hagel and diebold or hagel and electronic systems and software into google and see what comes up.
his rhetoric is a con. he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing playin the focus group game. katherine harris and ken blackwell have nothing on him…
COMarc, I share your distaste for the DLC, and clearly Bill Clinton has had much to do with the Democratic parties demise.
I believe Gore, however, had manifested his sincere interest in environmental issues way before he ran for political office.
If one believes the worlds present reliance on fossil fuels is suicidal, and I believe Gore does, then regardless of one’s previous political leaning regarding war and corporate license, one’s views would change, at least to the degree necessary to keep the world a safe place to raise one’s children.
Of course if one held the view that,apparently, Bush,Cheney, et al. hold, that everything is under control, as they have already purchased their one-way ticket to Mars, that would be another story.
I just hope you are not suggesting that the likely, HRC vs any-Republican race, (if Gore is excluded) would be no worse than Gore vs any-Republican race.
Things are bad, but they are not, in my estimation, that bad.
Although I must say I think we’ve finally reached the point referred to in the statement: ‘Things have to get worse before they get better.’
I say: Mr. Gore, you lead- I will follow!
I think Gore would be a pefect Democratic candidate for 2008. He is respected throughout the world. His opposition in the United States is none other than the opposition to the other current candidates (remnants of the “Angry white Males’” Tribe and the other usual retroforstars andbars suspects)that were out of shape over not being able to become an interest group until TV gave them a title and attention. OK They’ve had theirs. And Hillary doesn’t appeal to a lot of people. Let’s draft Gore.
STEP ASIDE HILLARY. YOUR HUSBAND’S INFIDELITY COST AL GORE THE ELECTION. IF NOTHING ELSE, BESIDES HIS QUALIFICATIONS THAT PUT YOUR SELFICH ASPIRATIONS TO SHAME, YOU CLINTON’S OWE HIM ONE. DROP OUT OF THE RACE AND HAVE BILL ALSO ENDORSE AL. BUT WHATEVER YOU DO OR DON’T DO, WE ARE SO TIRED OF YOUR POSTURING, THAT ALL GORE HAS TO DO IS TELL THE DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN OF EACH STATE “YES” AND IT’S ALL OVER. IF YOU KEEP FIGHTING, IT MAY NOT EVEN BE A GORE/CLINTON TICKET. YOU’LL BE BACK TO BEING A SENATOR FROM WHAT REALLY ISN’T YOUR STATE. JUST ANOTHER CASE OF UNBRIDLED AMBITION TO HE PRESIDENT, NO REAL CONCERN FOR THE NEW YORK CITIZENS. WHAT I CAN’T IMAGINE IS WHY THE POLLSTERS DON’T SEE THROUGH ALL YOUR FALSE FRONT. NO PUN INTENDED.
I’m glad that Al got the Noble (which he does deserve). I don’t want him to run for president. NOT because I think wish him to (because I do). But because the RW machine will attack/tear him down full-tilt-boogie. Like they are doing to that 13 year old kid now. All which bears ill for our country. But hey we get what we deserve.
Gore can win only if the right wing’s election manipulation machine in halted, which may not be possible before the next election. The successes in shaping the voter behavior using unprecedented character assassination tactics such as those waged against Max Cleland, and manipulated science, have resulted in environmental and social setbacks that can not even be measured.
iven the apathy and ignorance of large voting blocks, one cannot be optimistic.
I too have serious doubts about Al Gore. He is a politician after all.
But I no longer have no doubts about Hillary. You wont get a shred of honesty out of her. She peddles war, despite rhetoric. She peddles all the media lies about Iraq/Iran being a threat to the US. Her loyalty is to the big money and AIPAC. She is a political whore.
So given the choice between these two, I would GLADLY support Al Gore.
What has Gore done for peace? What has he done to stop the occupation of Irak?
“What has Gore done for peace? What has he done to stop the occupation of Irak?”
He’s given blistering criticism in rousing speeches.. which is pretty much all he can do. He does not hold office, so he is a private citizen the same as us. But unlike us he has press coverage, and he’s used it in the most sensible and responsible ways.
Mr Nicholls;
Your statement that Gore won the popular vote in 2000 is disingenuous.
He was the real victor in Fla and thus the victor in the electoral vote. He would be the legitimate president had the supreme court not succumbed to politics and planted the current zealot in office.
“I congratulate Al Gore on his Nobel Prize. He earned it! However, I beg Al Gore NOT to run for President unless he is willing NOT to allow the Republicans to steal the election and extend the Bush-Chaney-Giuliani-Romney Dictatorship. What Gore did in 2000 (by letting Bush steal Al Gore’s rightful position of President which he won BTW) was cowardly and I will NEVER forgive him for that!!!And don’t you people dare blame Ralph Nader for Gore’s cowardice!!”
Here we go again… Gore ‘let’ the Republicans steal the election… Jesus you people are just can’t get a grip on reality…. He didn’t ‘let’ them steal the election… the Supreme Court did. And as I’ve stated numerous times on this site…. once they ruled THAT WAS THAT!!! Stop blaming Gore. He had nobody but God to appeal to after that, and as we saw with 9/11, God doesn’t intervene in earthly matters…
There was no other authority for him to appeal to. No congressional challenge would have trumped a Supreme Court ruling.
For God’s sake, stop whining about him ‘letting’ the Republicans win every damned time the man’s name is in print.. WE ARE SICK OF IT..
After listening to the right wing blow long and hard about Gore not deserving of the Nobel Prize and then reading all of the equally disturbing assessments here on this website about Gore it makes me wonder exactly what Al Gore did to arouse such animosity. In other countries when the election process is corrupted people take to the streets to make it right. That didn’t happen here. Just where were all of you people when the election was stolen out from under him? Would you have supported him if he had attempted to fight that pack of wolves? No one made a peep, but now it sounds as if he deliberately threw the election to the GOP, as if he himself stopped the recount. Hmmmmm. Bad Al. Compared to what we have lived with for the last seven years all of the accusations being thrown at Al are pretty petty. Huckleberry Hound could have given us a better run for our money than this bunch.
Remember, that Al Gore is related to the great writer, Gore Vidal. There’s a family link somewhere. I’m also aware of Gore Vidal’s passion for progressive politics. I doubt very much that Gore Vidal would cast a vote for his own kin.
I finally read the article on CounterPunch that everyone seems to be recommending. Funny, it didn’t change my opinion of Al Gore at all. The article was at most boring, the only thing it left out was whether he was potty trained too early or too late. Take the career of any lifetime politician and rake each and every decision over the coals and you would have another equally boring article. Sorry , you need more ammunition than that.
Gore will NOT run, I’m sure of it. He’s keeping the speculation alive so his global warming cause keeps getting the attention. He knows his cause will be destroyed if he runs, by Repugs and by their Democratic clones running for president. They’ll eat him alive.
And why would he run as a Democrat? Isn’t he supposed to a ‘changed’ man now, and Democrats are still obviously anti-labor, pro-war, pro-corporation and anti-environment just like they were when he was VP?
What a timely and useful article, John Nichols. Can’t wait for The Nation to arrive in the mail. And the comments on this article are a cut above the usual irrelevancies. There are a lot of thinking readers in this thread of thought. I hope Al Gore will take heart at the positives and consider the ways in which he could likely be a person who could make a difference and put a cork in the tub before democracy goes down the drain. I am concerned that he is often slow to anger, and contemplative. He may lack the progressive idealism and fire that matches all his other great qualities. Let’s hope he can reinvent those essentials.
We need Gore as president to steer the space ship away from the disaster it is heading towards.
There are two main threats global warming and global nuclear war. And the nuclear threat from a US first strike policy and ideological miscalculation in the form of a nuclear first strike against Iran is looming. The US must return to the NPT. Nucelar winter is not an answer to global warming.
The present captain is heating up the ship and fighting the passengers.
Our spaceship is hurtling towards disaster because of weapons we must join hands and cooperate to survive, instead we are fighting in the isles.
The first class passengers may feel safer but they will crash with the rest of the passengers even if their cabin is sealed off.
http://peacesource.net/
algore-has always wanted war with the middleast-and has said so;;;;algore is aware that the destruction of the artic is intentional,covert experiment radiation,electromagnetic manipulations..the christian right will gloat..when you fall hook line and sinker..for the green showfortheleft..if algore wins..there will be more’false-flag’attacks on america..more genocide in other countries.algore wanted to take our freedom of speech away,,20 years,ago..silly starstruck liberals..you are about to find out that you are no better,smarter or compassionate than the embattled christian right.algore is not even the lesser of evil,he is the same..he and george elite members of the”brotherhood”..
r06ue1:
“While I believe Gore would be a huge upgrade to Hillary I’m still wary of what he will do when in office.”
Right now I am WAY more concerned about what Giuliani would do in office, rather than an Al Gore, or for that matter, even a Hillary.
I was very impressed with Al’s speech to MoveOn in today’s CD. Everyone should read it. He seems to have moved to a far more progressive stance as a non-candidate, and really is now someone I feel I could happily support, should he choose to run. But I’m not betting the ranch on it.
What has really been bothering me lately, as I visit this site daily, is the intense hatred of liberal candidates and other public figures who don’t meet the standards of far-left-progressives, but yet are head-and-shoulders above ANYONE in the GOP. The near-complete evisceration of anyone not ascribing to every single demand of some of these posters is downright frightening. Is there no human yet alive in this country who could possibly meet their litmus test of “leftness?”
Take the comments about Jimmy Carter…a most decent human soul, a man who has done far more for people of the world than any other ex-president in either camp, especially the GOP. Yet, he is an object of scorn for some on this site because of stances he sometimes took back in the 70’s that today seem too right-leaning, despite the fact that the times were different. And Al Gore…do I need to list his achievements and his passion for the environment and the restoration of the Constitution? I challenge you to tell me what right-wing neocon has ever been more forthright than Gore was in his speech to MoveOn? How many neocons can you personally name who have told the truth about global warning and the shredding of our Constitution? Why, he even sounded eerily like many posters on this very site!
For some people here, no one (with the exception of perhaps Dennis Kucinich) will ever be acceptable. Anyone who has ever made a mistake, tried to seek compromise, or showed even the slightest deviation from progressive thought is being demonized. We are doing to ourselves what we complain about all the time with the right-wing whackos like Coulter and Limbaugh. We who consider ourselves liberals are demonizing the very people who offer us hope. It’s time to stop it and wake up. We must elect someone NOT in the GOP,even if they are not “perfect” according to our impossible standards, or else we are most decidedly cooked.
And for those here who think I have been sipping the DLC KoolAid, I assure you I have not. I am a progressive, but also a realist. This county will NEVER make any progress with another Republican in the White House. You can take that one to the bank. Obviously, it is difficult to trust anyone these days, either GOP or DEM. But short of a people’s revolution, somebody is going to occupy that White House in ‘09, and you all better be praying it ain’t Rudy. But maybe it won’t come to that, after all. Perhaps some of you who are predicting a Bush-inspired miliary takeover in the USA will then have your perverted wish. Then you can come back on this site and say, “I told you so.” Won’t that be fun? That, of course, is if this site even exists by then.
I say we liberals need to stop this hatefulness towards one another and knock off the name-calling and negative vibes. We will never have our voice heard unless we agree that the enemy we face in the neocon right is a much greater threat than a few mistakes made by decent people whose hearts have been and are essentially in the right place.
What’s Gore had to say about the illegal attack and illegal occupation of Iraq and the upcoming illegal attack on Iran?? I haven’t heard him say anything, so I guess he’d go along with it also, just like the rest of the war-loving politicians.
kane,that is true and i was a supporter of gore.. now i have come to my senses..he does not represent change..it will be more of the same..yes,america has always been better off when the democrats are in office,that is because the republicans only know how to spend money,they are incapable of saving money or balancing a budget..that is what democrats are for….. things have changed since the authors of the NWO..can now see the finish line,after generations of planning..and will push ahead..because,they can.gore is not a humanitarian,he is a man who has made alot friends,gained alot of influence and made a tremendous amount of money off of global warming.
Al Gore is not going to save you or this country or the world…I guarantee it. His carbon footprint is larger than 99.99% of the people on this planet.
Al Gore has made the case that greenhouse gas emissions have the potential to cause cataclysmic earth changes that will decimate the world’s animal (that includes us) and plant populations.
So why is emitting carbon into the atmosphere not regarded as a crime, punishable by extreme measures? One can spend up to 6 months or more in jail for possessing a little WEED which isn’t hurting anybody, but when somebody jets around the world spewing hypocritical polluting BS about tackling climate change, that person is regarded as a HERO and bestowed great honors.
As indicated by previous Commondreams new articles, it is quite likely that the tipping points for climate change are already here (rapid loss of Arctic ice, tundra thaw, amazon burning etc…).
I say put Al Gore behind bars for crimes against humanity. He knows full well the consequences of his CO2 emissions. When Al Gore is behind bars, he will learn once and for all what is means to live a low carbon footprint lifestyle. We’ll put him on a chain gang where he’ll be forced to grow his own food using hand tools. No A/C or heating will be available. Toilets will be pit or composters so no energy is used in processing. Unprocessed mostly vegan local diet. No TV, no internet, no radio no nothing.
runaway climate change means …no nothing…no joke…
Gore won the Norwegian Primary, like the shrub won his first “presdential” election, on shaky pretenses . What has Al Gore done to promote Peace and the other specific things one has to do for the Peace Prize? Not much, and certainly nothing that would get him a mention let alone a Nobel Prize. It stinks of politics and it diminishes the prize and also the recipients good name for accepting it. He worked hard to reestablish his good name but not for Peace.
Sorry but he wouldn’t get my vote.
Lord thunderin where are the virtues we admire and hope to see in public figures? Am reminded of big daddy in “Cat on a hot tin roof” when he utters the word “Mendacity”, it abounds.
is it my imagination?or has algore’s physical appearance been morphing?and i dont mean just normal aging..he looks like he has been on a cannibal diet… looking like an ogre(which is an anagram of gore).okay if i have to choose one monster over another,i go with the hilliary monster cause at least she still looks human,..al gore does not..
Perhaps the Nobel still counts if only as an afterthought.
“St. Thomas University just reversed itself. After disinviting Archbishop Desmond Tutu earlier this year over suggestions that the Nobel Peace Prize-winner’s appearance might be hurtful to the Jewish community, Father Dennis Dease, head of St. Thomas, has changed his mind.”
indeepshit..that is the lesson that the american people refuse to learn..for the people by the people..we must save ourselves..if batman or spiderman were running for president it would be a landslide..because we the people are lazy !!we must chain our own rabid dogs of war..we wont stop bush..we want big daddy algore to come in and clean up our mess after us and wipe our butts …that is pathetic…
Thank you, annabelle.
how long has algore been jetting around making megabillions off global warming ??there is another article in this cd issue(only 5 posts)and it states that’out of the 21 richest countries..america ranks dead last, number 21 on ENVIRONMENT !!
i hope i am wrong about gore but i see the perfect storm brewing…when bush got nominated every baptist church in town held huge celebrations and hung out signs saying “”thank you for voting your conscience!”"..i talked to many rightwingers,christians,military etc..they were all outraged about the lack of morals and decency in this country and they sounded EXACTLY like you guys..oh yes,run bush RUN,,our hero,please lead us..save us from the wickedness !!it was the absolute perfect storm for the right and the christians,they were just as elated and silly as you guys”my hero”(SIGH)….well,here we are again the absolute PERFECT STORM..for the left,DEJA VU,anyone? anybody can deliver a great speech-maybe karl rove wrote gore/moveon speech i remember when we all thought nancy would save the day,too.the lesson is the president is not your benevolent daddy.we need to try electing a real human…..
i think i can figure this out..here goes….BUSH WAS ELECTED ON THE RIGHT AS THE HERO OF “MORALS”…’ ‘GORE WILL BE ELECTED ON THE LEFT AS THE HERO OF” ENVIRONMENT” ..(2000) goodbye morals and compassion..(2008)goodbye earth and creatures..
I think most people in the world will recognize the Nobel given partly to Al Gore as the overtly political thing it was meant to be.
In 1986 I viewed what must have been one of the first NOVA’s on global warming (it might have been a rebroadcast of a program originally aired in 1983), titled “Climate Crisis: Global Warming.” This documentary featured a fresh-faced Al Gore warning about manmade global warming as a danger to humanity. But it also mentioned several distinguished climatologists who down the last 20 years have worked tirelessly to inform and warn us all about global warming. That NOVA even mentioned in passing the first article in “Nature” by climate scientists in the late 1970s to describe this phenomenon as the danger it is to humanity.
So far as a second Al Gore presidential candidacy is concerned, Mr. Gore has stated more than once that he’s lost his taste for politics.
And, Mr. Nichols in this article betrays an important, possibly fatal defect in our political culture: he is a bourgeois elitist in progressive attire who views the president as an elected monarch: only members of our insulated sociopolitical patriciate need apply.
But a mere change of personnel at the uppermost reaches of what C. Wright Mills called “the higher circles” of our federal executive will not reverse the political - and economic — decline our nation has sunk into since just before the beginning of the Reagan Era.
America’s polity is in transition between one which has always been basically - with the exception of the eras of Jackson, Lincoln and FDR - one of “elite consensus” wherein the only changes deemed needed in presidential style are changes of style, not direction.
Consider the complete reversal of field which occurred in Spanish politics when the left regained power in the middle of our Iraq debacle and directed the removal of Spanish troops from Iraq and then went on to denounce the entire Iraq disaster for the illegal and criminal war it is.
This is what I mean as an adversarial polity and we in America will have to come up with this ability to achieve sharply divergent changes of course so that we are able to move our nation off the disastrous paths our power elites continally put us onto.
That older fashioned, increasingly irrelevant kind of leadership is all Al Gore has to offer America.
In the coming years, after much political and economic turmoil, probably occasioned by the inauguration of an informal dictatorship and a militarized police state, we in the U.S. will move on to an economically-based, sharply adversarial (as distinguished from elite consensus) polity in which the 80% of American households who have no direct representation at all in our government finally get the equivalent of a European Social Democratic (or Swedish “Middle Way”) polity in which any consensus reached will represent the economic well-being of those excluded Americans.
Will American civiization survive these coming crises intact? It doesn’t look good for us now. Truth to tell, global warming is a peripheral concern to tens of millions of Americans who find themselves in a economic and social order which has reverted to the Social Darwinism of the late 19th century.
And what has Al Gore to say about all this? Nothing. He will be viewed by future generations of Americans (if “America” survives) just as we today view William Howard Taft: A man who couldn’t stomach the presidency but who went on to a status of honorific irrelevancy (Taft as an undistinguished Supreme Court Justice; Gore as a co-winner of a poorly thought out Nobel Prize).
Run Al Run! America needs a change (not a climate change, but a ethical-political-spiritual one)!
illuminatti,is the ONLY candidate you have…. why vote at all?
Anyone remember which Oscar the movie won? I believe it was best original song.
SunWarm, it won best documentary I believe. I watched Al Gore in an interview last night and he refused to endorse any candidates as of yet. It appeared to me that he might just run himself…
Congratulations Mr.Gore ! We NEED Leaders like You - Lots of them…
Perhaps the REAL reason people want to elect Al as the next president is that he makes people feel good about doing nothing for the environment. Just buy a few compact fluorescents, put solar panels on your 10,000 square foot home, buy a hybrid car, buy carbon offsets to pay for your vacations, invest your money in green companies, have kids..etc..etc..
Never any talk about population control, the effect of diet, or voluntary simplicity. Just look at Al Gore..doesn’t look like he eats very low of on the food chain. Sorry, carnivores, but we don’t live in world where everybody can eat wild venison and boar.
Humans are ugly ugly predators on this planet. How can you possibly believe that a predatory system (capitalism) can help humans solve the same problems that it helped create. Al Gore has proposed market solutions for tackling climate change. That is nuts. There is no PROFIT to be made on protecting the environment.
Capitalism is dead and so is our entire political system…it has failed us miserably, in fact we have failed ourselves.
Now it is time to face our maker…22 degrees Celsius in the Arctic Circle, moulins the size of Niagara falls on Greenland, permafrost releasing megatons of methane, Amazon burning down thanks to cattle ranchers, thermohaline current slowly dramatically, grains stocks declining…etc.etc..
Take a walk and think about it.
How pathetic. Gore is NOT our hero, he has proven himself a hollow loser, a limited hangout for the Council of Foreign Relations in case there’s a major melt down and they need to call on someone who’s ‘in the club.’
At some point, people in the US need to ‘wake up’ and shake off the corporate media as a corrupt source of information. We need to understand that we live in a country run by corporate elites. Until that day, we will have war and oppression as ‘the main course’ night and day. Al Gore? Please! He didn’t FIGHT the first electoral fraud of 2000.
Go back and study recent history. He was involved in the consolidation of the corporate media with the Telecommunications Act of 1996. And he was involved with the NATO bombing and take-over of Yugoslavia; for those who have forgotten, there were many war crimes committed, such as the bombing of the Chinese embassy, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and the intentional killing of civilians (bombing of a TV station, etc.).
Al Gore on global warming? Ha. Check out the guy’s house. He’s the biggest hypocrite in the world. I’ll grant he is promoting the issue, but sets a terrible example. Again, a classic politician.
Find a candidate who isn’t a corporate shill and a war criminal — take up something more productive than cheerleading for fascism. The dog and pony show that is US electoral politics is so rigged, so dominated by corporations and big money that it is an utterly depressing zone that sidelines all of us. It creates the illusion that WE are powerless and have but one role: “hold your nose and vote for some corporate-vetted war criminal or scoundrel.” Bah. And yet we are drawn to these discussions about the ‘horse race’ between disturbing and disgraceful candidates that we are told are the only viable choices. How sickening it all is! Kucinich is the only candidate whose values reflect the Common Dreams readership and yet he has been excluded from MSM coverage and is manufactured into a ‘non-candidate.’ Think about it. The whole exercise is one of monstrous manipulation and creates beggars of us all.
Resist. Get off your knees. Stand up my sisters and brothers!
indeepshit,overpopulation is not a problem that cant be fixed,by a modicum of selfgoverning and the wise use and distibution of resources and natural acts of god (or nature,if you prefer)the true enemy is greed and the richest 10 percent of the world,who would covet it for themselves..the ruling elite are sure they are the deciders and by killing off a large portion of humanity=they are doing the world,a favor !!dont buy into their games..it is the nefarious ruling elite who need to get the f*ck off the planet and the rest of us will be just fine.population control should begin and end with the demise of the greedy hoarding nabobs !!
Now its time for our courageous Supreme Court to act again — and sieze Nobel Prize from Gore, & hand it to Bush.
whitewatersally, right on! Al Gore still needs to afflict the comfortable with the facts that global capitalism is not sustainable. As capital moves its factories to corners of the planet with the cheapest labor and a complete lack of environmental regulations, we are using more fossil fuels to move more things around the world. Yes, global warming is a real threat to our future, and there’s a little thing called capitalism that won’t allow radical change for ecology. The multinational corporate royalty must be removed from its palace. Greed and consumerism kill! Are you ready to take the next step, Al?
#1. I wish someone would tell me exactly HOW, they think Al Gore should have “fought harder” in 2000? He fought all the way to the Supreme Court! What else did you want him to do?
#2. Holding Al Gore responsible for Bill Clintons politics (& Not Hillary) is WRONG! Al Gore wouldn’t even allow Clinton to campaign for him!!
We need Federal Election Reform. From Regional Primaries, to Instant Run Off Elections, to a ‘None of the Above’ box (over 50%, we start over)! Public Campaign financing, and Free equal air time, to REAL Debates, on real issues! Written campaign pledges, to include willingness to allow ‘no confidence vote’ to bring about a new election!
This idea that the only time politicians will do the correct things for ‘We the People’ is when their ‘up for election’, is absurd! Obviously they know how we want them to vote, but only do when they have to.
No Corporate sponsered Lobbists! No religous Lobbists, or loss of tax-exempt status. No Federal tax dollars, to Insurance Companies, Corporations, Churches, or any third party (privitization) to perform a government function!
Al Gore & Bobby Kennedy on the Green Party Ticket!!
ALL candidates should have to put their VP, and three top cabinet picks, on their ticket, Up Front! (No more Cheney/Ashcroft/Gonzo surprises)
Hahaha! It’s fun to watch all the Repug and DLC shills crawl out of the woodwork to rant and rave at our real President, Al Gore. Gore/Nader Green Party 2008!
People will call me a “shill” for this comment probably, since it seems that people are so demoralized over Bush that any dem candidate will do. Like i said on that other recently posted news with the commander of the earth style painting, Gore was involved in NATO bombing of Serbia. To “save” the albanians, yet the first day of the war, 90 cruise missiles were launched at 1 million a pop, and when refugees arrived in Albania, old people were sleeping in the mud because NATO had nothing prepared at the border, although they knew the bombing would trigger violence and people fleeing.
Gore was also for slapping economic sanctions on south africa for using generic aids drugs in a country with an epidemic proportion AIDS problem.
Is that the telltale of a humanist? To choose corporate profits over making people better by using cheap mass produced drugs?
Gore’s wife Tipper Gore was a prominent figure in the PMRC who helped drag people like Jello Biafra into court for “distributing harmul matter to minors”, a giger poster…
Also, remember who gave Bush the white house, it was Gore! He should have fought ’till the end, instead of letting Bush be appointed by supreme court judges. I sure as hell dont want another 8 years of this type of gunboat diplomacy, but PLEASE stop it with “Gore the angel” “Gore our savior”, with that type of encensement, if he does get elected, he’ll be above any criticism whatsover… Keep your heads on
Does anyone remember that in 2000 Al Gore gave very public support to those that were refusing to return a child, Ellian Gonzalez, to his father, a decent Cuban man? And the only reason for this was that this man lived in Cuba. How’s that for international peace work and human values? Al Gore, as opposed to many other people, does not have a background in peace work. What kind of man is really Al Gore? Find out about his public career and think hard before making him worthy of a peace prize, or worse yet, worthy of being this country’s leader. It’s not enough to hate Bush and republicans, unfortunately.
Al Gore would run for president if he is a glouton for punishment! He should remain free to speak his opinion and to awaken people’s realization that this Earth belongs to all, not just to the ‘elites’ who are destroying it.
Gore can win only after the right wing voting manipulation machine is dismantled; and the apathetic voters who are influenced by unprecedented their character assassinations (which Gore would surely be a target) wise up.
It appears unlikely that their entrenched voting fraud machine could be dismantled in time, nor is it probable that those unlearned and brain washed voters could be educated.
In all of these negative posts about Al Gore, they are really missing the big picture. John Nichols has done an excellent job of spelling out the many accomplishments of Mr. Al Gore.
The most important issue for America and for the world is climate crisis. Al Gore is the prescient superstar in this category. The second biggest issue for America is the Iraq war and the George Bush path to fascism. Again, Al Gore is a superstar in this category.
Whitewatersally’s comments are just one of many that are based on nothing factual or logical.
“Earning megabillions jetting around”?? How would you like him to educate the ignorant masses about global warming? By standing on a street corner that is within walking distance of his home (which would have to be a straw hut with no electricity, because anything else makes him a hypocrite?)
Is your carbon footprint equal to zero, Sally?
So you don’t like the way he handled Ellian Gonzalez? Give me a break. This is not a priority. (Gross, but apparently necessary understatement).
You blame him because he couldn’t win the election? Then you must applaud the man who did win–George Bush.