Recently, I wrote an email to someone about "An Inconvenient Truth" and at one point I discuss why I would probably support Al Gore to be the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, should he actually decide to run. I think it perfectly encapsulated my feelings on the subject.
I have posted that portion of the email below:
In regards to Al Gore, he is my number one choice right now for president. And given that in 2000 I thought Al Gore as weak and wooden as everyone else did, I think it says a lot about how far he is come that he could change my mind like that.
Firstly, I support him because I think he could win. He really won before - he got the most votes, and was just 4 electoral votes shy of the win (officially) in what was decided by the Supreme Court. Furthermore, Al Gore is much different now. Through his various media appearances (including yes, SNL), and his movie, Al Gore has shown he is human, not a robot. He can even be really funny. The press surrounding his new movie and the rumors about another presidential run was the first time *ever* I have seen the media given him positive coverage. He must be doing something right. I see the press as the main reason he didn't win by a landslide in 2000 (though he certainly fed into that with his terrible campaign, as Kerry did in '04), and I would see it as his biggest obstacle in 2008 if it did not treat him differently, as I think he deserves. Other than that, if he can just be who he really is, I think he'd have no problem.
More importantly, Al Gore can make the best case for him being president than anyone right now (on the Democratic side, at least). Without being regarded as too far-left (forgetting conservatives who think everyone is "far left") like Russ Feingold, Al Gore can say he opposed the war, the Patriot Act, etc. - all these things Democrats and most Americans are opposed to *now* - from the *beginning* and there's a proven record of that (as opposed to the positioning many are doing now, especially the known presidential candidates). He can legitimately say, unlike Senators Clinton or Kerry or Biden or Dodd, who have said they are running and all voted for the war, that if he had been president we wouldn't be in the Iraq debacle, that we would have used our strength fighting Al Qaeda instead, and in general, we wouldn't have all these other problems we have today.
Finally, Gore is the only candidate - though it is admittedly early in the game - that appears able to unite Democrats right now. You have the DLC establishment-types on the one side and the liberal party activists on the other side, who support someone like Hillary or someone like Feingold, respectively, and it's hard to see both sides coming together with if either of those candidates is chosen. However, Gore doesn't offend or scare away the moderate Democrats, and the liberal base loves him because of his early and articulate opposition to the war, etc. The only other candidates who might be able to do that are John Edwards and Governor Warner of Virginia, but we take a bigger risk with them than Gore, and more importantly, could they beat Hillary Clinton for the nomination? Al Gore could, and I believe, would.
Right now, Al Gore repeatedly says he isn't running. If true, I hope he changes his mind. And as I told you, that's quite something for me to say.
6 comments:
That's a good letter, and I agree with your sentiments completely. Hey, I voted for him the first time; I'm certainly willing to do it again. You know that I'm not a Democrat, and I often criticise the Democrats for being much too political when they need to stick to their guns and fight for what's right. Well, I think Gore can do that. I think he has done that (and yes, I know he's made compromises, but what politician hasn't). I think he'd be a worthy man as president, unlike the current one.
I honestly think that Gore has "blossomed" into the kind of public leader he wanted to be back in 2000, but was constrained by politics not to be. That does not mean I think Gore of 2000 was the ridiculous caricature that a lazy and complicit media portrayed him as, but I do think that, like all politicians, he was pressured to spin his image. Well, this is Al Gore, no-spin, and I think people like what they see. I think if he ran again he'd have a very good chance. People know who is of course and he's acquired amazing credibility on the left, without giving up the appeal many center voters felt for him, and most importantly I think he's immune from the ridiculous attacks Bush and his ilk hurled at him in 2000. If he ran again, he'd have my vote in a heart beat.
There seems to be a consensus president pick among the three wise men!
Of course, it would be for a guy who claims to have no aspirations to run again.
Hopefully when he gets a look at the pathetic field running right now he will change his mind.
Gore/Edwards 2008? I like it! You know we'd have to agree on a guy who isn't even running because we're all idealists. What a sad world we live in. Perhaps the other candidates will step back and insist he run for president.
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