"Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world/Like a Colossus..." ~Shakespeare
Al Gore might not be the next Julius Caesar, but his influence over the Democratic Party at this point certainly parallels that of J.C. over the Roman Republic.
If Gore decides to run in 2008, Democratic voters have a counterbalance to their party's most visible current candidates: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. More than any other candidate, Gore would remind the Democrats that they have "unfinished business" ... a reckoning with the Republicans after the Supreme Court decision Bush v. Gore gave the presidency to George W. Bush in 2000.
The Democratic debaters on Monday night realized this. Only Sen. Joe Biden responded to a two-person question sent from Murfreesboro in Gore's state of Tennessee.
"This here question's for all you candidates," the Volunteer State duo said. "Mainstream media seems awfully interested in old Al Gore these days. Is he losing weight? What's it say in his book? Is he still worried about all the ice? They interpret all these as signs that he may or may not run. They really want to know if Al Gore's going to run again. Yes. Well, what we want to know is does that hurt you-all's feelings?" (Biden said it hurt Tennesseans' feelings.)
Even if Gore does not run, he can relish in establishing an "electoral footprint" on the candidates. For they are sounding increasingly more liberal and less Republican-lite. Their comments reveal this. Clinton said that "we haven't really seriously addressed this incredibly important issue of global warming and energy efficiency."
Edwards told a different questioner that "We need to find fuels that are in fact renewable, clean, and will allow us to address directly the question that has been raised, which is the issue of global warming, which I believe is a crisis." And Obama's proposals ranged from exploring nuclear power to developing solar power to "drastically increasing fuel efficiency standards on cars."
Gore's heirs are sounding more faithful than Mark Antony ever did. Perhaps that sigh you just heard from Gore is one of contentment.
Reader Comments ( Page 6 of 6)
76. Dear Sen. Gore:
When your son was critically injured when a driver crashed into him, you were at his hospital bedside every day, notwithstanding your Senatorial business. You demonstrated more "family values" than any of the self-righteous hacks currently pandering for our votes, and you never made a big deal about it. It was the right thing to do, and you did it. (Unlike Newt, who stopped by his wife's hospital bed as she lay sick with cancer, to drop the bomb that he was divorcing her).
Now, you are at the planet's bedside, and rallying its children to show true family values, for the benefit of the entire family of humans and indeed all species.
In that process, you have abandoned the prospect of being at the country's bedside. You know that if you run, you will win. Apparently, you have chosen the more noble path (even if you are, as some claim, merely bucking for a Nobel Prize).
You have been effective as advocate for changes in our energy ways, but you are up against Exxon-Mobil and its ilk funding the global warming denial propaganda machine.
Mr. Gore, you do not NEED the big money from the corporate moguls to win this time. You can run as your own man this time, and you will win, without question.
Please consider the possibility that the only way to accomplish the greater good of saving the planet as we know it, is to correct the path of the planet's co-leader (with China) in its destruction: by assuming the office of President of the United States.
You have earned the respect of millions and millions of people, with your graciousness and decision to place the orderly transition of power ahead of your personal ambitions (even though the result was a clearly stolen election). Yes, if only you had asked for a recount of the entire state of Florida, if only this, if only that...let it all go. That was then, this is now.
Yes, the planet needs you, and as you say, "the planet has a fever." But the fever is due to an infection, and the seat of the infection is right here. We need you lance this boil.
There is still time.
Please, Mr. Gore. Announce.
Zorro at 1:23PM on Aug 11th 2007
77. I am going to write in Al Gore for both my primary and general election vote. I don't care if he chooses to run or not. I am drafting him with my write in vote. He won once and now we need him badly to correct the situation we are in. Write-in Al Gore for President.
rzerbonia at 8:25AM on Aug 12th 2007
78. Al Gore and General Wesley Clark.... that would cover the environment and a strong defense....perfect!!!!
Denise Schrutt at 10:42AM on Aug 13th 2007
79. Why is it there are always a ton of comments like "liberls use fear to control the people. Do you remember: red terror alerts during campain season and "if you vote for a democrat we will get hit with a mushroom cloud" and "weak on terror" TERROR, TERROR, TERROR, TERROR! Now it is: we will be Mexico in twenty years oh my! Look in the political mirror.
Dorndren at 1:45AM on Aug 15th 2007
80. Al Gore. Where do I begin? This guy is a politicians' politician. He sold his vote on Desert Storm. He praised Bill Clinton when he knew what an amoral man he was. He supported tobacco farmers publicly, even after making a death bed promise to his sister to stamp out tobacco. ( She was dying of lung cancer) He lives like a king and preaches conservation. He was, and may still be, a slumlord in Tennessee. He may believe that global warming is occurring. He treats it as fact. He knows it's theory. I cannot imagine the burden he would place on the citizenry if he were ever to become president. One of his constituents summed him up best when she said, "Al Gore would rather climb a tree to tell a lie, than stand on the ground and tell the truth". That's your boy. Check his record.
steve at 10:23AM on Aug 15th 2007
81. Steve, Don't let facts get in the way of your dilusion. You nead to read his record on the tabacco issue. Want to hear some other theories. Inteligent design, life begins at conception, we will be treated as liberators, global trade is good for everyone. There is more of a consensus about global warming and it's causes than almost any other theory we live by. Speaking of living like a king and the burden on citizenry are you some rich guy living in a bubble. You are talking about our situation now.
Dorndren at 11:39AM on Aug 15th 2007
82. Would love to see Al Gore run for Preident!!!!!!
I would support him all the way to the White House. I really dont think he will run again, he would be our greatest hope for the future.
Rory J. McDerman at 10:48AM on Aug 18th 2007
83. Time for a COOL change,
Gore
2008
LDP at 11:56AM on Aug 20th 2007
84. Al Gore is the only man who could make this Nation great again. Gore with his leadership and his ability to bring nations and leaders together.
If Al Gore would have won in 2000 we would not be faced with a War in Iraq, and I believe that we would never ben hit on 9/11. RE_ELECT AL GORE
Jim at 8:45PM on Aug 21st 2007
85. Why should Gore run? He currently has a public and presumably private sense of integrity. The American public and press have proven that they cannot resist annihilating this in even the most qualified candidates. Alas, they do not run. I don't believe this will change over the next year so it becomes a question of how thick Gore's skin is and his willingness to "take it in the chin" for a while. Are we not yet desperate enough to give the guy our support?
Patricia at 11:07PM on Sep 11th 2007