Why I would support a Gore campaign
Via Readerville, I came to this fantastic1 Time magazine profile of Al Gore.
The Last Temptation of Al Gore
While Gore was in office, I never really got much of an impression of him. This was partly due to the fact that he was in the shadow of Bill Clinton, but it was also because he was more focused on American politics rather than global politics, which made him less interesting for those of us outside the US.
When he ran against George W. Bush, I was hoping for him to win. Partly because I had gotten a more positive view of him during the campaign, but frankly mostly because I detested Bush (and had done that even when he was the Governor of Texas).
After Bush got the presidency, Gore kinda disappeared, until he (re-)started his fight against global climate change. I became aware of this, when it started to draw the attention of the right-wing attack machine, who started to spread their habitual lies about him ("he claims to have invented the internet" etc.).
I read up on his show, and came away impressed. The I saw the movie based upon it (An Inconvenient Truth), and was blown away.
Gore also started to show up in the political debate - denouncing Bush and the Iraq War - and his passion showed. He was saying what he was saying because he felt that way, not because he wanted to get (re-)elected. That's always refreshing, but in this case, what he said also made sense.
In other words, here is the perfect candidate - he is passionated about the issues he consider important, such as global climate change, and is willing to be guided by science and evidence (unlike the current US president).
While he is probably too right-winged for some Democrats, Gore has become a heavy-weight contender, without even being in the race. And looking over the field of candidates, I can't see any real contenders if he choose to campaign - Obama has charm, but lacks the experience, while Clinton rubs too many people the wrong way. The entire Republican field is pretty much a bunch of misfits at this stage.
Let's see how things develop, but if the Democratic party looses it steam, I wouldn't be sorry to see Gore enter the race. Hopefully with a Nobel Peace Prize to his name, on top of the Oscar.
1And it's not only fantastic because it actually doesn't contain any lies about Al Gore.
The Last Temptation of Al Gore
While Gore was in office, I never really got much of an impression of him. This was partly due to the fact that he was in the shadow of Bill Clinton, but it was also because he was more focused on American politics rather than global politics, which made him less interesting for those of us outside the US.
When he ran against George W. Bush, I was hoping for him to win. Partly because I had gotten a more positive view of him during the campaign, but frankly mostly because I detested Bush (and had done that even when he was the Governor of Texas).
After Bush got the presidency, Gore kinda disappeared, until he (re-)started his fight against global climate change. I became aware of this, when it started to draw the attention of the right-wing attack machine, who started to spread their habitual lies about him ("he claims to have invented the internet" etc.).
I read up on his show, and came away impressed. The I saw the movie based upon it (An Inconvenient Truth), and was blown away.
Gore also started to show up in the political debate - denouncing Bush and the Iraq War - and his passion showed. He was saying what he was saying because he felt that way, not because he wanted to get (re-)elected. That's always refreshing, but in this case, what he said also made sense.
In other words, here is the perfect candidate - he is passionated about the issues he consider important, such as global climate change, and is willing to be guided by science and evidence (unlike the current US president).
While he is probably too right-winged for some Democrats, Gore has become a heavy-weight contender, without even being in the race. And looking over the field of candidates, I can't see any real contenders if he choose to campaign - Obama has charm, but lacks the experience, while Clinton rubs too many people the wrong way. The entire Republican field is pretty much a bunch of misfits at this stage.
Let's see how things develop, but if the Democratic party looses it steam, I wouldn't be sorry to see Gore enter the race. Hopefully with a Nobel Peace Prize to his name, on top of the Oscar.
1And it's not only fantastic because it actually doesn't contain any lies about Al Gore.
Labels: Al Gore, global warming, US politics
posted by Kristjan Wager at 9:15 PM
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1 Comments:
Al Gore would be the best presidential candidate EVER, especially in these turbulent times. In his recent interview on public radio he says he will not be in the presidential race. I secretly hope he would enter the race at the last minute and blow everbody away, not allowing any time for anti-environmental hate mongers to chip away at his outstanding efforts for global climate awareness. But he gaurantees that the world environmental issues will be at the top of the candidates debate, and the primary factor deciding its outcome. Sounds like if that turns out to be true, he'd certainly win the election hands down.
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