I'm beginning to wonder if a reassessment of my opinion of Al Gore is in order. I'm basing this partly on his recent appearance on The Daily Show but mainly on a profile in The New York Times Magazine.
I'm willing to put aside all of the commentary about whether he's a hypocrite because his home apparently consumes a lot of electricity. It is apparent he is passionate about this cause because he championed it years ago and was labeled a crackpot by many for doing so. He's also probably done more than any other individual on the planet to increase public awareness. So I think he's earned a few carbon credits...
The Gore I saw on television was very different from the Gore I remembered from the 2000 campaign. Maybe this was a result of the success of An Inconvenient Truth, but whatever the reason he seems more off the cuff, more willing to speak his mind rather than politically appease. He even, apparently, has a sense of humor, something which I had heard rumors of but never experienced first hand.
I like the thesis of his new book, The Assault on Reason, which the Times article described as "a learned screed on the demise of public discourse and the "meritocracy of ideas"". I'll reserve judgement on the book until I've actually read it, and I will should he choose to run. And I think he should run, at the very least as an attempt to add some intellectual honesty to the debate. The profile of Hillary Clinton in this weeks magazine was so rife with tortured rationalizations I put it down in disgust. Ron Paul nearly being shouted off the stage at the Republican debate was equally disheartening. Imagine a Giuliani vs. Clinton race for the presidency - imagine what spewing that level of bullshit would do to the environment...
I'm not saying I'd actually vote for Al Gore. That decision won't be made for a long time. I do think he can provide a much needed spark - can you imagine how much soul-searching the guy must have gone through after throwing away the presidency in 2000 by trying to play it safe? By all accounts he is, at the very least, a thoughtful, intelligent man. How would you feel if your failure put Bush in the White House, paving the way for all the misery that followed?
Personally, I think America is ready for some truth, and I think Al Gore is ready to speak some. I also think he would mop the floor with any of the Republican hopefuls. So c'mon Al - please, why not make this thing interesting?
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4 comments:
The Gore/Obama ticket is destiny manifest!
I'd kind of like to see the Gore/Paul ticket, but I realize that's unrealistic...
Still don't have a solid opinion on Obama...
my only problem with obama is that he is so pure, its like he's not human. If Gore pulls a Powell & doesn't run, there are powerful forces working against Hillary...her original support of the war, clinton/bush fatigue, & the need for a candidate that represents change.
My thing with Obama is that I think any second he could pull a Ross Perot, and dive off that deep-end into the point of no return. Which doesn't neccessarily suggest he can't win - Bush did in 2004 despite the fact that he had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was an incompetent moron. Obama seems pretty hip and groovy but I'm waiting to see how he weathers the "Dean Yell", which, given his "wildly-popular-yet-coming-out-of-nowhere" standing seems inevitable.
Hillary is just everything that was bad about Bill Clinton and none of what was good. She'll do for me, with the Dems, what Bush did for you with the Republicans.
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