Reply #38: I would pick Kerry for both President and the beer in a second

[karynnj]

I looked at Gore in 2000 (and in 1992). I had no qualms in voting for him. He was a serious candidate, who I had very little reason to dislike. I don't think he was inspiring - which in 2000 didn't bother me.

In 2008, whoever wins, will have an enormous job. He(she) will have to be able to inspire the country to go back to what was once great about it. Not that we were the only superpower, but that we became a country based on a pretty progressive, idealistic set of documents that formed the basis of what we stood for. We have strayed, but we need to get back to these beliefs.

Contrast Gore's and Kerry's speeches. Gore's are able to spell out graphically what is wrong, as did Kerry's Faneuil Hall speech. Kerry was able to reach out to those hearing it in a call to action that was not strident but it was urgent. Kerry was inspiring where Gore wasn't. Gore seemed alternately as though he was talking down to people and then angry. I know he is a good thoughful man, but I honestly hate to hear him.

Kerry's lifetime commitment to encouraging active participation in government is refeshing and could be what is needed. The other thing is that Gore, in spite of being VP seemed to have less of a foreign policy philosophy than Kerry.