So: "Why Isn't Gore Running?"

[lildreamer316]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/77828

The White House is the place to battle global warming.

Dec 13, 2007 | Updated: 3:54 p.m. ET Dec 13, 2007

There he was again on the world stage--in Oslo this time--celebrating his Nobel Peace Prize with singer Melissa Etheridge and actress Uma Thurman, the Hollywood hottie who called him "adorable" and said listening to him talk was "like watching a beautiful racehorse run." But Al Gore isn't running. Which raises the question: maybe Gore's gotten a little too adorable--too comfortable in his role as a globe-trotting guru. What about his own damn country? Why isn't Al Gore--Nobel laureate and enviro rock star, embodiment of the alternative history that never was, winner of the largest popular-vote total in U.S. presidential history--seeking the job that many people still think should have been his in 2000? Yes, we've all heard that Gore's reached a kind of peace within himself, and what fire that is left in his belly is guttering out. But shouldn't this Hamlet of the Hustings be tormented with a little of the melancholy Dane's anguished ambition, telling himself: "The time is out of joint; O cursed spite, that ever I was born to set it right?"

Gore is obviously not without ambition to set things right: he appears to want to save the entire planet single-handedly. "Without realizing it, we have begun to wage war on the earth itself," he said in his Nobel acceptance speech. "It is time to make peace with the planet." After receiving his prize, Gore flew onto Bali, where the U.S. government this week succeeded in single-handedly blocking a proposal that called on industrialized nations to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020. The Bush administration's lonely stand at the two-week-long meeting of nearly 190 nations--convened to start talks on a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012--came even as new NASA satellite data showed a frightening acceleration in the melting of the Arctic. "My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali," Gore declared as the Bali negotiations bogged down. And that comes after 10 years of limbo for Kyoto, thanks in large part to the Bush administration. Even Australia, whose zealously pro-Bush prime minister, John Howard, was defeated recently in part because of his opposition to Kyoto, has now signed the protocol. That leaves the United States as the only developed nation that has not joined the agreement.

Gore's passion and prescience on global warming are admirable. But let's get real: without a U.S. president who's fully behind an emission-reduction program, it's simply not going to happen. That's the lesson of Bali. America is still the only superpower, and there is no replacement on the horizon. The way to really save the planet is to move into the Oval Office. And a presidential race that only a short time ago some pundits were calling a Clinton coronation now seems wide open again. But Al Gore conveys no sense whatsoever that he's the man to set things right in Washington. He's already missed many of the filing deadlines for the primaries, discouraging the various Draft Gore campaigns from gathering signatures (undeterred, some have launched write-in campaigns). And Super Tuesday is less than two months away. "Please trust me to make good decisions about where I can do the most good," Gore told his supporters recently. "And don't automatically assume that running for president again is the right thing for me to do."

more at link...


A damn good question, methinks. I've been feeling the same way for awhile...

[Mabus]

1. You aren't alone on that thought

I just wonder what he's going to do next. The man is simply amazing.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

2. Thanks for the link. K&R

[IndyOp]

3. Everything changed this week...

At a risk of being attacked and/or being accused of living in fantasy land... given that we have 5-7 years until the polar ice cap may completely disappear during summer, I think we have to rethink a possible Gore run for President in 2008.

As of right now -

Hillary is no longer headed for a coronation. She isn't dead in the water, but there is a race on - Obama and Edwards are very competitive and Dennis Kucinich is, as always - IMO, doing a great job speaking truth at every opportunity and opening up room on the left for that all Dem candidates can move in that direction.

Now that Hillary is no longer headed for coronation, Gore stepping into the race would not be seen as a personal attack on the Clintons.

The race between Hillary, Obama, and Edwards looks as if it will be fought out in every state and we may go to a brokered convention - no I don't know whether that really will happen or what it could mean, but it does provide more degrees of freedom.

Right now, Gore, Kerry, and Michael Bloomberg are in Bali. Bloomberg has dropped hints about running, asking on his website whether we were "ready for something real" -- ready to elect, maybe not the best candidate, but the best person for the office. I wondered then whether Bloomberg might not be considering running as VP on an independent ticket with Gore as the Presidential candidate. Bloomberg could personally fund a campaign if he was on the ticket, though he would not have to because millions would pour into any website for Gore.

I believe that Edwards & Obama would tell their campaigns - staff and volunteers - to work for Gore if he declared his candidacy for an independent ticket - perhaps Unity '08? In an interview within this past year, Edwards was asked why he didn't campaign harder during the 2004 campaign - he said he had been waiting for Al Gore to step into the ring.

Everything changed this week. On Monday, December 12th Al reported in his Nobel lecture that a new Navy study estimates 5-7 years until the polar ice cap could completely disappear during the summer. Day before yesterday in Bali, Al spoke truth to a rapt international audience - the U.S. is the problem.

Everything changed this week.

I wish I were a fly on the wall in Bali, anywhere that Bloomberg, Kerry, and Gore were talking.

Outside the box friends - we have to think way outside the box...

[karynnj]

12. There was no Gore/Kerry overlap

Gore was busy in Oslo when Kerry was in Bali. Kerry had to get back to the Senate for votes by Tuesday, so he was gone before Gore arrived. (The rest of the planned Congressional delegation stayed home - but Rep Markey participated remotely. Given that Congress had votes going was gruelling - Kerry took 20 hours of commercial flights each way and spent a day and a half meeting with delegations and speaking in Bali. He sounded exhausted in a Tuesday teleconference call - that is on Kerryvision.net.)

[RestoreGore]

26. No one can stop melting ice caps

And I'm tired of people using this crisis for their own political agendas. How many times does he have to say it is a moral issue?

[derby378]

39. If mankind could start it, mankind can stop it

All we need is some wisdom, gumption, and dedication in our leadership.

[AlGore-08.com]

4. Just F.Y.I. the latest from Bali is that the impasse is broken; there will be an agreement

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gBTCrOwOrOXV9BkLBDRm...

Bali Climate Talks Enter Final Day

BALI, Indonesia (AP) — The U.S. and Europe headed toward a compromise Friday at the U.N. climate conference, breaking a deadlock over how ambitious the goal should be in negotiating future cutbacks in global warming gases, officials said.

Delegates for days had sparred over the wording of the conference's main document, particularly the European Union's suggestion of a goal of reducing emissions by between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

Trying to break the deadlock, Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar — the conference president — proposed revised language early Friday dropping those mid-range numbers but still reaffirming that emissions should be reduced at least by half by 2050.

U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer said a deal was certain. "Absolutely. The only question is how long is it going to take to get, how long we will have to stay up to wait for it," he said.
He told reporters the mid-range 25 percent to 40 percent was implicit — "an inevitable stop on that road" — in the 50 percent goal by 2050.

(more... )

[IndyOp]

5. That is (IndyOp types with an attitude of extreme caution) good news...

A deal is certain - meaningful? Binding? Does it come anywhere close to dealing with the polar ice cap disappearing during the summer in 5-7 years?

The most important part of any treaty that could come out of Bali is not a set goal for reductions in emissions -- it is the agreement that Gore has called for for the heads of states to meet once every 3 months. There is no single treaty we can sign now that will get the job done - none - there will have to be a new treaty every few months to deal with the fast-changing situation.

[Pastiche423]

10. A little later latest

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Bali talks headed for a compromise on Saturday to launch negotiations on a global pact to fight climate change after the European Union toned down a key demand for sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

- Big Ass Snip -

"We are just very disappointed at this stage. We are ending up with something so watered down there was no need for 12,000 people to gather here in Bali to have a watered down text, we could have done that by email."

http://tiny.cc/jxz4o

[IndyOp]

16. Today, Thom Hartmann called the Bali agreement "a tragedy" -

and I agree. Bitter, bitter agreement.

[Pastiche423]

18. Thom Hartmann was right

Before the Bali talks, I knew that the U.S. would not be a shining star, but not to the extent that the "leaders" would embarrass, humilate and condem our entire nation.

The administration needs shock treatment and not the kind that Naomi Klein speaks of in her book.

[YvonneCa]

37. Did you watch ...

...this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HeTA1S7TXM

Or this? http://www.un.org/webcast/unfccc/2007/index.asp?go=0507...

(Scroll down to Kerry)

I agree that there was no Kerry/ Gore overlap in Bali...but that means little. Whether either is President or not, climate change progress seems to be the goal. And Bali is the beginning of that process...not the culmination. Both Kerry and Gore are aware that, until there is a new US government, the US will not agree...but they are making the case to proceed, and letting the world know that we WILL come to the table with a new administration. I am more hopeful than ever that these two men...presidents or not...are leading the country in a new direction.

[Seabiscuit]

32. By 2050??? We won't have a planet left worth saving by then.

What's wrong with the rest of those 190 countries? They don't need the U.S. to go along with their proposal.

[rosesaylavee]

6. K & R and off to the greatest page with you!

Why not run, Al? Just say what is holding you back and I will let go of the entire idea and work full time on your 'campaign of another sort'.

[LeftCoast]

7. Maybe he's just not a masochist?

I mean, other than an egomaniac who the hell would want to go through the process of getting the job? Then, once you have it things aren't much better.

[dysfunctional press]

19. especially when he would try to get the NEEDED legislation enacted-

the repukes would howl like my siamese cat at bathtime.

we are NEVER going to solve global warming- the planet is going to solve it for us itself, by getting rid of most, if not all of us.

[pretzel4gore]

28. 'men learn by suffering'

the ancient Greeks used to say that. North America, modern NA, feels blessed by all the good we have enjoyed, but bush, a gibbering 1/2 wit, still somehow befuddles the stone killers (ie US) of a million innocent Iraqis! makes us as helpless as a drooling baby! You can bet when the hurting starts, the guilty jackasses who fought efforts to fix GM while still time, will somehow hide behind the innocent, in fact disappear among them forever!
jesus h keerist

[walldude]

40. Exactly.. all these people who seem to be pissed at Gore

need to ask themselves, "Can you be perfect?" Because that's what it's going to take for a Dem to get anything done in the White House. Make no mistake, while the Dems dance around the issues, and let the Repugs walk all over them, he Repugs will not be giving the Dems the same courtesy. Any Dem that reaches the Presidency will not only have to deal with the nations business but daily attacks and investigations into whatever fake Whitewater/blowjob scandals they can come up with. Does anyone really think that if Bush were a Dem the Republicans would have let all the scandals of this administration go unpunished? I don't blame Gore in the least.

[KoKo]

8. I've always believed he doesn't want to go through the Campaign process

and there's the Clinton factor.

If Hillary falters and there's no clear winner at some point he might be "urged" to come in. He didn't discourage those trying to draft him until it looked like Hillary was the front runner and he then asked folks to stop trying to get his name on the ballot. But, he didn't ask them to take down the websites, which was interesting.

I think if he can find a way...and those who support him (maybe some very influential people we don't know about ....like Mike Hirsh who wrote this article as Senior Editor of Newsweek) can find a way...he might be able to make it..

But, thinking about coming in early when the MSM would shred him and try make a mockery of his Nobel Prize and his other efforts is something that would be very painful for him and his family. We here can see what the MSCorporate/Whore Media is already doing to our Dem Candidates and the way they are shaping another election as a "set up" to show off their power. Gore would have to find a way to get around them.

I'm still hoping, though. But, trying not to think about it too much for another disappointment amongst all the others we Progressives on the Netroots have gone through for these seven long years.

[electron_blue]

9. Maybe he's happy with the Dem frontrunners and feels he could do a great job with one

of them in office next year and him on the 'outside' doing what he's been doing. Simple, almost obvious reason.

[Pastiche423]

11. And yet he has talked w/not even one of the candidates

w/less than a month to the 1st primary.

[RestoreGore]

24. Not true. He stated in a Harvard interview and an interview for Rolling Stone that he had

And they are also posting their views on it on CURRENT.

[electron_blue]

27. And even if he hadn't talked to them recently, he knows them well enough to

make up his mind about supporting him. I'm not claiming this is what he's thinking, but it's a plausible explanation.

[RestoreGore]

29. Yes, and I prefer to spend my time actually thinking and doing for myself

Unlike the same people here (not aimed at you) who do nothing but sit hre and dissect everything he says and does.

[electron_blue]

36. What do you mean? Do you seriously think he's never talked with them, ever?

Hillary? Surely you don't mean that. Perhaps you mean he hasn't spoken with them recently. He knows what Clinton and Edwards think - no way can they be mysterious to him by now. Obama is more of an unknown in comparison, but I imagine Gore has made up his mind about him also by now.

[freethought]

13. My own opinion?

I believe that he believes the Democratic Party will not back him up when they need to.

[Karenina]

14. Nor will the American people.

[elizfeelinggreat]

21. I did

And I would again. If only I had the chance ...

[DesertRat]

15. Thanks for the link to the story. K&R

[Control-Z]

17. Yes

my thoughts too.

[KoKo]

20. kick...a Newsweek Editor with some Dem Leanings POSTS!

We should listen........

[RestoreGore]

22. What people in the media do best...

Question why others aren't doing things they aren't doing themselves. ONE election is not going to solve this crisis and if the non response regarding this crisis unless it is tied to the same redundant discussion is any indication of the pulse of this country regarding it (which I truly hope it is not) we are truly screwed regardless of what happens in Washington DC.

[JFN1]

23. I've kinda had my fill of Gore

Since he refuses to do his clear duty and run for President, I have lost a bit of respect for him...showboating for the environment will only backfire on him eventually, corporations and Repukes will see to that...

[RestoreGore]

25. Winning a Nobel Peace Prize is showboating?

Is The IPCC showboating? And he has no duty to run for anything. We all however have a duty to preserve this planet, but it is obvious many don't see that.

[Balbus]

30. Because...

[Seabiscuit]

31. Why can't the other nearly 190 nations proceed with a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol

without U.S. support?

I don't get it.

The article states: "... the U.S. government this week succeeded in single-handedly blocking a proposal that called on industrialized nations to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020."

How could the U.S. have any sort of veto power over the entire planet? That just doesn't make any sense.

Bush's resignation from the earlier Kyoto Protocol didn't dissolve the protocol. Does the author of the article even know what he's talking about?

[YvonneCa]

38. They can...

...proceed. Did you watch this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HeTA1S7TXM

Or this? http://www.un.org/webcast/unfccc/2007/index.asp?go=0507 ...

(Scroll down to Kerry)

I agree that there was no Kerry/ Gore overlap in Bali...but that means little. Whether either is President or not, climate change progress seems to be the goal. And Bali is the beginning of that process...not the culmination. Both Kerry and Gore are aware that, until there is a new US government, the US will not agree...but they are making the case to proceed, and letting the world know that we WILL come to the table with a new administration. I am more hopeful than ever that these two men...presidents or not...are leading the country in a new direction.

[ToeBot]

33. He made a deal with the Clinton's not to run again till after Hillary had her shot? nt

[lildreamer316]

34. Have you read the Vanity Fair article?

It's pretty obvious that things were not left well on the campaign trail with the Clintons.I do not think he feels he owes them any loyalty in this regard.
Will try to get link in a few for you.

[OneBlueSky]

35. I don't know why . . . but it pisses me off . . . n/t

.

[Nikia]

41. Because campaigning for and being president would restrict him

Despite popular belief, the president is not a dictator. He (or potentially she) must work with a lot of varying interest groups. As a respected private citizen, he has more freedom to say and do what he wants with less regard to what everyone else thinks.