"Regarding Al Gore...I reserve the right to say this:"

[orleans]

an excerpt by brent budowsky:

Regarding Al Gore, having been an advocate, supporter, friend, whatever, for a very long time, I reserve the right to say this:

It is a damn shame that he feels he has more important things to do, than be president of the United States and leader of the free world with our country engulfed in divisiveness and our world threatened with a planetary emergency that will not be solved by prizes, awards or venture capital funds.

Those who believe in him the most are reduced to being virtual beggers (a position I will not take which is why I have simply written him off for 2008 after my best efforts have come to naught).

In my view, no candidate was even remotely as right for the times as Gore in 2008, and no result is more tragic for the times than the fact that he concluded he was above participating in American democracy in the one way that matters the most.

Gore can win the Oscar, the Emmy, the Nobel, and win every award except being named the manager of the New York Yankess, and join every venture capital fund and private equity fund and make important documentary films, but the planetary emergency, the crisis of $100 oil, the evils and dangers of this, are about power and powerful forces that create these dangers and corruptions. Those powerful forces are now laughing and mocking and feeling great relief that one more threat to their power structure, a President who understands the danger and solution the most, has chosen to watch from outside the one arena that truly matters.

How sad and symbolic: for us, for him, for our democracy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brent-budowsky/if-democrats-chose-gore-a_b_73216.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[lildreamer316]

2. Yes, why is that? Without getting

nasty and pointing out names (I'm not raggin' on you, just saying in general)...I would really like to understand the motivation behind the vhement and insistant hue and cry against a Gore candidacy.

Just looking for some honest dialouge/answers; not a flamefest.

[Atman]

26. Must have been a Hillary Clinton supporter

NO ONE but NO ONE is allowed to rain on her reign.

.

[orleans]

3. i wish he would listen to people like randi rhodes--she's met him

and talked with him--she wants him to run.

check out these other links from brent
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brent-budowsky/gore-wins-nobel-peace-pri_b_68260.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brent-budowsky/bush-v-gore-poppys-bad_b_68357.html

[calmblueocean]

4. Yes, yes, yes! So true it hurts.

I don't understand how Gore could let down this country just when it needs him the most. Or for that matter, the world. Gore has the mainstream credibility that Kucinich lacks, and the ability to right the infamous legacy of the 2000 election debacle. His keen sense of environmental stewardship could be the heart of an American rebirth. The need for Gore was palpable, even desperate, and yet Gore simply let it pass him by. There's no word for it but tragedy. I don't think I'll ever truly understand it.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. I wish he would run. I've said for a long time he's the best person for the job.

Unfortunately, I think he's not running.

I could speculate quite a bit as to why that is, and come up with reasons from the most obvious to the seriously tinfoil-coated. But the bottom line is, it's his life. He's done a lot of good for this planet and I have no doubt he will continue to do so, in whatever capacity. I will respect him and his choice, even though fuck yes I'm disappointed.

[malaise]

10. I really want him to run

but it's his decision to make.

[Bluebear]

6. Well, he certainly has heard the call and ignored it, apparently.

'How sad and symbolic: for us, for him, for our democracy.'

Indeed.

[blogslut]

7. I'm sad he's not running but it is his choice.

I've always believed that the kind of person who SHOULD be president is exactly the kind of person who would not run for president. It's a soul-sucking task to lay one's life out before the public. Our candidates are subjected to the cruelest of scrutiny and sound-bite psychoanalysis.

Mr. Gore has seen this movie and he knows better than anybody how bad it can get.

He is now serving humanity in an effective, tangible way and I say good for him.

[BigBearJohn]

8. Could it possibly be that there are forces at play here that we are not privvy to?

If Al is not running for President, there may be REASONS.
HIS reasons. Who are we to judge him?

[mod mom]

21. Damn shame indeed. So we'll end up with corporate media's choice who will

issue pardons to some very undeserving folks like we saw last time a Dem was in the WH. It will be more of the same with a gentler voice.

:mad:

[KingOfLostSouls]

9. maybe

he's just honestly sick of politics?

I mean, he has to deal with it enough as it is as a private citizen. maybe he's just so disgusted what the political process has become he's had his fill.

honestly, who could blame him?

[Hubert Flottz]

12. "he's just honestly sick of politics?"

Who ain't?

So do we all just give up and say F it?

[Hubert Flottz]

16. I'm glad Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and FDR were not too

"sick of politics" and were patriotic enough to want to have a better America, for the generations to come.

[closeupready]

34. Even though I don't blame him, this is a good point.

n/t

[Uncle Joe]

36. Washington had near unanimous support and

did not have to face a national consolidated corporate media intent on slandering and libeling him regardless of the truth, to some degree the same holds true for Lincoln. FDR had a major assist from the Depression, and there was a groundswell for change after twelve years of Republican rule.

In conclusion, neither of these great men were tied to an issue so intimately that the weight of human survival it self rested on their winning or losing an election. I believe the stakes Al Gore must consider vastly out weigh theirs' as the clock is ticking and the window closing on the ability for humanity to alter it's present course regarding global warming climate change. I hope Al Gore does become President, but I also understand his current course of doing the best he can to effect change in the private sector.

[Ravy]

11. I agree. Al not running...

says more about the state of politics than it does about Al.

[sendero]

13. A coworker and I...

... were (some time ago) lamenting the fact that our new boss was not up to the job.

He said "yeah, but anyone that could do the job would not want it".

That is what has happened to the presidency in our country IMHO.

You have to be almost a sleazeball to put up with the total BS you have to put up with to get the job. You have to appeal to stupid, stupid stupid voters and handle the lying gotcha media.

I don't blame Gore one second for deciding he just could not stoop that low. Not one bit.

[Window]

18. I concur.

It's a thankless job these days.



Peace:thumbsup:

[autorank]

14. Yep! K*R n/t

[Tesha]

15. I understand why he's not running.

I understand why he's not running.

Mr. Tesha used to be on our local School Board. He served one
term and, apparently, was pretty good at it. Twenty years later,
teachers, administrators, parents, and other local politicans
still come up to him and ask him "so when are you going to run
again?" *EVERY* time we go to vote, the local officials running
the election ask him when he'll try again.

And he gently reminds them all that he's not crazy enough to
do that. You see, being on the School Board is a very under-
appreciated position. Our local School Board has no authority
to levy taxes nor negotiate contracts with the unions. They
are principally there to take the blame. While on the board,
he used to get hate mail, hate phone calls, got harassed at
work, had holy water poured on him by a loony woman holding
a six-foot wooden crucifix, and publicly got called a sexual
harasser because he thought the kids in the district deserved
comprehensive sexual education rather than "abstinence education"
and he held that position even over the strenuous objections
of the local Catholic fundy nutcases.

And he lost re-election by 69 votes. The teacher's union? Well
the individual teachers may like him, but their union reps
always endorse the newcomers over the incumbents so they
endorsed other people, not Mr. Tesha. The athletic supporters
were pissed that he gave the Athletic Director a hard time
over the fact that, during budget deliberations, the A.D.
lied to the Board of Education about his inventory of sports
supplies. Twice. And the Democratic mayor, whom Mr. Tesha
had helped elect, walked right by him at the polling place
without shaking Mr. Tesha's hand or saying word one to him.
But the mayor *DID* walk over to a Republican alderman and
spent quite a while glad-handing him.

All of this left a kind-of a bitter taste in Mr. Tesha's
mouth for local politics, and our local government has only
gotten worse and worse over the past few years; I can see
why Mr. Tesha isn't really interested in participating in
that way any more.

And I can understand why Al Gore, having been through much
of the same thing but on a much larger scale, just ain't
interested in having to go through it all again.

Tesha

[Karenina]

20. Al KNOWS who is behind the curtain.

There are other ways to confront them without becoming a sacrificial lamb. ;-)

[Yuugal]

17. He couldn't even win the fun run........ nt

[RestoreGore]

19. Oh, stop the whining already

If Brent Budowsky doesn't see saving the world now as more important than he just doesn't get it. And I believe in Mr. Gore with my whole heart and don't feel at all like a virtual begger. So now the guilt trips on him begin? What hogwash, but it is not surprising to see those who licked his shoes when they thought it would serve them be the ones to now turn on him. How sad indeed.

[orleans]

23. AHHHHHHH!

[ThomWV]

22. He has disappointed greatly, I still have hope though and I am willing to beg.

But if he does not make at least an attempt to get into the Oval Office I will change my thinking about him.

[yodermon]

24. He knows the system is utterly and completely corrupted

and so chooses not to participate in it.
Think about it: are the *real* power brokers in this world the politicians?
Only the corrupt ones. Al Gore is not corrupt, therefore the entire corrupt system will be working against him as President. He would actually be *less* effective in office (IMO).

[book_worm]

25. he is right, if Gore really wants to make an impact on global warming he should be president

and initiate policy and work with other nations in that capacity. But you can't force a person to run if his heart isn't in it.

[progressivebydesign]

27. In my plea to Al Gore to run... I likened his position to that of PR in a company...

Say the planet or even the US is a company, and it's going down the tubes. The companies practices are resulting in the demise of not only that company, but every business (and thusly every job) in the world. And here we have a potential job candidate, Al Gore, who is not only capable of turning things back in the right direction, but has already held the position of Vice President of our mythical company. He is offered the job, recruiters call him constantly, he has tons of support to take over the company and change things. Instead, our job candidate decides to work in the Public Relations department. A very imporant department, as it educates people about the challenges the company is facing, and is very visible.

Unfortunately, as most Americans would understand... Public relations is a noble profession, and crucial in a company, NO change can happen in any organization without a solid CEO. It's the CEO and the Board of Directors (President/Congress) that set the course for the business, allocate resources, and are the ultimate determiners of a company's viability.

Instead.. Al Gore has chosen PR, instead. He is doing a valuable service in education about global warming, but there is SO much more that he could to that end, AND in the general well being of our nation.

Oh, how I wish he would reconsider.

[helderheid]

28. I couldn't agree more.

:(

[Touchdown]

29. The Americans disposed of him in 2001. Once bitten...

I don't blame him one damn bit.

Ask yourselves...Do we really deserve him? How do you think we earned it?

Carping about earth tones clothing?
Making shit up about Love Canal?
Advisors who milquetoast him down to nothing?
"Lock Boxes"?
Twisting "creation" into "invented"?
A spoiler candidate saying "No difference"?
Frothing, rabid demand to concede an election he won?
Implying he's off his meds when he gets righfully angered about torture?
Questioning his integrity, and or sources on his global warming research?

Not that this is any of the fault of loyal Democrats who supported him all along, but the perception among a large minority of Americans was those things.

So we learned our lessen?
The media is arguably worse than it was on him in 2000.
James Inhoffe is still in a position of power.
Ralph Nader's head is floating to the top of the swamp again (how convenient).
Still more jokes about "inventing the internet".
SUV sales, big Texas house sales still going strong.
The media still hates him enough to criticize the size of his house.

So what have we (Americans, not necessarily Dems) REALLY learned from 2000? I'd say not much, and it's too bad.:(

[Karenina]

38. HALLO!!!

:hi: Thanks for that.

Americans did NOT stand up for Al Gore or to the "Supreme Court."
Some now test the waters with "Draft" campaigns; the numbers still lack.
Had 150 million Amis been abuzz perhaps the buzz would be different.
And now those DEMANDING Al "save them" in the role of their projection are "mad" at him. Like he OWES them an appearance in a Spiderman suit. :silly:

[earth mom]

30. I agree. THE turning point is NOW. I'm already mourning the loss of the USA.

Although the death of our country started a long time ago, it has only taken 7, soon to be 8 years, to actually kill her off. :cry:

That there is a backlash against Gore-one of the few if not only people in a position to make ALL the difference-is not surprising to me. I even said as much a week or so ago here on DU.

Al Gore's calling was to save the United States AND the Planet. I'm sorry, but I don't think he can effect the change needed without being President of the United States.



So, this is the beginning of the end.... :cry:


The near future for the USA and it's people:
http://zeitgeistmovie.com/

[sss1977]

31. Perhaps he thinks Americans should stand up for themselves

from the bottom up, instead of expecting him to change things from the top down?

[FourScore]

32. This is the best post I've read in a while.

k&r

[rockybelt]

33. I wish he would run

but I believe that there has been a near mortal wound inflicted upon him that, at least in his mind, will never heal.
The truth, I believe, is that a gaping wound has been inflicted upon this country when the election was stolen from Gore and handed to Bush by the Supreme Court.
I believe that Gore is the man for the Presidency of The United States but he will not accept the nomination for that position. Fortunately, we have a very good alternative in Dennis Kucinich. He too is a man among men and stands for truth and integrity.
Wishful thinking: Kucinich as president and Gore as Secretary of Climate Restoration?

[Orsino]

35. There are certainly more important things for him to do...

...than wait for a blind, idiot Congress to send him pale echoes of his ideas. Could he inspire them to greater heights of courage and vision? Perhaps. Or he could work to accomplish things outside the scope of the bully pulpit.

[sam kane]

37. He doesn't want his kids to grow up without a father

I don't believe he would be able to dodge the bullet that would come after him. He is far too threatening to the powers that be for them to ever let him become President, and I'm sure someone has made very clear what he already guessed.

[tom_paine]

39. His kids are grown up, but yes, I think it is very possible there is truth to that.

n/t

[mzmolly]

40. So many of "us" feel this way.

*sigh

[OneBlueSky]

41. I too am pissed at Al Gore . . .

never before have the times called for truly independent and innovative leadership . . . and never before has someone been so prepared to provide it . . . having supported Al in 2000 and watched his growth in the ensuing years, I find his decision to not run to be offensive and, quite frankly, selfish . . .

[orleans]

43. ...yes, "selfish"...that's the world that has been going through my head about this lately.

kind of like: how can you NOT run for president? it's not all about YOU--it's about saving this nation and this earth. get over yourself and DO THE RIGHT THING.

[sellitman]

42. Total fucking BS

Anyone who wants the job of taking over bushes bankrupt mess when he has finished isn't all there. Gore is smarter than that. It reminds me of the saying: " I wouldnt want to be a member of any country club that would have me as a member." Or something like that. Anyone taking this job I automaticaly reject as just plain stupid.

[twenty4blackbirds]

44. quoth Groucho Marx

or some such, I think. He had been refused entry to some high faluting night club (or sommat) due to his attire.

[Kurovski]

45. Yeah, I remember how everyone used to call

Franklin Delano Roosevelt a stupid mother fucker for wanting to be president after the mess Hoover left.

Boy-howdy, were THEY ever right.

FDR, what a brainless dim-wit.

[lutefisk]

46. I really thought he'd jump in and make it a 365 day campaign

It's time to make the sacrifice, Al Gore. Come on.

[weeve]

47. Think outside the box !

... an untraditional campaign. There's no reason at all that he couldn't run as Edward's VP. Since VP is largely ceremonial, Al could concentrate almost FULL TIME on the Environment, but this time with the FULL BACKING of the administration. The missed filing deadlines are now irrelevant .. he could campaign as little or as much as he'd like. Only one VP debate...

Edwards is the closest to him politically ( no nukes - sorry Obama ), and Al joining the ticket would shoot Edwards to the forefront ( where he seems to be headed anyway lately ). I'll be watching Gore & Edwards closely during the NH environmental debate. Then waiting for the bombshell announcement soon after.

[orleans]

48. sounds like a nice story--but he's been there/done that

i really can't picture him "settling" for vp again