President-in-Exile
Al Gore, that stretcher of the truth, who claimed to invent the Internet, that wooden speaker, Mr. Intellectual whom no one could see being chummy with and having a beer with, who sighed and huffed during debates with George W. Bush back in 2000, who tried to steal the presidency from that same George W. Bush back then, won an Academy Award the other night, more than six years after his failed presidential campaign, for An Inconvenient Truth, his documentary alerting the world about the threat of global warming. Some say he’s destined to win a Nobel Prize as well. The presidency, though, is not something he appears to have interest in.
Now, you take all of that stuff from that first sentence, all that nonsense that made the 2000 presidential election an exercise in high school popularity perpetuated by the Republican party and the media, and think about it, and then think about what has transpired since December 12, 2000, the day the Supreme Court made George W. Bush the president, and where we are now, and where Al Gore is now, and you should have feelings of sadness, helplessness, anger, and despair. What could have been, is the question you probably ask, and considering what has been, this question is even more painful.
Clearly, while Al Gore would’ve been a better president than Bush, it’s easy to idealize what his presidency would’ve looked like. Would 9/11 still have happened? Most likely. But would Iraq have happened? Most likely not. Maybe Osama bin Laden would be dead right now and Afghanistan would be the prime example of Middle Eastern/Western Asian democracy. But consider that, if he were President, we’d have Joe Liebermann as VP (though, arguably, he’d be less powerful than in the position he is in now). If the Congress were still made as it was from 2000-06, we probably would expect various investigations and probably an impeachment run. The conservative movement, instead of being on the outs as it currently is, might be stronger than ever, and right now, Gore could be the lame duck president that Bush currently is. And, Gore may just not have been a great president (but still, could he have been worse than Bush?). Jimmy Carter is a great man, but I don’t think anyone would argue that he was a great president.
And, of course, running for president and holding that office alters what you do, who you portray to be. Gore the environmentalist would certainly have disappeared in what is the reality of our political situation (where corporate interests, as well as one’s own desire for political survival, trump the unprofitable ideals of concerned citizenry). The unending assault from the right he would’ve had to endure, which we saw during the Clinton years, most likely would’ve had him toning down certain issues while playing others up.
In 2007, we can see that Gore has transformed himself from a man who felt he was destined to be president to a man who is comfortable in serving his country (and the world) in a less powerful, less glamorous role. He’s the man that people want to run for president, but he’s also the man who won’t do it. After what happened in 2000, Gore could’ve easily retired and never been heard from again. But he didn’t do that. He could’ve decided to cash in on his name and be a well-paid Washington political consultant/operative or member of the Carlyle Group. But he didn’t do that either. His passion is for the environment, and, take away the Oscar and hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities (which won’t last), there isn’t much glamour to telling the world it’s doomed if it doesn’t change its ways. Gore could make a gazillion dollars aligning his interests with those of the corporate world. Instead, he’s doing work that puts him in opposition to it.
Maybe it’s indicative of just how the position of president has fallen. It’s hard to look at any of the serious presidential candidates and say that, if they were cast out of their political lives, that they would rebound and serve the nation and the world as Al Gore is doing, without any political aspirations as Gore doesn’t appear to have. As far as ex-Presidents go, Jimmy Carter is the one who’s most inline with Gore’s service. Clinton and even Bush I have performed some noble public services in their post-presidency lives, but they don’t have the vision and risk of what Gore has been doing.
It seems preposterous to even suggest that our president be more humanitarian than politician. Indeed, it seems that we’re asking to do the world an injustice by killing the humanitarian by making him president. It’s ominous for this nation that the best minds and people are seemingly excluded from the presidency. It seems to be more who has the most recognizable name, who looks the best on camera, who comes from a certain lineage, who can talk without making a verbal gaffe that can never be changed? It’s all fluff and no substance—is this the future of our democracy?
Since Bush was given the presidency, there’s been a lot of talk, particularly from the fundamentalists who support him, that God willed Bush to be president. Of course, that talk comes from Bush, a self-professed Christian, being the chosen one of God because he’s a Christian and therefore the right person to lead the country. But maybe God willed Bush to be president so that Al Gore would make the world hear his global warming message and, indeed, save this Earth from peril. (Maybe God willed Bush to be president just to sour the nation on fundamentalist/neoconservative ideology. Maybe there was no will at all—maybe Bush and his cronies used deceit and trickery, the tools of the devil, to steal the election, and what has transpired since has been punishment for justice gone awry. Indeed, it’s hard to say what God’s will is. Sometimes, it’s not clear until a long time after (if it ever is).)
The nation needs Al Gore to be president. It’s a disservice that he’s not running. But Al Gore doesn’t need to be president. He doesn’t need to be smeared by the right-wing noise machine and its traditional media accomplices waiting to pounce on his clothing choices, his beard, his weight, any comment he happened to have made in the last 30 years, or just to completely make up shit about him and his family and have it repeated over and over until everyone thinks it the truth. He doesn’t need Dick Cheney and Fox News calling him a traitor, day in and day out. He doesn’t need know-nothing knuckleheads telling him that global warming is a myth, pointing to the 1 scientist out of 300 who says it’s a lie (didn’t such people so far removed from mainstream thinking used to be known as crackpots?), and the chuckleheads out there who will say that, just because he happens to use one iota of fossil fuel, he’s a fraud. The only way he will be president is if he’s dragged kicking and screaming to the job, which, paradoxically, makes him the right man for the job.
Now, you take all of that stuff from that first sentence, all that nonsense that made the 2000 presidential election an exercise in high school popularity perpetuated by the Republican party and the media, and think about it, and then think about what has transpired since December 12, 2000, the day the Supreme Court made George W. Bush the president, and where we are now, and where Al Gore is now, and you should have feelings of sadness, helplessness, anger, and despair. What could have been, is the question you probably ask, and considering what has been, this question is even more painful.
Clearly, while Al Gore would’ve been a better president than Bush, it’s easy to idealize what his presidency would’ve looked like. Would 9/11 still have happened? Most likely. But would Iraq have happened? Most likely not. Maybe Osama bin Laden would be dead right now and Afghanistan would be the prime example of Middle Eastern/Western Asian democracy. But consider that, if he were President, we’d have Joe Liebermann as VP (though, arguably, he’d be less powerful than in the position he is in now). If the Congress were still made as it was from 2000-06, we probably would expect various investigations and probably an impeachment run. The conservative movement, instead of being on the outs as it currently is, might be stronger than ever, and right now, Gore could be the lame duck president that Bush currently is. And, Gore may just not have been a great president (but still, could he have been worse than Bush?). Jimmy Carter is a great man, but I don’t think anyone would argue that he was a great president.
And, of course, running for president and holding that office alters what you do, who you portray to be. Gore the environmentalist would certainly have disappeared in what is the reality of our political situation (where corporate interests, as well as one’s own desire for political survival, trump the unprofitable ideals of concerned citizenry). The unending assault from the right he would’ve had to endure, which we saw during the Clinton years, most likely would’ve had him toning down certain issues while playing others up.
In 2007, we can see that Gore has transformed himself from a man who felt he was destined to be president to a man who is comfortable in serving his country (and the world) in a less powerful, less glamorous role. He’s the man that people want to run for president, but he’s also the man who won’t do it. After what happened in 2000, Gore could’ve easily retired and never been heard from again. But he didn’t do that. He could’ve decided to cash in on his name and be a well-paid Washington political consultant/operative or member of the Carlyle Group. But he didn’t do that either. His passion is for the environment, and, take away the Oscar and hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities (which won’t last), there isn’t much glamour to telling the world it’s doomed if it doesn’t change its ways. Gore could make a gazillion dollars aligning his interests with those of the corporate world. Instead, he’s doing work that puts him in opposition to it.
Maybe it’s indicative of just how the position of president has fallen. It’s hard to look at any of the serious presidential candidates and say that, if they were cast out of their political lives, that they would rebound and serve the nation and the world as Al Gore is doing, without any political aspirations as Gore doesn’t appear to have. As far as ex-Presidents go, Jimmy Carter is the one who’s most inline with Gore’s service. Clinton and even Bush I have performed some noble public services in their post-presidency lives, but they don’t have the vision and risk of what Gore has been doing.
It seems preposterous to even suggest that our president be more humanitarian than politician. Indeed, it seems that we’re asking to do the world an injustice by killing the humanitarian by making him president. It’s ominous for this nation that the best minds and people are seemingly excluded from the presidency. It seems to be more who has the most recognizable name, who looks the best on camera, who comes from a certain lineage, who can talk without making a verbal gaffe that can never be changed? It’s all fluff and no substance—is this the future of our democracy?
Since Bush was given the presidency, there’s been a lot of talk, particularly from the fundamentalists who support him, that God willed Bush to be president. Of course, that talk comes from Bush, a self-professed Christian, being the chosen one of God because he’s a Christian and therefore the right person to lead the country. But maybe God willed Bush to be president so that Al Gore would make the world hear his global warming message and, indeed, save this Earth from peril. (Maybe God willed Bush to be president just to sour the nation on fundamentalist/neoconservative ideology. Maybe there was no will at all—maybe Bush and his cronies used deceit and trickery, the tools of the devil, to steal the election, and what has transpired since has been punishment for justice gone awry. Indeed, it’s hard to say what God’s will is. Sometimes, it’s not clear until a long time after (if it ever is).)
The nation needs Al Gore to be president. It’s a disservice that he’s not running. But Al Gore doesn’t need to be president. He doesn’t need to be smeared by the right-wing noise machine and its traditional media accomplices waiting to pounce on his clothing choices, his beard, his weight, any comment he happened to have made in the last 30 years, or just to completely make up shit about him and his family and have it repeated over and over until everyone thinks it the truth. He doesn’t need Dick Cheney and Fox News calling him a traitor, day in and day out. He doesn’t need know-nothing knuckleheads telling him that global warming is a myth, pointing to the 1 scientist out of 300 who says it’s a lie (didn’t such people so far removed from mainstream thinking used to be known as crackpots?), and the chuckleheads out there who will say that, just because he happens to use one iota of fossil fuel, he’s a fraud. The only way he will be president is if he’s dragged kicking and screaming to the job, which, paradoxically, makes him the right man for the job.
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