Al Gore calls himself a recovering politician. Progressives who are calling on him to run in '08 ought to listen.
A lot of us are really digging what Al Gore's had to say in the last few years. We are especially grateful that he's drawn attention to global warming, when the cause seemed almost lost. He's also given some stirring speeches to MoveOn, and elsewhere, criticizing the excesses of the Bush administration. This fire in the belly makes our liberal hearts race, like a shot of espresso when we're used to Folgers.
Yet the Al Gore of 2006 sounds a lot different from Senator Al Gore, or Vice President Al Gore, or Candidate Al Gore. In fact, it's precisely because he's not a candidate that he has been able to speak his mind these last few years.
And yes, I do believe his mind and his heart are in the right place, unlike some potential candidates. He's long been a friend of the environment, as anyone who read Earth in the Balance can testify. (The five of us weren't actually called on to testify to this, since the environment didn't come up much in the 2000 election.)
But as he says, he's a recovering politician. I have no desire to see him fall off the wagon. There is a part of me, and I'd bet a large part of him, that wants to see the wrongs of 2000 set right. Al Gore should be our president right now. We should be worrying about those threatening glaciers he joked about rather than listening to Osama bin Laden's threats.
Al Gore the politician, however, has never shown any indication he'd address these problems with any more vigor than he did while he was a senator or a vice-president. I was so disappointed with his go-along-to-get-along performance as VP that I almost didn't vote for him in 2000. I supported Nader, until I saw the Democratic convention. It was the kiss that did it for me. There was fire in that there belly!
If he did become the Democratic candidate, of course I'd vote for him. I actually think he'd be a much better president than he'd be a candidate for president. Some of the behind the scenes books I've read about the Clinton presidency suggest Gore was a calming influence to Clinton's rages, even a cut-up at times. (No, that's not a typo; I didn't mean "cut out" as in cardboard. I never understood the cardboard references about Al Gore anyway. Or maybe I've got a fondness for cellulose.)
So don't count me in on the Draft Gore movement. I like Al just fine the way he is, beard or no beard. But for president I'm supporting the guy who'll never need to be a recovering politician, since he's never acted like a politician, despite 14 years spent as a senator. Russ Feingold has never hesitated to speak or vote his mind. (Just like some people seem immune to the danger of alcoholism, he's not affected by the demon drug of campaigns the way some politicians are.)
Let's let Al Gore recover in peace.
