Why Al Gore Should Run for President
By Aaron Goldstein (10/12/07)
About a month ago, I was on my way to the Old South Meeting House to see former Nixon White House counsel John Dean speak. As I approached the entrance, a man standing outside the door asked me if I wanted to sign a petition to draft Al Gore to run for the White House in 2008. I ignored the man, walked inside and laughed to myself.
But now that Al Gore has won the Nobel Peace Prize the proposition doesn’t seem such a bad idea after all. I now support the efforts of the Left to draft Al Gore to run for President. Conservatives should be delighted if Gore decides to run one more time.
Why you might ask?
It’s very simple. Who stands the most to lose should Al Gore enter the 2008 Presidential race?
Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The fact that there is an effort to draft Al Gore is a strong indication that grassroots Democrats are less than enthusiastic about Hillary, especially on the War in Iraq which Gore has opposed from the outset. His entry would expose the deep divisions amongst the American Left for all to see. Al Gore would be a thorn in Hillary’s coronation. This isn’t to say that Hillary can’t turn back Gore’s challenge. Do you think Hillary is going to let Gore ruin her ascension to the throne? Not on your life. But the challenge would be so bruising that it’s doubtful these grassroots Democratic activists could be sufficiently motivated to vote for Hillary on election day. Of course, Gore could run as an independent. He could be to Hillary what Ralph Nader was to him in 2000. Either way, should Al Gore get involved in the 2008 Presidential race it exponentially increases the GOP’s chance of holding on to the White House.
Can you say President Giuliani?
Of course, Gore insists to the high heavens that he is not running for the White House. Sure he now has the Nobel Prize. He has the Academy Award. He has the Emmy. He’s been a rock n’ roll impresario. He’s hosted Saturday Night Live. But somehow that doesn’t seem enough. For eight years, he was within a heartbeat of the Oval Office and came within a hair of winning it in his own right. He was so close and yet so far. I am certain that Al Gore would give up his Academy Award, his Emmy Award, stop hanging out with Cameron Diaz and sell the environmental movement down the river if he could live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the next four to eight years.
(Printer friendly version) Email: Aaron Goldstein
